One Dark Window
Nom, Nom, Nom, I ate this up!
Creepy, mysterious, gothic, magic. Mmm delish!
This was such a unique story and so well delivered. In the world of Blunder magic is a problem and the forest is a sanctuary.
This book was full of poems and riddles which I just adored! Not only did each chapter open with a unique poem about each of the 12 cards of magic, but the characters had rhymes and riddles to various occasions.
Now this was an audiobook read, which means there were times where I was dissociating, multi-tasking, or just plain not paying attention. Sometimes this means I miss out on vital information but I’ve been reading audiobooks for years now and have gotten pretty good at selective listening or just pulling myself back to the story.
We follow Elsbeth as she tries to hide her magic, and uninvited guest in her head, as she navigates the world of polite society.
Now there are 12 different cards that lot magic to the user, but only specific users are allowed to use them at will. Using magic outside of these 12 cards are strictly forbidden and will cost the user a trip into the mist. Never to be seen or heard from again.
They are coveted. They are commonly passed down through your family and are traded only when extremely necessary.
However there is an old tale that the 12 cards need to be gathered to lift the cuss from Blunder. The curse tells us that the mist around Blunder is growing and will not stop until it consumes the city.
The mist is poisonous to people that do not have magic in their veins. And people can only get magic in their veins if they survive a sickness that affects the young. Many die from the sickness. And if you are caught being sick or hiding a sick child you are thrown into the mist to die.
Pretty bleak.
However Elsbeth’s family hides her when she gets sick at 9. She goes to live with her uncle and aunt, and surprisingly lives.
Typically when the sickness doesn’t kill you it leaves you with your own magic that slowly kills you over time, because magic isn’t free.
But Elsbeth doesn’t have magic.
No, curiously enough when she survived the sickness she happened upon a Nightmare card. When she touched it she absorbed the nightmare itself. And it lives rent free in her mind ever since.
The Nightmare can see these Providence Cards in various colors. Giving Elsbeth the advantage in the room. Though she tries to avoid people in general.
When she crosses paths with a group of highway men her world turns upside down.
Highway men are thugs that rob you on the road. Typically on the hunt for Providence Cards.
These highway men happen to be part of the king’s guard, Destriers (I hope I spelled that correctly, again I read this as an audiobook).
Nothing happens initially but after attending summer solstice she meets the captain of the Destriers, our MMC, and with a twist of the arm he discovers she can see the Providence Cards.
He brings her to his secret group of highway men for initiation and they explain that they want to unite the 12 cards and offer the blood of magic to cure Blunder of its curse.
I should mention there are multiple of each card. Each granting a different ability, but if used too long or too frequently they start to cost the user. 78 cards in total.
12 black horse cards – granting mastery of combat but costing weakness
11 golden eggs – granting unending wealth but costing in satiable greed
10 prophet cards – granting visions of the future but unable to change it
9 white eagles – granting courage but costing immeasurable fear
8 maiden cards – granting radiant beauty but costing a heart of ice
7 chalice cards – granting a truth serum but costing poison if told lies
6 well cards – granting the ability to see your foes but costing betrayal by friends
5 iron gate cards – saved from struggle but costing years off your life
4 scythe cards – command over others but costing the user excruciating pain
3 mirror cards – granting invisibility but costing the user hauntings by ghosts
2 nightmare cards – granting mind speech but costing manifested fears
1 twin alders – granting communion with the Spirit but costing lost time and soul bargains
But the twin alders card has been missing for hundreds of years.
Anyway…
Of course Elsbeth thinks this is a great idea and gets on board. In order to do so she needs to pretend to court the captain, Ravyn. So a little forced proximity – we love that!
Elsbeth goes back to castle Yew, Ravyn’s house and they begin to plot how to steal the last two cards the group needs, aside from the twin alders.
All the while the nightmare in Elsbeth’s head is granting her his strength and abilities to outmaneuver her enemies. He is immune to the magic of the cards and through their sneaking and stealing they are faced with different cards regularly.
Yet each time she asks the nightmare for help he grows a little stronger.
For those that survived the sickness they have a bit of magic. It is different for each person and costs something different as well.
But outwardly Elsbeth has no signs of magic degeneration. Her gift to see Providence Cards by color is only because of the nightmare, it is not her actual magic.
But the nightmare is feeding off of her, he is her gift and her downfall.
While at castle Yew she discovers more of the history of the shepherd king. How he was overthrown by the Rowan family in the name of protecting the people, but he was truly protecting the people with his own life.
How the rowan family killed him, but he never fully died. His soul never passed to the veiled lands.
And lived on.
As the poem goes, the king traded his soul for the nightmare card.
Now, within Elsbeth, is not the nightmare itself, but the soul of the shepherd king.
Now Prince Hath, heir to the throne, is onto her. Though he can not prove she is a highway man and trying to gather the cards herself, he is suspicious and tries to corner her more than once.
She makes it out the first and second time, but the third time she is alone. Ravyn is not there to back her up and the nightmare wants free from her mind and is motivated not to help her.
But he can’t afford to lose her too quickly and grants her his strength.
In her final moments she fights Prince Hath, tearing his flesh and breaking his spine. But it’s not enough.
At the end of the book she dies.
This releases the nightmare from the hold of her mind and he takes over her body. Appearing to everyone else to be Elsbeth returning from the brink of death, but she is no more. Spent from her years of holding him in her mind.
The king’s guard rushed in, Ravyn quickly their heels, and see the prince nearly dead and Elsbeth slouched in the corner with bloody fingers.
They decide to capture and send her to the dungeons, not knowing it is the nightmare all along.
Great plot twist! And even better that the ‘nightmare’ never confirmed Elsbeth’s suspicions.
He plays this vague character, that answers questions with questions and has a riddle for things he doesn’t want to answer. He is clever and jaded. And we are just getting to know him.
This book was full of worldbuilding and lore. It was dark and suspenseful. I didn’t know what was going to happen next!
The writing was captivating and indulgent.
I’ve already started the second book, which I hear is not as good as the first. But I feel like most of the mystery has been exposed and maybe that’s why. Now we are seeing the conclusion. But that is just my theory and I am going into it open minded.
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 📚 Glad I Read It | 💫 A – Adult (Ages 18+)
Spice🌶️🌶️
Worldbuilding🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️
Ick Factor 😇
Fangirl Moments 💖💖
Errors/Plot Holes – None
Tropes: Fantasy, Gothic, Romance, Magic, Forced Proximity, Royalty, Mystery, Monsters
Title: One Dark Window
Author: Rachel Gillig
Genre: Romance
Series: The Shepherd King
Format: Audiobook
Length: 12 hours and 45 minutes
Published: September 27, 2022 by Orbit
