Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Une Fenêtre sur les ténèbres

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Une Fenêtre sur les ténèbres by Benjamin Peylet, Rachel Gillig

194 reviews

jls6283's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The magic system in this book is so unique and creative as is the style of writing. I literally didn’t know some of the types of trees referenced and had to look them up. 😅 Some of the “revelations” were a little predictable

(like Nightmare being the Shepherd King, Ravyn & Emory being infected, and Ravyn eventually figuring out her secret by using the nightmare card)

, but it’s a really cool read and I’m looking forward to the conclusion in book two!

“Be wary. Be clever. Be good.”

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thebookaddict's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

Ik vond dit boek goed. De rijmpjes in het verhaal zijn erg poeïtisch, maar dit haalde mij soms uit het verhaal. Ze zijn wel belangrijk voor het verhaal!

Ik vond Elspeth erg interessant en leuk. Ze heeft een sterke persoonlijkheid,

maar ik vond dat ze de nachtmerrie wel snel om hulp vroeg, terwijl ze wist wat de consequenties waren

. Ravyn is ook zo leuk, hij heeft persoonlijkheid en beschermd Elspeth op een goede manier. Ik vond Ravyn een goede keuze als love interest al had ik Elm ook niet zo erg gevonden🤭.

Het verhaal loopt goed. De spanning zit er goed in en er gebeurd precies genoeg. De vertaling is ook goed gedaan. De zinnen lopen vloeiend en het is allemaal een logisch samenhangend verhaal. Het magie systeem is simpel en wordt ook simpel uitgelegt. Je krijgt niet ineens on 1x alle informatie, maar dit wordt goed verdeeld over het boek. Ik vond het ook erg goed dat de nachtmerrie niet in 1x zijn geheimen prijs gaf. Dit gaf nog een extra laag mysterie.

Ik had alleen iets meer verwacht. Dit boek wordt enorm opgehypt en ik ging ook met die verwachtingen het verhaal in. Het verhaal is goed, maar niet spectaculair. De gebeurtenissen voelde soms wat afgeflakt aan. Ik ben wel geïntegreerd en ik ga dan ook zeker deel 2 lezen! Dit is namelijk een perfect voorbeeld van een goed neergezette "gotische" fantasy

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mcbeck92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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mari1532's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

I have been hearing about this book everywhere and was finally able to get the audiobook through my library after several weeks of having it on hold with Libby. Overall, I was not gripped by this story until the third act and then I was absolutely invested. For the first two-thirds, I was more just going with the flow learning who all the characters were and the world-building facts that Gilling was integrating into the story.

I am a bit confused by two things throughout the story. First, Ione's whole subplot confused me. How did Ione and Elspeth grow up so close and then diverge so quickly on their paths? Elspeth was a well-constructed character and throughout her motivations were clear, but I have no idea why Ione was making the choices that she was. The game that all the characters play toward the climax of the book did make things slightly clearer, but overall she did not feel fully fleshed out. I hope that she gets a bigger subplot in the next book.

The second thing that was confusing for me throughout the book and it is possible that I just did not understand this in the text is how many cards there are in total. There are rarer cards that are much harder to find, but some of the cards are quite ubiquitous. The cards seemed to be important for displays of power, but I'm not sure if two different decks are being constructed by the two factions or if one group is ahead in the number of cards that they have.

I really enjoyed the romance subplot of the book. The dynamics between the characters were fun to watch develop throughout the book.

The ending of this book was absolutely shocking and gripping! I have no idea how Gillig is going to resolve all the loose ends in the next book, but I cannot wait to find out.

Highly recommend. It starts a bit slow but the plot is worth the wait.

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draconicmama's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Hello darkness, my old friend.

I am so mad that I've let this sit on my TBR pile for so long. Impeccable writing, fascinating world building, and very intriguing characters lead us beautifully along a well done plot. While the plot itself is somewhat predictable, I very much enjoyed witnessing how the characters came to the conclusions I saw for them and I cannot wait to see how this all comes together in book 2! I expect there will be more surprises there then there were in book 1.

Also, I am obsessed with the poetic speech of Nightmare. Absolutely loved that aspect of his character. Definitely upped the creepy factor.

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kaitrates's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this! It has an interesting premise, cool card-based magic system, and (mostly) well fleshed out characters. I loved and understood Elspeth and the decisions she made (including the questionable ones) and enjoyed many of the side characters. This was also a fairly quick read–i'd sit down for a little bit and gobble up 50 pages without realising it.

That being said, there were several points where this didn't work for me (besides that I thought this was a monster romance and spent the whole book simping for the Nightmare).

The romance. This is marketed as a romantasy so I expect the romance to be well fleshed out. Yet, I could not for the life of me tell you why these two fall for each other. That's not to say there wasn't the occasional swoon worthy moment between them, but I giggled a lot more for DaddyNightmare being all protective and stern (and giving her a choice). 🤷🏻‍♀️ It also was insta-lovey, especially since he's supposed to be one of the people she fears the most! Give me the tension pls.
Narrative inconsistencies. For example, Elspeth has a broken wrist but this is completed disregarded at times (wdym she was braiding her own hair?!) and then brought back up when its necessary for the plot.
Ravyn's characterisation. He's the head of this brutal killing squad and yet we barely see him be brutal. The one time we did was hot AF—and I enjoyed learning his other secrets!—but overall he was kind of bland to me.
Somewhat predictable. Listen, I am a top tier passenger princess when I read. I am not theorising or picking up on foreshadowing on an initial read through. I'm here for the journey! And I enjoy that tbqh. However, it means that when I do predict a twist...🥴 And while there were surprises, some were so so very obvius.
The vibes. I know this is supposed to be moody, spooky, and gothic but I really didn't feel that the setting was well fleshed out (would've really appreciated a map). I was more afraid of the men than the mist especially since there were so many ways around the mist taking you? But maybe that was the point.

This is comped to Uprooted which was one of my favorite books of 2024 and one that I think does the monstrous (but human) love interest, creepy wood, and gothic vibes much better.

I'm glad I read this. I do think its overhyped. But onto the next! I'm excited for Elm and Ione, especially since their connection was setup perfectly in this one.

Initial Review
I still maintain the nightmare would’ve been the better love interest. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Full RTC (maybe)

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livxinpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have no words! It was so good literally couldn’t put it down and when I had to (mom duties) I was constantly thinking about it. I want more of the nightmare’s story and how everything went down. Just grabbed book 2 & not entirely happy about multiple POVs but let’s see how it goes!

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