May Illumicrate Unboxing – The Final Frontier

I received my first Illumicrate box this month! I had been thinking of trying this bookish box company out for a while and with the announcement of May’s box containing a special edition of Aurora Rising I couldn’t resist and I’m so pleased to have finally been able to do so. I’m also planning to carry on my subscription for the June box as well. I did film an unboxing video which you can check out here or at the end of this blog post. This will be an unboxing post with closer pictures of each item so obviously spoilers ahead!

First up is a Lunar Chronicles Cooler Bag designed by Jo Painter (@Po_Jainter) featuring the women from the Lunar Chronicles series. I’m yet to read the books myself yet (I do have Cinder ready and waiting though!) but I thought this was a great item and super useful, especially as its London MCM this weekend so this was perfect timing.

Next up is one of my favourite items and that is the Squad 312 Pouch by Meghan (@IParwing). I wear reading glasses so I don’t get headaches and when I forget to wear them I often have to wear sunglasses when the headaches happen, I lost my glasses case last week but now I can fit my of my glasses inside this pouch. Not to mention it’s adorable, look at Fin taking the group selfie!!

Loving these adorable little Space Sticky Notes by Fable and Black (@Fableandblack) the design is super cute and I love the colours!

I have been informed that since lasts months box there will be a Magnetic Collectable Coin in each box which attaches to a magnetic necklace and you can change which coin you wear. I liked this idea and have managed to find myself a necklace from the April box so I can wear this beautiful, bright Kady coin. This Illuminae files inspired item was designed by Monolime (@Monolimeart) and although it makes Kady look a little older than I imagined, but I think that’s just the art style.

I haven’t got around to reading Red Rising yet but I really like this Howler Luggage Tag designed by Fable and Black (@fableandblack), it has a nice metallic finish and is nice and bright.

This next item is my joint favourite item (not including the book itself) this gorgeous Illuminae Pillowcase with illustration by Alice Duke (@Alice_Duke) and quote design by Chatty Nora (@chattynora). The material is super soft and I’ve actually brought a second one as my husband has been trying to steal mine!

Then last but absolutely no means least is the book itself! The book that would feature in the May box was announced not long after the Goldsboro books drama (a LOT more than 500 people tried to buy 500 special editions of Aurora Rising with purple sprayed edges – the site crashed, drama ensued) which I think was a pretty smart move and was certainly the reason I decided to purchase the May box with the theme “The Final Frontier” which would feature a special limited edition copy of Aurora Rising.

Unable to have nabbed one of the Goldsboro editions I decided to go in for the Illumicrate special instead and although purple IS my favourite colour I’m actually glad I ended up with the Illumicrate version instead. Not only does this special limited edition copy have HOT PINK sprayed edges but the colouring on the cover is also different and matches the hot pink pages and I’m so very in love with it.

If you’ve seen my unboxing video then you’ll already know that in all of my fawning over the pages etc I hadn’t given a thought to whether or not it was signed. I think I assumed there would be a signed bookplate like in many of the Fairy Loot books was happily surprised to see that this edition had actually been hand signed by both Jay and Amie instead which really made my day as my GC Reading edition arriving in the next few weeks is only signed by Jay (but is absolutely worth it as it also comes with the Momento novella!)

I was very pleased with my first Illumicrate! Each item was useful and won’t just end up stuck in a box and forgotten about like I’ve found with some items from other boxes in the past. It obviously helps that I love the theme for this month too but I have also decided to stay subscribed for the June box as well!

Thank you for checking out my unboxing! If you got this box too what did you think? What was your favourite item? If you didn’t get the box which would have been your favourite?