Reviews with content warning for Drug use - A Door in the Dark

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A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

9 reviews

ashylibrarian's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A unique magical fantasy that takes readers on a grueling adventure from a magic school, through the mountains, and back again. The character dynamics, though sometimes quirky, felt intentional to the plot and brought more than just a name to the page.

The ending *insert shooked face* I will be likely to pick up book two shortly after its release.

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maggiecoyne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Characters have diverse skills and are described physically only briefly, usually by hair color. All are flawed in their own way; I'm not sure Ren sees her flaws as the driver of her story, so we don't necessarily either. A slow-ish start but I was hooked by the middle and racing to the end!

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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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scarlett_f's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bookswithjk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I practically inhaled this story. The premise sounded interesting, so I had to pick it up. Overall, I liked it - the main character Ren is a little refreshing to meet. She’s book-smart, socially awkward, and downright manipulative/abusive. The twist at the end was unexpected but it did make sense given who she is.

The setting reminds me a bit of the Harry Potter universe. People fight/cast magic with wands, and Ren is like a colder version of Hermione. You have your rich vs. poor juxtaposition set up vertically (the rich above, looking down at the poor…if the clouds allow it), the haves versus the have-nots. Then there’s the classic “slasher” set up, where a group of people slowly get picked off one by one.

The ending was neat enough for me. If there ever is a sequel, I might pick it up.

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quirkykayleetam's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read this book in three days, it gave me nightmares, and now I am recommending it to everyone I know.

This is a worthwhile new, fast-paced YA horror fantasy with a morally gray underdog MC like I've never seen before.

Ren’s father was murdered. Now she competes against the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful families who killed him at Balmerick, the prestigious magic school that hovers above her city. She has spent four years working four times harder with four times fewer resources to be at the top of her class. Still, all this will be for nothing if she does not catch at least one powerful family’s eye. And Ren is running out of time.

Then, there is an accident. Ren, three of her fellow scholarship students, and two scions of the city’s elite are caught in a portal gone wrong while heading home from Balmerick. This leaves them stranded in the Dires, days away from the city and surrounded by untold dangers. They need all of their combined skills and magic to survive.

One of the students, however, is already dead. Another member of their group killed him during the original turmoil, but no one knows who. Each of them has their own secrets, Ren included. Who will they decide to trust as the road ahead of them gets darker and darker, especially as the group realizes they are being hunted down by something more sinister than they ever imagined?

A Door In The Dark was introduced to me as an addictive young adult fantasy novel for fans of The Hunger Games, I found it to be a horror story that happened to contain magic. While it starts at a school for magic, this is not a novel for those expecting to attend countless classes and learn the art of spell-slinging. A Door In The Dark is a story of survival, desperate choices, and how far people will go for revenge.

Ren was a bright spot in this plot for me. A Door In The Dark is told from her point of view as we understand every hurt she endures, every burst of anger she pushes aside to work with the group, and every bit of guilt she feels over split-second decisions that make the difference between life and death for her and her companions. She is a morally gray underdog, a bookworm constantly calculating possible outcomes, and a grieving child seething with anger over the injustices in her world.

My biggest concern is that the promised sequel to A Door In The Dark will never be able to live up to this first book. It seems to lean more heavily into a romance which was the weakest part of this entry. We understand why this romance feels stilted from Ren’s point of view, but I am afraid this will fall flat unless the series can show that her love interest is just as complex and multi-faceted. If not, this feels way too insta-lovey and trauma-bondy.

Are there dragons? Everyone lives in the ruins of the civilization that dragons left behind. Cool worldbuilding dragons.

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betweentheshelves's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Quite honestly, I'm not really sure how to rate this book. The world building and the magic system were fascinating. The concept of the magical school and the city it was set in was engaging for the first 100 pages or so, and I wish more of the book would have been set there because I love a good magical school story. However, when they got lost in the forest, they lost me a bit.

And, I think that's because the characters were especially strong. They all kind of fell a bit flat, including Ren, the main narrator. Yes, she's smart, knows a lot, but outside of that, she seemed to only have one emotion the entire time. The romance at the center felt a bit forced because of this, since she only had one goal in mind: revenge.

The story also would have benefited from a bit more editing because the story itself dragged a bit in the middle. Like, there was an urgency to them surviving, but it didn't really feel like it? It's hard to explain. There's room for a sequel at the end of the book, but not sure I'd continue with the series anyway.

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tinyy's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mr Reintgen, you have done it again.

Despite how much I loved this, it does read like a prequel/origin story. The next book will probably have nothing to do with the events of this one.

Also, this book doesn’t have romance. It sort of seems like it will, but

Ren is entirely just manipulating Theo for her own benefit. There could be something there in book 2, but Reintgen tends to be brutal with his characters.

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ambledsoe's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Door in the Dark is the type of fantasy mystery book I have been waiting for. It was intriguing and just when you thought you knew where it was going and everything was figured out, the twist comes and punches you in the face.

The characters are well rounded and you grow to love them, even when you're lead to believe that they are unlovable.

The hard magic system based in absolute rules is a key feature in ADITD and without it, the entire story would fall flat. One could even say that the magic system is a character in and of itself.

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