[Unboxing] Nirvana in Fire novels from Books.com.tw

Happy 2016 everyone!! I’m still working on that proper year end reviews post so just to take a break from it, I decided to write something I haven’t written before…. unboxing! I see people do this on beauty / tech blogs (I’m sure they do so in other types of blogs but that’s just what I read LOL) so here goes nothing!

 

*NOTE – I used my crappy phone camera for these photos so they are pretty bad sorry!!

 

I may have mentioned in my NIF love fest that I was ordering the novel. (Because I want to relive all the pain and angst obviously…) There’re a few editions floating around, but I was looking for the Traditional Chinese version because my Simplified Chinese reading skills is pretty poor, at about 70% at best. So there were only really 2 choices to buy them from. YesAsia or Books.com.tw. I’m sure there’re other online bookstores but these were the two I’ve bought stuff from before so I trusted them.

 

The books are divided into 3 parts and of course I want to buy the version with the drama cast on the covers!!!

 

 

Pricing

Although YesAsia has free shipping their list price was $21.49 USD per book, so $64.47 USD in total. Whilst Books.com.tw had them listed at $299 TWD / $9 USD each (huge difference right!!) and if you buy 2 books, there’s an extra 25% off! But they charge shipping and that’s always a killer. When I bought magazines from them, the postage always cost like half the value of the item itself. >_< (I live in Australia.) So in total, it was:

 

($299 TWD x 3) x 25% off + $520 TWD (postage) – $30 TWD (I had a member discount accumulated from previous purchases…) = $1,162 TWD / $35 USD!

 

I’m shocked by how overpriced YesAsia is even with the extra shipping. o_O

 

 

Delivery Speed

So based on price, buying from Books.com.tw is a no brainer. I sent my order on the night of the 21st December (Monday) and they despatched it on the 23rd December (Wednesday).  I didn’t think I will receive it in 2015 because there’re 2 public holidays in between (25/12 & 28/12), plus the postage times are usually around 7 to 10 days – that’s the official numbers anyway.

 

That didn’t stop me stalking my mailbox everyday though! And to my surprise, they arrived on the 30th December (Wednesday) so it only took a week! 😀

 

 

Packaging

Honestly, I’ve never received a parcel from books.com.tw where the box isn’t damaged in some way. It’s like they only use really old cardboard boxes or something! Luckily, the contents are always still in tact. Phew.

They didn’t put much protection inside either. There’s seriously just 1 padding thing and a small bit of bubble wrap. Although that’s great for the environment because I never know what to do with these stuff anyway. Plus the books are already sealed so there isn’t any damage. It doesn’t look so great, but no harm done.

On the parcel itself, there were $645 TWD worth of stamps so they charged me less than it cost. 🙂

 

 

The Books

The front of the three books used the same picture, but the colouring of the font were different. I wished they used different pics! On the back however, they did use different pics and the blurb were different. The spines also used 3 different pictures, part 1 is Hu Ge, part 2 is Liu Tao and part 3 is Wang Kai.

Now they advertised these books as having a “poster” with 10  x character cards. However, the poster and cards were just part of the cover for the book, so you can’t really use them separately. Why can’t they have the character cards as something separate?! I would’ve loved it if they were actual bookmarks or something. So yeah, nice to have, but not practical.

Part 1 has 416 pages, part 2 has 400 pages and part 3 has 432 pages.

Book 1 – cover
Book 1 – inside poster
Book 2 – cover
Book 2 - inside poster
Book 2 – inside poster
Book 3 - cover
Book 3 – cover
Book 3 - inside poster
Book 3 – inside poster

The books without the covers – they all look the same so I didn’t take photos of all of them.

Luckily I already saw some pics of these before buying so this was what I expected…

I haven’t started reading them so no comments on that yet!!

 


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11 responses to “[Unboxing] Nirvana in Fire novels from Books.com.tw”

  1. ssen68 Avatar

    Hi Kat,

    Super excited with your precious bundle huh 🙂 Wishing you happy reading and sharing with us later on.
    I am going to buy the vcd for watching at leisure.

    1. kat Avatar
      kat

      Hiya! YES can you tell?? LOL. Would love to buy a copy of it on DVD too… but haven’t seen it released yet?!

  2. Jo Avatar

    Wow, the books are really pretty, but laaaame about the character cards and posters! What’s the point of a poster you can’t put on your wall? But at least this way, you’ll never lose them… lol.

    YesAsia’s is probably more expensive because they have an English version of their website, which saves a lot of bother for non-Chinese readers. It’s cool that YesAsia has free shipping for eligible orders, though, I never knew that. However, I am partial to books.com.tw, because they deliver to 7-11, and I can just ask my uncle in Taiwan to pick it up at the closest location and then send it the U.S. with whomever in the family is visiting Taiwan next haha.

    1. kat Avatar
      kat

      Yeah it sucks about the ‘posters’ and cards, I saw that one of the Mainland versions has postcards? That would be really useful!!!

      Yesasia is definitely convenient because of their English version, plus they’re pretty reliable… I’d keep buying CDs/DVDs from them since they have a good collection. The 7-11 thing is great!!!! I wish I lived in TW loool.

  3. annedarmawan Avatar

    Hi… Is the book in English or in Chinese?

    1. kat Avatar
      kat

      Hi Anne, the books are in Chinese.

  4. Estelle Avatar

    Now I really want to go buy books off that site now! YesAsia is sooooo expensive. I’ve always resorted to bringing back a luggage full of books whenever I went to China.

    1. kat Avatar
      kat

      If you don’t mind the postage, they’re always a good choice! Books are so heavy to carry tho, I just go for the ebook these days lol.

  5. Livvie Avatar
    Livvie

    I’m curious, since I really want to buy a few spop magazines from there…but since the website is in chinese..well you can imagine my dilemma haha..Is it pretty easy? I live in the US..

    1. kat Avatar
      kat

      Hello – it is relatively easy but it’s probably safer if you have someone who knows Chinese to check things over for you. Yesasia used to sell them but they were really expensive…

  6. heidi Avatar
    heidi

    omg! ivebeen purchasing from book.com.tw in the recent months and the package is absolutely great! and i live in australia too!!! they even deliver to your door since its by DHL 🙂

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