Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

Book of Night

by Holly Black

May 3, 2022

Goodreads Summary:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

With sharp angles and prose, and a sinister bent, Holly Black is a master of shadow and story stitching. Remember while you read, light isn’t playing tricks in Book of Night, the people are.

Review

Holly Black has always been an author I enjoy. With the hype surrounding Book of Night, I was more than a little relieved to be joining the ranks of readers who love this book. The story was exceptionally atmospheric, living up to its title, cover and synopsis.

Book of Night had a slow beginning but was intriguing from the start. The first quarter of the book presented a lot of information that were necessary to understand the plot. Some parts took more focus to absorb but for the most part the details became easier to digest as the story progressed. I especially loved the workings of the shadow magic- very dark but pretty cool.

Even though I have never been in as bad a place as Charlie has been, I found her to be quite relatable. She knew how to spin things to her advantage. I wasn't particularly fond of all the flashbacks but I can't deny they gave me a better understanding to who Charlie Hall is. Intelligent and resourceful, she was more than a con artist. "Psychics were therapists for people who couldn't admit they needed therapy. They were magic for people who desperately needed a little magic, back before magic was real." (ARC, p. 16).

I appreciate all the dark drama (murder, mystery and betrayals) within the Book of Night world. But maybe because I've watched too many supernatural/mystery/crime shows, I wasn't the least bit surprised by the big twist (Vince is Red). I'm not disappointed though because the anticipation leading up to the reveal made the story that much more thrilling. I was eager to uncover what other secrets the characters were hiding. Worth the wait.

Book of Night is everything I have come to love about Holly Black's stories. Her writing hooks you while her characters keep you on the edge of your seat. I'm so pleased we'll be seeing more of Charlie Hall. Especially with that ending!

*I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. Any quotes included in my review were taken from the ARC I received.