Audiobook Review – One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, Book 1) by Rachel Gillig, Narrated by Lisa Cordileone (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Length: 12 hours and 44 minutes
Publisher:‎ Orbit
Release Date: September 27, 2022
ASIN: B0B2FM7Q9V
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Shephard King series
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—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 the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the Destriers…and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to 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, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.”

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Shepherd King series. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: This was an interesting read. It is a fairly typical fantasy romance complete with a forbidden love. However, there are a couple of story elements that set it apart from other fantasy romances. The first is the idea of the providence cards. Thse are magic cards with special powers that people covet for their magical powers. The second is the idea of a kingdom isolated and cursed by a surrounding mist. If the Providence cards can be brought together and a complete deck made, then the curse could be lifted…however, people’s own greed prevents this.

Although the above premise intrigues me, I also found it contrived feeling. It’s hard to believe that over all these years no one has tried to break the curse. Also ,we never really understand how Elspeth absorbed the Nightmare and what would happen if she were to touch and absorb other cards. The whole “magic system” feels a bit weak.

I also struggled with Elspeth as a character. She makes a lot of poor decisions throughout and never seems to learn from her mistakes. I liked the Captain of the Destriers, Ravyn, better but even he comes across as very selfish at times. I did enjoy the relationship the two developed. The Nightmare in Elspeth’s head is an intriguing addition to the story and I enjoyed watching Elspeth trying to balance her own actions with the Nightmare in her head.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was a good listen. My only complaint is that sometimes the Nightmare’s parts were whispered really softly, this made the narration hard to hear while driving…I kept having to turn the sound way up to hear the Nightmare. Aside from that I enjoyed the narration.

The story was engaging and easy to read. I did have to set aside my disbelieve around the concept behind this kingdom and the Providence cards, and Elspeth wasn’t my favorite character. However, aside from those issues this story had a lot of intriguing elements.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. I like the idea of a cursed kingdom shrouded in mist and I enjoyed watching Elpeth balance her own life with the Nightmare in her head. The relationship between Elspeth and Ravyn is sweet and a bit dark all at once. I plan on reading the second book in this series, “Two Twisted Crowns”, as soon as I can get it from the library.