Ratings:
Book Rating: ★★★★★
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13
Review:
When I heard this book was a "gothic high fantasy with magic that has a brutal cost and a tinge of forbidden romance," I was intrigued, but I didn't have high hopes. I thought I'd open it up and read a few pages before inevitably growing too bored to continue.
I was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
This book was excellent. Not in a guilty-pleasure way; this book was excellent in the most book-critic way imaginable. It is so rare to find a fantasy world (outside of the classics) so well constructed, with well-defined rules and believable limits. Oftentimes, I've found that fantasy books just shove random magical tropes together, add in some oddly-spelled names, and tie it all together with bonding soulmate magic.
It gets tiresome.
But One Dark Window, on the other hand, did not fall prey to any of those pitfalls. It is high fantasy at its best: unique magic systems, terrifying fantastical beings, and flawed characters that drive the story forward. The author uses Providence Cards and magical infection as the main way characters use magic, and I absolutely loved how everything built together and created real conflict in the story.
The characters, speaking of which, were nearly as perfect as the worldbuilding. They are brilliant and brutal, flawed and strong. There is a refreshingly large cast of characters, all living in the isolated town of Blunder. The town is dependent on the wood, and as such, all their families are named after trees: Pine, Spindle, Yew, Rowan, etc. (and as a side note, this naming system is a rather ingenious way to add a mythical element to names without resorting to ridiculous twistings of modern names).
The best part of these characters is that we never truly know where their loyalties lie. Families love and hate each other, while those that express hate are revealed to hold much more love than those that outwardly express love. Rachel Gillig truly created a masterpiece of magic, betrayal, and healing.
And that's not to mention the heartwrenching enemies-to-lovers romance with the hero actually embodying the if-you-hurt-her-I-will-kill-you trope <3
But I won't provide more details of that here, quite honestly because I haven't done this book any of the justice it deserves and I think this is the book you never knew you needed to read so I need to keep some of it in suspense ;)
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Recommendations If You Liked This Book:
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
The Darkening by Sunya Mara
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