Monthly Book Box Review: OwlCrate April
OwlCrate’s April box was packed FULL of stuff. I was surprised that I just kept reaching in the box and pulling more loot out of it. And, the book didn’t look as bad as I thought it would. (I had some wild ideas about how a glow-in-the-dark cover would look.) For the price of OC’s box, and for price and the kind of items in this one—a whopping six items!—I think April’s box was a pretty good one.
Of course, this box came with a pin—OwlCrate is doing a literary luggage pin collection—and April’s pin featured The Night Circus. No surprise there—I immediately thought of The Night Circus when I read the synopsis for the book. It’s not bad, but now I’m going to need to find a place for it. The only think I have more of than books is pins. And I have space for neither.
A couple of the most useless items for me were the mousepad from the Moulin Rouge fandom and the silicone popcorn holder from Where Dreams Descend. Not sure what to do with the popcorn holder, as I just eat mine out of a bowl, but it would do well to hold trinkets and such. Or line a car drink holder. The mouse pad is completely useless for me. I have touch pads on my ‘puters.
While not necessarily useful, but still pretty cool, I quite like the wax seal thingie. I’ve noticed quite a few boxes are putting these in there lately. The first one I ever got was a looong time ago in The Unicorn Crate for its August 2019 “Heart of a Dragon” box. Since then, I’ve seen one in a couple of others, most recently from C.J. Brightley’s special box for The Wraith and the Rose. In comparison, this one OC's box is pretty dinky—I thought maybe the design wouldn’t show up very well in the wax because of how shallow the ridges are, but it came out alright. I used some different wax here for illustrative purposes. The OC wax is light and dark pink.
The two most useful items for the crate were definitely the coffee, which I, unfortunately, cannot drink, and the small wall clock with a duplicate fandom design from The Night Circus. I love the clock and will immediately find a spot on the wall for it. I’m always dropping and breaking mine when I get it down to change the battery. I'm lazy and don't like getting out my ladders or step stools. Yes, I’m a dweeb. The coffee, though, even if I could drink it (I can’t really have caffeine in the amount present in coffee), I wouldn’t because of the flavoring in it. I have to know every ingredient, and unfortunately flavorings don’t tell you what they're made of. Someone I know already laid claim to the coffee, though, so at least it didn’t go to waste.
As for the book--this edition is very nice. The absolute hands-down best feature for me is the end papers. They are gorgeous. Wow. I do wish it has some snazzy edges to match the cover design (or the end papers!), but the cover at least wasn’t a disaster (Dreams Lie Beneath .__.), and the reverse dust jacket art is fantastic, but the paper quality is not there. The fold over the covers has separated the print and is white. Yuck. Additionally, The case wrap is okay, not super duper fancy, but it’s not ugly (too shiny though and shows alllll the fingerprints). I think a nice, matte foil feather embossing in a matching cover color would have been better. Or a key hole. I just don’t find the shiny case wraps to my taste. The color choice for the dust jacket isn’t bad, either. Oh, and it’s signed! Yay!
Overall, a better box of items that I’ve gotten in a while. No paper stuffs counted as items, and everything attempted to be useful, my ability to use the item notwithstanding. Box stuff 3.75/5. Book 4/5.
Looking forward to reading other reviews on bookboxes