<I>"Ren said nothing. She was used to this by now. It did not matter how brilliantly she performed. It did not matter that her grades were the best in the class. All they saw was a girl who'd come from the Lower Quarter. Dirty or dull or worse. She'd have to prove them wrong. Somehow."</I>

Favorite LOLz-Quote: <I>"She kew the big houses had large appetites for new magic, but she also knew spell makers were like authors. Frowned upon as hobbyists until they created something that merited actual attention."</I>
Runner-Up: <I>"There was one rather serious debate about the choice between a lifetime of cheese and a lifetime of handsome suitors. Cheese emerged victorious."</I> (As it should, obvi.)

TL;DR: A fun, fast-paced, twisty gem of a book with so many masterfully executed chapter cliffhangers that you can't help but race breathlessly towards the end. Fantastic world-building, a unique magic system, complex characters, and a badass Byronic heroine at the heart of it all.
<b><I>Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley & Disney Publishing in exchange for an honest review. </b></I>

Vibes: A Malthusian Hogwarts meets* Game of Thrones-esque political machinations with a healthy dose of Mary-Shelley-Bram-Stoker horror wrapped in a blanket of Machiavellian scheming.
Also, dragons!
(Or, the ghosts of dragons...)
<I>*There are 2 parts to the story, and each part has a unique vibe -- but they work together to create a cohesive story</I>

Genre: YA/NA Dark Academia Fantasy
*Not explicitly YA bc Ren is an older protagonist (in grad school) -- and its definitely the darkest of Reintgen's books so far -- so defies easy categorization that way, if you're into labelling and categorizing (which I'm not)

Romance Meter: 🖤 🖤 🖤 ♡ ♡
There's a slow burn enemies-->friends-->lovers romance which is *really* well executed. Enemies --> Lovers is *really* tricky to execute, IMO, because the journey there has to be believable -- too often, it seems like one (usually the female) falls for someone else (usually the male) who's emotionally/verbally (and sometimes physically) abusive, and it just comes off icky and cringe. Here, the romance is well-paced and there's no instantaneous "all is forgiven" moment -- it's messy and complex and conflicted.

Character MVP: Ren, hands down.
She is...the literary love-child of Hermione Granger and Kaz Brekker.
And one of the things I love the most about her is that (1) she is depicted as incredibly smart and hard-working and talented and sharp-witted and just...badass and (2) there's <b>never</b> a moment where she's undermined in the story. Which is not the same as "taken in" or "fallible," because she is. But she's flawed in a way that doesn't weaken her, as I feel strong female characters sometimes tend to be.
(Side-tangent: take Hermione. The 'brightest witch of her age,' for sure, but all her emotional moments -- realistic and valid for a teenage girl as they are --when filtered through Harry's POV serve to undermine her just a bit. It doesn't actually lessen her capability, just others' perceptions of it. So I *very much* appreciate that that doesn't happen here.

Verdict: Five stars, and easily my favorite read of the year so far. The bar is high for the rest of the year.

As I mentioned in my review of [book:The Marvellers|56896065], the "Magical School Story" did not start (nor end) with J. K. Rowling -- yet her legacy casts a long shadow (in more ways than one). It's really hard to *not* compare a Magical School Story to Harry Potter, because that series is so definitive. Even I did it above, comparing Ren to Hermione.

But what distracted me in <I>The Marvellers</I> -- and <I>absolutely does not distract here</I> is it felt like a rewrite of Harry Potter -- that is, felt like Clayton was deliberately alluding to Hogwarts and that world in order to show how her world was different and more diverse. Which is fine -- but to me, the constant hearkening back was really distracting and detracted from Clayton's original story.

That is 100% NOT the case here. The first part (the first 1/3) of the story is set on the campus of Balmerick which despite being a "school for magic," and having similarities you *could* draw to Hogwarts, doesn't feel like a rewrite of it -- due in part, I think, to the mind-glowingly unique magic system Scott Reintgen has created. Creating a magic system through the lens of Keynesian economics / Malthusian political theory thus making magic a commodity? Absolutely brilliant.

There is also *a lot* of world building that needs to happen in this story -- it's incredibly complex, but also incredibly well-done. There's no big info-dump that happens in the beginning -- so there were a few moments where I was like, "Heh?" and had to go back to some highlighted passages that explained the world -- so you get a feel for the world as you go, but I never felt lost or confused, just immersed.

Finally, this book is a masterclass in pacing and tension. (Especially driven home since I read a book directly after this that slogged for 80% of its 400 pages -- the pacing was off and there were no dramatic stakes.) Compared to reading this -- I felt like I needed a Xanax (and I mean that as a compliment!) because my second-hand anxiety spiked while reading this, I was that immersed in the plot and fate of the characters. And, much like Game of Thrones, this is not a story where you can be 100% confident that all of your favorite characters are going to make it out alive.

I went into this thinking that it was a stand-alone novel and was disappointed that this was the only time I was going to get in this world -- which, given my fatigue of every book needing to be part of a (first) trilogy or (now) duology is, like, the highest praise I can give. A book I will definitely reread before the next one comes out.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

So I really liked the use of magic/wizards in this story and I definitely think it was a unique concept, but it didn't hit the spot for me. It felt a bit boring at times and I only liked a couple of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

Once again I'm the outlier here. I'm putting this on the DNF pile because I can't stand Ren anymore. Now, I like book-smart characters in novels because I can relate to them, but Ren is just the most obnoxious part about being book-smart: she always has to be right. One of the characters even tells her this early on, and for some reason she thinks that means "you're too smart" as opposed to "you have to bullhead your way through every argument so you come out the winner". I mean, she just can't seem to resist showing off her book smarts at every opportunity. She goes on this long explanation and someone remarks "yeah that makes sense" and she gets snippy with them. As another example, she's explaining something and someone has to go "and you want me to ask what that means, right?" instead of her just continuing to explain what it means. SIGH. And on top of all that, she's still thinking of how she's going to get out of this with patrons instead of, you know, concentrating on surviving.

This book is marketed as a cross between <i>One of Us is Lying</i> and <i>A Deadly Education</i>. I've never read the latter and I only read a little bit of the former. Enough to know that each character involved gets a perspective in the novel, whereas here we're stuck with Ren's perspective the whole way through. Which means that any revelations we get about the characters are through her point of view, which already has certain biases for or against each person. I didn't like that I never got to know the characters on their own terms, instead being TOLD about them by some other character or by Ren reflecting on their behavior. It would have been so much better if the narrative focused on each of these kids equally so we'd understand where they were coming from before they got lost together.

Which brings me to another issue I had with the book: there is so much "tell" in this book instead of "show". I'm stopping halfway through and the narrative is still being interrupted by explaining what a certain magic does or the history behind something. And honestly, I do not care. I started skipping over those parts because it didn't matter to me; I didn't think it had any relevance to the plot or give me any insight into character. It was just world-building that could have been done in a more organic "show" kind of way. Or take our main characters for example: we're TOLD that Avy cares about his mother because of something he does for her, but we never get to see him with his mother in order for that to be SHOWN.

The only thing the book was doing well in showing versus telling (my interpretation so I could be wrong) was the relationship between Theo and Clyde. If Ren wasn't irritating me so much, I would keep reading to see how much more that was explored in the story. I also want to commend the book on a pretty interesting magic system. I just wish it didn't take up so many pages in explaining how each bit of magic was done and the magical theory behind certain spells. If the author wants to release a codex later or something, fine. But please just tell a story.

Other people may be able to look past Ren's character and the vast amount of info-dumping to enjoy this story. For me, it was just too much.

An interesting story full of twists, turns, fun characters and overall a book I would consider reading time and time again.

Despite Ren's magical abilities, she must find a patron to further her career and support her family. When a spell goes awry, she is trapped in unknown territory with 5 other students. Survival depends on an alliance with others she does not trust.

Nyxia is one of my favorite series of all time, so I was excited to read this! A Door in the Dark is the story of Ren, a brilliant girl from the wrong side of town with an axe to grind, and the classmates she winds up lost in the mountains with. After a spell goes wrong, 6 students find themselves lost in a dangerous land and they must make their way back home. I really enjoyed the adventure aspect of this story and the way the characters grew and worked together. As the story progresses we get glimpses of more calculating side of Ren, which adds to her complexity. I believe there will be a second book in the series and I will absolutely read it! I will be purchasing a copy for my classroom--this is a great book for students who enjoy fantasy but don't want a story that largely revolves around romance. The magic is interesting and the adventure and challenges along the way will keep teen readers interested!

Ren is a difficult character. At times she is so focused on her own goals that she can be hard to like. And yet... you still find yourself rooting for her. Each of her companions is slowly revealed to have far more depth than they originally seem to and by the end of the story, you may have changed your minds about each of them. Marketed as a combination of One Of Us is Lying and A Deadly Education does not seem quite right as there is little question about what happened, just if the gang of 6 (really 5) will be able to survive their ordeal. One thing is certain, once you start reading this tightly wound thriller you won't stop until you are done. AND you will be eager to pick up book 2 in the series - there HAS to be one on the way!

Thank you Margaret McElderry Books and NetGalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book quite a bit! Ren lives in a world where everyone has access to magic but not equally. There are five families that stand above the rest, she is determined to be hired into one of those families. While attending the most prestigious school in their city, she along with her best friend, two other scholarship kids, and two of the wealthy students are lost while using the ,avid portals that ferry people around the city. They are stranded in the woods far from home and when they arrive one of them is dead. Who killed him? How did they get there? Can they survive the dangerous forest to make it home? What is hunting them? And can Ren take down the five families? Scott Reintgen writes another thrilling series! Ren is driven, passionate, and not afraid to ruffle some feathers! I also really enjoyed Avy, Cora, Timmons, and Theo! I love that the book started at a really exciting part and then took the reader back in time, it gave me something to look forward to and made it that much more of a I have to know what is going on! And the ending a twist I did not see coming, I should have, but didn’t! I highly recommend reading A Door In The Dark if you like fantasy thrillers! Can’t wait to read it again when it comes out!