Unboxing: Review of OwlCrate Queen Of Nothing Special Edition

What a deluxe OwlCrate month! I have received two special edition boxes (November’s ‘Through the Enchanted Forest’ and the special edition of Call Down the Hawk). I’ve been lucky to get all these boxes and was blown away by the former two … but this one has left me a little disappointed. For the first time in three years of being a subscriber I feel the quality of some of the items fell quite short.

Starting off with my favourite item – the art prints. These art prints were illustrated by Melanie Bourgeois, depicting two scenes from The Queen of Nothing. The fierceness of Jude with that snake? The sparkly, shimmering goodness of Jude + Cardan? Both are so gorgeous.

USB-powered star lights. Ok, I love stars and I love twinkly lights and I love that these are USB powered so we aren’t killing the environment with batteries … but all these cool stars are just hot glued to the LED posts and most of the glue has let go on my set. Meaning I have to go reattach the star clips with more hot glue. While I think it is such a cool concept, I just don’t believe anything being held together with hot glue has any business being in a special edition box costing $70 Cdn with shipping.

Set of three decorative spoons. Each of these tiny spoons was inspired by a different book in the trilogy and I can’t say they are my favourite item, but maybe I’ll use them in some instagram photos.

Ceramic trinket dish designed by Literary Lifestyle Company featuring the quote “Let us remember our triumph, our trickery, and our delight in one another.” Trinket dishes were the name of the book-box game this year having just gotten one from OwlCrate in September. I do like the one from that box better, but that’s personal opinion.

Wall tapestry. This tapestry designed by Stella Bookish Art is gorgeous – absolutely gorgeous. I love everything about it – the colours, the design, the quote … I just wish I liked wall tapestries! If I sound petty, I don’t mean to. I sincerely wish this item could’ve been any other fabric item, from a kitchen towel to another tote bag … I simply do not like wall tapestries as I have no use for them.

Enamel Tin Mug with artwork by Holly Dunn. I like the forestry design on this one and will enjoy using it when camping.

Set of four coaster set designed by KDP Letters, featuring four different quotes from the series on a woodland-themed background. When the edges of my coasters were varnished – they varnished all the coasters together! When I tried to take them apart, the design ripped off the top of each coaster. So sad, because I really like the design of these and use my coasters from the June box all the time.

This melamine serving tray was also designed by Holly Dunn and features a lovely woodland scene with another Holly Black quote “No matter the danger, no matter the hardship, no matter the cost” – I think I will enjoy using this for snacks!

The enamel pin was designed by Alchemy and Ink and is inspired by an item Jude wears in the story. And lastly is, of course, the exclusive OwlCrate edition of The Queen of Nothing that matches the other two in the series, came signed, and with an author letter.

Overall Rating: B-

• Star Lights: 1/3

• Decorative Spoons: 1.5/3

• Coasters: 2/3

• Trinket Dish: 2/3

• Tapestry: 2/3

• Tin Enamel Mug: 3/3

• Art Prints: 3/3

• Serving Tray: 2/3

While this crate did come with an obscene amount of goodies (8!), I feel the quality was lacking on quite a few items and for me personally many were not my favourite or even useable (the spoons, the tapestry). Overall, I feel the OwlCrate quality I have come to expect was simply missing here.

Note on Rating: I rate each item out of 3 possible points: 1 for quality, 1 for usefulness, and 1 for if I personally liked the item/fandom. I then assign an overall letter rating for the whole box.