I had to start this book multiple times. Often I had a rough time getting close to the characters, even though I liked their own POVs. But I couldn't get close to them or feel any sympathy for them.
The plot idea is great and was the only thing that helped me get through the whole thing.
At times, the writing style seemed all over the place which irritated me a bit.

good gothic story. Liked how not was told by different characters view points, however as the story developed it did get a little confusing. It is a bit of a slow burner, would have preferred it to be a little quicker paced, however the story and characters were interesting.

This was an okay read, I had a hard time remembering much of it after finishing it (hence this late review, sorry about that *shame on me*).
I really loved the premisse but the execution fell a little short in my opinion.

Unfortunately I tried but I just couldn't get into this book. I love stories like this but unfortunately this one didn't do it for me.

Unfortunately, a good idea left much to be desired. I barely got through it, and would not recommend, sadly.

The way this book was written (introducing each character in their own POV) is difficult for some people to catch on to and feel like they know whats going on. However, I love how this was written and that all characters get introduced until they all meet and the story continues. This book gave me Three Dark Crowns with the POVs and how they come together at the end of the story. But this story is very steam punk, gothic, sci-fi vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley for this thrilling book that had me hooked from the first couple pages.

For vampire fans, a classic tale of a time of superstition blended with the 'reality' of the vampires walking among the living. A rather old fashioned of vampires in a past time, almost historical in flavor.

Well, this book was a surprise! Although I was intrigued by the premise, I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. It’s a perfect reminder of why we should push ourselves out of comfort zone by trying new books!

Firstly, the writing was stunning. Lyrical, atmospheric and absorbing. It kept me engaged in the story and immersed in the world. I didn’t want to put it down! The world building was so imaginative and had so many thrilling and unique elements.

The character development was fantastic, and I rooted for the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them. It took me a little while to get into the plot itself. I think because of how complex it was; it took me some time to get my head around everything.

Overall, an interesting story with beautiful writing. I’ll definitely check out more from this author in the future!

I tried but I just couldn't get into it and it took me forever to read. I love stories like this but unfortunately this one didn't do it for me. I'm really sad about it. Its nothing against the author, its just not for me.

A fun mix of sci-fi and fantasy, a combo I now want to explore more in books I read. It was a mash-up I didn't realize I wanted. Super intriguing storyline too, I was hooked from the start. I loved the more twisted nature and nods to classic horror in this story. Great character development as well.
While I enjoyed the multiple POV's, the switching between them was a bit much. I enjoy getting into the heads of different characters and having that change of perspective, things got a little confusing in this book. Maybe having fewer perspectives may have been better. That being said, since there are more books in the series I'm sure it will become easier to follow the changing perspectives as we learn more about each character over the series.
Overall I still really enjoyed the book and think it was a pretty good read.

Children of the night ebbed and flowed for me. Set in a sci-fi 1800’s I loved exploring unique versions some of the old scary stories like Frankenstein, dracula and dr jekel and me Hyde. The descriptions were fantastic but I think having so many different types of dead with classic/folk names made it difficult to picture and keep up with. I enjoyed the diverse characters but I didn’t feel like I got to know them as well as I would like to. I will be reading the next book to see if anything changes. Also to be fair I had also been reading a book by my favorite author which could have stollen some thunder.

This book had a different take on the creatures of the night, I haven't read a book with this sort of approach to vampires so it was a new type of reading for me.

The plot was different, slow but different. It was seen through the eyes of the 4 children regarded as Unnaturals, I liked the fact that there was this type of categorisation instead of your classic human and monsters. It was less hurtful to the creatures so to speak.

I feel like there could have been more to the story if we got a full introduction to the kids and their backgrounds instead of diving right in. The writing style was pretty average, standard and seemed to flow. The pov's threw me off as it was of the different kids but it was hard to keep up and remember that each child is experiencing something different.

This book, however, was not for me, unfortunately, I thought I would love this based on how catching the book description is but there were gaps. There were some good points, unique attributes of the kids, how close they become being unnatural but it was not enough to hook me.

4/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: fantasy, steampunk, multiple POVs, vampires, reimaginings

This review has been posted to Gooreads, my book review blog, and Instagram as of 6/9.

This is a clever take on reimaginings, and I liked how different aspects of each of the OG gothic monsters played into the characters. It was fun trying to guess how elements of each of the original stories would come into this book, and potentially future ones.

I liked how seamlessly the monsters, Unnaturals, and steampunk elements fit into 19th century Venice. However, I will say that it didn't really feel like 1800s Venice, it just kind of felt like that setting was there as a prop and not a lot was really done with it, so I'd've liked to see more of that Venetian aspect and more of that historical aspect. I did really like the concept of the Academia and the Scholomance, and think both added a layer of tension and creepiness to things.

Likewise, I enjoyed Ayanda's home and would definitely like to see more of it and her family. They do play a minor role in this book, but I am a kicker for mutants and schools and found families, so I would be satisfied if we could get an entire book dedicated to the Unnatural family living in Venice.

While there are four POVs, I think for this book Ayanda is the main MC. As a Draculesti Unnatural, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Dead (Undead?) and gains strength when near them, so naturally she turns to vampire hunting as a hobby. I would like to know a bit more about this hobby of hers and when it started, because Marina, her adoptive mother, seems fairly surprised at her behavior yet Ayanda seems to have a pretty good grasp on what she's doing so it also feels like it's not a new thing. There's a bit of mystery about Ayanda's background that this book begins to get into, like breadcrumbs, so it'll be interesting to see what else is uncovered about her in future books.

Jette is scientifically minded and is able to work through complex issues and invent helpful things. She has an interesting arc in this story, and while it is necessary for her, I almost wish that she had her own book within which to work these things through. By the end of the book it seems as though she's accepted some things about her dual nature, though of course this could always backslide.

Belle also has a backstory hidden with amnesia, though I think parts of it start coming out in this book. Her existence (or the type of Unnatural that she is) speaks to more layers of living-dead, Natural-Unnatural than is fully covered in this book, so I think it'd be interesting to see where that goes and what's revealed through that. Belle's a loyal one and will fight for her people if given the chance, and despite how unsure she is of her own power at the beginning.

I'll be honest, it really felt like Belle and Jette were going to be a thing in this book, and then one of them drops the word 'sister,' which kind of threw me off. Their relationship definitely felt more like romantic love than familial, so I'm wondering if the author realized that and backtracked or if it's something that will be dealt with in a future book.

Yurei is the character I feel like we know the least about, despite him getting a decent amount of POV time. He seems to have the threads of a couple of different stories in him (Phantom being the most obvious), and I'd like to get better insight into him.

The main chunk of the book is dedicated to hunting the Big Bad vampire, which is likely why Ayanda is the MC. I liked how Safra chose to include a bunch of different kinds of vampires and had them be different species rather than just choosing one or two, I think it made it more interesting and added a good depth to the story. I also thought the different levels of vampires (lesser vs. greater, not-dead servants vs. dead, etc.) were interesting.

This is a fun, action-packed book if you’re looking for a light read!

Science fiction, fantasy, and monsters. What an exciting read. Not something I would typically pick up upon parousal, but am glad I gave it a go. It is worth the read.

Recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

A very unique story in theory, but I did not like its execution of it.

In a steampunk-esque Venice in 1865, a team of unlikely monster teens must battle a murderous vampire to save the world as they know it.

This story is slow to start and had a lot of world-building. The difference in "unnatural" characters is not explained very well. The story has a lot of confusing steam-punk explanations and actions that I found very confusing, it was hard to keep up. Between Vampires, undead, naturals, unnatural, and alchemy a lot is going on in the story. I just feel like there was too much going on at once.

A story told all in first POV, you're seeing the world through the eyes of four teenagers. However, because they are used to this world they do not explain a lot of the world or what is going on so it can be very confusing.

I feel like this story would be very good for fans of Steampunk, but not for me.

There were some parts of this book that I enjoyed and some parts that I found that I just didn't gel with.
I liked the dark, gothic and steampunk elements of this book, I thought the atmosphere was just right and it made me wnat to keep reading. I also liked the allusions to popular figures in culture and literature such as Dracula, Frankenstein and so forth, this also made it really interesting for me and I really enjoyed the backstories and the characterisation in the book not just of the mian characters but also the minor characters.
All that aside, however, the writing style wasn't for me it felt very disjointed and I also couldn't always ascertain which characters point of view I was reading at times.

This book was definitely not for me. I found far too many elements of it to be frustrating for no reason, primarily the use of first person present for four separate, virtually indistinguishable POVs. There might have been a way to pull this off, but from the beginning to the end every character blurred together. This created issues with the pacing and flow, as well as overall clarity. I strongly suspect there were also points in which the author herself forgot how much information each character was supposed to have in a given moment, because I caught a number of inconsistencies.

The disjointed pacing made it difficult for me to find my footing with any of the points of view used in this book, and honestly I thought the use of classic horror movie monsters to represent each of the main characters was more distracting than anything. Too many disparate ideas were at play here, all competing for attention and subsequently muddying the plot, characters, and what might have at one point been a nice theme about outcasts sticking together and finding strength in their strangeness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sinsonte Press for gifting me this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine the classic monsters of your youth. Dracula, Frankenstein, the creature from the Black Lagoon. Now imagine them as teenagers, super-powered and in a background of a steam-punk gothic. And there lies Children of the Night by Zan Safra.

Children of the Night by Zan Safra is a YA steam-punk gothic novel that follows the unnatural life of Ayanda Draculesti. As she ventures forth into the underbelly of Venice, dodging the grasps of alchemists wanting to use her and her vampire-esque powers for their own gain. But things aren't that simple, as a greater, stronger threat emerges from the shadows. And Ayanda won't let them get their way, even if it means protecting the very same people who fear her and call her monster.

To be honest, this book is a little hard to explain. As it tries to bend and mash a bunch of genres into one. One minute it's fantasy. Another it's sci-fy. And the last it's a gothic steam punk. I really wanted to love this book and it's many quirks. But it just wasn't for me.

Right away the synopsis of this book pulled me in. The four main characters inspired by famous gothic stories. Ayanda, Belle, Jette, and Yurei are all unnaturals who band together to stop the deathly force that’s haunting 19th century Venice.

Sadly even with this unique and promising plot, I couldn’t finish the book. The writing style wasn’t for me. Usually I love multiple POVs but the way this was written especially in the beginning it was too much back and forth. I understand the characters have to be introduced but I felt like they needed more than one chapter in a row. It made the world building a bit choppy. I also thought it was overly descriptive and finding myself skipping over words to get to the point.

This book just wasn’t for me so I rated it 1 star.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to the author and publisher for giving me a copy of this arc.
I had a hard time getting into this book, the writing style wasn’t holding my attention. As always a love a multiple pov book, but the start was slow and took a lot of effort to get to a part of the story that hooked me. The world building was difficult to pick up on and retain. I loved the big fight scenes and the villain truly felt evil. This was a fun dark twist of fantasy and sci-fi. I loved the characters names and personality’s.