My letter “O” pick for this year’s A to Z Reading Challenge was ONE DARK WINDOW by Rachel Gillig. This dark Romantasy features a very unique system of magic and intensely compelling characters that made it damn near impossible to put down. This is book one of a duology (book two is TWO TWISTED CROWNS).

Elspeth, our protagonist, has a monster within her who speaks to her. It moved in when she touched an ultra-rare Nightmare card, one of the Providence cards – a deck of magical cards created centuries ago by a former ruler who traded valuable parts of himself away in order to secure magical protections for his kingdom. This has unfortunately backfired, creating a dark, magical mist that is consuming the aptly named kingdom of Blunder. This mist currently inhabits the wood, and without a protective token, it will drive you mad and kill you should you venture out into it. In addition, a dark sickness known as “the infection” has plagued children within the kingdom, giving them magical powers – aaand then it eventually drives them mad and kills them, but not before they unleash their unwieldy magic and take a bunch of people with them. Elspeth was infected as a child but has miraculously survived it due to her inner monster. She has to take great pains to disguise the signs of the cursed disease as infected people are murdered as soon as the infection is discovered.

Thanks to an encounter with a mysterious highwayman named Ravyn (who is far more than he seems and has a pretty significant secret), she joins a quest to assemble one of each of the rare Providence cards in order to break the terrible curse upon the land and its people. Her inner Nightmare is key to solving the mystery here and is one of the more compelling characters in the book. Elspeth was not born a badass warrior, nor does she train up to become one. She stays exactly who she is throughout the story, and I really like that aspect. Ravyn is of course, strong, good-hearted, and handsome (though the author makes a point of mentioning several times that he has a big nose, for some reason). There are some interesting side characters, an evil king and his equally terrible son, and lots of romantasy elements you’d come to expect. That being said, this is an extremely slow burn romance that almost reads as an afterthought to the plot. The magical system and world building in this story are the stars of the show and create a rich and intricate world that will take your breath away. The pacing was a bit slow for me early on, but damn, is the magic good in this. So good. Four stars.