Unfortunately, Book of Night didn't capture my attention. The pacing is slow. However, I did like the dialogue between characters. I am going to try it as an audiobook once it is released.

Holly Black's Book of Night introduces us to Charlie Hall, an ex-con, and thief who is attempting to follow the straight and narrow for hers and her sisters sake. Bartending and trying to keep a low profile doesn't stop her jumping back into the fray with the return of an old enemy.

Shadows with the potencial of having a life of their own and capable of doing magic for their "owners" is the premise of Black's latest adventure. Slow to start, Black world builds with the readers and the characters learning about it together. A magic based hook that grabs your interest while creatinng a protagionist that appeals to us all. Charlie the ultimate underdog whose greatest enemy is herself. Action packed with a complicated cast, the ending is a cliffy that demands a sequel.

I gave it 3 stars because I have issues with over complicating things. Plus it was wordy and at times dragged.

Story was slow to take off. Characters were well developed and likeable or not. Got very interesting and page turning toward the end. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I was thankful to receive an arc of this book and get a chance to read it. This book took me awhile to get into, something about the characters seemed forced to me. As the story unfolded I found it more intriguing. Black weaves an enthralling landscape of magic and mystery. Over all I would say this is a fun fantasy debut you're sure to love if you enjoy Holly Black's other writing.

Spiritually similar to Black's earlier CurseWorker series, Book of Night provides a well developed Urban fantasy with conmen, criminals and light romance for a more adult crowd. White Cat is so very close to my heart that it's hard not to compare these books, but BoN has some solid character work, decent twists, and a cool (though pretty "dark") magical world.

Some nitpicks: Posey felt less like a full realized character and more like a prop to give Charlie more of a life and I wish there were more concrete supporting characters beside Charlie and Vince (though I did love them)--the lack of them made the world feel a little thin, which is a shame. Also, I wish we saw a little bit more how gloaming just casually effected life. One of the things I love most about Black's writing is her casual world-building and I didn't see as much as I have in her other books.

However, this really was a fun, engaging read with lots of elements I loved so I'm not actually complaining. And if Black writes more in this world it'll probably fix my nitpicks anyway since I always tend to look at the Curseworker books as a whole entity not individual titles.

Told from a third-person perspective, the first of Holly Black's adult fantasy novels, The Book of Night follows a woman named Charlie who is caught up in the search for a book about shadow magic called The Book of Blights. Charlie is an accomplished con artist and thief who recently went straight after sustaining a life-threatening injury during a job. But when a man is murdered shortly after he leaves the bar where she now works, Charlie finds herself unable to resist the temptation to get involved. While Charlie follows a trail to the book, her boyfriend, Vince, disappears.

The Book of Night is an urban fantasy that is more in line with Black's earlier YA books Tithe and Valiant, and less like her wildly popular Folk of the Air series. The urban fantasy setting requires less world-building, so unfortunately this book does not include the richness of detail and character that we saw in the Folk of the Air series. It also does not include much of a romantic story.

While Charlie, our protagonist, is a fully realized, morally grey character, which I love, the rest of the characters in this book are not very three dimensional. Charlie's sister, Posey, has one focus for most of the book. And we don't really get to know Vince until very late in the book. However, it was fun getting a few exerpts from another perspective (which I won't detail because spoilers).

I liked the magic system in this book (shadow magic), although I do wish it had been explored a little more. The pacing would be best described as “slow, but intensifying.” It takes a while for the plot to get going, but once it does it is an exciting ride.

Overall, solid three stars. I hope Black continues writing adult fantasy, but I hope her next one is a little more heavy on the magic.

“It takes bravery to be an adventurer,”“And what better adventure than the discovery of our true selves?”

Read if you love:
Adult dark fantasy
Strong female mcs
Mysteries and murder
Plot twists
Thieves and secrets
Sinister Peter Pan
Shadow magic

I wish the romance had been more of the focal point but I loved her adult fantasy debut.

This book felt like a nostalgic callback to the Urban Fantasy that reignited my love for reading in my early twenties. It was gritty, dark, pulse-pounding, mysterious, twisty, fun, horrifying and (mildly) spicy. The world building and character work were really reminiscent of Ilona Andrews for me, especially in the way that it's developed and built upon throughout the entire book, without anything feeling like it was breaking established rules. The magic system was incredibly cool and fit the grimy atmosphere of the world so well, not only that but it dictated the way in which this world was run and where the main characters are placed within that world. It was so intrinsically woven into the foundational elements of the story and overall plot. It was everything I love about Urban Fantasy, but elevated.

Charlie Hall was a main character who I was immediately drawn to, she's a bit world-weary and hard-edged. She's an ex-con woman/thief who is seemingly trying to leave that life behind her, but when a small job spirals into a bigger job she easily get pulled back in. She's smart and pissed off, she doesn't have fix-everything powers, she's trying to do her best and keep her people safe. There was a bit of Jessica Jones in her, mixed with Kate Daniels, Nevada Baylor, Mac 2.0 and Mercy Thompson. Fans of the genre will recognise her character type from the outset. I loved her. I also really liked Vince, Charlie's boyfriend, because he provided a lot of the intrigue throughout the book and was the reason this turned out to be such a page-turner for me.

I loved the Folk of the Air trilogy, I'd count it as one of the stand-out YA fantasy series purely for the way that it's a book where you can feel the author's influence and voice all the way through it, owing to Black's love of Brian Froud-inspired goblincore and faecore. The Jude/Cardan relationship will probably draw a lot of people to this book expecting the same kind of romantic dynamic but expectations should be tempered in this regard. There is a really interesting romantic dynamic in Book of Night but it is not enemies-to-lovers and it is not a rehash of Jude/Cardan, which I'm thankful for because it allowed Black to explore other things, specifically the concept of creating romantic tension in an pre-book established relationship. And, with the way that this first book ended, it leaves it open for Black to explore even more aspects of the same relationship.

It's also a book about books and that was just another plus in a giant columns of wins for me. This was on my most anticipated of 2022 list and now I'm anticipating it even more because I can't wait to see what my friends think and I can't wait to have a physical copy of the book on my shelves. A last minute favourite of the year is exactly how I like to finish things off, I'm so giddy about this book!

I think even the mightiest of Black stans might have issue with that ending, hoo boy. I loved it but I also kinda hated it.

So here's the thing. If this is a standalone, I'm a lot less happy than a three star. Okay, fine, maybe it's just docked half a point. But if this is a series opener.. yeah, maybe I could bump it a half point. As it is, there's a lot of good in this adult debut from this beloved author but there's also an equal amount of stuff I could've lived without.

I do think most people will come out of this book loving our MC, Charlie. She is unflinchingly herself and herself is messy. She's a twenty-eight year old ex-con artist and thief who is painfully aware of her baggage cart full of faults, failed relationships, and rather questionable childhood. She's trying to turn a new leaf, one that is away from the sketchier aspects of her skillset and focus on being somewhat of a law abiding citizen as well as guide her sister towards school and a future (a bit I never quite understood considering her sister's age and lack of interest and also, side note, did anyone else assume her sister was like sixteen? she did not act her age). Having a boyfriend who, for once, is not a scumbag, though maybe a little weird, helps, too.

In this world, which I'll admit I still find somewhat hard to grasp, there are people who can work magic through shadows. That's basically the simplest way to describe it. And while that's a main event in this world, the story itself focuses more on both mystery and heist and the overlords who rule the underworld. Does that sound dramatic? It kind of is.

While Charlie's world was dark and violent and gritty, the details didn't always interest me. Much like how I was invested in about half the characters and the rest could go hang. There was a sweet spot that kept me invested but on the whole there were parts that left much to be desired. Which, again, if this is a series.. I could see myself being swayed if we got more depth or detail. If not, well. It'll be halfway memorable.

I would absolutely read on and I so hope we continue to get more adult releases from our favourites in the YA genre, particularly when they go dark side. This didn't quite ease the sting of the long wait for the next Alex Stern novel but I'm not mad at it for distracting me for a few hours, either. You'll either pick this one up or you won't and I doubt this review will sway you otherwise. Having said that, I can't wait to see more reviews and how this works (or doesn't) for other readers.

Full review will be up closer to the pub date on pop-culturalist.com. I loved the description and the prose. The characters are so different from folk of air and I read this relatively fast!

This story is much more like Black's CurseWorkers books than her ModernFae, and I for one am here for the heists.
The magical system is unlike any I've read before with the interesting hook of idea that if a regular person tries hard enough and sacrifices,
they may eventually become able to work magic -- or not. It's a gamble, and the types of people willing to take the risk are intriguing.
The sisters are believably struggling, the villains are just the right amount of absurdly evil that makes your stomach ache because they could be real. And the stoic male lead is so strong-but-silent you're not sure why you're rooting for him but you sure are.
The story ends but with openings for more tales in the universe, and I'm truly hoping more are coming.

DNF because this was so boring. So incredibly boring. Maybe my excitement hyped this up too much for me? I don’t know, I just could not get through this. I found the concept of the shadows and the magic interesting. However I kept skimming through and what I did read I often forgot, since the MC went off on tangents. The MC often talks about things and events that happened and either elaborated to the point of making the story timeline jump around for awhile or mentioned things that needed an explanation but didn’t give one and seemed to imply it was already said earlier in the story. Which made me have to go back and forth to check if she previously talked about it. The MC was far too self destructive for my tastes, and I really like flawed characters. Maybe I’ll pick this back up later after someone I know has read and sells me on it. For now this is no for me.

Reading this book made me a bit nostalgic for 'White Cat,' but I've grown up, and holy heck has Holly Black's storyweaving. (Not that it ever NEEDED to; she's a bonafide author goddess.) This was a little dark for my tastes, but I'll be quick to recommend it to the new adult crowd at the library who are looking to graduate from YA fantasy into something a bit (cough a lot) grittier. 4/5 Stars bc man is this world building and writing amazing.

(I received this book as an ARC.) If you are a fan of watching the many kinds of limited series on Netflix, this book reads like one. It's a slow mysterious build, before it takes off and never looks back. Book of Night is a dark urban fantasy following, cons, thieves, and your own personal shadow. Yes, your shadow has a personality too, or at least, would like to drink your blood for one. Oh, and the main character's cat is named Lucipurr.

Book of Night is Holly Black's adult debut. While I've loved her YA books, I found Book of Night to be just okay. The novel is told in third-person POV, and I think that it removed me far enough from the story that I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters and truly caring about the story.

Upon first reading the summary, I really liked the idea of Charlie. However, being in the story, I found myself losing interest and comparing her to Jude, the main character from black's Air of Folk trilogy. Vince was interesting enough, but the romance between the two I wasn't invested in.

I wish that the world building, especially the magic system, would've been clearer. I was over halfway into the book and still struggled to fully understand how the world worked.

Based on the ending, I am assuming that this will be a series; I would give future books a try. Overall, a solid three stars––good, but not great.

Whoa.

That was…many things.

Anyways, thank you so much Tor for providing me a copy of the book! I’m going to cherish it for a long long time because I heavily enjoyed it!!

I was a little skeptical about this book due to the size of it, but let me just say I very much appreciated that this book didn’t fuck around. Holly Black did not fuck around. There wasn’t much fluff. Actually, there was NONE and I was glad for it.

Leigh really said it well. This book is so believable in its magic that it comes to life. Truly. I saw my shadow and was a lil skeptical while reading this 🤣. The writing really captivates you. Draws you in. The magic in this is so unique but oddly believable? Like if it turned out Holly was really just exposing the truth of how our shadows worked, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

The characters were great. Charlie Hall reminded me a tiny bit of what’s-her-face from Ninth House but in good way. I dare say I enjoyed Charlie Hall a tiny bit more? (Maybe because she’s a bit fresher in my mind) She was street smart, straight forward, and still had a heart. You rooted for her and felt for her when you saw into her adolescent experiences. Holly really did a good job bringing Charlie to life and making her complex in such a short amount of time.

I won’t say anything about the rest of the characters bc MAJOR SPOILERS. Major major spoilers….

Just know the twist in this book? Are truly twist. You will feel like a wet towel being wrung out, that’s how twisty it is 🤣. (At least to a gullible girl like me who hadn’t fully seen it coming).

More importantly THIS BOOK WAS GREAT AND WORTH A READ. GO READ IT IN MAY!!!!

My four stars is because I’m a lil salty about the ending. My feelings might change if a book 2 is to come. Other wise I’m salty for life 🤣

Exciting and engaging, held my attention all the way through. Char is a well developed character and she carries the book effectively.

There were many promising aspects to this story, but ultimately, it didn't hook me. I never became invested in either the characters or the plot.

As a huge Cruel Prince fan, I was extremely excited to read Holly Black’s adult debut! The concept of this urban fantasy is extremely unique and intriguing, it’s the kind of world I’d love to visit again and keep learning about. However, the book had an extremely slow start. The story finally began to pick up after the first ten chapters and left me on a roller coaster until the very end! I wish that the characters were a little more developed (which admittedly I may feel this way because Jude and Cardan were so distinct and memorable). I was also dissatisfied with the ending. It left me feeling like I had just been told I could save my best friends life and donated a kidney only to have the organ be rejected anyway and forced to watch them slowly die. I recommend the book as a fun read and interesting story overall. Thanks NetGalley for the E-ARC!

Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 1/5

This book was ok as adult fantasies go, but it was not my favorite Holly Black book. The writing style was very similar to Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, and I couldn't help but compare this to Ninth House while I was reading. I also wasn't that interested in Charlie as a character. Her character development wasn't that unique or unexpected and sometimes felt a bit cliche. I definitely prefer Holly Black's YA books.