Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Book of Night by Holly Black

16 reviews

starlesscircus's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It’s a really interesting story, especially lore wise. The plot twist is exceptional. I just found the writing a bit clunky, it didn’t flow nicely for me. I also do have a hard time with moral bankrupt main characters, so if you also hate that I wouldn’t suggest. 

Low Fantasy, Romance Subplot, 1/2 🔥

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mirrorstorm_'s review

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adventurous dark mysterious

4.0


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allianni's review

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fast-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

2.0

Over all the book had a relatively interesting premise and promising start. The “twists and turns” that happened during it were not exciting to discover and things that I didn’t connect did not feel rewarding. 

The characters are certainly built to not be likable. They are bad people who do bad things. I am unsure if the author wants the reader to like them despite the bad things. The characters are essentially bad people fighting worse people.


Another issue I took with this book is that Black very clearly does not know how to write a “curvy” (as she describes Charlie) lead female character. Charlie was described/described herself as having  “too much in [insert body part here]” and that it was crazy that a hot guy like her boyfriend would be interested in her. As a woman who falls into the category of Charlie’s size (which is eventually explicitly stated) I can attest to the fact that there are better ways to write characters like her.

I also felt like certain points were exhausted by the author repeating them over and over again. The ending was disappointing and it felt as if there were many things explained away. 

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leedolee's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I've always been fascinated by the idea of shadows existing as separate and living entities so this book certainly fit the bill. It was a great and entertaining read and had a world I will surely return to when the sequel is released. 

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bobigail's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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pvbobrien's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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the_book_files_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really enjoyed the writing in this book but my only problem is that the plot was so slow that it didn’t really feel like there was one at all so I overall found it an ok book as I didn’t dislike but I wasn’t in love either. 

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colleensreadingadventures's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Let me tell you peeps…after reading Holly Black’s beautiful written angsty YA The Folk of the Air Series, I will be a forever fan. I love this woman’s writing, she’s got skills. So when I saw HB was coming out with a new Fantasy AND it was going to be her first adult book…well I almost fainted from the straight shot of giddiness that went to my brain. 
Luckily I did not.😁 What I did do is start the countdown to when I could get my hands on a copy. And then I finally did! 

Charlie Hall never takes the right path. Her middle name is Trouble, some might say Evil. That is the life destined for a thief that deals with the shady characters within the shadow magic realm. She steals books and magical items in connection with the shadow world to the highest bidder. 
 She may have a dangerous job but the money made it all worth it…well that and the thrills. But Charlie is trying to change all that after one of her shady dealing’s came back to bite her in the ass via shooting up her car with her inside. 

She is a responsible woman now. Charlie does her 40 hour work week pouring drinks behind a bar, keeping her younger sister Posey in college (even though she’s late on tuition, again), hanging out with friends, and even staying in a normal balanced relationship with the same man, Vince for the better part of a year. Charlie may not be living large any more but it looks like she’s making healthy choices in life and men. 

That is until Doreen, a strained acquaintance asks Charlie to help locate her missing boyfriend, the same man who now occupies Charlie’s old job under Balthazar’s employ. That and on a walk home after work thanks to her affordable clunker refusing to start, she runs into a a customer’s murder scene, a customer whom she just saw that night. The same man she noticed trying to sell stolen pages of an infamous book that has a coveted subject on shadow magic that others would kill to obtain called the Libre Noctem. Could these two occurrences be tied together? Her curiosity gets the best of her and she starts digging. But her investigation has consequences and Charlie’s new responsibly cultivated lifestyle goes down the toilet as she’s dragged back into her old life. 
A life that’s in serious danger as an old powerful nemesis resurfaces and comes full force for Charlie Hall. 

This was a bit hard for me to get into, which surprised me because if you can’t already tell I loooove Holly Black. I was having a hard time connecting with Charlie. One of the things that bothered me was she supposed to be a serious bad ass that does things  without thinking through the consequences. I didn’t feel that, she actually seemed pretty sensitive most of the time. I wanted more bad assery to be honest..yes I just made up my own word. 😁 

My other big problem was with the whole shadow magic world. I loved the idea and I actually really got into but it was super confusing in the beginning. There a lot of different areas and words associated with it and I couldn’t keep them straight. 
But I did eventually catch on, for the most part. 

Now that I got the negative out of the way Book of Night really turned into an awesome book. And I think a lot of that had to do with Vince, Charlie’s boyfriend. He was an intriguing character. I think I might have ended up liking him more than Charlie..lol.

Once I got the gist of The Shadow Magic World   It became really interesting and just shows how creative Holly Black really is. It’s very multi layered ranging from amusing amateur level to powerful, sinister and scary stuff. For example Gloamists (shadow magicians) can send their shadow into an area that a regular person can’t go (under the crack of a door..etc) to steal an item, unless the area is secured by Onyx which is a protection against shadow magic. Or if their shadow is malevolent and strong enough the Gloamist can force their shadow into someone else’s body and make them say and do whatever the magician wants with the owner having no control, even suffocating them if they choose. This is just the tip of the shadow creation, there is a lot more to the intricate world.

If you’ve read any of Holly Black’s books you will know she is a master at a heart stoping plot change. I thought I knew what was going on but she got me again! She had my head reeling and my heart pounding. Everything I thought I understood was not true. 

The ending was good and bad, good because there are going to be more Charlie adventures!  (When I first started BON it wasn’t confirmed if it was going be a solo book, but I’m extremely happy to say there will be more!) But also bad because one of the crazy plot changes I was talking about happened, and it broke my heart a little. 

Even though Book of Night started out a bit  bumpy and slow it pulled through like I knew it would. It’s really very difficult not to end up liking a Holly Black novel and Book of Night is no exception. Lovers of Urban Fantasy that enjoy extremely messed up characters (but somewhat (a few anyways) likable), unexpected plot changes, great writing and detailed world building this is the book for you.

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pellepanda's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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