Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Une fenêtre sur les ténèbres

I did not mean to finish this in a few hours holy shit

what a page-turner! the world building had me worried in the first half, but it quickly began to make sense and now I’m INVESTED.

I also just love a main char that is inhabited by a morally ambiguous entity. Venom, Vespertine,… this is my jam

the romance was just enough and honestly I didn’t expect to like ye olde fake dating so much, even if it was a speedrun

so glad I bought the next one already

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plainromance's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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vireogirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Dark and twisted story but goodness is resilient. I appreciated that Ravyn asked for permission before he touched her.

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chronic_listener's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Absolutely unputdownable, laced with magic and an eerie atmosphere, One Dark Window was a delightful surprise to me.

I loved this so much more than I thought. The tension, the plot, the pacing, the characters, the setting, the romance, the writing - I was absolutely captivated.

More things I loved:

♥ the fmc not being a complete pushover

♥ the magic system

♥ the tree family names

♥ the action scenes

♥ the tension between Elspeth and Ravyn

♥ the Nightmare

♥ the eerie rhymes

This really felt like a movie in my head, the narrator did such an incredible job bringing this story to life. The writing was so horrifically great that I felt queasy at times because I could just imagine someone living inside my head and feel the pain of all the injuries like it was happening to me.

I can‘t wait to see where this story goes.

One thing I noticed: Considering our fmc seemed quite bright, it took her painfully long to realize what I feel like was quite obvious to the reader from early on.

The Nightmare being the Shepherd King and slowly becoming stronger the more she asks for his help.

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iinavarro's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Me: well that was kinda dumb
Also me: time to read the second one!

Easy, quick read and palate cleanser for me after a bit of a reading slump. I think the premise was really interesting and the last third of the book was especially compelling. It was definitely entertaining and a page turner, and I will 100% be reading the sequel since the end is sheer cliffhanger.

I wish the characters were better developed - the side characters in particular were inconsistent to me and I had a hard time keeping track of people's motivations and alleigances. Also total lack of diversity and I didn't get a sense of much growth from anyone really. Hopefully that's developed in the sequel but I'm not holding my breath.

It was also fairly formulaic, predictable, and fell back on a lot of tropes that I find pretty tired these days. She relied heavily on telling us rather than showing us, even while she laid out plenty of more subtle clues to the direction of the story. And the paragraph break before a single line for emphasis?

Really drives me crazy. 🙃

It felt like a strong premise that was ultimately undercut by conforming to the style of popcorn fantasy books that are really popular right now. I think the author's prose and world building have promise. She needs to trust her audience more to follow her lead and to show rather than tell.

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sweetteaandfiction's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One Dark Window was the perfect introduction to the dark and twisty world of the Shepherd King by Rachel Gillig.

PROS:
🩸The Infection
🖤Raven
🩸The Highwaymen
🖤Court Intrigue
🩸The Magic System
🖤All magic has a cost
🩸The Nightmare
🖤The poems

CONS:
🩸Royals only concerned with their own power
🖤Genocidal tendencies
🩸The cost of some magic is too much to bear and it isn’t always a choice

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of five infected young girls with cat like yellow eyes

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kshertz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It’s been a while since I’ve lost sleep reading a book. But this magical world is filled with so many twists and turns. Elspeth and the nightmare are extremely engaging unreliable narrator and the love story has me hooked (not smutty tho only one love scene). But I immediately bought the second book and will begin reading immediately. It’s that good!

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