I liked this, but I didn't LOVE it the way I was hoping I would, considering how much I love Holly Black's Folk of the Air series. The majority of this book was a 3-3.5, but the last 20% of it bumped it up to a full 4 stars for me.

A lot happened in this book, but at the same time it felt like ... not a lot happened at all? Most of the book felt almost like reading a really long prologue, because even though a lot kept happening, none of it felt like it was incredibly substantial even though I think it was. It was a weird feeling, but the book was still a very fast, easy read, so it wasn't like it dragged at all. The book was definitely tense, which I think added to the overall atmosphere. It felt like I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop whenever ANYTHING was going on.

I liked the characters; Charlie is the type of scrappy protagonist that Holly Black is great at writing, and I love any character with a broken moral compass. The supporting cast was fun too, especially Posey and Vince. I also really liked what I saw of Balthazar, even though he didn't do all that much in the book. I also enjoyed the simplicity of the magic, because it was easy to understand but it didn't FEEL like it was simple.

Overall, I definitely liked this! I'm looking forward to the author's future adult releases.

This just wasn’t the book for me. I couldn’t get into it and the initial build wasn’t substantial enough or connecting me to the characters. I felt mildly intrigued by some elements but ultimately I had no drive to continue.

A very strong adult debut from the wonderful Holly Black. This one takes a bit to get moving, but once it does, it's a real fun ride. Scary, gory, sexy. I'm hoping that ending implies future installments.

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year, so receiving an ARC felt like winning the lottery.

Morally gray characters are among my favorites, and there’s certainly no shortage of them here. Lucipurr the cat (adore the name) may be the only innocent. Charlie’s life hasn’t been an easy one, but a good portion of it can be blamed on her bad choices. She starts out with good intentions, but usually gets sidetracked along the way. To her credit, she owns those decisions and stands by them. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her at first. Some of her actions are maddening, but she’s also clever, street smart, loyal to her sister, and I soon found myself rooting for her. At her core she has a good heart.

This is a dark, gritty world filled with murder, magic, and bloody battles for power. I struggled at times to understand all the rules, but they became clearer along the way. I predicted a couple of the twists, but was surprised over others. Some reviewers have mentioned the slow pace at the beginning, and I agree it took a few chapters for the story to find its stride, but before long it was unputdownable. I’m not sure if this is a planned series, but the ending leaves an opening.

I’d recommend this book to fantasy and horror fans looking for a gratifying blend of the genres. You’ll never look at your shadow – or those of others – in the same way again.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

2.5 stars. Even though I have heard great things about Holly Black and know that her YA books are popular in our library, this was my first book of hers to read. I have had my eye on it for months and was really excited to get my hands on it. The result? Meh.

The shadow magic was intriguing and carried the perfect weight of creeptastic-ness and gore, yet oftentimes details of the magic system were fuzzy. I found myself flipping back often to search for an explanation of a term that surely I must have missed, but no, it was simply poorly explained in the first place.

Apart from Charlie and Vince, most of the characters felt flat. Characters were haphazardly introduced and then never heard from again. Were they eaten by shadows? WHERE DID THEY GO? And the romance vibe was definitely lacking until the very end and by then I no longer cared. In addition, most of the story was told through lengthy and boring exposition. The climax at the end had too much of an Agatha Christie-characters-standing-around-revealing-secrets-and-who-dunit- feel that I legit chuckled out loud while reading and thought, oh, we doing it like this? That's a...choice.

The world of the shadow magic has enough intrigue to it that I would still recommend this to fans of Black, many YA readers, and readers that prefer plot over character development. It just was not for me.

Normally I stick with YA, but I couldn't resist Holly Black's first adult novel. From the start, you know the author turned their YA filter off and it was delightful to read. Flawed characters can be difficult to fall in love with, but Holly Black writes them so well! Charlie had me hooked on her story from start to finish and I was rooting for her the whole time. In true Holly Black fashion, there were twists I never saw coming, and a cliff hanger that has me inpatient for more of the story.

Wow, this book was really great!! I thought the world surrounding the shadow magic was fun and unique. I am.bot sure I have read a book about that before. I definitely enjoyed the first half, but the second half was even better. There was so much action it was hard to put down! I love a good flawed main character, and Charlie Hall was DEFINITELY flawed. The characters weren't super likable, however. I found Charlie's sister Posey to be annoying and their mother was honestly terrible. Overall though, I enjoyed this story a lot! That ending though 👀 I definitely have a feeling there will be another book??

Thank you Macmillan Tor/Forge for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is due for publication 5/3/22 and I recommend it.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒚!

www.instagram.com/that.bookmom
www.facebook.com/thatbookmomm
tiktok.com/@that.bookmom

I have mixed emotions about this book. I adore Holly Black and she's an author I read everything she puts out. So I was surprised that I wasnt into this.... I think I was expecting to dive into a fairy world, but this isnt that. Its about a girl, Charlie, who is great at being a con artist. She's been used by others but she's looking out for herself now.

there is the magical element of shadows having the ability to be manipulated and change people. and consequently- hurt people. There's a fairly involved guild style magic system. But I just didnt connect to this like I have the Folk in Air series, and her other fairy stories.

This was an extremely compelling book. I was hooked from the very beginning. Charlie was a protagonist that was well written and flawed, but in ways that made me like her even more. All of the characters were actually very well written and my only complaint about that is I felt as if Posey's storyline was somewhat undeveloped and if there is a sequel (which I very much hope that there is), I would appreciate more insight into her.

The ending twist was one I did not see coming and I think that Black did a great job of burying that twist inside another one, so while you were looking for one twist, there was another one coming that you were not looking for. A fantastic adult debut and I am really looking forward to other adult novels Black writes.

Holly Black's ability to create intrigue and cool magic never disappoints. I was worried that with her back catalogue, this book would fail to feel sufficiently adult. This fear was unfounded, however, and the haunting atmosphere and occasional gore, along with deliciously creepy forms of magic, create a thrilling adult debut. Reminiscent of Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House in tone, this dark urban fantasy is everything a reader could want. Well, except diverse. As is the case with all of Black's work that I have read, the book is lackluster in this area. The story is cool, as is the world building, but the romance subplot failed to invest me. A fun read, but the world is way more memorable than the characters.

If, like me, you adored the Curseworkers series, you'll be thrilled with Book of Night, which feels like the cool older cousin of that series. Holly Black is so good with characters, so good with mysteries, and so good with everything else it can be frustrating to read her as a writer, but read her we must, because she's just that amazing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am a big fan of Holly Black’s work and was very excited to read her new book. Right away I was reminded of how well Black is able to set the mood, time, and place within the first chapters. She has a way of describing scenes that’s wonderfully realistic without being too much and she also gives you a great sense of the main character’s internal/external world.

I LOVE that Black right off the bat made sure we know that Charlie, the main character, is a plus-sized woman. I feel like most authors tend to mention a size or body type once, and leave it at that. Black doesn’t shy away from describing Charlie’s size 14 body throughout the entirety - it is greatly appreciated.

The storyline slowed down a bit towards the middle. I think partly due to the completely original shadow magic system created for this book. While marvelously new and intriguing, it took a while to wrap my head around the concept enough to immerse myself into the plot.

Overall, this felt like a fun heist and picked up the pace towards the end enough that I was eager to know how everything was going to come together.

Book of Night follows Charlie’s attempts to track down the Book of Night. It dives into a deep complex world of shadow magic. And this is simultaneously its greatest strength and weakness.

The book creates a dark take on Peter Pan-esque shadow magic where shadows are somewhat a different entity to their owner. Simultaneously, there are also con magicians in this world. And while the concepts that Black has created are really gritty and dark in a way that pulls me in, there are so many layers to it that I often found myself confused about what was real and what was not. However, I am hopeful that future installments will clear this up for me.

Another positive that I wanted to lift up were the flashback chapters to where Charlie was learning how to con, as they were just very whimsical and delightful.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.**

THANK YOU Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 I really REALLY looked forward to this book! It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 seeing as im a huge fan of HB work, unfortunately, it wasn’t my favorite. I have no doubt some people will love this story and the slowburn paranormal mystery aspect because its most definitely not a bad book and the idea is definitely Original. It just didnt hit the right notes for me ,personally. I found it a lot more slow paced than what i tend to enjoy.

DO NOT go into this book expecting an enemies to lovers romance or any romance really you will probably enjoy it more that way. (I keep seeing people ask is it enemies to lovers)

We follow main character, Charlie, that is described as a plus sized/badass /ex con artist/thief navigating her way through a world where people can manipulate shadows to their benefit.

Although i did find The magic shadow system intriguing it is a bit confusing and even after finishing the details are fuzzy
-I highly recommend keeping notes-

I feel like this magic shadow entity system would’ve been better suited for a dark academia book series and wasn’t utilized to its full potential here.

The side characters are undeveloped & about six chapters in already about 16 random people are introduced and you’re not even sure if any of them are important to the plot. “Heres Selma she knows my darkest secrets “ you’d think shed come into play later, right? WRONG.

Overall, i think if you like dark murdery paranormal mysteries and dont really mind if romance is nonexistent you’ll really enjoy this one.

I can see people being upset with the ending but to me it seems like if she writes the sequel that would be more up my alley than this one!

Okay, so here’s the thing, this book took me forever to finish. BUT Holly Black is the author of some of my favorite books of all time so I stuck with it and now I have thoughts

Charlie was a fun character to follow, however I think I would have preferred this book in first person. I definitely felt a bit of a disconnect from her - which, to be fair, does make sense given her character, but still…

I loved the relationship between Charlie and Vince and, as a romance reader at heart, that’s what kept me invested in the story. Vince was such a little puzzle and I loved getting to figure him out alongside Charlie, but when he wasn’t on the page, I kinda checked out. Which brings me to…

The plot. I was super intrigued at first. Shadows and magic and stolen books and thieves and murder! However, when it came down to brass tacks I just felt a bit meh about it all. Again, this book took me nearly 2 months to finish. I’m not sure if that had to do with the pacing, or the world that I never really got a good grasp on, or if it was just a personal thing. Wrong book at the wrong time?

That being said, I’m definitely going to pick up the second book because that CLIFFHANGER. Excuse me, that was just unkind, Ms. Black. And I really did come to care about the characters.

So, I am in no way not recommending this book. Quite the opposite, actually. Read it! I think the books to come have serious potential. 3 stars for this one though

For fans of The Ninth House, A Deadly Education, or Robin McKinley's Sunshine (and not necessarily fans of Black's YA titles).

Holly Black's twisty adult debut follows Charlie Hall, a "reformed" thief and con artist. A slow burn for a mystery, it's got bad romantic decisions, tense family dynamics, and plenty of gory violence. Though it was a bit formulaic in terms of a mystery, folks who enjoy unique systems of magic and female anti-heroes will likely be at home. I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars!

Here I go again, DNFing one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 at 4% in.

I'm sure the story is great, but the writing is already not for me. I am not a fan of "full sentence. Fragment. Fragment. Fragment. New paragraph. Full sentence. Fragment. Fragment." Compound sentences exist and despite the differences in writing style the vibe is going full Ninth House and I am not having that. It feels like it's trying too hard to be edgy and adult.

It's definitely a book others will enjoy, but it is not for me right now.

I *might* listen to the audiobook at a later date, depending on the narrator.

I didn't really have any preconceived notions of Holly Black. I haven't read her previous works save The Cruel Prince (and only the first book; I didn't finish the series), nor do I really know much about her other than she's traditionally written YA and a lot of people were super into how she has written the enemies-to-lovers trope. So I really didn't know what to expect with "Book of Night", Black's foray into adult fantasy.

This book feels very throwback to the 2000s urban fantasy genre - the same genre that birthed early Seanan Maguire and Anita Blake and Sookie Stackhouse and Harry Dresden and book covers covered with badass-looking woman who have supernatural lovers. Charlie, our main character, is one such woman - a thief with a bad past who's just looking for one last big score, and is desperately trying not to screw up her life again on behalf of her even-keeled boyfriend and little sister. Initially, I was into it - Charlie's a fun protagonist, and the world of shadow magic seemed vague, but intriguing. Unfortunately, the pace got decimated by flashback chapters that showcased Charlie's life as a kid. I didn't care about Charlie's life as a kid. If you tell me that Charlie's had a tragic past, I'm going to believe you! But nope, the action kept getting slowed down over and over by flashback chapters bookending every moment that seemed interesting.

Things picked up toward the end again, and it managed to keep my interest, but jeez, that intitial 40%? Was rough. And unfortunately shadow magic stays both over-explained and under-explained - there was a lot of exposition dump but I still found myself frantically trying to find meanings of terms in previous pages.

This wasn't a bad debut, but it was uneven. I did enjoy parts of it - I think anyone who likes urban fantasy will get a kick out of this. Maybe the rest of the series will be able to worldbuild and pace itself a little better.

Holly Black’s first foray into adult fiction is a solid entry into dark fantasy. Unfortunately for me, it fell a bit too close to horror. The main character, Charlie, is very well developed. She is a con trying to go straight. Black goes deep into Charlie’s background which explains why she is so protective of her younger sister. I loved Vince, Charlie’s boyfriend, and would have loved more of him. The plot and tension start slow, but build until I could not put the book down. The plot twists will satisfy most readers of this genre. The shadow magic needed a bit more explanation. The related vocabulary was at times unclear. Overall, in spite of my lack of enthusiasm for horror, I look forward to a sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced copy of this to review! I think almost everyone knows Holly Black from her young adult books, but this is her first foray into adult fantasy. For the most part, I'd say that it is a success! Especially if you enjoy dark, atmospheric fantasy.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the unique magic system. Literally using shadow magic makes for an interesting magical world. Even if at times, it gets a little gruesome, since blood is often needed to make the magic work. In general, I think Holly Black is great at writing magic systems, and this is definitely on display in this book. Honestly, I wish most of the beginning had been focused on how this particular magic works instead of giving us so much of Charlie's backstory.

However, the first half of this book is definitely pretty slow moving. It takes the plot a long time to get going, so much so that it's difficult to see where the plot might even be going at first. Once you get about halfway through, the plot starts to pick up, with more twists and action. The overall tone and pacing is quite different from her YA series, in my opinion. Those are easy to fly through, while Book of Night takes its time.

Don't let that turn you away if you're a Holly Black fan, though! Even if the beginning is a bit slow, if you're a fan of her writing, you'll probably still enjoy this book. Just go into it knowing that you won't necessarily get that might action from the get go.

3.5 stars