Literature & Fiction
![Scott Reintgen - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B071KWM9YG.jpg)
A Door in the Dark (1) (Waxways)
One of Us Is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she's one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he'd already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays-Theo's punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn't sit well with any of them.
A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school's campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.
If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it's Ren. She's been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what's following them through the dark woods…
Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she's one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he'd already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays-Theo's punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn't sit well with any of them.
A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school's campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.
If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it's Ren. She's been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what's following them through the dark woods…
Editorial Reviews
* "A pulse-pounding series launch from Reintgen. Reintgen combines inventive worldbuilding, intricate plotting, and a strongly developed, racially diverse cast to craft a twisty tale of classism, redemption, and revenge." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review ― 1/30/2023
* "Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel. Truly fantastic." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Readers craving the electrifying twists and turns of a thriller alongside a healthy dose of magic will find their prayers spectacularly answered in Reintgen's A Door in the Dark. With dexterous prose, an impellent plot, and characters you can't turn away from, this story sinks its claws into you and doesn't let go." -- --Ayana Gray, New York Times-bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
"Magical boarding school students mysteriously stranded in a hostile wilderness? Yes, please. Reintgen blends thriller and fantasy in an absolute page-turner. I love when you don't see the twists coming, and this flawlessly delivers." -- --K.D. Edwards, author of The Tarot Sequence
* "Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel. Truly fantastic." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Readers craving the electrifying twists and turns of a thriller alongside a healthy dose of magic will find their prayers spectacularly answered in Reintgen's A Door in the Dark. With dexterous prose, an impellent plot, and characters you can't turn away from, this story sinks its claws into you and doesn't let go." -- --Ayana Gray, New York Times-bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
"Magical boarding school students mysteriously stranded in a hostile wilderness? Yes, please. Reintgen blends thriller and fantasy in an absolute page-turner. I love when you don't see the twists coming, and this flawlessly delivers." -- --K.D. Edwards, author of The Tarot Sequence
Readers Top Reviews
Paige G.Nicki Corrid
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. Book: A Door in the Dark Author: Scott Reintgen Book Series: Standalone Rating: 3/5 Diversity: POC coded characters Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, thriller, survival horror, dark fantasy, magic Publication Date: March 28, 2023 Genre: YA Fantasy Age Relevance: 16+ (death, parental death, classism, grief, romance, alcohol consumption, child abuse, drugs, drug use, religion, gore, cursing, torture, violence) Explanation of Above: There is some violence and blood gore shown in this book. There is death and parental death shown and mentioned along with grief. There is one scene with torture shown. There are discussions of classism and prejudice. There are drugs mentioned and shown, some slight drug use, and alcohol consumption by the main cast of characters. There is some romance shown. Religion is mentioned. There is some cursing. Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books Pages: 368 Synopsis: Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she’s one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he’d already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays—Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn’t sit well with any of them. A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school’s campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival. If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it’s Ren. She’s been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what’s following them through the dark woods… Review: Overall, I thought this was an interesting read. The book revolves around our MC who is a student at this school and there is some classism at play, especially since she’s a lower class. During an event in which her and a handful of other students are in a classroom, a big burst of magic happens and they’re sent through a portal to the wilderness. The book focuses primarily on their struggles to survive. Throughout the book I compared this to Lord of the Flies or Hatchet but with magic and in a way I was right. We see characters fall to this being that is inhabiting another dead body of a student and their fight to survive in this harsh wilderness. The book even shows the outcome of the events and what the survivors are dealt by the end. Overall, I t...
Really enjoyed this book, has mystery, action, and suspense. All the characters were fun to read and the magic spells involved were different from other magic books I read, so I really liked this new take on spells. Wow I couldn’t stop reading this book and finished it in 3 days. I can’t wait for the second book.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter 1 1
Wind prowled wolflike through the waiting crowd, sinking its teeth into exposed necks and bare ankles. Ren kept her hood up and her eyes down. Still, it found every threadbare hole and feasted. There was an unspoken camaraderie to how everyone in line huddled closer together as it howled. On the first day of every month, Ren left her dormitory on Balmerick's campus and traveled down to wait in line in the Lower Quarter.
She knew the place by memory now. The patterns on the stone walkway. How decades of passing boots had rounded its edges. The rows of windows that were always boarded shut. Even the other people who waited in line with her, assigned to this particular magic-house.
Sunlight might have warded off the chill, but there wasn't sunlight in this section of the Lower Quarter. Not at this hour. Not in her lifetime. Ren couldn't resist looking up.
The Heights hovered magically overhead. When she was a child, it had been a marvel to her. An awe that only grew when she studied the actual magical theories involved. It was no small task for the Proctor family to create an entire neighborhood of glinting buildings in the clouds. Her favorite part had been the relocation of Balmerick University. The building's foundations had proven rather tricky. Decades of residual magic had made the walls more or less sentient. It turned out they liked where they'd settled down in the Lower Quarter. A team of wizards had used veracity alteration spells to convince each individual rock that the sky was actually the earth. Ren liked to imagine them spending hours underground, lying to the stones.
"Eyes ahead, dear."
Ren startled. She'd allowed a gap to form in the line. Two strides brought her back into position. She glanced at the woman who'd spoken, an apology ready, before recognizing her.
"Aunt Sloan."
Not her real aunt. Her mother was an only child, just as Ren was an only child. But every woman who lived in their building was an aunt. Every man an uncle. The other kids were all cousins, until they were old enough to start flirting and figuring out where they could sneak kisses without being seen. Aunt Sloan lived up on the third floor. She worked on the wharf.
"Little Monroe," she said. "How's your mother?"
"Doing well. Strong and happy and willful."
Sloan laughed. "Of course. I hate that our shifts changed. It's been too long since she and I sat down to play a few hands of barons together. About four years now. Agnes was always such a good time, too. It's a shame she's all alone these days."
Barons was a rotating card game that Ren's mother loved. It involved seven suits, and the winner was usually the one who got away with the most cheating. Ren quietly took note of the other implications hidden beneath Aunt Sloan's words. She kept her tone neutral, polite.
"I will tell her you said hello."
Sloan nodded. "It's kind of you to stand in line for her."
Her aunt gestured to the bracelet hanging on Ren's wrist. It was a memorable piece. A little loop of dragon-forged iron. Smoke black except for the rivulets of flickering fire that boiled in the metal's depths. Ren's father had bought it for her mother as a wedding gift. It was for the woman, he'd said, who bent to the will of no one. And a nod to the fire she brought out in him.
Sloan kept prattling on. "… my boys. Too busy to stand in for me. Both of them landed jobs in Peckering's workshop. Making ends meet. You know how it all goes, dear. Or you did. Before you went off to live in the clouds and do your… studies."
There it was. The neighborhood's favorite slice of gossip. Ren knew the others always wondered how she'd gotten into a private school like Balmerick. What trick did the Monroes have up their sleeves? They always praised the achievement to her face, but she knew exactly what they said behind her and her mother's backs. Reaching for the stars, isn't she? Bound to come back empty-handed.
The line moved. Ren used it as an excuse to drop the conversation. She kept her eyes forward and waited patiently until it was her turn. A pair of doors were propped open. The building to which they belonged was hunched and industrious, singular in its purpose. A government official sat at a table. His hair was slicked back, eyes narrowed in meticulous calculation. He offered the barest of nods when Ren stepped forward.
"Vessel?"
"I have two that need to be refilled, sir. One is mine. One belongs to my mother."
She slid off her mother's bracelet and set it on the table. Next she reached for the wand hanging from the loop on her belt. Her own was shaped like a horseshoe. Both ends cu...
Wind prowled wolflike through the waiting crowd, sinking its teeth into exposed necks and bare ankles. Ren kept her hood up and her eyes down. Still, it found every threadbare hole and feasted. There was an unspoken camaraderie to how everyone in line huddled closer together as it howled. On the first day of every month, Ren left her dormitory on Balmerick's campus and traveled down to wait in line in the Lower Quarter.
She knew the place by memory now. The patterns on the stone walkway. How decades of passing boots had rounded its edges. The rows of windows that were always boarded shut. Even the other people who waited in line with her, assigned to this particular magic-house.
Sunlight might have warded off the chill, but there wasn't sunlight in this section of the Lower Quarter. Not at this hour. Not in her lifetime. Ren couldn't resist looking up.
The Heights hovered magically overhead. When she was a child, it had been a marvel to her. An awe that only grew when she studied the actual magical theories involved. It was no small task for the Proctor family to create an entire neighborhood of glinting buildings in the clouds. Her favorite part had been the relocation of Balmerick University. The building's foundations had proven rather tricky. Decades of residual magic had made the walls more or less sentient. It turned out they liked where they'd settled down in the Lower Quarter. A team of wizards had used veracity alteration spells to convince each individual rock that the sky was actually the earth. Ren liked to imagine them spending hours underground, lying to the stones.
"Eyes ahead, dear."
Ren startled. She'd allowed a gap to form in the line. Two strides brought her back into position. She glanced at the woman who'd spoken, an apology ready, before recognizing her.
"Aunt Sloan."
Not her real aunt. Her mother was an only child, just as Ren was an only child. But every woman who lived in their building was an aunt. Every man an uncle. The other kids were all cousins, until they were old enough to start flirting and figuring out where they could sneak kisses without being seen. Aunt Sloan lived up on the third floor. She worked on the wharf.
"Little Monroe," she said. "How's your mother?"
"Doing well. Strong and happy and willful."
Sloan laughed. "Of course. I hate that our shifts changed. It's been too long since she and I sat down to play a few hands of barons together. About four years now. Agnes was always such a good time, too. It's a shame she's all alone these days."
Barons was a rotating card game that Ren's mother loved. It involved seven suits, and the winner was usually the one who got away with the most cheating. Ren quietly took note of the other implications hidden beneath Aunt Sloan's words. She kept her tone neutral, polite.
"I will tell her you said hello."
Sloan nodded. "It's kind of you to stand in line for her."
Her aunt gestured to the bracelet hanging on Ren's wrist. It was a memorable piece. A little loop of dragon-forged iron. Smoke black except for the rivulets of flickering fire that boiled in the metal's depths. Ren's father had bought it for her mother as a wedding gift. It was for the woman, he'd said, who bent to the will of no one. And a nod to the fire she brought out in him.
Sloan kept prattling on. "… my boys. Too busy to stand in for me. Both of them landed jobs in Peckering's workshop. Making ends meet. You know how it all goes, dear. Or you did. Before you went off to live in the clouds and do your… studies."
There it was. The neighborhood's favorite slice of gossip. Ren knew the others always wondered how she'd gotten into a private school like Balmerick. What trick did the Monroes have up their sleeves? They always praised the achievement to her face, but she knew exactly what they said behind her and her mother's backs. Reaching for the stars, isn't she? Bound to come back empty-handed.
The line moved. Ren used it as an excuse to drop the conversation. She kept her eyes forward and waited patiently until it was her turn. A pair of doors were propped open. The building to which they belonged was hunched and industrious, singular in its purpose. A government official sat at a table. His hair was slicked back, eyes narrowed in meticulous calculation. He offered the barest of nods when Ren stepped forward.
"Vessel?"
"I have two that need to be refilled, sir. One is mine. One belongs to my mother."
She slid off her mother's bracelet and set it on the table. Next she reached for the wand hanging from the loop on her belt. Her own was shaped like a horseshoe. Both ends cu...
