Intro:
“Hey all, it’s been a while since I’ve done any book blogging since I’ve been marathon reading and trying to get my physical TBR and ARC reviews under control (spoiler: he’s still fighting a losing battle). While a bit late for May, I thought I’d start a new book‑blogging series where I discuss my many book box subscription services and which subs I’m planning to renew vs. skip.
Since early last year, I fell down the book box subscription rabbit hole, innocently starting with Aardvark Book Club and somehow expanding to 10+ subscriptions; I fully blame my book box and fellow reading friend Rachelle for this. With that many subscriptions and limited bookshelf space, I have to be quite selective about what I keep, so each month I’ll be walking through my internal thought process and ramblings.
Note: Many of these book box subs are considered “surprise book boxes,” where the book title and customized designs (if applicable) are not revealed ahead of time. These blog entries will contain spoilers as a warning. Other subs do not, and some even reveal the full designs of their books ahead of time. I’ll be linking and including the digital mockups for reference if available. A few companies, like The Broken Binding and Fae Crate, process renewals a little differently, where they are billed a month in advance, so May’s renewals go toward the month of June’s book pick. For consistency and the purpose of skips/renewals, I will list these renewals by the month the renewal fee is charged, not by the assigned book of the month.
Now without further ado, here’s my belated recap of my May book box renewals/skips!”
Confirmed Book Picks: (spoiler-free)
Aardvark Book Club: (Skipped)
Aardvark’s lineup for May is quite good and varied as usual, though not quite my cup of tea. Potential books I was interested in reading included The Girl With A Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, John of John by Douglas Stuart, and the Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer. The last two aren’t really books I’d normally pick up but both have been quite hyped up in the pre-release industry circles and on social media respectively. My physical TBR is in a dire situation at the moment so I will be skipping this month. I did have the option to get The Girl With A Thousand faces via several other subs but ultimately ended up getting none of them.
Goldsboro Fellowship: The Mistral by Felix Mosse (Renewed)
Goldsboro’s May pick is The Mistral by Felix Mosse, the start of an epic fantasy trilogy that has been compared to Sanderson and other traditional high‑fantasy fan favorites. I’ve been trying to avoid picking up more trilogies due to the financial and reading commitment, but this pick is easily one of the ones that most closely aligns with my fantasy reading tastes. The book’s synopsis and marketing pitch don’t really give away much, but the bold comparisons on top of it being a debut novel are intriguing. Goldsboro’s edition edges are beautiful in the mockup, so I’m going to give this one a shot!
The Broken Binding Fantasy: Ruin by John Gwynne (The Faithful and the Fallen #3) (Renewed)
TBB’s main Fantasy and Scifi subs are an all‑or‑nothing affair where skips and renewals are handled on a per‑series basis. The May renewal for this sub corresponds to the June book, which is Ruin, the third of four books in John Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen series. Though I haven’t read Gwynne’s works yet, I was very excited when this series was announced for the sub, as he’s an author I’ve really wanted to read since returning to reading and fantasy. This set by TBB not only looks amazing but also includes sewn binding and acid‑free paper for no additional fee, amazing finishing features considering the UK’s hardcover standards are typically glued binding and stiff, against‑the‑grain paper stock. This series has been delayed due to quality‑control issues with the printing company, but I’m more than willing to wait.
The Broken Binding Scifi: Dust by Hugh Howey (Silo #3) (Renewed)
Like their Fantasy sub, TBB’s Scifi sub is skipped and renewed per series since they only do backlist titles back‑to‑back. It took me almost three‑quarters of a year to get the subscription invite, but TBB Scifi was one of my dream subs made even better when they announced that Hugh Howey’s Silo series would be the next set released. (I got this sub just before their standalone edition of Simon Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds, another author on my TBR). While some folks on TBB’s subreddit or Instagram had mixed feelings about the dust‑jacket designs and subdued edges, I personally love the mockups for this series. My copy of Wool did have a minor manufacturing defect, but TBB replaced it promptly. Both of the first two books look great, and I expect Dust to be no different.
Surprise Book Subs: (spoilers)
Illumicrate (Sold)
Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter
Of the subs that lean heavily into fantasy romance, Illumicrate has been quite solid this year compared to others (looks at FairyLoot). This particular pick isn’t bad, but I’m being selective with my backlog, and this one being the start of a trilogy makes it less appealing due to the time and money investment. The book seems quite popular, though, and instantly sold out via Allurial, so I’m sure my copy will go to a more appreciative home.
Illumicrate Afterlight (Sold)
Happy Endings by Chloe Liese
In general, Afterlight is a sub I wouldn’t ordinarily have if it hadn’t been the second one I got an invite to while waiting for others. I read a decent amount of contemporary romance, but it’s not a genre I love enough to own outside of a few select authors. Chloe Liese is popular, but this book’s synopsis sounds just okay to me. It’s not offensive like some of their recent picks, but it also doesn’t excite me, so I skipped it.
Owlcrate Adult Fantasy (Skipped)
Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth
I was on a decade‑long reading hiatus and missed her divisive Divergent series, but this one caught my attention and is a book I definitely want to read. It’s cool seeing OwlCrate feature a dystopian book that leans more scifi than fantasy, but I’m hesitant to renew because OwlCrate’s track record with sequels for scifi or non‑fantasy books is mixed, and this is a blind buy. I opted to skip, but if I had gone back to renew any sub I passed on this month, this would be the one.
FairyLoot YA + Adult Combo (Skipped)
Adult: Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni
This was an easy skip, mostly because the adult pick is the start of a trilogy paired with a synopsis that sounds a bit generic. A debut trilogy that doesn’t spark my interest is an automatic skip.
YA: Stormbreaker by Nisha J. Tuli
Stormbreaker, on the other hand, is a really cool pick—a dystopian YA duology based around lightning. I was fortunate to receive an ARC from Entangled, which I enjoyed and rated a solid 4.0. It’s a fun and surprisingly good dystopian YA novel, but I don’t like it enough for it to outweigh my ambivalence toward Deathbringer.
The Broken Binding SF&F (Skipped)
The Heart of Nhaga by Lee Young-Do
TBB’s S&F June pick charged in May is The Heart of Nhaga, a popular and respected Korean high fantasy series that is being translated and published in English for the first time. This pick and Western publishing announcement got quite a bit of excitement but I opted to skip it as it’s not for me personally. I have a relatively poor track record when it comes to reading and reviewing Asian translated literature either due to the approaches to storytelling or details lost in translation. This one book is also part of a four-book series on top of also having a spinoff series which is a lot to commit to especially considering the trio to TBB subscriptions have the highest costs due to international shipping. This sub has an excellent skip policy so this one was a straightforward choice.
Fae Crate Adult (Sold)
Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
Like TBB, Fae Crate charges renewal fees a month prior to the book being picked and shipped, so the May charge is for the June pick: Daggermouth. This book was originally an indie title that blew up on BookTok and Bookstagram and is now getting traditionally published. I had the YA + Adult combo box from Fae Crate since last November but swapped to the adult‑only box, not because I didn’t want the YA books, but because the adult picks were incredibly hit or miss, and they kept pairing two books together when I often only wanted one. I originally planned to cancel entirely, but the hype for this book got my attention. I ended up resubscribing (a month early by accident, oops) and sold this pick to my book‑box friend Rachelle, who was very interested in it.
New Subscriptions:
Illumicrate Starbright (New Sub/Renewed)
The Last Contact of Isako by Fonda Lee
The deal is only sweetened by their May pick: The Last Contract of Isako, one of my top anticipated reads of the year. I’m thankful I joined the waitlist before the teasers dropped, because many people who want this book won’t get an invite in time. Besides being a Fonda Lee book, I love that it features an older female main character—a rarity in SFF—and early reviews describe it as a scifi/cyberpunk take on John Wick. I cannot wait for this one, and I’m cautiously optimistic about Illumicrate’s edition, even though the artist lineup has me a little worried compared to TBB’s edition, which looks amazing but is almost $20 more expensive for me due to shipping.
For some book‑sub background lore: one of the reasons I got into book boxes is that while the exclusive editions are pretty and coveted, I was also interested in the curation service. Of all the subs I wanted, I was most interested in TBB’s Scifi and Illumicrate’s Starbright, since I didn’t know where to start with new scifi books at the time. (Navigating Amazon Kindle scifi listings was a nightmare—this is no longer the case; I am an educated man now!)
I previously received an invite to Starbright last summer but had to pass because it was only offered through Illumicrate’s UK store, which would have cost me $54 before tax. I like Illumicrate, but not enough to pay that much for a glued‑binding UK‑standard hardcover unless the art is exceptional like TBB’s. But starting May 2026, Illumicrate is offering Starbright through their US store, lowering the cost to $37 for me, a game‑changer!
Off Month / No Renewal:
- Illumicrate Mindsight
Recap:
So to recap, the final skip/renewal count is 5 subs renewed, 5 subs skipped, not including Aardvark, which isn’t a special‑edition book‑box sub. To be honest, this is higher than I expected—mostly due to the new Starbright and Fae Crate subscriptions—but still better than my Feb 2026 renewals, which were a TBR disaster. Of these picks, I’m most looking forward to the dual TBB series that are continuing, as well as Starbright’s pick, though I’m also feeling optimistic about Goldsboro’s book.