Saturday, September 02, 2023

Scott's Take: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen


A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen is the first book in the Waxways series. Ren Monroe is a scholarship student attending a floating magical college in the sky. A group of six students are supposed to take a teleportation spell by traveling through a system of magical candles to their various destinations. All six of the college students are supposed to calmly wait for the spell to go off and not disrupt the spell while it is charging.

Except that does not happen as the brooding rich boy, Theo Brood, gets into a fight with the jock, Avery, causing the spell to malfunction. Instead of arriving at their individual destinations, the group is sent out of the city into the magical woods that are filled with creatures and monsters. They are also far from anyone that can help them.

One of the students dies upon arrival in this untamed land. The five survivors must rely on each other to try to get home. Except they all have secrets that they are hiding from the others.  Those secrets could impact their ability to get back. Not only that, but something is out there and after them.

With incredibly detailed world building and a unique magical system, this is a well thought out novel. There is humor, action, romance, revenge, and high stakes. There is death, torture, and more. This book has strong horror elements which are not fully implied in the synopsis.  Also, this does not really matter that much, but the book cover is incredible. The floating college is depicted in candle wax on the front page.

I am very much looking forward to the sequel, A Whisper in the Wall, expected to come out next year. 


 

My reading copy came from the Skillman Southwestern Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2023

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