"Book of Night" is certainly a departure from Black's popular "The Cruel Prince" series, but lovers of the latter will find a lot to enjoy in this new, more mature series.

Charlie Hall is committed to cleaning up her act. After a life of pickpocketing and dealings with the shadier characters in the neighborhood, Charlie wishes for a quieter life with her boyfriend, Vince, and her sister, Posey. Unfortunately, Charlie has a bit of trouble staying out of trouble. When an old high school friend requests Charlie's help to locate her husband, Charlie finds herself back in the world of thieves and cons. But in her world, where shadows can be manipulated to make people more powerful physically and politically, Charlie faces foes that go beyond the natural world, and uncovers secrets that people will pay high prices for to keep hidden.

The most engaging aspect of this book for me was the magic system. I found the premise of altering shadows unique, and I enjoyed the consequences of using the magic system to be satisfying conflict. The main characters were well-developed with clear motives, but I did not enjoy their voices as much as the voices of other characters in other series. I found Charlie's revenge motive to be unfulfilling, and I thought Vince could have been more developed (although I have a feeling that's coming in book two for spoiler-y reasons). I really enjoyed Vince's plot and how his and Charlie's intersected, which makes me pretty excited to keep reading the series. I do hope that book two is a little shorter. This was felt a bit too long for the events that happened within.

If you're a lover of urban fantasy, pick this one up!

P.S. As someone who has lived in New England for her entire life, and spent three years living in the actual place where this book was set, I hate to say that Dunkin Donuts does not sell bear claws. I wish they did though...

I adored this book. Watching these characters cope with their years of trauma whilst being immersed in a world of shadow magic was truly a pleasure. 10/10

It's been years since I picked up a book by Holly Black and now I want to know why did I do that to myself? A couple pages in, I quickly remembered by first Black reads, the Spiderwick Chronicles. While this is nothing that that first series, it was a fully fleshed world and one that Holly Black creates superbly.

Book of Night revolves around the magic, manipulation and feeding of shadows. The thought shadows can be controlled to perform different tasks and can also be altered (which I felt fascinating considering today's fascination with nips and tucks, implants and botox) were a new and interesting magical world. It brings thought into the haves and have nots plus the want to haves and what will they do to have.

I loved Book of Night and was hooked immediately by the feistyness of Charlie. She's a character that comes from nothing, but has wit and grit. I also was drawn to Vince, the mysterious boyfriend without a shadow. In a world where individuals want powerful shadows and will pay and manipulate to get them, I wanted to know his story.

Book of Night is full of schemes, bad choices, and of course - magic. Black flawlessly infuses the shadowed magic world of secrecy into the mundane world. This is world building excellence. And the twists.... they were magical as well.

Do i hope there's a second book? Thats a resounding yes from me!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Holly Black, and Tor Books for the opportunity to step into Holly Black's mind, a deliciously wonderful place.

Holly Black has transitioned into adult urban fantasy flawlessly. This book was a fantastic entry into the world of adult fiction and I'm still thinking about it a full week later! A common theme I've seen with her books is that there never seems to be enough background for me, and maybe it's just because I want more of her worlds but I was left wanting more about Charlie's past and her sister. This book does touch on some heavy subjects but I think Holly Black portrays them accurately and respectfully enough in such a brutal world.

Thank you so much to the publishers for allowing me to review an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! Holly Black is a master at the fantasy world and she just kicked it up a notch by having an adult fantasy! The world building was so well done. It moved a little slow in the beginning but that makes sense being that you are trying to understand a new lingo and world but once it got going OH MAN!

I ended up DNFing because this was just way too slow for me. I see the Ninth House comparison and I liked it for that, but I really couldn’t get past the pacing, and the story wasn’t compelling enough for me to continue.

I'm a longtime fan of Holly Black's writing so I was extremely excited to read her first adult novel! It's got all the things I've come to love from her work -- messy girl, brooding and mysterious boy, sinister vibes, paranormal plot, and lots of scheming. The magical aspects of the story are flawlessly intertwined with mundane day life with arcane texts being uploaded online, theorists camped out on Reddit or sharing stories on TikTok, and magicians meeting up at elaborate parties and backrooms at bars and clubs. It's a shadow world steeped in crime and secrecy, and it's the habitat of thief and con artist Charlie Hall. Charlie's a great character - forced to grow up too fast, perennially failed by the adults in her life, and struggling to keep her life from careening into total chaos. She's scrappy, smart, bold, and dazzling. The books is filled with many colorful characters, each one providing another layer to the creepy and fascinating world of magic and danger. I loved all the twists and turns of the plot, the intrigue and action, and the unveiling of secrets. The worldbuilding is so rich and the characters so captivating that I can't help but wish this was a series and not a standalone!

I've heard many good things about Holly Black, but this is the first book of hers I've read. (And it happens to be her adult debut.) It starts off strong--Charlie's backstory is incorporated well, and her dialogue with the other characters is sharp and unexpectedly funny. Black's world-building ability is strong as well, and the chemistry between Charlie and Vince is solid.

By the middle of the book, I found myself getting a little bored and was struggling to pay attention to the different characters. Somehow it felt like nothing was happening while Black simultaneously introduced different side characters and their roles in this treacherous, underground shadow world. I thought there would be a little bit more action and less politics, I suppose.

I'm still curious enough to read a follow-up, and I'm definitely going to read Black's YA novels (about which I've heard rave reviews). Give this a try if you're looking for a new dark urban fantasy novel.

Do not be taken aback by my three stars, let me explain. This book was very much a fantasy noir book and while I adore gothic type fantasy (typical Holly Black), I am not a fan of noir. However, the story was written well and the world-building as always from this author was excellent. Magic shadows were a ton of fun and it was interesting to keep up with all that they could do. There were typical noir themes, bad decision protagonist, semi-predictable twists (but not all of them), very slow build-up, underworld crime, a large cast of characters, etc. So if those are your thing, this book is definitely for you and I look forward to seeing the author dabble into other genres as well. Though it is not my favorite I have already recommended it to others who I do think will love it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and Ms. Black for the opportunity to read an ARC of Book of Night. An honest review was requested but not required.

I’m a little bit nervous when I see authors of YA series I dearly love branch out into adult books. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to try Sarah Maas’s Crescent City series (although I hear it’s very good), and I was nervous as all get out to read the Ninth House. I’m a huge fan of the Cruel Prince and its sequels and was very anxious about Book of Night. I shouldn’t have been.

It definitely has the gritty, grungy, alterna-world college town feel of Ninth House, although Ninth House takes place on campus and Book of Night is decidedly OFF. WAY off. (There’s only a faintest hint of a sniff of academia here.)
Charlie Hall is almost as down-and-out as they come: a former but not particularly reformed criminal, having been scared mostly straight and then struggled to keep a job and a roof ever since. For the most part she’s trying to do the best with what (very, very) little she’s got, and she makes more than her fair share of self-sabotaging and downright bad decisions. I don’t think you’re meant to particularly like Charlie very much, but she IS RIVETING.

I really liked the worldbuilding even though the various classes and abilities of people who do things to shadows (variously gloamists or glooms, depending on who you ask) were a little hard to follow. Lots of secrets. Lots of bad guys – and make no mistake, Charlie is definitely not a good guy – and lots of worse guys. And an Ending with a capital E.

I will be at the front of the line for book #2 if Ms. Black should be inclined to write more. (Please write more.)

Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an earc of Book of Night by Holly Black!

Book of Night was one of my most anticipated releases of this year because I love Holly Black’s books, especially The Folk of the Air series. I was excited to hear that Holly Black had an adult fantasy book coming out and I was even more excited to hear that it was taking place in a new fantasy world. I mean I could read books written by Holly Black that take place in the Faerie world forever and not get sick of them, but it was great to read a new fantasy book that follows a completely different magic system.

The magic in Book of Night revolves around magical shadows. Shadows that can be controlled to perform different tasks and can also be altered. I thought the whole magic system was very unique and was very well explained throughout the book. In my opinion there was no info dumping and instead the world was fleshed out and thoroughly explained, which made the magic system much easier to grasp.

The main character Charlie was a great protagonist and I loved following her and her thieving schemes throughout the book. This book does flip from past to present, so it was great to get more of a background of how Charlie ended up where she is today. Also, I am always a sucker for good sibling relationships in books and I really enjoyed all the scenes with Charlie and her sister Posey.

Overall, I had a great time reading Book of Night by Holly Black and I cannot wait to see where this story will go in book two!

Book of Night by Holly Black was reminiscent of her Curse Workers series in that it is a contemporary fantasy with a new magic system, complex characters who dark, compelling, relatable, and full of secrets!

In Charlie Hall I found my first zaftig heroine who isn't that clumsy, funny girl who is perpetually single. She's a con-artist, she is cynical, self-loathing, and complex as they come. I loved this world. It is a shame if it ends as a stand-alone. There are depths to this world that can be explored through other characters and other mysteries.

This was my first Holly Black book, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was much darker than I thought it would be! She definitely has a way of building immersive worlds with fascinating magic systems.

Book of Night feels nothing like Blacks' previous writing and I'm all about that. I love to see authors change lanes.
This story begins with an unlikeable main character, Charlie. Charlie is a self-hating, hapless character reformed from a life of thieving and conning. Seemingly waiting around to die with no prospects or goals, messing up is what she excels at. Neglecting herself and her relationships, she was a hard character to like. The way Black wrote her character growth was so fulfilling, it might be my favorite part (besides the end, but we'll come back to that). We get to see her find some sense of self-worth and channel her skills to help the people she loves. The pacing starts slow giving you a chance to understand the world and characters, but once it gets going, hold on. Black excels at dark atmospheric writing, twists, and turns, betrayal and loss, and this story delivers all of that.
The shadow magic was interesting and would love to see more of this in future writing.
Since reading this book, whenever I think about it, I mentally scream about the ending.
That ending.
I should have expected it, really. This author loves delivering a mental/emotional earthquake with her endings. I won't talk about it, but I will pray to all the Gods that she revisits this story BECAUSE I NEED MORE.

🥹🥹🥹 I want the second book so badly omg

Book of Night has a darker feeling to it, think older holly black stuff and ninth house is a good comparison too but sans the academia. The story introduces a contemporary world but with the distinct feature of having a sort of shadow magic going on again honestly think like emo Peter Pan 😂. I think the concept was well done and I enjoyed it, I like the vibes and the shadow concept was very cool. Charlie grew on me and she spends most of the book parsing together this mystery while participating in multiple cons which makes the book really engaging to read. Although I’m dying for the next book I think the ending was an amazing hook for the series going forward and this kind of hook is reminiscent of cruel prince series for me.
Overall very enjoy if you like any of the books I’ve mentioned I think you’ll enjoy this one too. ☺️
~~thanks to the publisher for the arc ~~

Holly Black’s dark urban fantasy proves that there is always room for a unique story and world.

In Book of Night, we follow Charlie Hall, a retired thief who gets dragged back into the dangerous world of shadows in modern Boston where magic is still new to the world. Accompanied by her tarot-reading sister Posey and shadowless blonde boyfriend Vince, Charlie struggle with her past when a seemingly impossible task is presented to her: to steal the Liber Noctem. Penned with a mix of overcoming the past, many unforeseen twists and turns and ultimately a heist, Black combines some of the most beloved tropes in a new and compelling way.

Despite being set in our world, this story required an immense amount of world-building, but this did not slow the story down. Black writes this introduction to the shadow magic so well that it paces the beginning well against Charlie’s fast and dangerous world. It was the middle, however, where the pacing fell off. While the constant shift from past to present kept the story engaging, little happened in the present until the final act.

However, the majority of the twists truly surprised, and let me with a “how did I not see this coming” as opposed to twists that felt constructed merely for shock factor. Everything Black’s novel is intentional, and by the end, as frustrating as it is, the reader is satisfied with the journey. Should this series continue, there is much potential for the numerous (potentially too many) characters to steal our hearts once again.

I was so surprised to discover I did not love this book! I do love Holly Black books, and expected to be enamored of this latest book. It could be that I was not in the mood for the darkness that surrounds the story (it IS the Book of Night, after all!). I am not always a staunch fan of Holly's heroines, and in this case, Charlie is hard to warm up to. Another unlikely heroine making hard choices, with a tough path ahead of her. The heroine with a past, falling in love with an unexpected opponent, making ultimate sacrifices for each other., which seems to be a formula that works in so many fantasy stories - this one included.

I am enthralled with the imagination it takes in order to create these tales, and to write them with so much depth and detail. It is a good read, even if it is darker than I was in the mood for right now. I believe true Holly Black fans will enjoy this latest dark fantasy.

Though I've fallen for Folk of the Air's Cardan through fan art and bought a handful of sets of the books, I've yet to read them. So, when author Holly Black announced her debut into adult fiction with 'Book of Night,' I was really excited to experience her writing for the first time.. uninfluenced by any perceptions or spoilers I may have acquired along the way.

All I can say is.. if this is a good representation of her creative work, I definitely need to go back and read everything else. Consider me a fan.

I genuinely like Charlie, the main character which the story follows. She has a very natural texture to her that's uncommon, especially in modern fantasy. She's a girl with intentions to be sure, some good.. some bad.. but she owns them all. If she has any regrets, they're relatively few. She has a self-awareness that avoids the step into self-pity. Though she admittedly has faults, she seems satisfied for the most part with what she's chosen to use them for.

This story.. not unlike real life.. certainly has a darkness to it that leaves no one completely untouched. While that darkness simply tromps through some characters lives briefly, others are veritably mired in it.

While I hesitate to call this story a retelling, as it hasn't been billed as such.. it's at the very least.. heavily inspired by a folktale referenced throughout. But what wonderful things Black has done with those inspirations!

The magical system is unique, speaking both to the vanity and power obsessed traits within humanity. She creates what could be a very realistic direction followed by those with magic, those who want it, and those in-between.. who might profit from acquiring it for others.

As for the rest of the cast of characters, they are well-rounded and interesting. Even those mentioned only for a moment, feel solid, like beyond the scene they have full lives and stories of their own. I love that, as so often a glimpse of a character ends up feeling like nothing more than the few lines representing them.

Among the cast, Vince is certainly my favorite besides Charlie, but Balthazar, Odette, Posey, Adam.. good or bad.. they're all richly fleshed-out.

Black managed to surprise me more than once, a feat which is not easy. Each surprise was a pleasure, expertly crafted, rather than the random nonsensical twists thrown haphazardly throughout a story that I've become accustomed to from modern writers. This author is not just a writer, she's one of those rare storytellers.. that has you hanging on every word. And between you and I.. the ending left me with the proverbial urge to.. 'kick puppies'.. as they say. Or something of that nature.

Nonetheless, the ending was perfect. Do I hope there will be a follow-up book? Yes and no. Either way, I'm glad I pre-ordered a few copies of this book and I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Having never read her Folk of the Air series (or any other book by her) the Book of Night is my introduction to Holly Black and let me tell you it was quite the introduction. I am a sucker for a good morally gray character and Charlie ticks all of the boxes for me. She was such a fun character and I loved her and Vince together. The story was told in alternating timelines (past vs present) as well as multiple perspectives (mostly Charlie but there are a few glimpses from Vince and/or Remy). Put all of these together and we, the reader, can get a more complete picture of what is really going on in this world. The magic system fascinated me. I won't lie though, I may have looked at my shadow once or twice just to make sure it wasn't moving on its own. And that twist....I wasn't expecting that at all!!

Overall a solid introduction to a new world and characters and I can't wait to see where Black takes these characters next. The ending alone has me here eagerly waiting another book so that I can spend more time with these characters.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advanced digital copy.

Holly Black's first foray into the world of adult fiction is very competent, but feels less confident than her previous work (particularly the two shining jewels of her bibliography, the Folk of the Air trilogy and the deliciously creepy middle-grade Doll Bones).

The good? The magic system that she has created, focused on the manipulation and feeding of shadows, is incredibly original and well-thought-out; the ramifications are delicious for future volumes. The worldbuilding, a darker shade of our own world (pun intended), riddled with the same issues that risk plunging the US into darkness, is excellent. The setting and pacing feel like Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries at their best, and the secondary cast of characters is, generally, very compelling. The complexity of family is spot-on, and grounds a novel that could have felt really out there (even for an author who writes about fairies).

The so-so... (and this is not Black's fault, as Charlie is very well written), the protagonist is very similar to other heroines of authors who have jumped from Young Adult to Adult fiction, or who have tried to dabble into an edgier set of fiction than they use to. I'm thinking Alex Stern from Leigh Bardugo's recent Ninth House, or Galadriel from Naomi Novik's The Last Graduate. The edginess of the protagonists feels as a bit of a crutch to present topics that were, somehow, much better explored in her previous work (like, for instance, Valiant, which is clearly The Book of Night's little cousin).

A subjective issue, to me, was that I kept picturing the villain as Bob's Burger's Mr. Fischoeder and that kind of took away a bit of the dramatic impact of his actions. But Lionel even sounds like Mr. Fischoeder -- who, himself, is a parody of those East Coast American villains.

The bad...? Anyone can see the plot twist coming from the second Charlie's boyfriend pops into the page. It was so blatant that I kept wondering "even if this is it, there must be SOMETHING ELSE, Holly Black's other plot twists within plot twists are always SO GOOD" but no, that was it.

I will read the rest of the trilogy because Holly Black could write an Ikea knockoff manual and I would still inhale it, she's one of the literary beasts of modern fantasy. All in all, congratulations on a first adult novel.