Wow, this book was such a pleasant surprise! Everything about this book was such a blast! One Dark Window is a gothic fantasy romance with some horror elements thrown in. The story itself is set in a medieval Europe like setting, and has a very complex magic system and plot. Our FMC, Elsbeth Spindle is a survivor of a deadly sickness she caught when she was just a child. Surviving this sickness comes with a price; magic and the instability that follows. Children found with this disease are immediately killed due to their unnatural magic. However, Elsbeth was harbored by her aunt and uncle, and hidden from the rest of the world. Elsbeth keeps her secrets from everyone, especially her biggest secret of all: the special monster residing in her head named the Nightmare. But when she’s usurped into a plot that’s considered treason against the crown, her Nightmare and her magic may not be a secret any longer.

While this story isn’t anything inherently that new in this genre, it was still so much fun reading this story. The best part about On Dark Window was the unique magic system. One of main magics in this story is card magic, a magic that’s deemed acceptable to use. I’ve never read a story with magic quite like this, and it was really fucking cool. Mixing it in with the “unnatural magic”, the magic children receive with the disease made the story even better. I also loved the consequences of the magic, how all magic used comes with a price. It made the story so much more compelling and entertaining. I really loved it.

I also liked the FMC in this story a lot, surprisingly. She’s very much a “damsel in distress” type of character, and it was honestly kind of…refreshing? to read about a character who’s a total “badass, takes no shit from anyone, actually needs help”. I love me a good badass female assassin who’s waring with the fae prince of the kingdom just as much as the next person, but I really like a FMC who needs that extra help.

With all that being said unfortunately, this book took me two months to read. It wasn’t anything to do with the book, my library checkout just ran out the first time and I was on a hold list for about a month and a half for this book again…which I think hindered my enjoyment for this story a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this story as whole, but I think I missed out on loving it as much as everyone else just due to the time I spent away from this one.

Nonetheless this was a really fun and entertaining fantasy romance, with a very beautiful gothic atmosphere and some light horror. The characters were very lovable (the Nightmare was also hilarious, I loved him the most, I think), the romance was very easy to root for (although a little fast), and the magic system was very unique. This was a really well done debut, and I think if you enjoyed Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder or The Young Elites by Marie Lu, you’re probably really going to enjoy this book.