A review by eswinbanks
Book of Night by Holly Black

3.0

I love adult fantasy and I was very excited to read Book of Night by Holly Black. This is her first adult novel and while it didn't quite hit the mark for me, I did enjoy it. The concept of the story is unique, a world in which shadows can be altered, stolen or even take actual form if you feed them blood. Shadow magic is used to gain power and influence, but it also comes with a high price. Charlie, the protagonist of this story, is a con artist, trying to escape her past and stay on the right side of the law while also protecting her sister. But when the past catches up with her, she has no choice but to play the game she knows best. I would have wanted the secondary characters to be more fleshed out, they didn't feel memorable, but I did like how Charlie was portrayed (the likeable anti-hero with a traumatic past), she matched the mood of the book perfectly. The dark atmosphere was very appealing, though the pace was very slow in the beginning and dizzying when the flashback chapters were introduced. Halfway through, the pace picked up and i was interested to see how things would turn out