Book of Night
Author: Holly Black
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Rating: 3 / 5 stars
Book of Night is a dark and creepy new adult fantasy by Holly Black following a former thief known as the Charlatan who tries to live a rather normal life, however, she always ends up in the middle of a new scheme. She gets tasked to find a very important ‘missing’ book with forbidden dark magic and discover who is responsible for the mysterious murders around the city. Char is a morally grey character driven by vengeance and hatred who decides to uncover secrets of the past and finally get her desired closure.
The magic system deals with manipulation of shadows and Holly did an amazing job in building it up and setting everything for the final reveal. The world building was absolutely great though it took most of the story, however as a first book in a new series that is quite understandable. The plot is very character driven so nothing major happens until 85% of the book. There are mostly flashbacks from the past and gathering information in order to solve the mystery. I know a lot of people got excited that it is an Adult book but I’m sorry to disappoint the romance is like 1% of the story and still very much fade to black. Though it is definitely in the Adult category in terms of trigger warnings and language.
What I personally felt lacking was character depth. Considering it’s a character driven story I needed a stronger connection with Char, however her delivery felt very ‘flat’ and therefore I wasn’t quite invested in her story. Also the plot is very predictable and the crazy twist is not at all unexpected. The ending definitely made me feel some type of way and fortunately there will be a sequel where I hope things get resolved because I hate leaving on a cliffhanger.
One thing to say is go into this story with a fresh mind and do not expect something similar to the Cruel Prince. It is it’s own story and the only similarities would be the strong, morally grey female lead.
Thank you to Tor Books and Macmillan USA for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
0 Comments