A review by naiapard
Book of Night by Holly Black

4.0

This is not The Cruel Prince.

The first 30% felt like a combo between [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]`s thick descriptions of the magical system of that world and the usual setting of an adult/paranormal book (a bar and a protagonist that is renowned for having done something nefarious).

The combination is not bad in itself, it is for sure interesting. The downfall part of it is that it may be a bit hard to get into it and stay for the ride. I have to admit that the sole reason why I even opened the book and then waited patiently for the action to pick up was because of The Cruel Prince.

From 30% onwards it twists into a [a:Tijan|4851199|Tijan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1612813356p2/4851199.jpg] type of book with that simmering tension and that catch-your breath plot thrill.

Maybe I had that sensation because I just finished other three of [a:Tijan|4851199|Tijan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1612813356p2/4851199.jpg]`s books one month ago: Canary, The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1), The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy #2).

It also dawned on me that there were quite a few similarities with the The Contortionist (Harrow Faire #1) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley.

It has to be a coincidence, but at some points it was as if this book was just a more well written and compact version of The Contortionist (Harrow Faire #1) —their similitudes was in the capabilities (powers) of the main love interest, not in the specific content of the plot.

The last part of this book felt similar with an [a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1589991473p2/123715.jpg] book were all the characters gather in the same room at the end when Poitiers reveals the murderer. (There is a big fight that happens then)

Another point that I want to make is about the writing style.

There is mastery in Holly Black`s writing style that is hard to achieve as a writer. The first half of the book, especially, is a poetic masterpiece. The prose flows in musical cadences that vibrate, attuning your being, seizing your attention, and dragging you by your mind and inner sight into the world of Charlie Hall.

“Charlie Hall. Drawn to a bad idea like a moth to a wool sweater. Every hustle an opportunity to let her worst impulses out to play.”

It gives you a beautiful-frightful sensation of immersion.

I`ll give some examples of the quotes I felt that were the most pretty to post here:

“Love was a family religion, passed down to her when she'd been too young to protect herself from belief.”

“loss sings to loss”

“What makes you feel safe when you go to sleep at night? Being able to check and see that your secrets are still hidden.”

“Desperate enough not to ask too many questions. That’s what good con artists did. They didn’t need to convince you of anything, because you were too busy convincing yourself.”

About the final part:

Spoiler

When I found out that she was in love/in a relationship with the shadow of a dead person my first reaction was to gag. I felt sick to my stomach.

Usually, when I am looking for a dark book, this is not the kind of dark I am aiming at. I feel a bit grossed out. It is as if she married/fell in love with an object/a thing that she imbued life into—like the example, given in the book, mind you, about the person that married the Berlin Wall and cried crocodile tears when it was destroyed.

This is a part from when the shadow (Vince) explains how he came to be about. How he came to gain a physical form, by breathing in the life of the human (Remy) that died in the car crash. Basically, how he was created:

“When Remy was dying,” Vince said. “After his grandfather stabbed him. While Adeline screamed. Remy grabbed hold of me, and pulled me to him, so I would have all his blood, all his strength. As it left him, it became mine. He breathed his last breath into my mouth”

My immediate reaction when reading it was: “This is so gross and bad and weird oh my god”. I do not why I had such a repulsive reaction to it. But it really disturbed me to the extent of not even wanting to read the remaining part of the book (10%). I closed the book and I went for a long walk, trying to shake off the feeling of wrongness.

Also, the villain-hero dynamic was off.

The villain came into the scene somewhere around the middle of the book towards the end and it came in full force. Where that energy did come from? When that person did have the time to gather so much resentment and time to focus on this protagonist, who had been a nobody till two pages ago.

Things felt rushed, as if we were galloping towards something more specific but which will not be in the first book. As if the book was following a recipe step by step, and instead of listening to the organic pace of the book, it cared more about following those steps religiously.

Overall, it was an ok book. The writer is still one of the best that there is. Unfortunately, it seems that this one was not really my cup of tea.

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