Book of Night by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Throughout her childhood, Charlie Hall was trained by a family friend in the art of deception.
Young Charlie proved adept at every task that was thrown at her. Charlie ultimately became one of the most successful con artists around, but leaving that part of her life in the past, as an adult she works a normal job as a bartender.
Charlie’s world resembles our own, but it’s so much more interesting. It’s full of dark, mystifying concepts such as shadow magic and other things I never quite understood.
One night at Charlie’s work a violent incident occurs and someone ends up dead. This event opens up channels into Charlie’s past. She has a mystery to solve.
Book of Night is Holly Black’s adult debut and I would say one of the most anticipated releases of 2022.
I finished it a little over a week ago and have put off writing this review because I knew it would be a tricky one.
This novel starts out fairly slowly and it does contain a lot of flashbacks to Charlie’s childhood.
Initially, I wasn’t sold on that past perspective, but eventually I did come to enjoy it and understand why it was important to the development of Charlie as a character.
Once the murder mystery begins, it really begins to pick up. I definitely would say I was more captivated by the second half of the book than the first.
At almost 2-weeks post-completing this novel, I will admit, I remember close to nothing about the plot. There were quite a few characters, but the only two I remember by name are Charlie and Vince.
I did enjoy how morally grey the characters were and I especially connected with Charlie. I thought she was a great main and I look forward to learning even more about her.
The magic system was interesting, although never fully explained. I definitely do not have a 100% grasp on the way this world works, but I am super intrigued by it.
The tone of this reminded me a lot of Ninth House and I would say I did feel quite similarly about that book.
In short, while I can’t sit and explain every plot point of Book of Night to anyone, I can say I enjoyed my time reading it. So much so, in fact, that I will willingly and happily reread it prior to the next book being released.
I would say if you enjoy dark Urban Fantasy stories with morally grey characters and a dangerous mystery at its core, you should absolutely pick this one up and give it a shot.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I’m so happy to have read this and look forward to continuing on with the series!
