Review: There Is a Door in This Darkness by Kristin Cashore

There Is a Door in This Darkness by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I loved the Graceling series by the author, so I jumped on the chance to read her latest book.  I didn't even read the synopsis, which I should have.  This is nothing like Graceling.  T This is a magical realism book set during the COVID pandemic and the 2020 election.  Both of those topics a bit too raw, and the 2024 election is looking to have the same candidates run.  This book focused on a time I'd rather forget, and is heavily politicized.  I don't think I would have picked this book up had I known how politically focused it was.  

I thought the author did a good job expressing Wilhelmina's emotions through the pandemic regarding anger, jealousy, grief, chronic pain, and loss.  She wasn't coping well with any of her feelings, and I think that was pretty true for many of us as we navigated the pandemic.  The book is told in alternating timelines that eventually bring her story together with all of the strange things that have been happening to her and make her face that she isn't OK.  I can understand and appreciate why the author wrote this book as a way of coping with what we all went through especially the stress, grief, and trauma many experienced.  I hope that readers can relate to Wilhelmina and the journey she goes on.

Overall I do think this was well written, but this one wasn't my favorite by the author.  Readers are either really going to connect with the main character and the journey she is going on or they aren't going to like her at all.  Perhaps younger readers will relate to Wilhelmina a bit better than I did.  The timeline jumps are either going to be to your preference or not.   This book is very heavily politicized, and I prefer to keep real life politics out of my fiction.  I have my opinions, but I part of the reason I read is to escape real life, and this book put me right back into the center of several very hard years.   

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