Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Une Fenêtre sur les ténèbres by Benjamin Peylet, Rachel Gillig

32 reviews

mari1532's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

rchulin1's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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 very interesting fantasy book different from a lot of other books I read in the genre has some gothic themes 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

ladygetslit's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

One Dark Window is incredibly atmospheric, with a magic system that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and a romance that, while not the focus of the book, was deeply emotional to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

sirpandacat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

samsbookcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Death, Sexual content, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

wispunderthewillow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Blood

gauriraut's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

chronic_listener's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Absolutely unputdownable, laced with magic and an eerie atmosphere, One Dark Window was a delightful surprise to me. 

I loved this so much more than I thought. The tension, the plot, the pacing, the characters, the setting, the romance, the writing - I was absolutely captivated.

More things I loved:

♥ the fmc not being a complete pushover 

♥ the magic system

♥ the tree family names

♥ the action scenes

♥ the tension between Elspeth and Ravyn

♥ the Nightmare

♥ the eerie rhymes 

This really felt like a movie in my head, the narrator did such an incredible job bringing this story to life. The writing was so horrifically great that I felt queasy at times because I could just imagine someone living inside my head and feel the pain of all the injuries like it was happening to me.

I can‘t wait to see where this story goes.

One thing I noticed: Considering our fmc seemed quite bright, it took her painfully long to realize what I feel like was quite obvious to the reader from early on.

The Nightmare being the Shepherd King and slowly becoming stronger the more she asks for his help.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Police brutality

kingkiller99's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a fun fantasy read—the magic system was really interesting and different from a lot of other fantasy books I read. It had an interesting cliff hanger that I’ll be excited to hear the resolution for in the sequel! Curious to see read what happens next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail