Is Illumicrate worth it? 1 year update

After getting the Illumicrate book only box for a year, let's see how I feel about it and which books I ended up loving.
Open for more!
The boxes I received:
Jan 23: Godkiller - Hannah Kaner
Feb 23: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night - Amelie Wen Zhao
March 23: Lies We Sing to the Sea - Sarah Underwood
April 23: Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh
May 23: Witch King - Martha Wells
June 23: The Sun and the Void - Gabriela Romero Lacruz
July 23: The Jasad Heir - Sara Hashem
Aug 23: Guardians of dawn: Zhara - S. Jae-Jones
Sept 23: A study in drowning - Ava Reid
Oct 23: After the forest - Kell Woods
Nov 23: Starling House - Alix E. Harrow
Dec 23: The Principle Of Moments - Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
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My Goodreads:
/ cathy-janssens
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[@estariee]

I'm a new Illumicrate subscriber, but I've already noticed that there's one thing that's making me consider canceling the service. Most of the books I got from them weren't exclusive enough. The Voyage of the Damned edition only had a recolored cover and a map lazily pasted inside the book. In my opinion this is not enough. You can get this level of book decoration for less money elsewhere. I feel like Illumicrate isn't catching up with Fairyloot, which often has completely new covers and beautiful stickers inside with characters. I will continue to follow Illumicrate, but if they continue to just recolor the base covers, I will give up on them.

[@AbiofPellinor]

I went straight for the sub boxes when I moved out with a better job (and actually planned out this video to do myself but the footage was awful and I never refilmed it 😂). I unsubscribed, partly because of Illumicrate specifically (bad quality, didn't need the stuff, wasn't enjoying the picks), but I'm also leaning away from subscription boxes overall. I'm currently still subscribed to Goldsboro's SFF box (which tells you the book each month which I like) but I'm being a lot more liberal with my skips and I'll probably unsubscribe soon

[@TalesofNeverwhere]

What books have been in the Goldsboro one that you have enjoyed so far? Thank you for sharing your thoughts 🖤

[@AbiofPellinor]

@@TalesofNeverwhere my standout personally was Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee which I *adored* as well as The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi 😍

[@willowingwhispers2612]

I signed up with Illumicrate in November. Got the December book and was kinda disappointed with the goodies that came in the box. I found someone on Instagram who is actually very good at guessing the books with the hints and they've been right with each box. I've literally been skipping every box since then because none of the books interest me. Ive also been seeing the designs and the majority have been color swaps or just having sprayed edges, which... doesn't feel like its worth the money. Especially since other authors are dropping beautiful exclusive editions on retail sites for the same price or less.
Fun fact, I've heard if you skip for six months straight, there is a high probability they'll cancel your subscription themselves. I haven't reached my six month skip yet but I'm close, so I'm curious to see what they do.

[@TalesofNeverwhere]

Thank you so much for sharing your opinion!
I didn't know about that Instagram account untill a few months ago, honestly it's a money saver to have it. I haven't regretted quitting my Illumicrate subscription at all... The only thing I'm happy about is getting the Empire of the damned through them.
I am really happy with my Fairyloot and am also on the waitlist for owlcrate (even if they have a lot of similar books to Fairyloot).

[@i_am_tyler5241]

I see your a woman of culture. Jay kristoffs never night series and empire of the vampire in the background. Love to see it.

[@TalesofNeverwhere]

Empire of the vampire is my favorite book atm, currently reading empire of the damned 😊

[@ilseruwalder1499]

Thanks for the video! One question, I know Illumicrate charges the extra tax for Belgium, but you never had any extra ´douanekosten´?

[@TalesofNeverwhere]

No, it's included! Should you get them, file a complaint and provide the payment details from Illumicrate, because vat is included in their shipping charge and clearly mentioned.