Book of Night (The Charlatan Duology, 1)
"A delicious, dark, adrenaline rush of a book. I'm already dying to see Charlie Hall's next con." - New York Times bestselling author, Alix E. Harrow
#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of betrayals, secret societies, and a dissolute thief of shadows, in the vein of Naomi Novik and Erin Morgenstern.
Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make.
She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.
Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but getting out isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that Charlie's shadowless, and possibly soulless, boyfriend has been hiding things from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends into a maelstrom of murder and lies.
Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world—all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power.
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Community Reviews
Book of Night follows Charlie, a con artist, and bartender, as she tries to unravel a mystery that may cost her her life.
Storytelling
Book of Night was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2022, but unfortunately, I was left underwhelmed. I wanted to love this book, and ultimately, I was left underwhelmed.
Part of the issue I had with the novel was world-building. I generally like urban fantasy, taking fantasy and putting it into a realistic setting. And for the most part, I enjoyed it here. Charlie exists in a world where people can feed their shadows, giving them tangibility and power. These shadows come alive and can change your appearance and memories. It is an exciting aspect of this world. Seeing how shadows can be manipulated creates another “self.” That was the fascinating bit of the storytelling. But the more Holly Black delved into it, the more it lost its charm.
Holly adds too much detail to the gloamist community, with little secs and titles that often feel like whiplash to the reader. Moreover, they don’t add anything to the storytelling. It should add to the world-building but segway’s and seems to come at odd moments in the story. These moments ruin the story’s pacing and distract the reader from the plot.
Character Development
Charlie is an incredibly flawed character. She is a character known for making bad decisions willingly, knowing what will get her in trouble. Her flaws make her charming because the reader sees her struggle to be better and make a better life for herself and her sister. She is trying. However, something keeps pulling her back into that life of a con. As well as a secret she needs to uncover and a villain she needs to unmask.
She was not wholly memorable. Other than her penchant for making bad decisions, her personality did not stand out. The way the story moves makes it hard to connect to the characters. Everything feels so disconnected. It is hard to see how all the pieces relate to one another, even at the end when Charlie has her “ah-ha” moment. The pacing is also off-kilter, going from fast to slow. It is like whiplash. Even in those high-tension moments, the reader sees Charlie, but we can’t connect with her because of how disconnected the plot feels.
Final Thoughts
Did I like Book of Night? Ultimately yes, I did. The fantasy aspect of the story was interesting, and I think Charlie’s journey, how her brain works to put pieces together, was worth reading. Does it make me want to read more from Holly Black? No. A lot here made the story fall flat and ultimately not memorable.
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Going into this i think I over-hyped it because I was expecting a book that was just as amazing as the cruel prince series but adult. This was original and complex but this didn't have the world building or the characters I was expecting. I did enjoy parts of this but was also let down. The characters are fine but there is still a lot of mystery about them and of the events that happen. I'm just not fully invested in the characters or the story. Charlie is about the only one with depth. Vince and Posey are a bit flat and just sort of there. The flashbacks for Vince were interesting. The magic system honestly confused the hell out of me and I found myself rereading parts over to try and figure it out. I kept thinking I missed something but after seeing other people's reviews they also found it confusing so I'm glad I wasn't the only one. I found it really interesting but I wish it made more sense to me.
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