To Buy Or Not To Buy? – The Bookish Box – Blood and Ash Deluxe Set

Okay, so suddenly everyone is doing a deluxe set of books for the Blood and Ash series! I made a post a few days ago about Fairyloot’s deluxe set, and now The Bookish Box and Illumicrate (Post coming soon, I promise!) are putting together boxes to go along with their sets! At this rate, I should just put together a chart to compare the different options! Anyway, I’m a bit late to writing about The Bookish Box’s set, which has already gone on sale. The editions that came with a signed copy of book 1 have sold out, but the sets with digital signatures are still available at the time of posting.

Skip to the bottom of the post for a TL;DR Pros and Cons list if you’re in a hurry! As usual, make sure to do your own research and form your own opinions before making a purchase!

As usual, all of the opinions in this post are my own, so please take them with a grain of salt, and don’t be offended if my least favorite fandom is your favorite. We all have our own preferences. 🙂

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The Box Details

Company: The Bookish Bookish

Theme: Blood and Ash Exclusive Set and Box

Month: N/A (but will ship in June)

Information Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6bfsLj_B3/

Cost:  $155 USD for the full box & $110 for just the set

Books Included: From Blood and Ash, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, and The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Special Book Features:  Exclusive covers designed by @monolimeart, artwork on the reverse side of the dust jacket by @Nicole.deal.art, stencil sprayed edges, and foil embossing on hardcover case, exclusive chapter art, end pages, and art inside the book. The first book will be signed, and books 2 & 3 will have a digital printed signature. As of the time of posting, there are no more signed sets left. All books will have digital signatures.

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My Thoughts

Once again, it’s time to bare my thoughts about a special edition box to the internet! I highly recommend that you check out my Fairyloot post first (even if you’re not interested in their set) because I talk a bit about the book series itself and my thoughts about it! (TL;DR, I haven’t finished the first book, so I can’t form an informed opinion on the series on it yet. Also, I’m a bit peeved that all of these boxes are making fancy boxes and sets for a series that isn’t complete yet!)

Right from the gates, I really love that The Bookish Box have two options: one for just the exclusive book, and one for the full box (which includes 4-6 goodies and a shirt.) Both options are both very expensive. The option with the goodies is about $45 more, which is a bit of a lofty price. I personally haven’t been very impressed by The Bookish Box’s past special edition boxes, but that’s definitely my personal preference, so please go look up past unboxings and form your own opinion! I’ve found that they tend to include a lot of jewelry items, candles, mugs, and things of that nature, so if those appeal to you, go for it! I personally just prefer more unique and decorative items.

Let’s talk about the exciting part: the exclusive customizations that set The Bookish Box apart! Their cover will be designed by @monolimeart, who has a very distinct and bold art style. As much as I love her art, I’m not sure how well I’d like it on as a full book cover. Her style is great for character art (including the gorgeous Kingdom of the Wicked tarot cards she designed, but unfortunately, great character art doesn’t always translate to a great cover. I’m very curious to see the finished product, but I’m also apprehensive. I personally would much rather have gorgeous character art as a print rather than on a book cover where it will usually displayed spine out, not face out, but that’s just me.

As for the other customizations, I’m always intrigued by stencil sprayed edges, as they’re definitely more exciting than solid color options. In addition to the cover art, there will also be art on the reverse side of the dust jacket from the amazing @Nicole.deal.art (I’m still not the biggest fan of reverse dust jacket art because it will never get seen unless you hang it up like a poster.) The inside of the book will also have exclusive art in the book, along with exclusive chapter art. Honestly, this is a pretty cool customization, as it’s not often that the interior of a book gets special treatment as well! The customizations definitely make the set sound worth it. Each book comes to about $36 each, which is pricey, but makes since when you think of the artists they had to commission in addition to the manufacturing costs they’ll have to pay to get this print run made. (Things like foiling and intricate sprayed edges aren’t cheap!)

In the end, I still haven’t finished the books yet, so I can’t say if I think that the story itself makes the book worth it. However, I’m really not sold on the cover artist (I don’t doubt her skill or ability at all, but I’m just wary of that style being applied to a book cover.) and considering that the cover is one of the most important elements of a physical book for me, that’s a big deciding factor as to if I’d get this edition over one of the others that’s been announced. Personally, The Bookish Box’s set/box just doesn’t appeal to me much just due to the art, but that’s just my personal preference!

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Pros

• Fantastic book customizations (See above!)
• Highly exclusive (you’ll only be able to get this edition from The Bookish Box!)
• US Shipping
• Highly popular book series!

Cons

• Very expensive set (each book is about $36 dollars, which is extreme.)
• Doesn’t include the 4th book (I wish they would wait for the series to finish before releasing deluxe sets!!!)
• As of the time of posting, we don’t know what the exclusive covers will look like (not sure if this will be revealed)
• Boxes went on sale very soon after the announcement (Boxes were announced last Monday and went on sale on Friday.)
• Personally am not sold on the book cover artist yet

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Thanks for reading my ramble! Let me know in the comments what you think of this! Are you considering getting the book set or full box? Let me know in the comments!

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