As you might remember from my previous unboxing, Illumicrate‘s November box was a huge hit. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was slightly less convinced about the featured book in their December box.
About Illumicrate
Illumicrate is one of the best known UK book boxes that ship internationally. They offer both a full box and a book-only subscription, and the books they feature are generally YA fantasy, but they also include other genres and adult books. Next to their monthly subscription, they also have special edition boxes, and exclusive editions.
The teaser
This is the info we received upfront:
- Historical fantasy set in Edwardian England
- First in a series
- M/M relationship between main characters
- Content warnings: violence, death, sexual content, references to past child abuse
The goodies
The first thing I discovered was a mug inspired by The Winternight Trilogy, designed by Rosiethorns88. I haven’t read this trilogy yet, but I plan to do so later this year. The mug is a nice size, ideal for a quick coffee that doesn’t need to be too large.
Next, I found a bookmark tin with a quotation from Ninth House, designed by Chattynora. Took me a while to get that it didn’t just look like a bookmark but is meant to store them. Duh. Stupid me. Nice idea though, I was wondering where to store my bookmarks. I’ve been using it now for almost a month and it does the job pretty well!
There was also the Starcrossed Lovers Calendar, designed by Chattynora and with artwork by Sallteas and Frostbite Studios. I love this one! I will try to make a reading challenge out of it! Keep an eye out for these posts on Instagram!
Next, a Girl, Serpent, Thorn pin banner designed by Abigail Spence. I’m on the fence about this one. One the one hand, I really like the design. On the other hand, I don’t collect pins. Maybe it would be a nice solution for those few pins I actually keep, but at the same time, wouldn’t pins ruin this beautiful thing? I’ll have to think some more about that.
And last but not least, a Nevermoor sticker sheet with artwork by Moehrenkunst. Definitely cute.
All in all, I quite appreciated the items in this box. The only thing that I’ll be selling is the monthly collectors pin inspired by the featured book and designed by Stacey McEvoy-Caunt.
The book
The featured book is A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. This debut is the first part of the Last Binding Trilogy. Part two, A Restless Truth, will be published in November 2022.
It’s the story of a civil servant who accidentally becomes the new liaison to Britain’s hidden magical society. Together with his magical counterpart, he needs to solve a mystery to break a curse.
The Illumicrate edition is a very special edition with a transparent overlay jacket (first I’ve ever seen), digitally printed edges, and signed. The overlay jacket is definitely cool, but I’m not convinced yet as it doesn’t seem to fit right. It makes the book remain open a bit. I hope that being in a bookcase will fix it, but that will determine whether or not I think this experiment is a success.
This book screams “Jess”. Gay wizards, historical fantasy…yet, I was not able to get into the story due to the rather dense writing style and put it temporarily aside. I’m sure I’ll revisit this later on, but for now, it didn’t manage to convince me at all.