ARC Review: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

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…

Title: A Door in the Dark
Author: Scott Reintgen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Expected Publication Date: 3/28/23

Review:

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this book to give my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a book a read the blurb of many times but kept passing on it as I wasn't sure it was one I really would like. Then I was contacted by the publisher and asked if I would like to review it and decided there was some type of fate in that email and told myself I should take a shot. I'm really glad I did.

This is my first title by Scott Reintgen so I had no idea what to expect with the writing. Boy was I happy after just the first page. The prologue truly sets your intentions for the book and this helps draw you into the story because you're wondering when that particular scene will pop up and why it even happens. This author truly has a grasp of how to make his words flow easily off the page and how to keep his reader interested in his subject matter. I rarely wanted to put this one down and  was even upset I had to.

And can we talk about the cover? Artistically, it's very beautiful. But once you read the story and then go back to look at it, it takes on a completely different meaning to your eye. It incorporates elements of the story line really well.

The idea of magic existing but people having to actually have a currency in order to use it is so interesting. It never occurred to me that magic could be controlled as such. And that it gets divided unevenly based on where you fall in society is just a reflection on so many things we see in our current society.

I enjoyed all the characters in the book though I think Cora was my favorite. She was quite but fierce and I love that in a female character in a book. The main character and story teller, Ren, definitely through me for a loop. Her revelation at the end was not one I saw coming. I loved her narration and how she was able to desribe things in such detail as to make you feel you were right there with her. Timmons was sweet but I needed a bit more from her. I feel like she could have been fleshed out more. We don't get much of Clyde, either. A little more background about him may have made the story a little more intense (though it was already pretty intense). Avy was a sweet kid, funny, and seemed very kind but had an underlying temper. And from his description I would not want to caught in a dark alley with him as he'd scare me! Theo was hard to really understand. What he does at the beginning of the book makes him seem like a rich brat but that turns out to not be so true. However, I feel like there could have been more from him. 

The world building was good. I was given the background to understand most of what the world was like. I would have liked more background on the magic in the book, though. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would pick up another title from this author to see if his writing is as good in those books, as well.

Scott Reintgen grew up in North Carolina, and took full advantage of the fact that he lived on the same street as fourteen of his cousins. It could be a little crowded, but he threw a few elbows and carved out a space for himself as the family storyteller. He enjoyed the role so much that he decided to spend most of college and graduate school investing in the world of literature. This led to a career teaching English and Creative Writing in the great state of North Carolina, where he currently lives with his wife and family. To his great delight, the demand for stories and storytellers is alive and well. As such, he can often be found at local coffee shops laboring over stories that he hopes his family, and fans, will love.