Scan barcode
A review by lizgriffinwords
Book of Night by Holly Black
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Gun violence and Sexual content
Also blackmail, adult manipulation of a child