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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I don’t typically re-read books, but since it has been over two years since I read the first, I am glad that I went back and listened to book 1 before diving into this one. Thief of Night jumps off right after the events of Book of Night where Charlie has become the Hierophant and Red is tethered to her. The story is slow to build, but I really enjoyed the main characters - con-artist Charlie manages to be bad ass with no fighting skills and Red continues to evolve through the book. And even though it was slower paced, the build up and the events portrayed made this a satisfying wrap up to the duology.
The main narrator is back from the first book and makes the story entertaining with the delivery of different voices for characters. This installment has the addition of two narrators which add to the depth of Red’s character during interviews within the story.
Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley.
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️/5
Charlie is now the Hierophant and working with Red to complete jobs for the cabals, eliminating blights. Remy's aunt Adeline is trying to get Red Remy's inheritance with strings. Meanwhile Charlie is still wondering if she can steal back Red's heart.
I listened to the audio book and this drew me in more than Book of Night. The narrators do an excellent job and the male narrator on the recordings of Red is very unnerving in these brief segments. I also think the story came together better in this back half of the duology. I cared more about these characters this time around. I would suggest you give this a read if you read Book of Night, even if you weren't sure on it, you might be pleasantly surprised here.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an ALC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will be published on 9/23/25.
Thank you, Tor Books and Netgalley, for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
I thought this book was a major improvement over the first book! Holly Black definitely found her footing with this story, and I’m glad for it.
Charlie is a character that I loved from the beginning. The fact that she’s a thief and doesn’t shy away from it provides a lot of interesting moments. Her tricky and sly nature serves her well in this crazy world. Black expanded on her world a bit, and it was much easier to follow. I loved Charlie’s relationship with “Vincent/Red” in this one. I don’t want to say too much about it, but it is a much stronger connection in this book. I think the slow burn worked well with what was going on. There is no spice in this book if you are looking for it.
The magic is a bit darker in this book, and some of the details get a bit graphic. Regardless, I thought it was interesting, and it all came together well. The pacing was still a little slow, at times. I did get a little confused with Red’s POV. Some of the things that we learn in this book would have helped the first book much better! Especially when it comes to Charlie’s skills.
Thief of Night was a great conclusion to the duology! I loved the relationship between Charlie and Red much better in this book. Charlie was definitely the best part of this duology! I think this was a great way for Holly Black to find space in the adult fantasy world. The ending of this book was perfection!!
I wish I could say that this started off right where Book of Night left off, but it's been so long that I dont remember a thing about it. I just jumped into Thief of Night without even looking at my review of BON and still managed to enjoy the heck out of it!
It pulled me right in with Charlie's antics. Charlie is a badass anti-hero! And then we have Red. I must say that his audio interviews were pretty great reminders that he was a shadow. He seemed mostly normal, and it was easy to forget.
It wrapped up this duology quite nicely, but I wouldn't complain if she ever wanted to give us more of these characters. Maybe a Posey spinoff? 😏
It pulled me right in with Charlie's antics. Charlie is a badass anti-hero! And then we have Red. I must say that his audio interviews were pretty great reminders that he was a shadow. He seemed mostly normal, and it was easy to forget.
It wrapped up this duology quite nicely, but I wouldn't complain if she ever wanted to give us more of these characters. Maybe a Posey spinoff? 😏
Thank you to NetGalley and to MacMillan Audio for the ARC of Thief of Night by Holly Black.
I'd like to rate this between a 3.5 and a 4.
I read Book of Night back in 2022 and, while it started off slowly, I was completely enamored with it by the ending. I was so glad to see the conclusion was coming and so thankful to receive an ARC.
The story picks up almost immediately where the first one ends. It's definitely needed to read the first book to understand the second. Charlie is now bound with Red/Vince and she's hoping to get his memories back and to keep him safe and, eventually, free. Unfortunately for Charlie, multiple problems are headed her way, both in her role as hierophant and with the Cabal, with her sister being mysteriously absent, with Red not trusting her and potentially plotting against her, with Red's family wanting him to take his place with them, when her violent ex boyfriend makes an appearance in her bar, etc.
It's hard to find a singular line of "this is the plot", and this was my mild frustration with the book -- it starts off really strongly, the way the first ended, with Charlie fighting blights and working to find ways to save Vince, but then it seems to ebb and flow with new problems from every possible corner without strong links on how they all come together. Even after finishing it, the majority of them do seem to be random to keep the intensity up, but when the book ends Charlie's overall positioning in all of these hierarchies/relationships is still a bit muddled. It feels like everything is okay for now, but that a lot could still happen in the future. It felt stronger than the first book because there was more action, but it still felt piecemeal in where that action mattered to the overall story.
I think the overall villain arc felt a bit forced given that Charlie's world is just overrun with selfish, bad people -- I wish there was a bit more dimension to the bad people than just what their privilege has given them or what someone else's privilege has forced them to be.
That being said, I still really enjoyed the audiobook and the narration by Jonathan Davis, Sara Amini and Vikas Adam. Having three narrators really gave it more dimension, which I think helped deepen the story and the characters, especially with the blights and the creepy actions of the puppeteer. My only hang-up was in the interludes with Red and Malhar -- I was a bit confused why Red had this very creepy deep voice in those scenes, but not in the rest of the novel. I think if Red had talked like that the whole book it would have put me off, and because these interview interludes were kind of random as a whole, I just found myself kind of shrugging them off to get back to the story.
The relationship between Charlie and Red is the heart of the story, and regardless of the smaller-tied-together-plotlines, their plotline is the most consistent and what Charlie continuously returns to as her main goal. We do see more growth from Charlie as a person, though she's still apt to drink too much to avoid situations she can't physically escape from. She and Red are both comfortable that they will never be "good" people, but they're at least honest in trying to do good things. And Red does grow on me as a reader even when you know Charlie wants his memories to return so he can be Vince -- Black does a good job at emphasizing his trauma in subtle ways, like how he doesn't realize he's the one who can leave the bar so Remy's rich friends aren't rude to Charlie. Black lets him slowly recognize his own autonomy and his own strengths. The way the two manage to navigate the many pitfalls of their relationship, both internal and external, was so different from the less-than-truthful versions of themselves they had when dating in Book of Night. The realization that loving people means giving them your broken pieces really shined through.
I'd like to rate this between a 3.5 and a 4.
I read Book of Night back in 2022 and, while it started off slowly, I was completely enamored with it by the ending. I was so glad to see the conclusion was coming and so thankful to receive an ARC.
The story picks up almost immediately where the first one ends. It's definitely needed to read the first book to understand the second. Charlie is now bound with Red/Vince and she's hoping to get his memories back and to keep him safe and, eventually, free. Unfortunately for Charlie, multiple problems are headed her way, both in her role as hierophant and with the Cabal, with her sister being mysteriously absent, with Red not trusting her and potentially plotting against her, with Red's family wanting him to take his place with them, when her violent ex boyfriend makes an appearance in her bar, etc.
It's hard to find a singular line of "this is the plot", and this was my mild frustration with the book -- it starts off really strongly, the way the first ended, with Charlie fighting blights and working to find ways to save Vince, but then it seems to ebb and flow with new problems from every possible corner without strong links on how they all come together. Even after finishing it, the majority of them do seem to be random to keep the intensity up, but when the book ends Charlie's overall positioning in all of these hierarchies/relationships is still a bit muddled. It feels like everything is okay for now, but that a lot could still happen in the future. It felt stronger than the first book because there was more action, but it still felt piecemeal in where that action mattered to the overall story.
I think the overall villain arc felt a bit forced given that Charlie's world is just overrun with selfish, bad people -- I wish there was a bit more dimension to the bad people than just what their privilege has given them or what someone else's privilege has forced them to be.
That being said, I still really enjoyed the audiobook and the narration by Jonathan Davis, Sara Amini and Vikas Adam. Having three narrators really gave it more dimension, which I think helped deepen the story and the characters, especially with the blights and the creepy actions of the puppeteer. My only hang-up was in the interludes with Red and Malhar -- I was a bit confused why Red had this very creepy deep voice in those scenes, but not in the rest of the novel. I think if Red had talked like that the whole book it would have put me off, and because these interview interludes were kind of random as a whole, I just found myself kind of shrugging them off to get back to the story.
The relationship between Charlie and Red is the heart of the story, and regardless of the smaller-tied-together-plotlines, their plotline is the most consistent and what Charlie continuously returns to as her main goal. We do see more growth from Charlie as a person, though she's still apt to drink too much to avoid situations she can't physically escape from. She and Red are both comfortable that they will never be "good" people, but they're at least honest in trying to do good things. And Red does grow on me as a reader even when you know Charlie wants his memories to return so he can be Vince -- Black does a good job at emphasizing his trauma in subtle ways, like how he doesn't realize he's the one who can leave the bar so Remy's rich friends aren't rude to Charlie. Black lets him slowly recognize his own autonomy and his own strengths. The way the two manage to navigate the many pitfalls of their relationship, both internal and external, was so different from the less-than-truthful versions of themselves they had when dating in Book of Night. The realization that loving people means giving them your broken pieces really shined through.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.25! I liked this even more that Book of Night because the way the story developed was just so good. Contemporary dark fantasy, with flawed characters. Like many of her books the characters are kind of misfits, not following traditional “good upstanding citizen” qualities, hobbies, jobs, attitudes etc. I don’t think this author is for everyone. But for me personally she’s an auto-read. The magic system in these books is very interesting, but it’s not laid out in a silver platter for you. You’ll work to understand it the same way the main character does.
ARC read, thank you to NetGalley. All opinions are my own
ARC read, thank you to NetGalley. All opinions are my own
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm one of the few people that actually enjoyed Book of Night. However, I did not enjoy this. I actually didn't mind that this has a completely different plot than the first book (though, admittedly, I probably should have reread the first book to better understand this one) with a new cast of characters and such. However, the plot here didn't do anything for me and I'm not sure I could really tell you what happened. Not a very satisfying conclusion to this story.
adventurous
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
adventurous
dark
funny
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
I received this audiobook in a StoryGraph giveaway. I really liked the first book, and read it specifically because I had won this book. Overall I liked the story, and there are a lot of twists and turns as Charlie investigates and cons her way through the mystery, just like in the first book. Overall, the plot was solid and kept me interested and guessing, which is fun. However, I felt the love story/journey could’ve been stronger in this book. I feel like the struggle for Vince/Red to come back to himself and understand his feelings for Charlie should’ve been a harder challenge to overcome. It just kind of felt like after hardly any time he’s acting out of love for her. And maybe if it had been described as a love that transcends all boundaries, or because Red wasn’t created like other quickened shadows, this would’ve made more sense, but it wasn’t well explained why this was overcome so quickly, and so that fell kind of flat for me. I also feel like the interviews interspersed could’ve been really great at giving insight to red’s state of mind but you didn’t really know when they took place, or who was listening to them, so they didn’t really add to anything and were kind of forgotten altogether near the end of the story so there was never any conclusion of the interviews. And tbf, I could’ve missed something as I listened at 1.35x that caused the confusion over the interviews. But over all, solid second book to the series, and finishing this book does leave me wondering what will come next in the story. I know it’s a duology, but I’m definitely hoping for another book. I think it’d be cool to have the series adapted into a show with multiple seasons because it’s a really interesting concept.