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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Vomit, Alcoholism, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
thaliareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have to start by saying that I really like Holly Black, and I really liked the ending of this book.
However, I had an incredibly hard time with the first half of the book. I was confused about the magic system, and I couldn't keep track of the characters. I think part of the issue is that with working while I listened to the audiobook I didn't always catch the transitions between the current and past event chapters. To be honest it didn't hook me either in the beginning, so if I hadn't listened to the audiobook so fast I might have missed out on the second half that I really enjoyed because based on the beginning I would have DNF'd it.
However, I had an incredibly hard time with the first half of the book. I was confused about the magic system, and I couldn't keep track of the characters. I think part of the issue is that with working while I listened to the audiobook I didn't always catch the transitions between the current and past event chapters. To be honest it didn't hook me either in the beginning, so if I hadn't listened to the audiobook so fast I might have missed out on the second half that I really enjoyed because based on the beginning I would have DNF'd it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Child death
This was a dark urban fantasy, so guns, violence, death, and gore are all very present.thebelugaloo's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Loved the magic system, plot was good, but the ending was spoiled a little when attempting to make room for a sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Gore, Incest, Car accident, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Domestic abuse
bellebookcorner's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have quite a high expectation to this book because the author’s other series is one of my favorite and I’m curious to see this author’s first adult novel works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to my expectation.
I felt confused most of the times when I read this book, it’s hard to envision some of the things happening here. The slow pacing in the first half part of the book almost made me gave up continuing this book….
There’s a lot of characters to keep track of to and it’s kinda hard differentiating one to the other unless they have significant roles like the main characters and the villain.
As for the romance, it has the potential and I’m rooting for both main characters. I’m intrigued to find out what happens next. However, it’s a veryyyy slow burn romance so if you’re not a fan of those this book might not be for you.
I have to admit the magic system is actually interesting, with the shadow magic and the blight. I keep on reading because the second half part of the book gets slightly more interesting.
My favorite part is the last few chapters of the book where the secrets is out in the open and it actually surprise me in a good way.
Overall, this isn’t entirely a bad read but it’s not that great either.
The ending still makes me want to continue reading this series. I’d like to know what happens next so I’ll keep an eye out on the sequel later.
The ending still makes me want to continue reading this series. I’d like to know what happens next so I’ll keep an eye out on the sequel later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse and Death
Minor: Sexual content
caitsmythers's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It took me awhile to get into this book. I think around the halfway mark is when things really picked up for me and I got into it!
The first major twist I guessed very early in but the second twist by god did that get me!
Charlie’s thievery skills are honestly very envious, I’m half tempted now to go and learn to pick locks and nick a few odd bits from people just to see what it takes… but also I’m too much of shitebag for that
This book is supernatural, magical, and a good ol’ mystery/thriller with some of the classic ‘who dunnit’ism thrown in.
The first major twist I guessed very early in but the second twist by god did that get me!
Charlie’s thievery skills are honestly very envious, I’m half tempted now to go and learn to pick locks and nick a few odd bits from people just to see what it takes… but also I’m too much of shitebag for that
This book is supernatural, magical, and a good ol’ mystery/thriller with some of the classic ‘who dunnit’ism thrown in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
stephwatsford's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really enjoyed this book. I think the concept was incredibly unique and the writing style was captivating. I deducted 0.25 stars because I found myself a bit confused at times, important details were a little easy to miss at times but that might be on me. Overall I had a great time reading this and would love to read more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Gore
love3v07's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
kasarin's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Minor: Incest
sapphicbookdragon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Self harm
rinku's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Book of Night is actually the first book by Black that I’ve read – besides reading the Spiderwick Chronicles as a child but I don’t remember anything about them. I wasn’t blown away by this novel, but it was a nice read, mainly because of the dark atmosphere and the interesting world.
In this book, we follow Charlie as she navigates a world in which shadows can be manipulated and are used for many shady things. Charlie soon finds herself in the centre of those because she goes on a mission to find a mysterious book. Her past helps her greatly with this task since she was once a thief and a criminal herself. The thief stuff and the few action scenes were honestly my favorite thing about this novel since they’re just so cool. Much of Charlie’s backstory is interesting as well, but it was a bit boring that much of it was told, just like the backstories of other characters. Furthermore, I always find a bit funny when YA authors write adult books because what makes books “adult” in their opinion is mentioning abuse, drugs, and sex often. This was here a bit over-the-top, and I’m sure there are other ways to make a book more adult. Some things were also quite predictable since the plot is a bit average, but I generally liked it.
I don’t know what I think about the ending though. What I did like about it was how Charlie’s tricking Salt but many other things about it were not so understandable. With all the plot twists and revelations, like Vince being Remy’s shadow and not Remy or the hierophant being the murderer, apparently , I was more irritated than shocked by them. Especially the second thing came a bit out of the blue for me. I also don’t like the last chapter and have the feeling it was only added to have the possibility for writing a second book.
Like I’ve mentioned at the beginning, the dark atmosphere created throughout the novel was so great. I imagined many scenes taking place in the dark or at least when it’s dusk/dawn, even when this wasn’t the case. The general world was interesting as well since I always love to read about urban fantasy novels where magic just exists, and we see how it’s dealt with in the modern world. Nevertheless, the world building was sometimes a bit irritating, and I struggled with imagining some things, like how a shadow is able to attack a person.
I don’t have strong opinions on the characters, I think they were all okay. Charlie seemed a bit try-hard edgy to me at the beginning but after the half, I started to warm up with her. I honestly found her past life and how she was back then more interesting, and I would love to read a whole book about it. Vince was a fascinating character from the beginning, but I didn’t care for Remy’s POV at all and don’t think that it was necessary. What I find a bit sad though is that mostly only men are part of the conspiracy and hence play a bigger role.
I’m not sure why we need a sequel to Book of Night since the story is nicely wrapped up at the end, even though it’s a bit open. Still, I wouldn’t mind reading more about Charlie since I started to like her quite a lot but I’m not the biggest fan of the situation she was put in at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, and Sexual content
Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders