Today I’m reviewing a recent book! It’s quite rare that I stumble upon a recently published book because my TBR list is SO backed-up, but I managed to snag this 2022 release from the library last week.
One Dark Window is about a young woman with a secret. Taking place in a mystical Victorian setting, the book follows Elspeth Spindle as she is thrown from the comfort of her home life into a game of court espionage. It’s an interesting blend of YA fantasy and Gothic storytelling conventions that overall combine into an engaging novel.
Elspeth lives in a kingdom plagued by a magical infection. When people get this infection, they are gifted magical powers, but these powers come at a great cost. Those who are infected will experience some sort of “degeneration” that is often life-altering or life-ending.
Alternatively, there are magical cards that people possess which they use to control and wield magic as they wish. However, these cards still come at a cost. The more a person wields a card, the more of themselves they will lose.
It’s an interesting parallel to the infection as typically wealthy people possess the cards, while poorer people are more likely to catch the infection due to exposure. They will eventually end up in the same place if they wield the magic, but the wealthy end up in this place by greed (overuse of the magic) while the poor are simply condemned to their fate. I really enjoyed this parallel because it shows how both classes can suffer from the same issues, but one is more of a choice while the other is a burden.
The magic system in the book is fairly unique, and I hope we get more details in future novels. The author uses a “holy book” to impart the rules of the magic to the reader, which gives us some insight into how the magic affects the user. The magic comes from the “Spirit of the Wood”, which isn’t really explained other than to say that she’s a strong, mystical being . We may get more explanation in the future, but I would also be okay if we didn’t. In the world Gillig has built, it’s easy to accept that there is simply a magical entity at work here. I don’t think it’s unsatisfying to not know exactly how the “spirit” came to be.
The setting is similar in that there isn’t a lot of explanation for why things are the way they are, they just exist that way. Again, I rather enjoy this type of worldbuilding. I don’t need to know why things are set up differently because a different world wouldn’t be comparing itself to our world, you know?
Elspeth grows up in a rather wealthy family, so we really only learn about the wealthier population in this book. Each house is represented by a tree, and the people use this tree as their surname. There are the Spindles (Elspeth’s family), the Yews, the Rowans, and so on. I think it was a good way to divide the families without making “factions”, as many YA novels do, or creating intense fantasy surnames. It’s also a nice callback to the Gothic nature of the novel, since a lot of eeriness created in Gothic literature draws from descriptions of trees, flora, and fauna.
Beyond that, the main mode of travel in the novel is by carriage or by horse, and the women are often described as wearing gowns typical of the Victorian era. The familial houses, where much of the book takes place, are described as typical dark Victorian houses with art and tapestries galore, which further draws from familiar elements of Gothic literature.
Choosing to give the book these Gothic elements heightens the overall intrigue and suspense. It creates a dark yet familiar atmosphere that heightens the uncanniness felt throughout the story, which we wouldn’t have if the novel had been set in a purely fantastical setting. The atmosphere, tone, and writing style are three things this novel really does well, and I think they’re what kept me the most engaged.
The plot is also engaging, if a little predictable. Elspeth is thrown into a new world very suddenly, becoming involved with a group of characters that are collecting these magic cards in an attempt to stop the magical infection. It’s a dangerous endeavor, and it puts her front and center when her whole life up to this point has been about hiding. There is also a political element to the main plot that isn’t super detailed or involved, but does create some much appreciated depth.
Because this is a YA novel, there is a romance subplot that does shift some of the focus away from the main plot once it’s introduced. As someone who is outspoken about disliking when romance overshadows the main plot (because if I wanted romance, I’d read a romance novel), I thought it was all right. It was refreshing that the romance was more about Elspeth overcoming personal struggles than it was about adding drama to the story. I’ll take character growth over drama any day, thank you.
While I did really enjoy the book overall, there are certain things in the writing that gave me pause, though they didn’t cause any true frustration or annoyance.
One thing I noticed throughout the book was that the pacing jumped around a LOT. Certain moments that didn’t seem integral to the plot would have a lot of time spent on them, while other moments (that were more interesting, in my opinion) were glossed over.
Gillig specifically likes to gloss over transitional periods of the plot. The characters would often decide on a course of action, and then the next chapter would be them commencing this action. There was little to no discussion of how they would accomplish the task, and little time spent in the character’s head to give the reader her thoughts about the situation.
I am describing this as something I found odd, but I do recognize that another reader might enjoy this quality. Since the book is written in first person, it seems strange to me to leave out so much of the main character’s thoughts and growth, but another reader might like that they can be inside the main character’s head while still enjoying a more plot-centric style of writing. I personally would’ve liked to see more depth with the main character.
Another aspect I took issue with was how some of the information was given throughout the novel. A lot of the time, information would be given to the reader right before it became relevant in the story, rather than woven throughout. They weren’t sudden reveals, necessarily, but there were a lot of details that I felt would have suited the story better if they’d been foreshadowed beforehand, rather than outright told to us.
Lastly, Elspeth is an interesting character, but she can be a little bland at times. Truthfully, all of the characters in the novel are a little bland, but I think the ambience and magical setting were interesting enough for me to overlook the weak characterization.
While I did pick up on these issues while reading, I’m mostly chalking them up to this being Gillig’s first published novel. Overall, the book was unique and interesting enough to compensate for anything I disliked. As I mentioned earlier, the setting and tone of the book strongly appealed to me. Plus, for the most part, Gillig avoids YA tropes and really builds a unique universe for her story. The idea of the infection, the lore behind the magical system, and the cards and their creation story felt really fresh. The Gothic elements and the way the story unfolded kept me engaged throughout, and I find that I’m really excited to see where she takes us with the next book.
Overall, I would say that this book is worth reading for anyone looking for a unique soft-fantasy YA novel. Hopefully the rest of this installment only gets better!
The Lit Wiz