Reviews with content warning for Murder - One Dark Window

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

161 reviews

lucygboggs's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love how much the main character bucks Fantasy Heroine tropes. There’s no Not Like Other Girls bs — she likes dresses and flowers and has no interest in fighting or riding horses, and the narrative doesn’t punish her for it, while also treating tomboy female characters with the same acceptance. Some parts were too expected and some dialogue was a bit much, but it avoided the things that annoy me about similar fantasy books, so I was willing to forgive the missteps.

And I’m glad I did — the end was ROUGH, but so good. But uh if you just finished Gideon the Ninth (like I did), maybe read a palette cleanser book between them. The endings are… similar.

Content Warnings

icouldbemason's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

ebyrne505's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging 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: Yes

Content Warnings

katharina90's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Interesting premise and worldbuilding. Loved the dark misty magical forest vibes. Vengeful Spirit of the Woods? Salty magic? Yes, please!

Everything else was a little underwhelming (plot, characters, writing) but it was an entertaining read.

Content Warnings

embill's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

4.75⭐️ In this riddled story you will find nothing, and everything is as it seems. Haunted, infected, and feared, the beautiful Elspeth hides her cards close to her chest in case one looks too close and discovers her secret. The secret that she alone does not carry her secrets in her mind. As a child she got infested, and at the cusp of death, the Nightmare swooped in and saved her with its dark magic, but nothing comes without a price, especially magic. And now, as a young woman, Elspeth must face her Nightmare as she loses her mind to the monster and her heart to the man predicted she would meet on a long, lonely road.

Don’t get me wrong; it was VERY predictable, but I liked the writing. It’s different from other romantasy books I have read in a way I can’t quite explain. I enjoyed it so much I actually bought the second book while I still had like seven chapters left because I knew I needed to know how this ends. I hope the second book will be less predictable; nevertheless, I expect it might be a bit more “entertaining” considering the ending.

Content Warnings

patjmat88's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This story was incredibly gripping. I very much progression and the subtle changes that you recognize in the character as the book goes on. Super excited to start two twisted crowns.

Content Warnings

nephredil's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

bibliophileclerk's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am shook. This book started out slow, but once the story hit the first reveal it started to push along quickly.

The magic system was a bit overwhelming to follow for me at first. I really enjoyed the colored themes for each of the cards.

Elspeth’s journey in this book is brutal. Watching how all the characters are affected by the use of magic was a really interesting perspective.

I need to finish processing this story and start book 2 soon.

Content Warnings