Book of Night by Holly Black

Summary:

Charlie has spent a lot of time working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows, stealing and dealing in secrets. Bartending and trying to turn a new leaf, she keeps getting sucked back into that dark world. Her sister is obsessed with gloamists and her boyfriend is clearly keeping secrets. When her past comes back to haunt her, Charlie is determine to survive and find the secret everyone is searching for and one that comes with power.

My Thoughts:

I saw a lot of reviews for this book before I had the chance to read it and many of them were far from raves. Still, I went into this book with an open mind and found I honestly liked the story.

I will say the first seventy pages of the book are slow and make you think the story isn’t really going anywhere. I promise as soon as you hit page seventy, the story really picks up. From that point, you find yourself thrown into the world of gloamists with Charlie.

All of the characters are hugely flawed which I think is a marker of Holly’s writing. The world is interesting but not fully formed in my opinion. If you’re gonna make a book about shadows I feel like there could have been more exposure to the world as a whole and not just parts of it. 

The majority of the book has slightly more of a dark thriller feel to it than I was expecting. I’ve also learned Holly is the queen of plot twists and this book did not disappoint in that area. I was not expecting the ultimate twist and I’m excited to see what the next book holds.

Is this an amazing read? No. Is it a genuinely good read? Absolutely! I think a lot of people are looking at this book thinking of Holly’s previous works and not seeing the books for what it is: her first adult fiction novel. As such, the pace is slow and the world is different but it’s interesting.