Page & Wick #6: January 2025
The shipping of my Page & Wick box for the month of January was delayed considerably due to new EU regulations on safety. It finally arrived, thankfully without any problems at the border, on March 18th.
The theme of the month was What Binds Us and without even guessing what the book for that theme would be, I knew I didn’t want to miss out on this box because it would come with an exclusive cover by @jeffbrown_graphics. But there were a lot of the other hints that appealed to me, too: an epic fantasy full of Japanese folklore, mystery, suspense, and quests. Sounds pretty cool!
The book turned out to be one that has actually been on my TBR for years, after a (now ex-) colleague recommended it: Never Die by Rob J. Hayes.
The Emperor of Ten Kings has plunged Hosa into war, and the gods are angry.
When the god of death gives Ein a mission to kill the immortal emperor, he knows he can’t do it alone. He needs allies, heroes who will fight for him. How else can an eight-year-old boy hope to do the impossible?
Whispering Blade, Iron Gut Chen, the Century Blade, and Flaming Fist. These are all names of legend. And the god of death has given Ein a way to bind them to his cause. There is only one catch. In order to serve him, they must first die.
Never Die is a stand alone set in the world of Mortal Techniques. It’s a wuxia adventure filled with samurai, shinigami, heroes, and vengeful spirits.
The exclusive cover by @jeffbrown_graphics certainly does not disappoint. It features the same group of figures that grace the original cover, but this time viewed from the back, against a sprawling backdrop of an old Japanese city that runs across the entire cover.
The hardcover itself is a deep red colour with gold foil elements. On the front is a design of a Japanese castle in a diamond shape, surrounded by bamboo shoots. On the back, the Japanese castle in the diamond shape has been replaced by a quote. When I first read it, I didn’t notice it, but then I suddenly saw that there are two major mistakes in this quote. The first mistake is that the t from lifetime has disappeared, the second mistake is that the second i from villain is missing.
I find this quite disappointing and, to be honest, a bit embarrassing for Page & Wick, especially considering the huge delays this book suffered…
To be fair, Page & Wick did admit to their mistake and also expressed their embarrassment. They sent an email to their subscribers, offering partial refunds to those who requested this within a period of 14 days. Unfortunately, for some reason my email got stuck in the spam folder, which I discovered too late to be able to request this refund… I emailed them about it, but I’m afraid I missed my chance there.
That said, it’s not that big of a big deal, these typos. It doesn’t really detract from the beauty of the design.
Personally, I think the illustration on the cover is especially beautiful. I think it’s really well done how this is also copied to the illustration on the book block.
The front and back endpapers come with the same beautiful illustration by @reneaignerillustration. The book is also signed by the author.
Despite the disappointing spellcheck, I think this edition turned out really cool. I absolutely love the cover art and the sprayed edges. The hardcover design looks great too, despite the mistakes. I really like how they repeated the design on the front and back, but only swapped the center of the diamond shape. And the illustration on the endpapers is gorgeous too.
The next box for Page & Wick is in March and I didn’t skip it, because I’m really curious about the predicted book.
Cheers,
Charlotte
