Unboxing Secret Project #2

I got this box already a while ago, almost three months ago by now, but I neglected writing about it, despite me diligently photographing the unboxing.
Yeah, when I’m in a procrastination mood, I don’t do it half heartedly, lol. Which means you’ve got some unboxing posts to look forward to, starting with this Secret Project #2.

I posted my review of this secret project #2, the book with the massive title The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, a while back, which you can read here.
Now let’s see what the physical copy looks like!

Just like my first box, this one has also been through something rough. I was a bit scared when I saw the repair sticker, so it was with some concern that I opened this box.

The inside of the box also testifies to a journey that has not been made without a struggle, but it didn’t immediately look like the contents were damaged. Oof!

So far the packaging is quite similar to the one for SP1, but with a few tweaks.
For example, the golden ticket seal has of course been modified, but also the quote on the inside of the lid was also adapted to better suit the book. A subtle change, but a testament to the care that went into making these boxes.
The quote, by the way, is from Words of Radiance the second Stormlight Archive book.

Like in all the other book boxes I receive, this one came with a spoiler card.
This is something I rarely read unless I don’t know what an entry is or what book it refers to. But this one is worth reading. It made me chuckle and is also a good indication of the type of writing you can expect within the book.

With the first box I was actually surprised to see that it came with a spoiler card, since I was not expecting anything extra in the box. This time I knew differently!

The additional goodies are again fairly similar to those from the first book, except of course being adapted to coincide with the book.
Firstly, there’s the collectible pin, featuring a character from the Cosmere. This is Vasher and everyones favourite sword Nightblood from Warbreaker. I can’t see a connection between the choice of this character and the book, so I’m assuming this is just chosen haphazardly.
The box also came with a high quality sticker, with an illustration of a little wizard chap that’s frequently illustrated within the book.
And finally we got a sturdy bookmark, featuring an illustration, printed on both sides of the bookmark in different sizes.

Let us now finally turn our attention towards the star of the box, the book!
This one is again a wonderfully curated piece with a cover in a buttery soft-feel imitation leather. The cover illustrations are partially embossed with details of gold, silver and blue foiling.

When I first saw this cover when I received the e-book, I wasn’t really sold on it, and I’m still not.
It’s too simular to the mock-up, making it feel unfinished, especially when comparing it with the high-quality illustrations inside the book.
Meanwhile, the cover for the standard edition has been revealed and yeah, I have to say that I prefer that one to what we got in this edition.

But anyway, the slightly disappointing cover is more than made up for with the amount and quality of the illustrations inside!

Starting with the endpapers. Aren’t these amazing? What gorgeous illustrations and character art. eginnen met de
As you can see, just like with the first book, a clear accent color was chosen, which is used throughout all illustrations in the book, and there are quite a number of those.

First we have the introductory pages, featuring not only a repeat of the cover illustration, but also a portrait of the titular Frugal Wizard, which – funnily enough – was modelled for by Sanderson’s brother.

Then we have the chapter headings, for which a unique illustration has been made for each new chapter, about forty of them!

Each page number also features a cute little wizard hat, except for the pages where our little wizard guy has an adventure in the margins!

And those are only the so-called additional illustrations, because of course there are also page-size illustrations in two-tone blue-black.

And page size illustration on glossy paper in full colour.

The illustrator, Steve Argyle, really pulled out all the stops and included all his ideas within this one edition. Impressive!
Also impressive is the range of different drawing styles of this one illustrator!

So again super happy with this unique, super deluxe edition, even though the cover is not so much my style.

Cheers,
Charlotte