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multiplyoctopi's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse
taythegreat's review
adventurous
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
3.5
I really enjoyed this book! Holly Black is the best when it comes to morally gray FMC. I loved that our heroine had flaws that but not in the "not like other girls" kind of way, Charlie was a lot of fun and I loved following her even when she made dumb decisions. She stayed on brand for sure.
This was a very slow book at first, I knew little to nothing about it when I started reading so I wasn't expecting it to be twisty-turny, pleasantly surprised for sure! I had some parts of the ending figured out early on and thought I had it all figured puy. I was pretty smug about it ngl, but the unexpected hit and was so satisfying.
The one thing I don't love is I went into this book thinking it was a stand alone, probably my fault for not researching it first, so the cliff hanger was a doozy.
This was a very slow book at first, I knew little to nothing about it when I started reading so I wasn't expecting it to be twisty-turny, pleasantly surprised for sure! I had some parts of the ending figured out early on and thought I had it all figured puy. I was pretty smug about it ngl, but the unexpected hit and was so satisfying.
The one thing I don't love is I went into this book thinking it was a stand alone, probably my fault for not researching it first, so the cliff hanger was a doozy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Incest, Addiction, and Confinement
bergha1998's review against another edition
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 🔥
Low Fantasy, Romance Subplot, 1/2 🔥
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Alcohol, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Violence, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
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
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
annorabrady's review
dark
mysterious
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Incest
taryn_g's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent
leahfoko's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was so good. It took me a little bit to get into the story and understand the world because there was a lot to it, but once I was hooked I was hooked. I felt like I was able to predict some of the twists but at that the same time I had no idea what was coming. The plot beats and surprises were the kind that looking back maybe should’ve been obvious but they felt like HUGE surprises at the time and were so unique from the kind of plot points you’d expect in a fantasy. Which is the best kind, the kind where all the pieces were set up for you along the way and you put the puzzle together as Charlie did.
Speaking of Charlie, at times I got kind of annoyed at her character for being bullheaded but that was also who she was and I couldn’t fault her for that at the end of the day because she needed to be that way to develop as a character and get to where she was at the end of the book.
I really felt while reading this book that I had never read anything like it before and that is saying something. Holly Black once again coming in with the unique and wonderful world building. I also really liked that the story wrapped up pretty succinctly at the end while also leaving me intrigued for the second book. For a bit there I wasn’t sure what was going to be left to keep me hooked into wanting to read book two, but then she did it! Last minute hook to keep me coming back for more, while also feeling like the book could stand pretty well on its own if it needed to. I really appreciated that.
Overall I really liked this book, I’m going with 4.5 stars because it took a bit to get going and at times I felt a bit confused and lost trying to keep track of all the pieces of information about the world that were coming my way that it felt a bit like an overload of information at times. But that comes with the elaborate world building at times. I would definitely recommend this book though to fans of Holly Black!
Speaking of Charlie, at times I got kind of annoyed at her character for being bullheaded but that was also who she was and I couldn’t fault her for that at the end of the day because she needed to be that way to develop as a character and get to where she was at the end of the book.
I really felt while reading this book that I had never read anything like it before and that is saying something. Holly Black once again coming in with the unique and wonderful world building. I also really liked that the story wrapped up pretty succinctly at the end while also leaving me intrigued for the second book. For a bit there I wasn’t sure what was going to be left to keep me hooked into wanting to read book two, but then she did it! Last minute hook to keep me coming back for more, while also feeling like the book could stand pretty well on its own if it needed to. I really appreciated that.
Overall I really liked this book, I’m going with 4.5 stars because it took a bit to get going and at times I felt a bit confused and lost trying to keep track of all the pieces of information about the world that were coming my way that it felt a bit like an overload of information at times. But that comes with the elaborate world building at times. I would definitely recommend this book though to fans of Holly Black!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Classism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Sexual content
pvbobrien's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Torture
colleensreadingadventures's review
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Torture, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Addiction