Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - One Dark Window

I loved the pace of this one! I cannot believe it took me so long to finally pick it up (although I am glad in a way as I can start the second right away!).

I read the first 50 pages and wasn’t immediately taken by it so didn’t pick it up again for a few days. However, once I did I literally didn’t put it down and read the rest in one sitting!

It was such a unique story- after so long of reading fantasy you get used to the general themes. This was something as of yet unseen by myself- the magic system was new and the cards and their lore invigorating.

Of course, the tropes of enemies to lovers, found family, uniquely powerful FMC were there and those were predictable enough- but very enjoyed all the same 😂

We love Ravyn and Emory - I hope Ravyn finds his way back to Elspeth soon. I guess I’ll find out this evening when I read the next so …

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emsavors's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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bubblegirl858's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was such a thrill to read. It captured my interest and held it the entire book. The magic system in the book was unique and well-developed. Moody, dark, and steeped in magic and secrecy, this book kept me wanting to know more from the first page.

Elspeth in this book both infuriated me and also made me laugh out loud. She is a very interesting character, if not a bit useless. Her hypocritical nature was the most infuriating part of this entire book. She is constantly keeping Rayvn (A LITERAL STRANGER when they first become partners) at arms length and getting upset at him for keeping secrets. She is upset because he isn't telling her everything while at the same time she is keeping the Nightmare and her own powers a secret. That is what blew my mind the most. Their relationship felt a bit rushed and even though I can believe the enemies to partners to lovers trope, it just felt very rushed. I would have been okay with them just being friends in this book and it moving into lovers next book, but with the ending I am not sure how the next book will go.

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skillyillian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ugh god this book is SUCH a great read. I read it in paperback and I went through three highlighters and a ton of tabs annotating it. It starts off a little slow plot-wise but the world, magic, and characters drew me in so completely that I hardly even noticed slow points.

Mild spoilers ahead, big spoilers will be tagged

What I really enjoyed about the world building was how the author sticks to her guns about the isolation of Blunder. They don't, can't, travel beyond it, so there's not a single mention of the rest of the world. It's so well done. We only ever see Blunder, but that means it's fully developed with it's own culture, traditions, superstitions, and history. The world is steeped in lore.

The magic system here is so incredibly unique and well thought out, I can't get over it. An infectious mist from a vengeful deity is such a badass way to give your characters magic, and having each person get magic unique to them after the infection just adds to the coolness of it all. Then to add the Cards on top of that? Consider me obsessed. The whole idea of balance, and the way the characters hold it in a place of reverence as much as they hold their deity in a place of fear, is so well done. If the deity hasn't exacted her spiteful balance yet, the people will, in whatever way they think is best. The creativity here is off the charts.

The characters feel so real. Being in Elspeth's head, watching her co-exisg with the Nightmare because she has no other choice, was such a great idea. Ravyn and his family have the same motivation but you can see how it affects each of them individually. The romance felt a bit fast but I didn't really mind it all that much 🤷🏻‍♀️

The foreshadowing and plot thickening is really well done. My only real gripe with that is that I felt like plot twists such as

the nightmare being the shepherd king, and Ravyn and his family being direct descendants from him

were pretty spelled out and elspeth still didn't catch on despite it revolving around the creature living inside her head who dropped every possible hint about what was to come. Like she just, didn't connect the dots, or didn't even really try a ton? And normally that would bother me more but that's usually when characters are preached as geniuses and still can't see what's going on right in front of them (sorrengail 🙄). Elspeth isn't touted as her generation's genius detective prodigy so I was more miffed than actually mad about it.

I like that the author left a lot of different loose threads for the second book to finish. I'm not super far into the next one but I can already see the loose ends from the first one being pulled into play and it feels really well done.

Overall, this book is just fuckin incredible. The plot, the people, the world building, the incredibly unique and mysterious magic system, and the (albeit kinda fast) romance. I ate this up and enjoyed every minute of it. I do wish there was more diversity in the characters, and that elspeth was a little less oblivious to what's going on around her (and in her head). But besides those and the quick romance, I have no complaints. None. No notes, no crumbs. Gillig knocked it out of the fuckin park here. Even when the foreshadowing felt kind of not super hard to solve at times, it was still so well executed that I really enjoyed each of the reveals. And there was still plenty of things that surprised me. The action was great, the consequences of people's choices were logical, there's just so much I loved here.

2024 is me getting back in my romantasy era and this is such a dope way to start it.

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