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multiplyoctopi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
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 against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
Low Fantasy, Romance Subplot, 1/2 🔥
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
5.0
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
- 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
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 against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Incest
taryn_g's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent
leahfoko's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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!
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
- 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
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 against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Torture, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Addiction