Woop Woop got to love the feeling of being in the first batch of Fairyloot to dispatch! This month I was especially happy as November is their sci-fi themed Battles and Galaxies box. From the moment they announced a sci-fi theme featuring a Lunar Chronicles inspired item, I knew this would be a box that I would love.  It was a brave decision by fairyloot to step away from high fantasy and I know it wasn’t a hugely popular decision with some but it was absolutely perfect for me!  Also please forgive how dark the pics have come out, I wanted to get my unboxing posted but the light is terrible! 

The first item I came to was a Galaxy bath bomb by Little Heart Gifts, it’s smells lovely with a starburst scent and the swirly pink, blue and green galaxy design is gorgeous! Next is an item by Fairyloot, which is character and galaxy designed passport cover, the silver design stands out wonderfully on the black cover and whilst I am currently without a passport I can’t wait to use this when I want to pretend that i’m still in the EU after Brexit and imagine that it’s a burgundy not blue passport underneath…. Just in time for Christmas though is the next item which is a wonderful wooden tree ornament with one of best paraphrased Shakespeare quotes “it is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” The simple wooden decoration designed by Catarina’s Book Designs is just perfect for our tree when it goes up next weekend!

The Lunar Chronicles inspired item came in a lovely little box just to keep the suspense up a little longer, a set of 4 coasters designed by Miss Phi was inside, I love coasters (I never use the pretty one’s but looking around my living room I realise I have loads for decoration!) and there is one for each of the books, Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter and apparently they make a lovely design when lined up together – I say apparently because of all the items to have an error in the box it had to be the one I was looking forward to the most!  I have 2 Winters and no Cress, I got onto Fairyloot about it and their customer service got back to me in less than an hour to say that I would be getting a replacement, i’m absolutely gutted though that it will take up to 3 weeks to arrive. It wouldn’t be a Fairyloot box without one random item that you never knew you needed until you had it and Galaxy themed straws which was another By Fairyloot design.  Thankfully these metallic straws are reusable and both have quotes of “Shine Bright” and “Reach for the Stars” The nice touch about this set is that the pouch come with a special wire brush cleaner the right size for them – the middle aged parent side of me approves greatly of this! We got a cute Iron on patch with the box based on the Red Rising series, I have book one on my kindle and I can’t wait to get to it as it’s on my December tbr! The quote is “I am the reaper and death is my shadow” and the design is by KDP Letters, I’m sure it will all become clear when I read it next month!  The final item this month is a tote bag inspired by The Illuminae Files, this is a series which has been high on my list of books to buy for a while, I may treat myself for my birthday soon! The quote is “Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness” which just makes me want to read the book even more! It’s designed by my favourite Evie Bookish, the fabric feels like it might be a little waterproof too which will be a bonus!

Onto the book, and it was pretty much the worst kept secret that this months book is Skyward by Brandon Sanderson.  I’ve yet to read a book by him but I gather he’s pretty popular! Getting this book wasn’t without issue, Fairyloot had a bit of a minefield when it came to getting this book both for Europe and the US and there was a bit of a trade off, the UK got sprayed edges and the US got a signed bookplate.  Whilst I would always prefer a signature in this instance I’m willing to let that go because in my view the UK cover is far superior to the US one.  This Fairyloot exclusive version comes with yellow sprayed edges and it’s a huge book too! Here’s the blurb:

Spensa’s world has been under attack for hundreds of years. An alien race called the Krell leads onslaught after onslaught from the sky in a never-ending campaign to destroy humankind. Humanity’s only defense is to take to their ships and fight the enemy in the skies. Pilots have become the heroes of what’s left of the human race.Spensa has always dreamed of being one of them; of soaring above Earth and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father’s – a pilot who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, placing Spensa’s chances of attending flight school somewhere between slim and none.No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, but she is still determined to fly. And the Krell just made tSohat a possibility. They’ve doubled their fleet, making Spensa’s world twice as dangerous . . . but their desperation to survive might just take her skyward . . .

So that was this month’s fantastic box!  I’m feeling like fairyloot have really be listening to their subscribers and the standard of the boxes over the last couple of months has been outstanding, next months theme is Dragons, but i’m sorry to tell you all that it’s sold out already!

Ooh I almost missed this – we got a link to a free download to an ebook! The book is Atlas Fallen by Jessica Pierce; i’m off to download my copy!