One Dark Window ♥ Rachel Gillig ♥ The Shepherd King #1

Published September 2022 ♥ Published by Orbit Books

Thoughts I had while reading One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

One Dark Window found its way to me because of the vibes. Maiden. Monster. Martyr.  Horror. Gothic. Fantasy. I like those tags. A mist-locked kingdom sounds divine. A monster named Nightmare living in someone’s head. Whoop. Anyway, I actually read the synopsis and was with it til the cure bit, so let’s see what that’s all about. As always, spoilers sweetie. Jump on down to my Final Thoughts if you would like to avoid the possibility of them. 

Part One : The Cards

1. Oh, so this black magic is infecting the people, not the town. Idk, don’t ask. I’m dumb af sometimes okay. 
2. Wasn’t I just explained that blank ink veins means death? 
3. So the charm keeps the mist at bay?
4. Weird thing to say there Mr. Nightmare. But hey, we just met. What do I know? 
5. Oh, I see how it is. The illness is magic. Elspeth is infected. 
6. What happened to Iris? 
7. Mr. Nightmare is correct, this evil step bitch wants you running away. 
8. I think I’m confused. Elspeth didn’t tap the card three times and make a wish.. does she have magic of her own? Or was her magic the ability to absorb Mr. Nightmare? 
9. Let Mr. Nightmare out to play !
10. Ok so the King pissed off the Spirit and she sent the magic mist. Then he bartered away some magic cards, which the Spirit gave him, for information about defeating the magic mist. But you need the whole deck of cards to defeat the magic mist. 
11. And Mr. Nightmare was actually just a person before he was slammed into a card? So was each card once a person? 
12. Also, is the Nightmare card even worth anything if he’s inside Elspeth? 
13. I thought there were just twelve cards. 
14. What’s with the touching thing? Does Elspeth’s skin feel like magic?
15. Ione is gonna regret having that Maiden card. 
16. At least it’s the friendlier of the brother-cousins with the other Nightmare card. 
17. Eh, maybe. What’s he after the second Nightmare card for? Why’s he pretending to be a highwayman? 
18. Oh, so Ravyn can actually wield the magic from his card? What’s so special about Elspeth that she absorbed Mr. Nightmare?
19. A beast yet unknown I believe Mr. Nightmare. 
20. Do animals really not like you Elspeth? or do they not like Mr. Nightmare?
21. Mr. Nightmare really dislikes the Rowan’s. 
22. Alyx is persistent. 
23. Bartered your soul eh? Interesting. I like these little excerpts. I’m assuming they are from the in-world book, The Old Book of Alders. 
24. Wonderful indeed Mr. Nightmare. 
25. Why doubt Mr. Nightmare knows things about the Providence Cards? He legit came from inside one. I think he knows some things. 
26. Oh, that’s easy Elspeth. You and Ravyn are going to bang like rabbits if the highwayman doesn’t hang. 
27. Ravyn has a collection of cards. Sly little fucker. 
28. So you do absorb the cards. 
29. I’d like to see Nerium strange, fevered, and infected then led straight to this dungeon Elspeth is so terrified of. 
30. Oh but is Elm in control or is Mr. Nightmare in control?
31. Ah see, no sway. 
32. All this secrecy to save Emory? Eh ok. 
33. Interesting, what’s this thirteenth card Morette saw and what’s it have to do with Mr. Nightmare?
34. I feel like a marriage is one way to bring Elspeth into Castle Yew. 
35. There it is, the guise of courting. 
36. I love how ‘trees’ is a swear word. 
37. So has Elspeth just not degenerated because she has only absorbed one card? 
38. Don’t worry Elspeth, I didn’t know either. 
39. So Ravyn’s magic allows him to be immune to some of the Providence Cards?
40. These Yew’s are being cagey af. 
41. Mr. Nightmare is a riot. 

Part Two : The Mist

1. Kinda like Jespyr. 
2. What is it about Shepherd King that warrants his history being destroyed? 
3. There’s an awful lot of infected adults running around for a place that insists on killing infected children. 
4. I feel like this old ruined castle has some importance to Mr. Nightmare. It sounds as old or older than he is and he seems awfully interested. 
5. Who is Mr. Nightmare to the Spirit? 
6. I’m convinced Mr. Nightmare is separate from the card that bares his name. 
7. The Rowan’s erased you how? Is Mr. Nightmare the Shepherd King? 
8. This mist must be some fucking thick. 
9. What are you up to Ione? I don’t particularly like her, even before her father bartered her away. 
10. Okay so maybe Ione has more clues than it seemed previously. Although I suspect it’s more a side effect of the Maiden Card than Ione herself. 
11. So it’s not a secret that Ravyn is infected? 
12. Can you use two cards at one time? 
13. What does Ione know? I feel like she learned something and now is up to some shit. 
14. Ya get what you deserve Hauth. 
15. I fucking knew it in my gd bones. 
16. Did Brutus Rowan strike a deal with The Spirit? 
17. A wrong done five hundred years ago most certainly has bearing on what’s currently happening Filick. 
18. Oh Elspeth, that’s easy. You have one body and two souls. It’s going to be the death of your soul. Eventually. 
19. I mean, you are harbouring the man his great grand whatever murdered Elspeth. Something in Hauth recognizes Mr. Nightmare in you. 
20. Odd thing to say there Mr. Nightmare. Why would you want Elspeth to confess her undying affection for Ravyn? Presumably you want that affection returned. 
21. Idk Elspeth maybe just fucking tell him. Trees I loathe the non/miscommunication trope. 
22. I suppose under normal circumstances Erik would be quite proud of his daughter. 
23. The fucking stepbitch mother may as well be straight out of Cinderella. 
24. I’m assuming murdering children was never the intention of The Shepherd King when he bartered away parts of himself for magic cards. 
25. A fire destroyed the old ruins? Is that what I just read?
26. You helped yourself there too Mr. Nightmare. 
27. Penned by The Shepherd King you say? Descendants of The Shepherd King you say? Emory is full of useful information. 

Part Three : The Blood

1. That Well Card is definitely on the sixth floor. 
2. Suddenly I’m suspicious of Iris. 
3. Ione is weirder than normal. 
4. Be wary, be clever indeed Mr. Nightmare. I mean, can’t he just use his magic to protect Elspeth like the Scythe Card? 
5. Hauth is gonna regret his treatment of Ione. 
6. Elm and Mr. Nightmare have one thing in common anyway. 
7. Oh yes, the blood. Interesting. 
8. If you had just let Ravyn help he would have been in and out without even noticing Mr. Nightmare. 
9. Finally. 
10. I still don’t understand if there are two Nightmare Cards.. is there a second Mr. Nightmare? A Mrs. Nightmare? A Mr. Daydream?
11. Despite the road incident, I like Elspeth’s dad. 
12. Uncle sketchbag is a slimeball. 
13. We. I dig. 
14. So is the rest going be from Ravyn’s POV? 
15. Idk man, pretty sure Mr. Nightmare does have something you want, even if you don’t know it King Rowan. 
16. Mother fuck. When’s book two released?

My Final Thoughts on The Shepherd King #1

Can I just say, it drives me fucking nuts when a book has three hundred and seven pages, only to discover the story actually ends on page two hundred and seventy. Perhaps I should be checking, but most of my reading is done on a kobo and it’s not fucking easy to see if you are being swindled out of the story. I thought I had more of One Dark Window to read, and I’m pissed that I didn’t. Even if some of those extra pages at the end were from Two Twisted Crowns.

Perhaps I would be less upset about the bonuses if One Dark Window ended at the end of chapter thirty-four. Honestly, the general rule is, I don’t care one way or the other about bonus chapters or scenes. I don’t even read them half the time. For some reason though, I feel like I was cheated out of the story when it comes to One Dark Window.

Instead of ending on a cliff, where one is simply standing there in wonder and amazement free to shuffle their feet around and spin in a circle with their hands up in the enjoyment of the possibilities to come, Rachel Gillig gives us chapter thirty-five. She practically shoves you off the cliff, but oops there’s nothing there but a branch of a tree for you to hang on to. To me, there was a natural ending point but instead of stopping there, Gillig took one last shove pushing us further to the cliff’s edge.

So, clearly, I am a tad bit upset about how One Dark Window ended. I can’t even say the ending was shocking, or bad in some way. What happened in the closing chapters, was basically exactly what I thought was going to happen. But I felt tricked into thinking there was more because of those damn bonus chapters. I’ve never been so upset about such a trivial thing before. Okay, so maybe I have. Props to Gillig for getting me riled up.

End rant.

Other than the ending, I really enjoyed One Dark Window and for the rest of this review I’m pretending it ended at chapter thirty-four. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the whole Magic Card and Find a Cure bit. Which are two pieces of the entire basis for the story. However, the history of the Magic Card system is fairly unique. It’s the history of Blunder and what happened there five hundred plus years ago that makes this story tick.

The secret, hidden and purged from the records, history of Blunder is coming back to haunt those who caused it, and I am here for it. Gillig kept me wanting and needing more puzzle pieces to put into place. I really enjoyed her characters and the setting of Blunder. I’m still not sold on the promise of a cure, but I believe Gillig’s characters are sold on the promise. I believe in their rebellion because they so thoroughly believe in it.

I’m excited for Two Twisted Crowns to be released. I need to know more about what happened between The Shepherd King, Brutus Rowan, and The Spirit of the Wood.

Two Twisted Crowns is scheduled for release on October 19, 2023

I felt him watching Ione through my eyes. When he spoke, his voice was slick with oil.

Its tone was male, a hiss and a purr-oil and bile- sinister and sweet, echoing through the darkness of my mind.

He slithered forward with a hiss, stirred by my fear, awake and present behind my eyes.

As if spun of sheep’s wool, magical and smelling of salt, the mist blanketed all of Blunder in gray.

The smell of salt hit my nose, as if someone had thrust icy seawater into my face.

The Nightmare laughed, as if he understood a joke I did not.

The Nightmare clawed at the inside of my head, as if pressing against bars. I felt a smile stretch across his face, his tail flicking.

Two eyes the color of storm clouds, aimed at me.

Soon the wild soul of the garden would grow tired and retreat deep into itself, the looming chill of winter drawing closer each night.

It was an empty laugh, ominous-like falling down a well. Like being eaten by darkness.

Oppressive as smoke, the veil of death fell over the square.

I was lost to the magic-the Nightmare’s wrath enveloping me.

There was a line between us, drawn by fate and magic, that stretched out over space and time.

The shepherd of the shadow. The phantom of the fright. The demon in the daydream. The nightmare in the night.

I set my jaw and said nothing, forcing all the hate in my heart into my eyes as I glared up at the heir to the throne.

Centuries of rage boiled in my, time marked by neither sun nor moon. Hatred poisoned my blood and I lost myself to the dark, my body twisting-bones snapping-claws scraping-eyes narrowing, until my body, monstrous, mirrored the hate in my heart.

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