Is The Adult Fantasy Fairyloot Box Worth It? 29 Months Worth of Books, Stats, Thoughts & More!

[@BookishBlackwell]

Do you have a favorite edition that Fairyloot has put out so far? 💕📚

[@annmoore321]

Honestly, my bigger concern is that most of the books have very mid ratings. I haven’t been terribly impressed by most of the selections as a result. I think FairyLoot would be more worth it if they chose more books/authors who have reputations for high quality work. I also think they need to relabel this as the Romantasy box because I know of several people who were disappointed by the distinct lack of actual adult high fantasy which is what the company promised in the first place.

[@craftyhobbit7623]

I've always been skeptical about subscription/mystery boxes since I ordered a comic one once, hoping to get high quality, or at least well known comics because I wanted to try out new comics, but it was full of comics that weren't selling/stuff that weren't in the genre I wanted. I also took Fairyloot's quiz to find out which box would suit me the best, but it came up with YA and I dislike YA. That's not the same as disliking stories about young/teenage characters because I like Harry Potter and have enjoyed fantasy with young/teenage characters as the main protagonist - I just hate books that focus on teenage angst, teenage romantic relationships, stroppy teens that are always arguing with their parents/authority and frivolous teenage 'interests'. These themes seem to intrude on the plot and become more important than the fantasy elements of the books. If there's an element that appeals to the masses instead of the traditionally 'nerdy' fans of a genre it tends to take over the genre, especially if there are blockbuster movies or tv shows made out of it.

[@AnnaShuk]

Thank you so much for this video 💛 You've put so much work in it. I love these editions, but I haven't got one yet, because I prefer audiobooks at the moment and unfortunately, box will be too expensive for me at the moment, especially with international shipping. But nonetheless, I think this subscription service is totally worth it, because those editions are simply stunning.🌸❤️

[@kaesinfinitelibrary]

I love videos like this!!! Every year I have grand plans to do this for my YA Fairyloot books every year just to document my own thoughts but then never do 🤣

[@BookishBlackwell]

It’s a big undertaking 🫠 that said, I love these those of videos too and I’d definitely watch 👀!

[@aquarianfog]

Love your earrings!

[@BookishBlackwell]

Thank you 🥰

[@dsm_796]

I had the same subscription as you and ended up cancelling it because of the meh books. Cute covers and all but they aren’t just good enough to pay so much for a book, shipping and to receive it quite late (I live in Switzerland, by the time it gets here I’ve been already spoiled). I do want to try their epic fantasy subscription coming on May 2025, I hope they pick better books.

[@TessOfTheEmeraldSea]

I just got the invite and accepted with the hope of swapping to the epic fantasy box next year. I was hoping it would be less romance based especially given they have a romance box 😅 would love some more scifi in the coming boxes too

[@Yzabell0M]

I’ll probably do the same…

[@jenna4519]

Thanks for putting this together! It must've been so much work. Also, I can't remember, do you have a Broken Binding subscription? I would love to see all your Broken Binding books 😍 For anyone that wants special editions and prefers high fantasy, I believe Broken Binding would be a better option for them, right?

[@BookishBlackwell]

You’re welcome!!! Yeah it was a ton of work 😅 Yes! I have a Broken Binding Subscription and I do plan on doing a similar video for them in the future 😊 Absolutely, for high fantasy lovers nobody is doing it like The Broken Binding ✨

[@sldkfk7858]

This was such a great video!! Your editing skills are just incredible, I love the individual shots you took of every edition with their customizations. I’m already a FL subscriber but watched this all the way through 🫶🏼

[@BookishBlackwell]

Thank you so much!!! That’s so nice of you to say! 🥰

[@jackizaugg1135]

I don't do fairyloot but I love this video. I wish I could get the fate inked in blood book. But it's not showing up on how I can on the website

[@BlackCatBritt]

I have a question that's been bugging me, and maybe you know: I saw Fairyloot did an exclusive edition of The Hemlock Queen (sequel to The Foxglove King) but they sold out of any extra copies before it even hit the Fairy Trove. I don't have any of the subscriptions because I've been endlessly waitlisted. Would you happen to know which box The Hemlock Queen actually came in? Because I've been looking and literally nobody has unboxed it or talked about it even though it's been out for a bit.

[@BookishBlackwell]

Usually sequels to books in the subscription are sold outside of the subscription in one off sales. They must have had really low quantities of this one because I missed out on it myself. Looks like it shipped out sometime this summer? Sorry that’s all the info I’ve got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I really do wish Fairyloot would do a preorder for sequels, I hate missing out on matching editions because they didn’t print enough copies.

[@craftyhobbit7623]

I feel like it would have been nice to tell us what each book is about, rather than just giving a good reads rating. It's important because that, rather than the customizations is what would convince me that the subscription is worth it, otherwise if I wanted to buy a special edition of a book, I would go with Subterrain Press as I already know that I like the story of the book I'm purchasing. And where are the male authors and the high fantasy epics? There is also a lack of 'classic' fantasy, like Terry Brooks, etc. It's nice to have new fantasy, but we shouldn't forget older books as they are what got us interested in fantasy in the first place.

[@VzoZel]

Almost all characters look exactly the same...

[@nataliebaker918]

Character art takes away from the "special edition"

[@williamburns3823]

The gender and skin color of the authors shouldn’t matter. There are men that write well and there are women that write well, there are white people that write well and there are people of color that write well. In fact, I’d say the quality of books go down when people prioritize the gender or skin color of the author over the actual substance of the book.

[@zicoelsamo6921]

Some people treating people of color like Pokémons. Especially in a book community where people choosing books not because they’re interested in a plot or a topic of it but because they need to add author’s ethnicity to their collection

[@BookishBlackwell]

I like to think that we’re all aware that authors of any gender or race are capable of being good writers. That being said, female writers have been greatly overlooked and under appreciated in the fantasy genre. And writers of color are greatly overlooked and under appreciated in arguably ALL genres. For some of us, it matters a great deal whether a book box is willing to give voice and bring attention to authors whose books may otherwise not be given special edition treatment or even hardcover releases. I agree that in a perfect world, gender nor race SHOULD matter. But we don’t live in a perfect world. And it seams to me that people demanding that we only talk about “quality” are really those who are the most uncomfortable with these discrepancies being pointed out. I’d ask myself why that is.

[@williamburns3823]

Well, 1. That less than perfect world isn’t going to be made perfect by putting people on pedestals because of their immutable characteristics but also 2, I don’t see how they’ve been overlooked? Some of the most popular fantasy/sci fi franchises in the past 25+ years have been created by women.. and 3, that’s like buying a car with dubious reliability on Craigslist but you like it because it’s blue

[@brickgarden]

I’m going to quote Morgan Freeman here. “We end racism by not brining it up constantly.” And as MLK said: “Let us be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin.” I’m sure these authors would like for readers to discuss the writing, the characters, and the well-developed plots of their books, and not their skin tone or weather they are male or female. Strangely, that’s how it used to be. 20 years ago a book was a book, and a woman being an author was not a deal maker or breaker. But now, for some reason, there is a portion of society that want to regress back to the segregation days of the 60s. If you said, “ this was written by a person of color”, back in the early 2000s, you would just get a weird look, because no one cared who was behind the book. It was just a good book. I remember when it was revealed JK Rowling was a woman (around the time the 2nd book came out) and everyone was just like, “oh that’s cool”, and went on. That said, using an author’s gender or skin color to promote a book never really works, because most normal people don’t care.

[@jenna4519]

I think you've overlooked that sometimes people just want to see themselves reflected in the media they consume.