Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Book of Night (B&N Exclusive Edition) by Holly Black

46 reviews

em_aune's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.5

Such a good read! Complex characters, a super unique system of magic, and a bit of a mystery. Loved it and can’t wait for more. 

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lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

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

2.75

Overall, a little better than I expected (my expectations were really low).

Barely anything happens until the 45% mark. Several critical emotional beats are sabotaged by being “revealed” after the fact instead of experienced by the MC. And the overall emotional shallowness makes the MC come across as a sociopath, though I don’t believe that was the intention.

And the worldbuilding/lore is nothing but squandered potential. Is it open world or isn’t it? How recently? Nothing was explained, which watered down any supposed “cool” or “unique” behavior of certain shadows.

Also, the audio narration was somewhat… bland? No distinguishing between most voices aside from the Hierophant and Salt.

So… pretty much what I expected. Not sure this cliffhanger ending will be enough to entice me to read more.

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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.0


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shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

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

3.5


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lauramparis's review against another edition

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

4.0


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jaja_1212's review against another edition

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mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5


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lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I don't really know what I expected going into this but it's a good book. I liked Charlie Hall and there was a lot of action! I don't know what exactly but something was missing for me though.

I like the mystery aspect of it and also the reveal at the end! The whole revenge aspect of it was quite satisfying to read about as well.
I guess I was only scared that she would fail and because of that I was constantly on edge while reading.

This book wasn't the most fun time but it was definitely entertaining. And I think especially people who like their books a bit more brutal will like this.

I do have to say that I am quite confused by the worldbuilding still. I don't quite understand what exactly it is that shadows do and what they are? Also the magical powers seemed quite random. You can just do what you want? Also what are Cabal and Carapace and all those important people? Why do you need a Hierophant? Why did no one check if the Shadow took over?
Well anyways I have loads of questions and I really hope they will get resolved in book 2. (Oh and I hope it's a Duology because I feel like the story should have been a standalone and I hope it won't just be stretched out..

I think mainly what I didn't like where the flashbacks. Not because they were bad but because I didn't like the things that happened. It was great because that way we got to get to know the characters but still.
I really dislike Charlie's mum and I have to say I don't particularly like her sister either.. I did really like Vincent though but oh well hahah

Also wtf is wrong with Adeline!? I really dislike her and I feel like she is a lot like her father.. I don't understand why Vincent kept her picture? I don't get the whole thing with her and Remy.. honestly just very weird vibes.. I'm pretty sure she is going to be the villian of book 2.


The ending was great though. I saw a few things coming but definitely not all of them! If I could I would start reading the second book immediately! So I'm absolutely going to pick it up when it comes out :)

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jayteenun's review against another edition

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

4.5


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readwithria's review against another edition

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

3.0

Book of Night was disappointing until the last fifty pages, but once it hit its stride I couldn’t put it down.

I really wasn’t vining with the writing style for the first 70-80% of this book, but the climactic scenes were quite a wild ride. With books this short I usually with there had been more, but with Book of Night I actually think it could have been shorter. The beginning really dragged, the main plot didn’t seem to start until about 50% of the way through the book, and the magic system doesn’t really get explored until even later. The concept is cool, but the execution was lacking.

I will likely read the sequel from the library, but this book won’t be getting added to my personal collection. 3 stars.

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infergnome'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? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I did not love it, but I also did not hate it. I know a lot of people are DNFing this book, but I liked it enough to finish reading. That said, it took me forever. The world building, albeit interesting, is very complicated, so much so that even the FMC doesn’t really know what’s going on. Not much happened in the first 1/3, it slowly picked up in the middle, with most of the action in the last 1/3. This is probably something I would reread now that I have an idea of what is going on. 

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