Elena Essex Puzzles for Adults 1000 Pieces - Night Reef | 1000 Piece Puzzle for Adults | Jigsaw Puzzles 1000 Pieces | Coral Reef Ocean Shark Puzzle | Puzzles Size 28x20 inchesThe Forest Stewardship Council

For transparency, I have left my original review below. The seller contacted me after I posted my review and apologized for the missed cut puzzle. Apparently this is not common at all. She has offered to replace the puzzle for me and was very kind in contacting me. Beyond the missed cuts, as I said before, the puzzle is absolutely beautiful and you can tell the quality of it is very very good. I don't you know which puzzle she will send, but as soon as I know I will be ordering more Elena Essex puzzles. I really was very pleased with the quality. I like things to last so that I can share them when I'm done with them and this puzzle definitely fits the bill.This is a very pretty puzzle. I love the colors. I also found the pieces to be sturdy and they fit well together. However, and I don't know if this is common, the puzzle was not cut properly. They were many many pieces in the box that the legs had broken off of. I had little tiny bits and bobbles at the bottom of the box.. an entire handful. There had to be at least 200 pieces that were miscut. I'm very disappointed because I think $31 is expensive for a non wooden puzzle. Plus, I have a friend whose young adult autistic nephew has been living with him since the passing of the dad. The young man loves to do puzzles. I bring him all of my puzzles unless they have missing pieces or other issues because that may frustrate him. I definitely won't be passing this one along.

I am an avid puzzler, with specific tastes. My preference is 1000-piece puzzles, 500 if I just want to fritter away a couple of hours or if I’m on a time crunch.Design/Art: fantastic. I love the ocean theme and the colors are super appealing to my eye. I was a little worried that the colors would be duller than I expected but they were not. It was perfect. I actually dreamed about the puzzle the night I finished it. XDDifficulty: I would say this one is a bit on the challenging side but not to the point of frustration. If you are a puzzler and complete puzzles often, this should scratch the itch but not send you over the edge. If you are newer to puzzling or do not have much patience or a system of approach, I would probably select one of Essex’s less complex designs to start with. For me, this was the perfect level of difficulty. I completed this puzzle alone over the course of three or four evenings after work.Physical Quality: none of the pieces were torn, crunched or bent. All of the pieces were cleanly and entirely separated/cut. No pieces were missing. The pieces interlocked perfectly and were solid once placed. There was next to no puzzle dust when I opened the package. The finish of the puzzle is great—more on the matte side and not shiny, which is always a plus, particularly with a puzzle that is somewhat challenging. I do recommend having decent natural light though because it can be difficult to see the portions of the puzzle that are solid black and even bright indoor lighting was not ideal.The box is also very sturdy/durable. There is a large poster of the picture inside as well. I typically do not reference the boxes or posters of puzzles I’m working on or do so minimally. In this case I did use it a couple of times and was glad to have it. :)The bottom line: this is the first Elena Essex puzzle I have purchased and it will definitely not be the last. After looking at the other designs available, I am going to be purchasing many more, as long as my budget can take it. I highly recommend this puzzle to avid puzzlers or casual puzzlers who want a challenge.Note: sorry the photos are not great but I assembled this puzzle at someone else’s home and the lighting was not ideal.

Love! I’ve become such a puzzle snob. I only buy this brand now. The colors and designs are so beautiful.

A great challenge but lots of fun to put together!

Love this patchwork puzzle! Specifically enjoyed the fact that there are little themed "quilts" to work on. Just the right amount of challenge without being frustrated. Love all of my Elena Essex puzzles. The quality is amazing!

Puzzle is beautiful! Took me 4 days to do by myself a few hours a day

I've been on a puzzle spree. In my childhood, I had a cork-backed puzzle that had the most satisfying fitting pieces. For some reason, no modern companies seem to do cork backs, so I've been buying one puzzle from every major brand to see how the modern cardboard puzzles hold up.Clementoni - thick pieces but quite a few had peeling backs or split edges. A lot of stuck together pieces, like the die was dull. Fairly crumbly/loose-fitting--cannot pick up sections and move them easily.Ravensburger - thick pieces, good quality. VERY crumbly/loose-fitting--cannot pick up sections and move them at all.Masterpieces - almost too tight of fit, not easy to disassembleBuffalo - too shiny, much glare. Good fit, but quite a few split edges/peeling.Cobble Hill - I don't remember specifics, to be honest, but I do remember enjoying it.And finally, this Elena Essex puzzle. The pieces aren't super think like Ravensburger or Clementoni, but they are thick enough. They have a nice matte finish so glare won't get in your way. The cut was perfect. I didn't have any pieces not fully cut. The fit was also perfect. Which is to say, just tight enough to transfer groups of assembled pieces, but just loose enough to make taking it apart pretty easy.So functionality-wise, this is the best puzzle so far. And I love super bright puzzles, so the image was perfect. The color gradient with the black background is just stunning. I will definitely be looking for Elena Essex puzzles again.

I'm a huge fan of Elena Essex puzzles and was thrilled to see her launch a 2,000 piece puzzle. It offers the same vivid colors, nice fit, and visually alluring puzzling experience as her previous puzzles; however, because the pieces have such little variation in shape, it has MANY false fits (more than I've ever seen in a puzzle). This made some sections befuddling, especially the bottom left corner (black with a fox), but overall the puzzle was a delight to piece together. Very happy to have it in my collection.