Marquise's Reviews > One Dark Window

I confess I was quite wary of this book because of someone telling me it was what "For the Wolf" was supposed to be and other details that both lowered my expectations and put me on alert for a negative outcome. But it surprised me pleasantly, and despite expecting the worst, I ended up liking it.

As a début book, it isn't as polished as it should be. There's plenty of "rookie mistakes" writing-wise, but I believe its positives outweighed them and made this a good story; better than I'm accustomed to seeing from debutante authors, in fact, and more so from YA debutantes that are more hype than substance. The plotline might not be all that original, no, it has vibes from "Vespertine," and the characters aren't all that unique either. Here, you must look at the story as a whole. I won't go into the comparisons with other hyped books nor the (mis)categorisation of genres that's bothered others, as it's splitting hairs at this point and I don't want to burden the book with the missteps made by the publicity dept. They should've been more careful precisely because it's a new author.

Anyhow, back to the story, the main reason I enjoyed this is simple: in this story, magic has a cost. I adored "Vespertine," which shares the same topic of possession with "One Dark Window," and has a much richer world and better characterisation (and banter!). But where Rogerson was building on the Catholic Church's rich lore for her worldbuilding, Gillig is playing more with her own creation from bits and pieces of cloth, and one thing where she outpaced Rogerson is in the price to pay for magic. In "One Dark Window," all characters that have magic pay an awful price, which could actually be far grimmer if this wasn't mild by genre restrictions. Were this Grimdark or adult instead of YA, we'd probably be looking at "The Exorcist" instead of "Vespertine" lite.

Why is this important? This is personal preference, but in recent discussions I've had with other Fantasy lovers, one complaint was that in books where "dark" magic is used, there's no price to pay for it, or the price is hardly more than a slap on the wrist. And in this case, we're talking about possession, for goodness' sake! A powerful, not exactly morally sound being enters your mind and cohabitates with your soul, feeding on you like a parasite and giving you powers... and you're supposed to not pay a price for such a thing? Every single real-life lore where the topic of possession exists, be it by demons or other beings, is clear about the risks, but in YA it's not always the case. Hence I'm happy that, in this book, it does.

The magic in this book is based on a deck of cards, likely inspired by the Tarot. There's over seventy Providence Cards that an ancient king with powerful magic granted by a primeval forest spirit created, magic that ended up causing a rift with the spirit, who cursed the land with a noxious mist that's slowly eating away at the kingdom's lands and infecting people with a fever. To stop the advance of this toxic mist, twelve of these cards are needed, the chief ones, and use them to break the curse. Unfortunately, one of them is missing and has never been seen, the rest are in possession of the kingdom's nobles, who use them for their own ends, good and bad, always paying a price for their use. The protagonist, Elspeth, had the fever as a child and her family hid it to avoid her being executed by the king, who hunts fever survivors that possess magic, but she accidentally touches one of the chief Providence Cards that results in her being possessed by the Nightmare.

The Nightmare and her have a complicated relationship. Unlike Artemisa and the Revenant, where she was educated on what the being possessing her was and knew better about his powers and his nature, Elspeth was never taught how to use her powers, she doesn't even know who or what the Nightmare is. Which accounts for her erratic feelings and attitude towards him, screaming for help when she's afraid and lashing out when she's annoyed. The age difference and the education level definitely account for this, so I'm not sure I'd call this poor characterisation. I do, however, wish they talked more naturally and had better banter, because sometimes the Nightmare sounds like your street's resident gossip doing live commentary on your behaviour. I do wish Elspeth knew how to reply to him without sounding like a brat so often.

As for the romance, it's slow-burn, but not particularly noteworthy. Maybe because they don't have that great a chemistry as a couple as they do as partners in crime. In fact, I was hoping Elspeth would end up with Elm. He's more abrasive and distrustful, but also so loyal and doesn't go about her with kid gloves. I also liked Emory better. Well, I liked all the other male characters far more than I did Ravyn, even the Nightmare was more likable for me. I'm basically liking this story for Elspeth and the Nightmare, I want his backstory, what made him a "monster," what his quarrel with the Spirit was like exactly, what his real name is, how can he come back if he can, why he's been like that for so long, did he know Elspeth would be born and waited for her, et cetera. So many questions! And the cliffhanger this book ends in wasn't helping.

To sum it all up, this first book is pretty much a set-up for a series, shows enough but hides enough to keep interest, and I'm going to read the next because I want my questions answered.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.