book of night book review

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

BOOK OF NIGHT

by Holly Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2022

Hits the marks for spooky thrills and mysterious chills.

A former thief who specialized in stealing magical documents is forced back into her old habits in Black's adult debut.

Charlie Hall used to work as a thief, stealing for and from magicians—or rather, “gloamists.” In this world, gloamists are people with magical shadows that are alive, gaining strength from the gloamists' own blood. A gloamist can learn to manipulate the magic of their shadow, doing everything from changing how it looks to using it to steal, possess a person, or even murder. Gloamists hire nonmagical people like Charlie to steal precious and rare magical documents written by their kind throughout history and detailing their research and experiments in shadow magic. Gloamists can use onyx to keep each other from sending shadows to steal these treasures, but onyx won't stop regular humans from old-fashioned breaking and entering. After Charlie’s talent for crime gets her into too much trouble, she swears off her old career and tries to settle down with her sensible boyfriend, Vince—but when she finds a dead man in an alley and notices that even his shadow has been ripped to pieces, she can’t help trying to figure out who he was and why he met such a gruesome end. Before she knows it, Charlie is forced back into a life of lies and danger, using her skills as a thief to find a book that could unleash the full and terrifying power of the shadow world. Black is a veteran fantasy writer, which shows in the opening pages as she neatly and easily guides the reader through the engrossing world of gloamists, magical shadows, and Charlie’s brand of criminality. There's a lot of flipping back and forth between the past and the present, and though both timelines are well plotted and suspenseful, the story leans a touch too hard on the flashbacks. Still, the mystery elements are well executed, as is Charlie’s characterization, and the big twist at the end packs a satisfying punch.

Pub Date: May 3, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-250-81219-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Tor

Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022

FANTASY | THRILLER | PARANORMAL FICTION | SUPERNATURAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More by Holly Black

BOOK REVIEW

by Holly Black ; illustrated by Kathleen Jennings

by Holly Black

by Holly Black ; illustrated by Rovina Cai

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

More by Max Brooks

by Max Brooks

More About This Book

BOOK TO SCREEN

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 2

by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

Unrelenting, and not in a good way.

A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.

Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9781649374172

Page Count: 640

Publisher: Red Tower

Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024

FANTASY | EPIC FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

More by Rebecca Yarros

by Rebecca Yarros

SEEN & HEARD

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

• Member Login
• Library Patron Login
• Get a Free Issue of our Ezine! Claim

Book Summary and Reviews of Book of Night by Holly Black

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Book of Night

by Holly Black

• Critics' Consensus:
• Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
• Publication Information
• Write a Review
• Buy This Book

About this book

Book summary.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night , a modern dark fantasy of betrayals, cabals, and a dissolute thief of shadows, in the vein of Neil Gaiman 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.

• "Beyond the Book" articles
• Free books to read and review (US only)
• Find books by time period, setting & theme
• Read-alike suggestions by book and author
• Book club discussions
• and much more!
• Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
• More about membership!

Media Reviews

Reader reviews.

"Charlie Hall is every 'bad luck and worse trouble' protagonist to ever magic her way into urban fantasy. She's desperate, she's profane, she's fascinating, and she kicks ass and takes names with the best antiheroes of the genre. Her world is gritty and mysterious, the stakes are always high, and the power is always tempting." - Library Journal (starred review) "There's a lot of flipping back and forth between the past and the present, and though both timelines are well plotted and suspenseful, the story leans a touch too hard on the flashbacks. Still, the mystery elements are well executed, as is Charlie's characterization, and the big twist at the end packs a satisfying punch. Hits the marks for spooky thrills and mysterious chills." - Kirkus Reviews "Bestselling YA author Black conjures a dark world filled with crime, betrayal, and power in her atmospheric adult fantasy debut...The many mysteries keep the suspense sizzling as Charlie guides readers through this slippery world. Black's adult fans and readers looking for dark urban fantasy will be thrilled." - Publishers Weekly "Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists―a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages." - Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House "If Neil Gaiman channeled Stephen King, the result might be this book...scintillating prose, whiplash twists, and a voice of character that demands to be heard from again." - James Rollins, New York Times bestseller of The Starless Crown "Heart, soul, and a bit of kink― The Book of Night is smart, decadent fun." - Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Author Information

• Books by this Author

Holly Black Author Biography

Photo: Sharona Jacob

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

Link to Holly Black's Website

Other books by Holly Black at BookBrowse

More Recommendations

Readers also browsed . . ..

• Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin
• The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills
• The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
• Big Time by Ben H. Winters
• Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
• Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
• The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee
• Final Cut by Charles Burns
• Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias
• A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

more fantasy, sci-fi, speculative, alt. history...

BookBrowse Book Club

Members Recommend

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida

Discover the bestselling Japanese novel celebrating the healing power of cats.

Solve this clue:

K U with T J

and be entered to win..

Book Club Giveaway!

Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian

Both epic and intimate, this debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Your guide to exceptional           books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info and giveaways by email.

Free Weekly Newsletters

Discover what's happening in the world of books: reviews, previews, interviews, giveaways, and more plus when you subscribe, we'll send you a free issue of our member's only ezine..

Spam Free : Your email is never shared with anyone; opt out any time.

REVIEW: ‘Book of Night’ by Holly Black offers an urban fantasy with a shadowy underworld

Holly Black’s adult fantasy debut was interesting but needed an extra layer to truly round it out.

This urban fantasy sees Holly Black make her first foray into adult fantasy, but I’m not sure how successful it was.

From the Blurb:

She’s spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate their 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. Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but going straight 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 her shadowless and possibly soulless boyfriend has been keeping secrets from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends back 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 allow them control of the shadow world and more.

If I can give one piece of advice when first reading Book of Night, it would be to ignore the blurb entirely. This novel is more of a murder-mystery with fantasy elements thrown in, than it is a fantasy with a mystery element. And that is definitely not a bad thing, but it could be disappointing to some readers who are expecting a thoroughly defined magic system and world.

The main focus of Book of Night is its flawed characters, and Holly Black creates these very well. Charlie is untrusting and believes the worst of herself, so much so that she cannot help but descend back into the underworld of gloamists and thievery. Her presentation was done very well, and despite her flaws she became a likeable character who I was desperately rooting for. Similarly, Vince and Posey have their own flaws, but I loved them too.

Vince in particular was a favourite character. In fact, I think he was the person I cared about most — and Book of Night did seem to end up being about him overall. He was mysterious and intriguing right from the start, with his shadowless body but kind-hearted nature.

My main issue with this book was that it was lacking in a richness to round it out and properly bring it to life. The magical element remained mysterious throughout. Charlie didn’t completely understand how it worked and as a result, neither did we. There were lots of things that Charlie was in the dark about — understandable, to create this sense of mystery — but really it just ended up frustrating. Particularly when I’d already guessed where the book was going.

It felt like there had been a lot thrown at this book: a lot of named characters that we only saw once; a lot of little details that didn’t resurface. Consequently it reads a little like a draft, something that is almost there…but not quite. I was a little disappointed, having read and loved Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series and, a long time ago, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

Nevertheless the theme of the novel is one that gripped my interest, and towards the end I started to get that feeling of not wanting to put it down. It is definitely a book worth reading, especially for those who enjoy urban fantasy with a mystery twist.

Book of Night puts forward an interesting premise, and there is a lot of potential with the novel and the world Holly Black has created. It is unclear just yet whether this book is the first in a series, and I think knowing this will affect a lot of people’s opinions. If Book of Night ends up being the start of something new, then my rating would be a little higher as it introduces a new world well enough to be interesting, and with enough scope to offer more detail in future novels.

All in all, I think Book of Night is worth the read for urban fantasy fans, and for fans of Holly Black that are looking to take their first steps into adult fantasy.

An interesting start

Plot:  fun and engaging if a little predictable.

Characters:  too many named characters to keep track of, but main characters were perfectly flawed and unique.

Writing:  Book of Night  is a good start but it was missing an extra layer of consideration that left it feeling a little like a draft.

Theme/Message:  a really interesting topic that I would enjoy reading more of, should this be the first in a series.

Bookstacked Comment Policy

We welcome respectful comments. Our only rule is to be kind. Rude, hateful and generally mean-spirited comments will be removed.

YA’s 19 most romantic quotes about lovers

Finding the joy in a reading slump

Where does the Harry Potter fandom go from here?

The United States of YA

• Meet the Team
• Privacy Policy
• Request a Review

• Biggest New Books
• Non-Fiction
• All Categories
• First Readers Club Daily Giveaway
• How It Works

Book of Night

Embed our reviews widget for this book

Get the Book Marks Bulletin

Email address:

• Categories Fiction Fantasy Graphic Novels Historical Horror Literary Literature in Translation Mystery, Crime, & Thriller Poetry Romance Speculative Story Collections Non-Fiction Art Biography Criticism Culture Essays Film & TV Graphic Nonfiction Health History Investigative Journalism Memoir Music Nature Politics Religion Science Social Sciences Sports Technology Travel True Crime

September 9 – 13, 2024

• Natasha Wheatley profiles Eduard Habsburg
• What do we owe to language in times of unimaginable violence?
• Laura Wheatman Hill digs into the NaNoWriMo AI kerfuffle

Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

Holly Black’s adult novel debut Book of Night follows Charlie Hall, an allegedly retired con-artist who’s trying to scrape by as a bartender. Living together with her boyfriend Vince and her younger sister Posey, Charlie is trying hard to keep on the straight and narrow. But when things go awry in her world of shadows, Charlie can’t help but want to investigate the weird happenings. In Charlie’s world, shadows can be altered—for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but more importantly, to increase power and influence. But manipulating shadows has a cost—and once Charlie finds herself sucked into the schemes of others and past figures come to haunt her, she’ll have to do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves.

What a premise, right? And with gorgeous writing, a big mystery at its centre, an underdog protagonist and a race against the clock on a high-stakes heist, Book of Night definitely did not come to play. I can already tell that this will make readers both put it on their “Best of 2022” list and beg Holly Black for a sequel (because that ending. Whew ).

What I will say is that Book of Night takes quite a while to pick up its pace. At times, I almost felt like reading two different books: the first half dragged and was boggled down with confusing information about the range of shadows and the alterations one can make as well as the backstory of Vince, Charlie, and Posey but by the time the second half arrived, I was so hooked I couldn’t put Charlie’s story down as it all unravelled magnificently with plot twists that left me shook. So you might have to slog your way through the drawn-out set up, but if you manage that, you’re rewarded with one hell of a ride.

The thing that makes this novel remarkable is of course its protagonist Charlie. What I love about Charlie is that her mess—isn’t just going away. Yeah, she’s initially taking steps to get back on the legal side of things, yeah she’s trying her hardest but I love how Black didn’t shy away from showing that being an adult…is effing hard sometimes, whether you live in a world filled with magic or not. Charlie’s overwhelmed with the responsibilities and the memories of the past that haunt her but she just never gives up. That resilience, paired with her dry wit and heavy sarcasm, made me instantly fall in love with her. Beyond that, she always comes up with another trick, another chance to make things work out for her and the people she loves, which reminded me a lot of Kaz Brekker in Six of Crows— Charlie might not always show it, but she’s pretty damn good at being a thief and trickster with a heart of gold. There’s also something to be said for her tendency to self-destruct: in the choices she makes and in the ones she doesn’t. It’s these types of flawed characters that I can relate so much to that it almost feels like reading is holding up a mirror and that just is writing at its best, honestly.

I can’t really say much about the plot without spoiling stuff (seeing as the action happens later on in the novel and the information you get in the first half is kind of needed to make that…work) but what I can say is that if you’re all about dark atmospheric writing, sinister happenings and protagonists you can’t help but root for because (and not in spite) of their flawed character, then this one needs to be on the top of your TBR.

Black’s adult debut Book of Night combines a world full of danger and magical shadows with an adrenaline-fueled heist and a flawed, memorable underdog of a protagonist that is sure to have readers keeping an eye on their own shadows. Gripping, dark and sinister, this is perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and V.E. Schwab’s Gallant .

Book of Night is available from Amazon , Book Depository , and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 3rd 2022.

Will you be picking up Book of Night ? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Review: Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa

#1  New York Times  bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

With sharp angles and prose, and a sinister bent, Holly Black is a master of shadow and story stitching. Remember while you read, light isn’t playing tricks in Book of Night, the people are.

Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes

Review: The Weight of a Thousand Oceans by Jillian Webster

Read An Excerpt From ‘The Olympian Affair’ by Jim Butcher

Read An Excerpt From ‘Hooked’ by A.C. Wise

Review: King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

Review: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings

Review: The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly

Review: The Black Coats by Colleen Oakes

One comment.

I’ve seen wildly different reviews on this book, so I think it might be a divisive one! Great review!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Zeen is a next generation WordPress theme. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.

REVIEW: Book of Night by Holly Black

• Book Reviews
• January 8, 2022
• 2,875 views
• By Jodie Crump

Last Updated on July 3, 2024

Featuring one of the most delightfully messed-up main characters I’ve read in a while, Book of Night is both wickedly clever and dangerously entertaining.

In a world such as that, it is inevitable that Charlie would be sucked back into a life of conning and stealing. This time the stakes are much higher: Charlie has to find a way to hopefully con her way out of a situation where every solution seems to spell death. The entirety of Book of Night is planned pandemonium, and I was hooked.

This is Holly Black’s first foray into adult fantasy, having garnered a huge fanbase in Young Adult fantasy. While Black’s signature twists and turns are present, the relationships are much more established, allowing me to enjoy the nuances of the characters without being distracted by relationship woes. Don’t get me wrong; as with everything else in her life, Charlie’s relationship with her boyfriend Vince follows the path of most resistance. However, the complications lie in the characters themselves, as opposed to their relationship status. In fact, seeing how Charlie interacted with the people around her was an excellent mirror into the morass of her rather messed-up psyche.

The story is sprinkled with scenes from the characters’ pasts, better developing both their personalities and the world. And it is such a cool world! Manipulators of shadows, known as gloamists, use their shadows to grasp at power, some legally and some otherwise. The wielders of power are fantastical, but the way the power is used to manipulate and control is completely familiar and believable.

There is always something going on, but never at the cost of the plot. The twists seemed to come out of nowhere, yet when I traced back the scenes in the book, the clues were right in front of me. The ending is fantastic, perfectly messy, instead of being tied into an overly neat little bow. While there could be a sequel, which I would gladly read, I almost hope that it is a standalone because the ending hit so well. Book of Night is an exciting urban fantasy from an author who can easily conquer any genre she chooses to write in.

Read Book of Night by Holly Black

Jodie Crump

Jodie Crump is the creator of the Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub blog. She either lives in Florida with her husband and sons, or in a fantasy book-she’ll never tell which. When she’s not reading, Jodie balances her time between homeschooling her hooligans, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and lamenting her inability to pronounce “lozenge”. Find her online at www.wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog or https://www.twitter.com/WS_BOOKCLUB.

You may also like

REVIEW: The Escher Man by T.R. Napper

September 15, 2024

REVIEW: The Council of Athyzia by D.H. Hoskins

September 13, 2024

REVIEW: The Land of the Living and the Dead by Shauna Lawless

September 12, 2024

Grimdark Magazine

TURN YOUR INBOX INTO A GRIMBOX

Quick links.

• All Products
• Subscriptions
• Advertising
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Diversity and harassment policies
• Review Guidelines

GET GRIT IN YOUR INBOX

Stay on top of all the latest book releases and discussions—join our mailing list.

© 2024 Grimdark Magazine   |  Website built with ♥ by Acid Media

Between the Shelves

Your young adult fiction addiction, satisfied.

Review: Book of Night

April 16, 2022

Title:  Book of Night

Author:  Holly Black

Publisher:  Tor Books

Publication date:  May 3, 2022

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org | Book Depository | Goodreads | StoryGraph

In Charlie’s world, shadows can be altered for a variety of reasons. Even to increase one’s power and influence on others, even to manipulate other people’s feelings. But not without a cost. Every time you manipulate a shadow you could be gambling hours or days from your life. After all, shadows are what keep your secrets for you.

Basically raised as a con-artist, Charlie is trying to distance herself from the underground world she was once a part of, currently working as a bartender. However, when someone from her past returns, her life is suddenly thrown into chaos. Charlie now finds herself in the world of magic and shadows. And more and more unsure of her future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced copy of this to review! I think almost everyone knows Holly Black from her young adult books, but this is her first foray into adult fantasy. For the most part, I’d say that it is a success! Especially if you enjoy dark, atmospheric fantasy.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the unique magic system. Literally using shadow magic makes for an interesting magical world. Even if at times, it gets a little gruesome, since blood is often needed to make the magic work. In general, I think Holly Black is great at writing magic systems, and this is definitely on display in this book. Honestly, I wish most of the beginning had been focused on how this particular magic works instead of giving us so much of Charlie’s backstory.

However, the first half of this book is definitely pretty slow moving. It takes the plot a long time to get going, so much so that it’s difficult to see where the plot might even be going at first. Once you get about halfway through, the plot starts to pick up, with more twists and action. The overall tone and pacing is quite different from her YA series, in my opinion. Those are easy to fly through, while  Book of Night takes its time.

Don’t let that turn you away if you’re a Holly Black fan, though! Even if the beginning is a bit slow, if you’re a fan of her writing, you’ll probably still enjoy this book. Just go into it knowing that you won’t necessarily get that might action from the get go.

Find out about new books, tour dates, and other cool stuff here first. We won’t share your information and will only contact you with news. Honest.

.shape { fill:#FFF; } Holly Black

• Toggle search

main navigation

Search site.

Under: Adult Fiction

Publisher: Tor/Macmillan

• Barnes and Noble
• Waterstones
• Books-A-Million
• Bookshop.org
• Book Depository
• Apple Books
• Google Books
• Good Choice Reading
• Forbidden Planet
• Goldsboro Books
• Odyssey Books
• Books a Million

Book of Night

Home » Book of Night

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.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but going straight 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 her shadowless and possibly soulless boyfriend has been keeping secrets from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends back into a maelstrom of murder and lies. Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world — all trying to steal a secret that will allow them control of the shadow world and more.

Book of Night was 2022 LibraryReads Top Pick and received a starred review from Indie Next.

It won the 2022 Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel

“..the big twist at the end packs a satisfying punch. Hits the marks for spooky thrills and mysterious chills.”

—Kirkus

From absentee parents and child abuse, to toxic living situations and a magical system that involves no small amount of bodily mutilation, this is her messiest, most complicated book yet. (And I mean that in all the best ways.)

—Paste Magazine

Black’s adult debut  Book of Night  combines a world full of danger and magical shadows with an adrenaline-fueled heist and a flawed, memorable underdog of a protagonist that is sure to have readers keeping an eye on their own shadows.

—The Nerd Daily

  “Black is a master at world-building.”

—New York Times

“A delicious, dark, adrenaline rush of a book. I’m already dying to see Charlie Hall’s next con.”  

—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author

“A dark romp full of danger and shadows with a razor sharp heroine and vivid magic.”

—Zoraida Córdova, Nationally bestselling author of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists― Book of Night  is everything delicious and frightening I’ve come to expect from Holly Black. It’s a story so believable in its magic, you’ll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages.

—Leigh Bardugo, New York Times Bestselling Author of Ninth House

Book of Night › Customer reviews

Customer reviews.

4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 31% 17% 4% 1% 46% 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 31% 17% 4% 1% 31% 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 31% 17% 4% 1% 17% 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 31% 17% 4% 1% 4% 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 31% 17% 4% 1% 1%

Book of Night

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the united states, there was a problem loading comments right now. please try again later..

• ← Previous page
• Next page →

• About Amazon
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell products on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Amazon and COVID-19
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices

• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Book of Night by Holly Black | Review

Posted September 19, 2022 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in Books , Reviews / 6 Comments

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own. Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

I’ve had truly a hit or miss experience with Holly Black books. I read the Folk of the Air trilogy because everyoneeee was talking about it for a few years there in the YA community, and while there were some things about it I really enjoyed, I never really connected with the series and felt it to be a little underdeveloped. However, I was intrigued upon hearing that Holly was branching into the adult fiction sphere, especially with an urban fantasy novel (I feel like it’s honestly an underappreciated genre). When my library hold came in I hesitantly started it, and it honestly took me probably a good month or more to finish it- it was one of those books that I didn’t mind while I was reading it, but I also didn’t yearn to pick it up when I wasn’t reading it.

Book of Night has an almost Peter Pan like premise to me, with magic being based on shadows. The shadow magic premise is interesting, because sometimes it’s inherent, sometimes triggered by trauma, and sometimes just plain stolen/acquired. It’s somewhat seedy role in the series helps to add to the overall dark/grungy feeling of the urban fantasy world, and I can say that it was a more unique premise (I hadn’t encountered a magic system in a book quite like it before). However, despite the magic system being interesting, it was also very underdeveloped and I had a hard time trying to suss out the world building- it seems like the shadow magic manifested in our type of “modern” world not too long ago and massively changed things…but it’s all super vague and I would have loved to better understand the societal impacts of a magic system that seemed to have really boomed during the character’s actual lifetime. The actual plot itself I felt I could take or leave- it has a heist type element to it that I honestly wasn’t very interested in, but it makes sense since protagonist Charlie is a skilled thief and con artist.

The story is predominantly told in alternating present and past flashback chapters. It definitely helps to flesh out Charlie’s character and build a backstory of trauma that explains why she is the way she is today. Though Charlie has an unusual background and is surrounded by secondary characters with pretty distinct paths (such as her sister, Posey), the narration style (third person) felt flat to me and almost detached. Honestly, looking back after reading the book the stakes were pretty high, but I just never felt connected enough to the story or characters to feel super engaged as a reader, and the pacing, especially for the first 60-70% of the book or so, was too slow for my usual taste. I actually looked up the page count when writing this review fully expecting to have just read a 600+ page book…but it’s only around 300 pages O.o

I also am usually the first to say a book DOES NOT need a romance, but I think I would have enjoyed this book had it had a more compelling romance…the romance in this one manages to be simultaneously a huge part of the plot but also super underwhelming. I can’t get into more without spoilers, but a twist at the end did point to the romance potentially being more interesting in the future should a sequel be in store. The issue is, I’m not sure I’d be motivated enough to pick up a sequel should it come out.

Overall: Book of Night was highly anticipated, and the general consensus seems to be it fell a bit flat. It definitely wasn’t a bad book and did pick up a bit at the end for me, however I don’t feel as though I would have missed out on anything had I ultimately chosen to not pick this one up.

• Related Posts
• By Holly Black
• 2.5 Star Books

6 responses to “ Book of Night by Holly Black | Review ”

Some authors are like that, for me, I’m not sure if I love V.E Schwab or not but I’m always drawn to her books. I’m one of those people who was raving about the Folk of the Air trilogy so I’m hoping that this book is a bit more of a winner for me than you. It was the fact this was an adult book which was a draw to me, I was hoping it would have some of her magic seen in her YA books but some of the immaturity of the characters wouldn’t happen as that was one of my big issues the characters could be a little offputting. We’ll see when I start reading.

I hope you enjoyed it if you’ve had a chance to read it!

Oh no! I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you 🙁 This book has been on my TBR for a while (ever since I found out she was releasing it, really) and I’m a tad disappointed now :/

You might still enjoy it! TBH I have never fell head over heels for this author’s books, so it could just be that her writing style isn’t for me!

Wow! What an excellent introduction to this dark and mysterious realm! Charlie is a sassy individual who has had a difficult existence with no support or guidance from her family Thank you so much for sharing with us!

That makes sense. I enjoyed the Folk of the Air trilogy, so hopefully I’ll enjoy this one too!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

I have read and agree to the privacy policy and consent to the storage and handling of my data by this website.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Subjectify Media

‘Book of Night’ by Holly Black: Compulsively readable with signature Holly Black twists

In our Book of Night book review, we venture into a world of shadows and murder with a gutsy con-artist.

I was 13 years old when I first read Tithe , Holly Black’s first novel. The story of a changeling girl living in modern suburban New Jersey and rediscovering the world of fairies that she came from sucked me in, and I have never forgotten the feeling of grit and teen angst and dark magic. It was my first foray into urban fantasy. Twenty years later (which feels fantasy-level surreal to say), I got to delve back into the world of magic and mundane with Black’s first adult novel, Book of Night .

Charlie Hall has a talent for trouble; she is a skilled thief and con-artist, but a string of bad decisions and terrible relationships have led her to leave her life of crime. She bartends at a seedy club, but her old life still lingers in the periphery—she is never far from the world of the gloamists, magicians with sentient shadows that can do their bidding.

Shadow magic only recently became common knowledge, because, of course, the internet. Until grimoires and magical texts started circulating online, the gloamists were relatively secret, hiding their work for centuries. In Charlie’s day, gloamists are well-known, used to decoratively alter the shadows of celebrities or for more nefarious purposes like spying and shadow-stealing. In the depths of online chat rooms and message boards, people can share what they know about becoming gloamists. Because of the proliferation of information, the only real way for gloamists to know they have genuine magical knowledge is to possess the original, often stealing from other gloamists. And there was no better pilferer of grimoires than Charlie Hall.

Charlie tries to keep her life together, living with her sister Posey and boyfriend Vince, who seems reluctant to reveal much about his past. But living on the fringes of the gloamist world turns out to be like trying to stay on the edge of a whirlpool, and eventually Charlie is sucked back in. Word spreads of a stolen book, the mysterious and powerful Book of Blights, and a villainous figure from Charlie’s past will do anything to get it. With shadow assassins and murderous blights on the loose, and lies and secrets every way she turns, Charlie is on the clock to figure out the truth, and to stay alive in the meantime.

Book of Night is compulsively readable, the many mysteries and signature Holly Black twists kept me going chapter after chapter, desperate to know what would happen next. Set against the university towns of Massachusetts and Connecticut, Charlie’s world is filled with faded glamour and everyday grubbiness, cheap meals and lots of booze and dirty laundry. It feels like a world that could be right around the corner from ours, where Venmo and NFTs are as real as a secret library filled with antique spell books. Posey Hall does tarot readings over Zoom. Vince works an under-the-table job cleaning crime scenes, and also mysteriously has no shadow.

One of my favorite elements of Book of Night was the relationship between Charlie and Vince, her shadowless boyfriend. Instead of spending most of the book wondering if the two love interests will get together, we get to watch their dynamic, how they work together and how their secrets and defense mechanisms clash with their affection and their desire to care for each other.

I absolutely have to mention in this Book of Night book review that Charlie Hall is canonically a size 14. In a genre that can feel rife with waifish, pixie-like heroines, it was an absolute delight to read a plus-size character who was explicitly described as such, beyond a single mention of being “curvy.” Charlie is sharp and witty, relatable with her car troubles and hangovers and days when she’s just trying to get by on too much coffee.

The most interesting element of Book of Night is arguably the shadows themselves. To make someone a gloamist, their shadow must “quicken,” a process that gives it a kind of sentience and also requires it to be fed blood. But the shadows are also sustained by emotions, fed power by the anger, pain, sadness, and shame of the person who wears them, a receptacle for all of the negative feelings and impulses and memories.

It calls to mind Jungian psychology, where the shadow is the subconscious side of the personality, the buried or repressed parts of ourselves, that can take over in moments of instinct or shock. And it is even more interesting that while some characters in Book of Night adamantly refer to shadows as merely tools, to be looked at like a hand or a foot, others name their shadows, give them agency and an identity of their own, care for them.

I hope that this Book of Night book review will compel you to take a jaunt through the shadows with Charlie Hall. Enjoy the breathless thrill of being on a job, picking locks and stealing magical artifacts from under the noses of dangerous sorcerers, on the clock and under pressure. The arcane mixes deliciously with the mundane like one of Charlie’s expertly-made cocktails, and I can’t wait to see what she will concoct next. In the meantime, it might be worth wondering what you feed your shadow self, if you truly know your shadow, and if it is your friend.

‘Book of Night’ was released May 3, 2022

Buy Book of Night by Holly Black from Macmillan , Bookshop.org , Book Depository , or Amazon . You can also add it to your Goodreads list .

This article was written by Subjectify contributor Megan Lank. Look for more recommendations on our books page .

Liked this article? Share it:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Discover more from Subjectify Media

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

• Nov 5, 2022

Book of Night Book Review

Welcome to the first review of November! This month, our theme is Dark Academia , and what better book to kick off this theme than Holly Black's debut adult novel, Book of Night , a story about dark magic and a black market of grimoires?

Genre: Dark Fantasy / Dark Academia

Category: Spooky Read

Want to know more about how we categorize books? See our Lexicon for details.

RATING: 3.75/5 Stars

Plot: 3.75/5 stars

Characters: 3.75/5 stars

World: 3.75/5 stars

Pairings: Dalgona coffee + dark chocolate truffle tart with sea salt

The phrase “shadow magic” takes on a new meaning in Book of Night : gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows, use their power to alter shadows for aesthetic and entertainment, grant the wearers small abilities, or commit crime without getting their physical hands dirty. But while they can use shadows to sneak into locked spaces or dispose of their rivals, they need someone to track down and steal the grimoires of other gloamists.

Enter Charlie "Charlatan" Hall, a former con artist trying to make an honest living for herself and her little sister, Posey. But going straight and narrow is hard when Charlie knows she is the best in town (and how good the money is), and it doesn't help that Posey is obsessed with magic, her shadowless boyfriend Vince might also be missing a soul, and her bartending job keeps her in close proximity to the world she's trying to distance herself from.

So when a mystery piques her curiosity and she realizes that solving it would come with the added benefit of getting revenge on someone from her past, Charlie obviously can't say no—even if it puts her and the people near her at risk.

If she couldn't be responsible or careful or good or loved, if she was doomed to be a lit match, then Charlie might as well go back to finding stuff to burn.

But as she searches for the Liber Noctem and finds herself going up against gloamists, other con artists, power-hungry billionaires, and even the people she loves, Charlie starts to wonder if she's in over her head.

Some may find the beginning a bit slow with all the flashbacks to Charlie's past, but I enjoyed seeing Charlie's story unfold and following her as she worked to find the Liber Noctem . It was also fun to live vicariously through her, as part of me has always wanted to be a bartender (especially at one of those cool nerd bars!). Things picked up in the second half, and I hope Black is planning a sequel, because I'd like to see how the characters are doing in the aftermath. In some ways, things were just getting exciting as the story came to a close.

The book also follows a boy with a special shadow as he grows, but I won't go into detail on this aspect so as not to ruin anything for you. I will say I liked how the story jumped between perspectives, the past, and the present—telling two stories that eventually converge. But some readers may be put off that we get a quick glimpse in the beginning, then go along with Charlie for a while before jumping back to this perspective.

Charlie is a unique character in that she is a curvy, tatted woman who doesn't waste time trying to be palatable for others. She's street smart, ballsy, able to manipulate people, solve problems, and fight like hell. She's well aware of her attraction to things that are bad for her, and she really is trying to get better at making smart decisions and providing for herself and Posey. Her struggles to not fall back into old patterns, put her sister through school, and heal from past traumas make her a relatable character.

I felt sad for Posey having to watch others obtain what she wanted and worked tirelessly for with relative ease. I loved her use and view of tarot, and the way she would call people out on their BS. She is also not a fan of Charlie's boyfriend, convinced he is not all that he seems.

And she's right: Vince definitely has secrets, which made it hard for me to decide whether he's a genuinely good person who just wants to escape a rough past, or a master manipulator with dangerous intentions. The mystery surrounding him helps make up for the slow-paced start to the story.

Lionel Salt, a billionaire highly involved in the shadow realm, reminds me of Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones , and by extension Roderick Burgess from The Sandman . If there were ever an adaptation of this book, Charles Dance would be perfect for the role. Salt is a confident, capable man who will do anything to get what he wants, which makes him scary.

The minor characters were diverse, from elite princesses to dominatrixes to low level con-artists. They all had their own issues that reflected real life problems, from addictions to toxic relationships.

I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters, but they all felt believable.

Book of Night takes place in a modern city that reflects our own world, aside from the living shadows and magic. The magic system was interesting, but the gloamist community and their hierarchy could have used a little more elaboration. The worldbuilding could have been better, but I am hoping that this will be resolved if Black continues this story with later installments, which is very likely.

Book of Night was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. As a big fan of Black's Folk of the Air series, I wasn’t sure what to expect from her debut adult novel, but I enjoyed it. It's not on my list of all-time favorites, but it has its strengths. It’s dark, smart, and relatable on many levels.

This story highlights societal issues like privilege, poverty, the sexualization of women, corruption in government entities, and other systemic problems. It also deals with psychology, particularly the idea of the shadow self. Charlie’s journey shows us that you don’t have to have tons of money or be someone big in order to be a badass and do great things.

Charlie and her story remind me of Kaz Brekker in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology—a morally gray MC with a traumatic past grows up learning how to read and con people and gets a high-stakes job going after an important object that has the added perk of revenge on someone they hold a grudge against.

I’d recommend this to fans of books like Six of Crows . If you like dark academia, dark magic, morally gray characters, and/or criminals doing bad things to worse people, then this book is for you.

Thanks for tuning into another Coffee, Book, and Candle review! If you've read this book, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Comment below, or hit me up on our bookstagram or Twitter !

• Book Reviews

Recent Posts

The Prisoner's Throne Book Review

Persephone Made Me Do It Book Review

House of Flame and Shadow Book Review

Book Review

Book of night by holly black.

by Carrie S · May 13, 2022 at 4:00 am · View all 8 comments

Book of Night

by Holly Black

May 3, 2022 · Tor Books

More Info →

View Book Info Page

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy , Urban Fantasy

Child abuse and grooming, drug and alcohol addiction and abuse, self-harm, body modifications, cons, murders, blood, secrets, lies, theft, captivity and coercion.

Holly Black’s first novel marketed for adults is a gritty urban fantasy in which magic allows people to control their own, and sometimes other people’s, shadows, and in which the rich and powerful trade in secrets and books of lore while jockeying for power. The protagonist, Charlie, lives in the world of normality, where she is a bartender hoping to put her sister through college, and the world of magic, in which she is a con artist and a thief. This book includes a love story but has a cliffhanger ending, so keep that in mind.

Here’s the publisher’s plot description:

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own. Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

This book contains a shit ton of worldbuilding without the exposition being too clunky, which matches the nuanced, complex characters. Charlie is prickly and self-destructive, a terrible substitute for a parent, and emotionally closed off, yet I was completely invested in her. I hearted her with a thousand heart emojis. I wanted to throw her into the shower, give her clean clothes, feed her, and tuck her in for a nap (probably not coincidentally, physical needs like showering and eating and sleeping get a lot of room in this book).

The structure of the book, which includes flashbacks from the points of views of different characters, helps contextualize the characters, so that I had empathy for Charlie. It also ensured that, by the time a major twist was revealed, I realized that all the pieces of this twist were right in front of me. Usually I find that these kinds of flashbacks slow the main narrative down, but in this case the main narrative zips along so quickly that a few pauses are not a problem. Meanwhile a twist is only satisfying if it makes sense and this one does. Additionally, the narrative chooses to show us how Charlie works her cons and when – but only some of the time, which gives the reader the delight of a con well executed and also makes the reader work a little.

A lot of this book is a love story, but that’s not always apparent. Charlie is a firm believer that she wrecks every good thing in her life and that women in her family are cursed to have terrible love lives, so from the moment she gets together with her boyfriend, Vince, she is bracing for him to leave. It was fascinating to watch their relationship develop based on actions (“Everybody loves the guy who brings ice”) and clues and misdirections. This is very much not a Romance Novel (™), and most of the time Vince is absent for Plot Reasons, but I loved their weird dysfunctional relationship of secrets, especially as it became more solid, honest, and mature towards the end of the book.

I regret to inform you that I was thoroughly maddened by the cliffhanger. Sometimes a book will resolve the major arc and just throw out one unresolved or new point from which a new story can emerge, so it has both a satisfying ending and a cliffhanger simultaneously. This is not one of those books. This cliffhanger is the “hanging off the cliff by fingernails with no announced date for a sequel as of the time of this review” type of cliffhanger. It is this, plus a certain amount of repetitiveness with Charlie having low self esteem problems, that bothered me most.

My favorite thing about this novel was the mix of magical elements with the details of a low-income, struggling life. Expensive cocktails sipped over deals involving ancient grimoires and murder sit side by side (not literally) with ramen and reheated spaghetti. The limousines feel more real when contrasted with Charlie’s car, which breaks down at terrible times. Charlie’s terrible but beloved couch is the site of supernatural mayhem. I loved how these kinds of things anchored each other and worked to build not only the world but also character and plot.

This is not a book about fae and it is entirely urban, not a mystical wood to be seen. Even the romance drama is mostly internal as Charlie keeps adjusting her feelings about Vince as she learns new things about him, mostly while he is away. Fans of Holly Black’s Young Adult books may have to reset their expectations. However, I really loved this gritty, horrifying, magical novel. I just hope there is a sequel!

This book is available from:

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!

Add Your Comment →

Guess I’ll wait a while to read this. I do very much enjoy Holly Black’s YA books so I’m sure I’ll read it eventually. But cliffhangers, nope. So much uncertainty in the world today, that’s a big turnoff.

“This cliffhanger is the “hanging off the cliff by fingernails with no announced date for a sequel as of the time of this review” type of cliffhanger.” Nope! Cannot read this out of principle. Books with cliffhangers should have that detail prominently placed.

I definitely enjoyed this one as a hardcore Holly Black fan (whose previous works were all YA or Middle Grade, as mentioned). But I’ve seen other fans of her YA walk away with more mixed to negative reviews. So first of all, Book of Night is for sure an urban fantasy and different in tone and feel from her fae books. (Although imho Charlie’s messiness as a character and penchant for self-destruction are in keeping with Black’s other protagonists.) Second, Alexis Hall’s GR review is correct that this is an adult book, NOT in the sense that there are oodles of on page sex and violence (although both are present), but in the sense that Charlie is an adult main character nearing 30 who can no longer pretend that she will one day grow up and out of her vices. Reinvention is a lot harder at age 30 than at age 16. There is an exhaustion to Charlie’s character that isn’t present in Black’s younger protagonists. Lastly, I liked the final twist and didn’t necessarily see it as a cliffhanger? The door is open for a sequel, but the book also works as a standalone with a tragic ending. No doubt romance readers invested in the HEA will be mad, but I didn’t think the ending was ambiguous.

@E.L. I can’t decide if that makes me want to read it more or less. I violently loathe cliffhangers but I’m also just too tired lately for tragic endings. I really like the idea of an adult Holly Black main character, particularly as someone who read the fae books just after high school it seems sort of appropriate to have someone my own age now.

@Lizzy OK, I want to help, but I also don’t want to inadvertently post spoilers. Um, I guess I will reiterate that there isn’t a cliffhanger in the sense that all mysteries are solved. The main plot arc is wrapped up. The reader isn’t left wondering what happened. I think some readers want more answers regarding the magic, but Black kind of gets around this issue by creating a world where there isn’t a consensus on magic. So none of the characters know the answer to your trivia question about a particular bit of magic either.

This leaves the tragic ending. Well, as stated in the review, this isn’t a romance. And I think it’s only fair to state up front that there isn’t a HEA. However, I wouldn’t say this is a particularly depressing book. Tonally and structurally, this book reminds me of some of the older paranormal urban fantasy titles from the 2000’s where a magical mishap happens to one independent woman struggling to live on her own, and she tries to get to the bottom of this problem by working her contacts and navigating the social hierarchies, both human and supernatural, in her city. The ending is melancholic and poignant, but I don’t think you will cry. And the lead-up operates off of more a sense of dread and foreboding.

@E.L. that was actually very helpful, thank you. I think I might give this one a go.

I love this review. It’s completely accurate. However, I just want to chime in saying to me it doesn’t feel like that kind of cliffhanger. This cliffhanger is more “I just gave you a taste of something Charlie is going to have to deal with in the next book for plot reasons that I really could have WAITED TO TELL YOU so it didn’t feel like you just got T-boned by a Mack truck because I’m Holly Black and I don’t give happy endings until the end of the series”. She wrapped the rest up nicely. She could have ended it two sentences earlier and I would have been happy to wait for the next installment. Instead I’m furiously waiting for the next book and want to send love/hate mail. I’m probably biased though because I’ve loved Holly Black since I was a teen.

OMG THAT CLIFFHANGER!!! Sorry for the all caps but I am so with you on that. First of all I thought this was a standalone (& it mostly is), & while I would totally read more set in this well developed world, I just felt so… I don’t know… Betrayed? I hate cliffhangers. It is one thing to leave a couple of threads going where it’s apparent there’s more to come. It’s another thing to drop a major bombshell in the last few sentences. Especially as everything else was wrapped up so well. While I look forward to the sequel (which there hopefully will be), I can’t help being a bit PO’dat Holly for leaving us this way.

Add Your Comment

Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Your Name: *

Your Email: (will never be shared) *

Your Website:

Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

↑ Back to Top

• WordPress.org
• Documentation
• Learn WordPress

Universe Today

Space and astronomy news

Book Review: Is Earth Exceptional?

A new book looks at the latest scientific insights versus a key question in astronomy and space science.

It’s tough to answer a scientific question, with a just data point of one. How special are we, and how common (or rare) is the story of how life arose on the Earth in the grander drama of the cosmos?

A new book out this week entitled Is Earth Exceptional? The Quest for Cosmic Life by Mario Livio and Jack Szostak looks at the scientific state of answering this key question. The book offers a sweeping view of the nascent science of astrobiology, a multi-disciplinary field melding biology, chemistry, astronomy and more.

Astrophysicist Mario Livio is also the author of Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein, Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists that Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe and The Equation That Couldn’t be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry.

Co-author and Nobel laureate Jack Szostak worked on the Human Genome Project and was the co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for discovering how telomeres defend chromosomes.

The basic premise of the book looks at the riddle of how the basic building blocks of life—from amino acids, RNA and the first cells—emerged on Earth. Could the same processes by common elsewhere?

Remember Rare Earth from about 20 years back? That book definitely made ripples in the fledgling field of astrobiology, by positing that a series of rare circumstances led to life to arise on the Earth. Is Earth Exceptional? Updates the science on this question and debate a generation later.

Exceptional Earth

The book doesn’t shy away from some pretty extensive organic chemistry in the first half. It’s rather tantalizing to researchers that simple life came into existence almost as soon as the conditions were ready for it. Was this a fluke, or a cosmic imperative? The chemistry of primordial life is a big mystery. Is Earth Exceptional looks at the latest findings, and what breakthroughs may be imminent in the field of astrobiology.

We live in an amazing time, a golden age of astronomy that may give us hard answers to these questions in our lifetimes. SETI searches, exoplanet surveys, and space telescopes such as TESS, JWST and the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope (set to launch in 2027) could bare fruit this century. The book points out that even a null result—however disappointing—could still be profound.

The answer could come from missions to worlds in our own solar system searching for signs of life past or present on Mars, Europa or Titan. The book deals with prospects for life on worlds in our solar system, and implications of such a discovery. Farther afield, detections of signs in exoplanet spectra could also herald the detection of exobiology on distant worlds.

For example, we now have the ability to see what’s known as the Vegetation Red Edge . This would be a very strong hint that photosynthesis was afoot via chlorophyll. This is a molecule that—as far as we know—only arises due to life.

All amazing thoughts to consider, as you read Is Earth Special and ponder the state of modern astrobiology.

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .