Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Une fenêtre sur les ténèbres

I’m sorry to say this book/duology is overhyped. Things that annoyed me greatly were, among others, Elspeth’s entire personality (is she dumb or is she in denial - I’m not sure which is worse), the mention of the love interest’s title and eye colour the entire time (we get it, readers aren’t stupid) and the not so great writing. If you shake this book, you can hear the clichés jingling against one another.

However, I did like the eerie, gothic vibe and the magic system, and I’m delulu enough to believe the comic relief character/trustworthy sidekick will get more of the spotlight in the second instalment. Manifesting a love interest for him, because I choose to believe he’d be less insufferable if/when he falls in love.

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katkats's review against another edition

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mysterious tense

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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meaghann374's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-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

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el2319's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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gemin1reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

4.5

Loved this more than I was expecting. Dark and a bit spooky with an interesting magic system and a great slooow burn romance that I enjoyed immensely.

Didn’t love some of the rhyming poems and some of the dialogue felt a bit too modern in the context of this old fashioned world!

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jessversteeg's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Read this basically in a day. How do I describe this book….. it’s got a magic deck of cards that is spread among the people. A sickness that infects people with magic, but they’re killed if they have that infection/magic…. There’s a dark broody guy and a lot of rhyming verse. Great book!

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gauriraut's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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capriqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Popular trading card game turns deadly as entire kingdom takes it too seriously

Jokes aside, the story is very gripping. The lore and world building were well done, the characters fleshed out. The romance had my heart pounding, and the spicy scene was titillating

I guessed the Nightmare’s true identity pretty early on, but it was a good reveal halfway through anyway

Excited to read the next one

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