I ordered this book as a gift for my daughter. She has already read the first book, which we also got through OwlCrate, and she's been asking for the second. It arrived quickly, and after a very cursory look I wrapped the box. She was so excited when she opened her gift. However, when she went to put it on her book shelf she found that almost all of part 5 had the pages stuck together. I looks like maybe some glue from binding got on the front edge during production. We were hoping that we could easily separate the pages, but no matter how careful I was we couldn't avoid some damage. Plus the front edge could not be smoothed and some pages tried to re-stick.

Now, if I had posted the review at this point, I probably would have put my purchase rating at 4 stars. Delivery was still awesome and the damage was likely not something they could have known/controlled, it was just a bummer. But instead, I decided to send a message to see if there was anything we could do - maybe send it back for a replacement or something. I am typically hesitant to reach out to customer service anywhere, as it is often a frustrating experience, but my daughter was so bummed and hesitant to read it because she didn't want to hurt it more (she's very careful about her books) so I took the chance and sent the message. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they responded and thrilled that they immediately offered to send my daughter a new copy since hers was damaged. My daughter is so excited!

I…

Some series decline as they progress, but NOT this one! Book 2 is even better than book 1, and I have truly found that it is as much fun for adults as it is for YA readers as it is for middle grade readers. It's beautifully written, it's positive, it's colorful, it's magical imagery is a thousand shades of striking, and it's just plain fun. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Disney didn't grab this series and make films--it's just amazing. And these books by Owlcrate are gorgeous. Unfortunately, I missed out on getting book 1 by Owlcrate, so I actually preordered book 2 as I had seen an Owlcrate copy from one of my daughter's friends. Book 2 is every bit as lovely. This one is truly worth it. (I sound like I'm doing a commercial :rofl:--but I just truly love it when I can share books with my daughter & enjoy them as much as she does).