One Dark Window

Rachel Gillig

Sep 2022 · Sold by Orbit

About this ebook

THE FANTASY BOOKTOK SENSATION!

For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom—but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.

Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the Destriers…and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

Ratings and reviews

An interesting, poetic exploration of a dark(er) fairy tale. Like many Romantasy books the romance is forced, but here it at least makes sense. The plot progression is smooth and well-paced, and the magic system explanation arrives relatively apace. The book is written in a very poetic style, good enough to work well for it, though it occasionally makes it repetitive. Finally, this would be a 2 star review for the ridiculous cliffhanger, if there weren't already a second book. Reading that now.

It’s different from anything I’ve read before which was what I was looking for. I love how it was poetic at times, kept me into the story and wanting to read more. It’s low spicy in the romance department of the book but that’s a refreshing change. It was just enough to make their story interesting but different from other typical stories. I highly recommend if that’s your thing too. This is just book one. I’m about to order book two!

This book came highly recommended to me by multiple people, and in the beginning it was interesting but in the end, I just couldn't get into it. There were just so many overdone literary and fantasy tropes used that it was a little eye rolling. I also feel like the author was trying to write a something that edged on fitting into the high fantasy genre without doing the work of the extensive world building that entails.

About the author

Rachel Gillig was born and raised on the California coast. She is a writer, with a BA in literary theory and criticism from UC Davis. If she is not ensconced in blankets dreaming up her next novel, Rachel is in her garden or walking with her husband, son, and their poodle, Wally.