ARC Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

The book was distinctly Holly Black and beautifully written but it’s also distinctly different from any of her other series.

~ UNDER THE COVERS BOOK BLOG

The Book of Night is Holly Black’s first adult novel. It’s a dark fantasy book with a magic system that I’ve never seen before.

Charlie Hall is a retired con artist/thief working as a bartender and trying to lie low with her sister Poppy and boyfriend Vince. The world around her is filled with shadow magic– some people have magical shadows that are like a second self an extension of all the hidden aspects of the person. Shadows are dark and manipulative, yielding power to the person but can also be costly.

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.

Book of Night by Holly Black

Charlie’s fragile world is thrown into chaos when she’s attacked by a shadow and lured into investigating more about shadows. She uncovers secrets that she realizes may have been better left unknown and is now part of something much larger than herself and any con she had ever been a part of. She can’t turn back now that she has to work to protect those that she cares about.

The Book of Night had the vibe of Ninth House with the action and scheming and urban-type setting of Cresent City. Charlie is such a loveable character and I found her relationship with Vince to be poetic. I think fans of The Folk of Air series may be disappointed if they expect a Jude/Cardan romance. For me, since this book was so hyped up as an adult book, I thought we would get a grittier or spicer version of what Holly Black does but it felt more like aged wine. The book was distinctly Holly Black and beautifully written but it’s also distinctly different from any of her other series.

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