Special Edition Sunday: Illumicrate

 It's nice to see you again!

    Come with me as I break down Illumicrate special edition subscription boxes. Another UK base subscription box that started in the 2015s. To me it's one of the OGs of subscription boxes so let's take a closer look at what they offer. How we break down the subscriptions so you can find the one that fits you. Cost, Quality/Design, Book Choices, Availability, Skip Policy, and Benefits.

Illumicrate's offer multiple different subscriptions to fit your lifestyle. They like to name each of their subscriptions so currently they have the Illumicrate box, Illumicrate book only, Afterlight Romance, the combo, Evernight Horror, Mindsight Crime, or Starbright Sci-Fi. Their Illumicrate boxes are a mix between YA and Adult fantasy releases. The others are pretty explanatory with afterlight being their romance subscription, Evernight = horror, Mindsight is the thriller/mystery box, and starbright as the sci-fi edition. Their combo is the book only Illumicrate + afterlight boxes. Let's break down cost.

Cost

Starting with the 

Illumicrate Boxes: This is a monthly subscription. They offer two boxes a book only and a book and goodies. The book only runs £27.00 + taxes.  

The book and goodies offer you the monthly book plus 4 bookish items are £38.00 + taxes. 

They do offer a 3 month and 6 month prepaid plan for both these boxes.

(Note: I currently do the Illumicrate book only with a 3 month prepaid plan. More details below)

Afterlight Romance: this sub is about £27.00 + tax.

Illumicrate + Afterlight Combo: You'll receive the monthly Adult and Romance picks. This combo is also £52.00+ taxes.

They have two Quarterly Boxes 

Evernight, Mindsight, and Starbright boxes: They each will be billed every three months. 

They do not offer these in combo boxes since they are quarterly.

Evernight Horror: This sub runs £27.00 + tax. It is January, April, July, and October.

 

Starbright Sci-fi:  This subscription is £27.00 + taxes. This one is February, May, August, and November.

Mindsight Crime:  This subscription is £27.00 + taxes. This one is March, June, September, and December.

Skip Policy

 You have 6 skips per a calendar year for the monthly subscriptions and 2 skips per a calendar year for the quarterly subs. The combo box follows the 6 skips er a calendar year but pertains to box boxes, so if you want to skip one but not the other you can't with this sub.  The prepaid monthly subscriptions also follow the 6 skips per a calendar year. Like the other boxes the only one you can't skip is the first box you sign up for. Skipping is also easy for this one you just log in and do it in your account portal under subscriptions.

(Note: I do use the 3 month prepaid option and had no problems skipping a box. The credit just goes to the next month and pushes your payment back a month.)

Availability

All their subscriptions are all currently on a waitlist.

The waitlist for each can take anywhere from 5 months to 9 months. They do get you in pretty fast in my opinion.

 

Book Choices

 This will depend on what you're looking for. They do more curated books that seem to be darker, grittier, or diverse and LGBTQ+. They tend to be a little lesser known but really good picks for the one's I've picked up.

I'll just give examples of three past boxes for each so you can see the verity they do.

Illumicrate: Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner, Nemesis Mine by Amy Archer, Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter

Afterlight Romance: Leave and Come Back by Lavanya Lakshmi, The Open Era by Edward Schmit, Happy Ending by Chloe Liese

Evernight Horror: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno- Garcia, The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monkia Kim, Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker.

Starbright Sci-fi: The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee, Jitterbug by Gareth L. Powell, Slow Gods by Claire North.

Mindsight Thiller/Mystery: Fellow Creatures by Emma Lowther, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke.

 

Benefits

The benefits with Illumicrate are exclusive access to sales and special editions. They give subscribers early access before general access for additional special editions. They also have a point system that with every non subscription purchase you will receive points that will equal a reward and get you a discount.

(Note: Of all the subscriptions I have with point systems this one seems to be the hardest to rack up points for a reward.)

Quality/Design

This one is personal also. I have been subscribing since March of 2025 in both the Illumicarte book box and Afterlight. I have tried the Starbright and Evernight subscriptions, but I don't read a lot in either of those genres, so I cancelled my quarterly subs with them. The only downside I have is there regular sub book are the royal hardbacks while their romance is a typical standard hard back. Which translate they are not the same size. I personally don't love small hard back that look chunky.

The designs are stunning for the fantasy, sci-fi and horror one's I have gotten. It's a hit or miss on the romance for me. The afterlight dust jacket and hard cover are usually beautiful, but the sprayed edges give off early 2010 sprayed edges with little thought behind it. They usually are sprayed with one designed just repeated over and over. I personally would rather just have a continuous of the dust jacket. (*I'll inserted picture at end.) I like strawberries so not mad about that one but the black with yellow/gold chains, far right is for Dom Com and it's very disappointing. Same with 

I have not had any books come damaged, so I have not had to use their costumer support. I have never received a book of theirs that was misprinted or loose binding or anything of the sort.

(*Note: This is what I mean about the afterlight edges are mostly copy paste to me with little thought compared to what the regular sub and even the horror books have had.) 

Let me know if you agree?