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“There once was a girl,” he murmured, “clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a King—a shepherd by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book. The two were together, so the two were the same: “The girl, the King… and the monster they became.”

Rachel Gillig, One Dark Window

I picked up One Dark window months ago, and it sat on my shelf staring at me until I picked it up on a whim. I’d seen this book all over instagram, but I still really didn’t know anything about it (I often ignore synopses).

What I didn’t expect was to be taken to a dark, creepy world with a different magic system than I’d seen before. Where magic is an infection, and punishable by death. Where special cards give people power that can be taken away. Where our main character, Elspeth Spindle (what a fairytale name!) is secretly infected and haunted — possessed, even — by a Nightmare. 

Some sites (ahem, goodreads) have marked this book as young adult fantasy, but I assure you, it is not. The things that happen in this book do not (definitely should not) happen in young adult literature. 

I felt connected to Elspeth, yet confused by her. This story is not one to info dump or over explain its world or magic system; instead we have the pleasure of figuring it out along the way. This avoids “first book syndrome” that many fantasy series suffer from, and why the second book is often much better than the first. I cannot wait to find out if the second book is even better in this series.

While reading, I audibly gasped, I screamed, and I kicked my feet in anticipation. I could not bear to put it down and finished it within 24 hours. Since reading, I haven’t stopped thinking about it and recommending it to anyone who will listen.

I’ll be reading the second book in The Shepherd King series, Two Twisted Crowns, very soon.

From Goodreads:

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—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 Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason

Together they must 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 taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.