Same. I stayed with them for YEARS... but the amount of damaged books and the utter "I don't give a shit" from customer service just sent me over the edge. Quit several months ago, LOVE not giving them $100+ per month for crappy books.
100 percent in agreement. After I just got The Ritual and was immediately like, "ugh" at the design. I'm over it and cancelling today. I stopped getting the merch about 3 months ago and switched to book only, and was happy not to have all the garbage around. The jewelry is lame, feels so cheap and not book inspired at all, (e.g. two arrows, or a star supposed to be representing ACOTAR? mmm no). There was one glass tumbler I got recently, but the straw wasn't wrapped and fell on the floor when I was unboxing and immediately shattered. I do not like the paper they use, how all the hardbacks are like "boxy/square/pointy" if that makes sense. I have been sent separate book covers twice now and have no idea why. The design on these is just icky. I have illumicrate, fairyloot, arcane society, and broken binding, and recently bought the pre-order for the OwlCrate romatasy and romance so this one has got to go!
Nooooooo. The glass tumblers were some of the good items. I hate that for you 😭 That's so odd that they sent you separate book covers, too? I think the Owlcrate Romantasy will be a way better sub!
I am probably going to cancel my Illumicrate book only box at the end of the summer. I joined in December ‘23 and didn’t like the book, received Jan and Feb and maybe March, but have skipped every book since then. I haven’t liked the book selections, so that was a big factor, but also I started the FL Romantasy box, and knew I’d only keep one of them. FL Romantasy also has selection hiccups, but I am more of that target audience than Illumicrate, and when the quarterly FL Epic Fantasy sub comes out, I will probably drop to the YA book only and no longer get the bookish items.
I've been disappointed in the Illumicrate book selections as well. The only one I've managed to read thus far is Voyage of the Damned. All of the others I've started and stopped multiple times, and I've had the audios lapse because I just couldn't get into them. Oooooh, I'm super excited for the FL Epic Fantasy sub!! I might drop my Afterlight subscription for that one. And I got the chance to read the FL July Romantasy pick. It wasn't great imo, but by far it's the best pick so far and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. If nothing else, I'm sure it will be pretty! I've been think about dropping the FL items as well in 2025. I just haven't been as impressed in 2024
@@thestorydragon1 exactly. Plus, I have so many of the items repeated already. It’s fine, I can sell and gift a lot of them, but it’s more clutter so I think I’m done. Plus I am 30 years away from the target audience, so the stories aren’t my favorites anymore.
YES. The amount of book sleeves I've gotten 😭 I have a whole drawer filled with items I need to sell or use as giveaways. YA has gotten hit or miss as I get older (which totally makes sense because I'm not a teen LOL). I have to follow a different rule-set when I review for that exact reason--I'm no longer the target audience, I just work with the target audience and purchase for them 😂
