One Dark Window

A book I'd seen blowing up on social media, I was convinced One Dark Window was an amazing read before even opening it. All thanks to that gorgeous cover and an amazing description: Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Plot

Although I've often been wary of Booktok-recommended books, this one is worth the hype. Gillig takes us to the lush, gothic world of Blunder, a kingdom where the magically infected are prosecuted and put to death. You guessed it - our protagonist, Elspeth, has an infection of the most unusual kind - the kind that has trapped an ancient, grumpy spirit in her head. Aka the Nightmare.

Blunder happens to have a dark connection to the forest and mist surrounding it, and an even stranger link to twelve magical cards stained with the kingdom's bloody history. These Providence Cards are not your usual playing cards, but possibly keys to curing the magical infection in Blunder. As it happens, Elspeth finds herself in the middle of a plot with the King's nephew to collect these Cards, all while facing the demon in her own head.

"I see you, Elspeth Spindle," he said. "I see a woman with long black hair and charcoal eyes. I see a yellow gaze narrowed by hate. I see darkness and shadow." His lips quivered. "And I see your fingers, long and pale, covered in blood."

Although One Dark Window does follow the usual fantasy tropes - collect some elements, stop the Big Bad Enemy, save the world - I loved it because it did those extremely well. Combined with the voice-in-the-head concept, the whole history around the Providence Cards, as well as the quite endearing characters, I quite enjoyed it.

Although the pacing was just right, I did feel that the book wandered around aimlessly for a bit in the middle. But it tied up the loose ends quite logically. And can we talk about that ending? I might have seen it coming, but I really didn't expect things to turn out the way they did! Gillig doesn't pull punches with her characters, I gotta admire her guts. The last 10% of the book had me ripping through it insanely fast, leaving me super excited about the sequel.

Characters

Character names take on the Nature-inspired setting seeped into the book. At the start, the family tree was a little hard to follow. But it quickly started making sense once I figured out who was related to whom.

I really liked Elspeth, a refreshing change from the dominant, save-the-world personality you often find in fantasy protagonists. She's quiet, resourceful, and has nerves of steel with a quick wit. Elspeth just wants to live her life in peace and just get rid of the literal nightmare in her head.

There is romance, but it is rightly a subplot, not just the whole focus of the story. As far as slow burns go, this was quite nicely done.

The great thing about this book is that it sets up a lot of nice moments with even the secondary characters. I always enjoy those scenes so much more than flashy fight scenes or lengthy monologues. I'm hoping the next book develops more on Elspeth's found family, I'd hate to see all the character development go to waste.

Worldbuilding

Each chapter opens up with tiny tidbits that intricately link back to Blunder's history, serving as hints for development later on in the book. The history of the kingdom and the story around the Providence Cards and the Nightmare are very well set up.

"There once was a girl," he murmured, "clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a King—a shepherd by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book."

The underlying theme is that everything has a cost. Every bit of magic has a cost, and it plays out fabulously in situations throughout the book. If you like well-thought-out magic systems that actually make sense, you're in for a treat!

Writing Style

The fantasy setting with the woods and the mist and the dark creatures that haunt it is very much reminiscent of Naomi Novik's work in Uprooted. Personally, I'm a fan of the dark fairytale-ish aesthetic, which might be a reason One Dark Window worked so well for me.

I picked this book to get me out of a reading slump, and it did the job pretty well since I was already hooked a few pages in. The language is clear, simple and does not resort to a lot of fluff. Although the writing is rich and beautiful, it's not too flowery. I do think a little more polish would have made it shine brighter.

In Conclusion

For a debut, One Dark Window is a beautiful piece of work. It is not often that you find a fast-paced gothic fantasy getting creative with worldbuilding, along with three-dimensional characters and a fairly impressive slow burn. If you enjoy lush, dreamlike settings with strong magic dynamics, you'll find this one right up your alley.