embodyingmysticalmac's reviews
44 reviews

I genuinely did not think the writing could get worse and to be fair, I just laughed along with it in the first book, but I was woefully wrong. This author is either not trying to or is incapable of creating consistency across her characters, world, and plot which makes for a fun bad novel but not for a good series. Convenience often takes precedence to characters earning their triumphs and it also plagues relationships between characters. They will often fight about the same things over and over in spite of having already gone through it because it’s a convenient way to add drama. The modern day vernacular and terms that show up incessantly when we’re supposed to be set in a medieval-like fantasy world were even more distracting than in the Forsaken King and appeared to to occur with greater frequency; in NO medieval world would a lover’s pet name be “baby”

Reading this final book to One Dark Window was so riveting! Loved the pacing and the dispersion of the pov’s. Seeing Elm and Ione grow as well as following Elspeth reintegrating into her mind was such a rewarding experience. Ravyn’s arc was also awesome to see, especially when it intertwined with the beloved Nightmare (he was a hoot, talk about well done gray morality). The inevitable goodbye had me shedding a couple tears as well as the reveal of Taxus’s return to his family. Gillig has a skill for revealing elements organically that really make you feel like you’re growing along with the characters. While in One Dark Window I felt as if I was steps ahead of Elspeth at times, this book kept me guessing till the very end. The moments that could be considered deus ex machina moments were properly set up and therefore felt real and their outcomes earned. This was my first duology and I know I’ll be rereading it for a long time. Thank you Rachel Gillig for such a different but oddly familiar tale of speaking with trees and rediscovering magic