Review of One Dark Window

Gilig, Rachel. One Dark Window. Hachette Book Group, Orbit, 2022. 421 pages. $18.99 paper. ISBN 9780316312486.

One Dark Windowis a fantasy novel told from the point of view of Elspeth Spindle, a young woman who is haunted by a creature in her head. Elspeth has a gift: she can see Providence cards, the source of magic within this world. When she gets attacked by highwaymen in search of the rare Providence cards, she unknowingly meets Ravyn Yew, the love interest in the story. When they officially meet, they work together to try and unite the Deck of Providence cards so they can rid their kingdom of Blunder of the dreadful mist that threatens to claim it. They find several Providence cards, but they are still missing the last one: the Twin Alders. That being said, one of the main messages of the story is “Nothing comes free” (p. 383). In the end, after a battle with the High Prince, Elspeth is taken over by the Nightmare. She offers the king her help to find the Twin Alders card, because only the Nightmare knows where it is. One Dark Window is Gilig’s debut novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were well developed, the story was rich in atmosphere, and the threat of the Nightmare never went away. In fact, the threat only got stronger as the book went on. It was revealed that Elspeth’s magical degeneration was that the Nightmare was slowly taking control of her. I loved the intrigue behind stealing the Providence cards. I thought the romance was well done, and it did not overshadow any of the main plot. The ending ripped my heart out in the best way, seeing Elspeth give up herself to save herself from the High Prince’s wrath.

This book has wormed its way into the book side of TikTok, which will now be referred to as BookTok. Almost every fantasy reader I see recommends this book and its sequel. Almost everyone says it’s fantastic, and I don’t see many negative reviews of it. Of course, everyone has their own taste. Some people did not like it very much, but those are few and far between. BookTok has eaten up One Dark Windowand its sequel, and for good reason.One Dark Windowwill go down as a must-read for any fantasy enjoyer.

Ethan Angelino Whisand

Midwestern State University