This novella is a sequel to Margaret Rogerson's Sorcery of Thorns. In this novella, we follow Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas as they must unravel a magical trap that is keeping them trapped in Thorn Manor. They must free themselves in time for the Midwinter Ball.

I read sorcery of Thorns back in October of 2022 and I gave it 3.5 stars and I came to the conclusion that Margaret Rogerson's books are a hit or miss. 

When this novella was announced, I knew that this would be a popular release. Honestly, I was really on the fence about reading this novella due to finding the main book to just being okay. 

I picked this book up on audio and listened to it while I was stuck in bed with COVID. Maybe because I was sick or it actually was the book or it was a mix of both, but I
ended up thinking this was just okay and I found that I enjoyed Sorcery of Thorns more. 

I did enjoy seeing the characters again and I do think Margaret does well setting up the atmosphere of the world she has created. I just felt like it was hard to immerse myself into the stories and enjoy what was going on and to care about the characters. 


This novella does not offer much to the world of sorcery of thorns, which is totally okay and expected. If you love sorcery of thorns and these characters, then you will love this novella since it is a light and fluffy read.

Earth is being threatened by a giant army of robot Al's. Gus Kitko, a virtuoso pianist oddly becomes humanity's only hope. Kitko expects to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at one of the greatest goodbye party ever. He even hopes that before humanity is ended that he can kiss Ardent violet. However, the vanguards arrive and one of the mechas decides to spare him. He just find himself with a small group of traitorous Vanguards who are dedicated to saving humanity.

I have been meaning to read this book for a while and I even received this book as an arc on Netgalley. However, I decided to finally pick this up on audio on Libby. 

I really regret waiting to read this book because this was such a fun read. We have cool giant fighting robots and the action was well done with these giant robots. This book is action packed, gets you in the feels, has you rooting for Gus and humanity, and will make you laugh out loud. 

Also, August Kitko features diversity with having Ardent, who is non-binary, which is  awesome since I feel like I have not read many books and more specifically in sci-fi/fantasy genre when it comes to gender identity.


I enjoyed Gus and Ardent as characters and Alex does well giving them pizazz to their personalities, but at the same time, they make the characters flawed and I really love when authors give characters flaws instead of only having a few minor flaws. It just makes them seem more real and relatable. 

When it comes to the romance between Gus and Ardent, I found it really sweet and just love them together. 

I decided to rate August Fitko as four stars only because I struggled with getting into the book in the beginning.

“Nothing is free. Nothing is safe. Magic is love, but also, hate. It comes at a cost. You're found, and you're lost. Magic is love, but also, it's hate.”

In the mist-locked kingdom of Blunder, people are becoming affected with an illness that ends up giving them magic. Nothing ever comes free and this is no exception when it comes to magic. People who are discovered to have magic are executed and if someone is found harboring someone with magic, then this is a punishable offense as well. Elspeth spindle was infected, but no one knows she has magic and that magic just happens to be an ancient monster that calls the Nightmare who is trapped in her head. The Nightmare keeps her secrets and protects her. On a forest road, Elspeth encounters a mysterious highway man that changes her life. From there she is thrust in a treasonous and dangerous quest to find the twelve Providence Cards, which these cards are the key to curing the infections.

I am pretty much obsessed with any book Orbit publishes. This book I snagged on a Kindle  Daily Read and the #openlybookedbookclub picked this as their January read. I totally did not finish this book to participate in the discussion, but I am so very glad that they picked this one so I can actually read it instead of it sitting unread on my Kindle for a long time. 

One Dark Window is marketed as a gothic adult fantasy, but a lot of people argue that this feels more YA. To me it does not matter since I like anything fantasy. 

I totally could not put this book down since the world was so immersive. The infection that causes different types of magic was really interesting and I really want to see different types of magic and how they manifest differently in others. We
do see this, but we only get small glimpses, but it was still fascinating. 

The Providence Cards were pretty cool on what they can do if someone wields them and the consequences of using them too long. 

Then, we have the enemies to lovers trope between Elspeth and Ravyn, which was fun and I was rooting for them the whole time. 

I am really looking forward to the next book due to how this one ended! I highly recommend this book.