This absolutely captivated me with its edgy and atmospheric vibe, and I couldn’t put it down! From the very first page, I was pulled into this dark, immersive world of shadow magic. While the magic system isn’t entirely new, there are unique twists that made it feel fresh and engaging. But It’s not just about magic! It’s about manipulation, survival, and how the past never really lets go.

Charlie, the FMC, is messy, morally gray, and doing her best and that makes her feel so real! She’s sharp and clever but there’s also a raw vulnerability under her armor that I couldn’t help but to connect with. Vince, the MMC, was so interesting! He’s all quiet intensity and mysterious. Every moment between him and Char felt real.

And the ending? It hurt in a way that makes you want to scream and pick up the next book at the same time.

If you’re into adult urban fantasies that are dark, emotionally layered, full of morally complex characters, and utterly unputdownable then this is definitely worth a read! I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Holly Black's first adult novel (from 2023, being re-hyped in preparation for its sequel in September 2025) has some original and splendid ideas, excellent turns and twists, and needed one more round of developmental editing before it was really ready to go out into the world. While there are some terrific, well-thought-out characters and set pieces, there are also numerous pointless people littering the book as well as a number of loose and unneeded scenes that drag or add nothing to the core of the plot and the novel's context. The basic premise is that in a world where magic and particularly shadow magic is real and accepted, a young woman who has been trained as a thief and a hustler becomes involved in a dangerous power play among various factions of the magic world. The magic is interesting and fresh, and deserved better, as did other facets of the novel. The ending, especially, comes across as cynical and slapdash, but I suppose that was in order to set up readers for the sequel. I'm not sure I care enough about these characters or their world to read that.

Book of Night has an intriguing premise and a dark, moody atmosphere that sets the stage for something great, but the execution feels uneven. The first half moves reeeeeeeeeeeeeally slow, with long stretches of buildup that don’t always pay off right away. Additionally, the story is weighed down by too many side characters—so many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track of who’s who or why they matter. Things do pick up later on, and there are glimmers of the clever, twisty storytelling but, it doesn’t quite live up to its potential. Thank you, NetGalley!

It’s good not great but worth the read

Set in modern-day New England area with a unique shadow magic system, this is a mysterious story about a thief who is sent on a mission to steal back the Book of Blights all while navigating the intricacies of the magical system. Morally gray thief Charlie Hall will do anything for her own along the way.

The magical system is a little confusing but even if you don’t fully understand it, like myself, it doesn’t impact the overall understanding of the plot!

3/5 ⭐️
Excellent premise, confusing execution

Book of Night is a unique dark Urban Fantasy where people can have their shadows altered to ultimately have their personalities altered. In this world, no one truly knows the correct way to alter them. And the only correct ways are located in highly sought after physical books.

We follow Charlie, and weave between her childhood and her adult life. Charlie is an exceptional con artist, but realizes that life could potentially get her younger sister killed. So she tries to go straight. Unfortunately for her, old habits resurface, and now we have a murder mystery.

Cons:
There were just too many side characters to keep up with. Some are very haphazardly introduced. Others have a full description. On the bright side, we do get a minority Asian representation (Filipino culture) so that was a very pleasant surprise!

Pros:
I enjoyed the world that Holly Black created in this very unique Urban Fantasy. In this world, Charlie and her sister want magic. Ironically, this is also juxtaposed with her mother’s fake magic (Tarot reading). I find the juxtaposition of fake and real magic interesting.

Tropes:
✅ morally grey characters
✅ magical realism
✅ urban fantasy
✅ murder mystery
✅ Asian minority rep (Filipinos)
✅ LGBTQ rep

Overall, I thought the premise was unique and exciting. I absolutely loved the idea of fake magic in the world of Fantasy. Unfortunately, the execution left me confused. If you enjoy dark urban fantasy mixed with in magical realism set in a unique world, you’ll enjoy this.

Thank you Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I loved this. Holly Black is able to not only paint a world with words, but also paint a whole mood.

This was so different from what I expected. Shadows having magic was absolutely terrifying. I really liked Charlie and how she could easily have given up, walked away, but didn't.

<i><b>“The problem with monsters is that you need to keep them leashed, or they turn on you.”</b></i>


<u>Tropes</u>
• Morally Gray Characters
• Secret Societies
• Shadow Magic
• Found Family
• Murder Mystery

<i><b>“People like their stuff close by, including their secrets.”</b></i>

Book of Night is a dark fantasy with shadow magic and secret societies. Perfect for fans who love anything Holly Black!


⭐️⭐️

I love Holly Black and love her “Folk of the Air” series and it is my fault for going into this book blind because I was expecting a similar style like her previous series, which I should’ve looked into it more.

I was having a difficult getting through the first half of the book because it’s more focused on past events and more slow paced. But i definitely pushed through and I’m so glad I did because I started to enjoy and be engaged in what would happen next!

If you don’t mind slow pace books and love Holly Black you’ll love this series!!

I loved this book. The character development, plot twists, and interactions had me on the edge of my seat.

I really liked this. I've heard a lot of good things about this author so I was excited to check this out., and it did not disappoint. The world and shadow magic was really cool. It's different and interesting. This sort of alternative version of present day Massachusetts. I loved a messy, messed up, flawed heroine so I was immediately loving Charlie. The cons and thefts were fun. Plenty of twists and surprises. Heard there's a sequel coming out, so I will be checking that out for sure.

I had a difficult time understanding the magic in this story. It was pretty dark and gritty which is not my cup of tea. At some point I will try to revisit the story because I do like the ideas, I just didn't understand them all together. More background info about this world would have been helpful.

Darkly enchanting and deliciously gritty, Book of Night delivers a shadow-drenched tale of magic, mystery, and morally gray choices. Charlie Hall is the kind of messy, complicated heroine who’s impossible not to root for as she stumbles through a world of gloamists, grimoires, and dangerous secrets. Holly Black masterfully blends noir vibes with urban fantasy, crafting a story where shadows quite literally have a mind of their own. Though the worldbuilding can be dense at times, the tension, clever twists, and emotional undercurrents, especially between Charlie and Vince, make this a compulsively readable, haunting ride.

Charlotte has always been equipped to thievery and trickery. She can always get by when pulling a heist. However, when coming back to the business after years of taking a break, she is in for a ride that is both scary and emotional.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is being introduced to a new type of magic in which a shadow can have a mind of its own. The feeding it blood and the quickening aspects were fascinating to read. I also thought the idea of using this type of magic as being dangerous exciting.

Written in present-day as well as the past, the reader follows Charlotte and learns how she became the way she did. Sometimes, I did feel as if the reader spends a bit too long in the past. Unfortunately, the present pacing was also a bit slow at times. This could have been because there were several secondary characters that I couldn’t keep track of and the world building was a bit bumpy. Learning new vocabulary words specific to this world added to the confusion. Yutzes, Hierophant, Blights, Cabal, and Speysides are some examples. To be honest, I’m still unsure of the meaning of some of these words.

I did enjoy the unique love story built in, especially toward the end of the book. Even though there weren’t always strong moments in the book, the twists were exciting and the cliffhanger was superb! I do want to know what happens between Charlotte and her unique boyfriend, Vince.

Overall, I give “Book of Night” a 3 out of 5 stars due to its creativity, but also considering that some pacing and world building could be improved. I recommend this read for those who enjoy a different kind of fantasy and do not mind some murder/blood scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher (Tor Publishing Group | Tor Books) for giving me the opportunity to read “Book of Night”. All opinions are my own.

Is it confusing at times? Yes. Is it worth surrendering to anyway? Also yes. Book of Night doesn’t hold your hand — it dares you to follow the shadows.

This was not a great read for me. For much of the first half I was pretty confused about what was going on. The world building wasn't great. I wanted to give it a chance because I enjoyed Cruel Prince, but this wasn't for me. Thank you for the copy Net Galley.

I'm a huge fan of Holly Black so I knew this was a must read! Really loved this book maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but some of the twists I did not see coming at all. I usually stick with fantasy books and mostly ya at that so reading something that was modern day with a element of supernatural magic was really refreshing. If you're into darker fantasy I highly recommend! It reminded me a lot of Ninth House not in content but just the vibes I got from it. I see this is sadly supposed to be a stand alone but the characters and world are definitely something I'd want to read more of and with the way it ended there definitely was an opening left for continuation. I highly recommend this read and look forward to future adult books from Holly!

Thanks NetGalley for this copy of Book of Night! Okay so, definitely moderately confusing read. Definitely got better as it went. Jumped into this because I adored the cruel prince, like one of my all time favourite trilogies. It felt super long and took me awhile to get through despite not being long at all. Shadowed magic definitely intrigues me and I love a murder mystery, I’ll definitely read the next one when it comes out. I know this was her first jump into adult fantasy so I’m intrigued to see how much growth we’ll see in the sequel considering the big time between the two!

Okay!!! I loved Charlie Hall. SO MUCH! What a cool and bad ass character. I thoroughly enjoyed being in her head and getting to know her. I loved that she was just unapologetically herself throughout; her actions in the book felt authentic and I love that most of all about characters while reading a book. I also really loved Vince as he developed throughout the story as well. At first I thought he would just be a throwaway type of character and boy was I wrong.

The world and the magic system and the constant adding of new characters and important objects threw me a little bit. It was tough to keep secondary characters straight for me but maybe that was also because I read this book extremely slowly. It was a little tough for me to initially STAY into though the book intrigued me from the get-go if that makes sense. I was interested but not invested for a long while on this one. But overall? I really thoroughly enjoyed this. It all felt insane and unique and definitely a lot of intrigue and suspense!

I bounced between a physical copy of the book, the eARC, and an audiobook copy but ultimately the audiobook is what I enjoyed most. Sara Armani WAS Charlie Hall! She narrated the story so damn well… I highly recommend listening if that’s an option for you.

I’m excited to see what happens next in this story as SO MANY TWISTS happened at the end that have me on the edge of my seat… which is where I’ll be until September!

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook for my honest review!

Magical realism is a rewarding genre for a reader but a delicate balancing act for the author. Holly Black hit it out of the park with this debut into adult novels. The world building was the right amount of subtle that gives information without being vague or beating you over the head. Charlie Hall is our main character and by default the most fleshed out of all the characters. Flawed, a former criminal trying to go straight while providing for her younger sister. Unfortunately for her some habits are hard to kill and she finds herself back in a world she had hoped to put behind her. By giving us a glimpse of her past, Holly Black is able to take a character who should be unlikable and make her relatable. Once I got going I could not put this book down. I am the type of reader who feels frustration at a cliffhanger more than anticipation but the ending here was just the right amount of suspense to leave me salivating for book two.

✨ 3/5 Stars – Cool Concept, Kinda Meh Execution

This was my first Holly Black novel, and I was so excited to finally see what all the hype was about. I’ve heard amazing things about her fae books, so I went into Book of Night expecting something dark, magical, and twisty—and while it was those things, it didn’t totally click for me.

The idea of shadow magic and gloamists (like, people who manipulate shadows?? so cool) was super original. The world is moody and kind of noir, which I was into. But the pacing dragged, and I felt like I was constantly trying to catch up on the worldbuilding. It was like there was this deep magical system happening off the page, but we only got the surface-level stuff.

Charlie, the main character, was messy in a relatable way. I liked that she wasn’t polished or overly heroic. But I never felt fully connected to her or the side characters. Vince had potential but felt kind of… vague? Like I wanted more depth and backstory.

That said, I’m not mad I read it. The vibes were cool, and the ending hinted at bigger things that might pay off in a sequel. I’d probably read more from Holly Black, but I think I’ll check out her fae books next since I hear that’s where she really shines.

TL;DR: Not a bad intro to Holly Black, but didn’t blow me away. Great concept, just wish the execution had a little more spark.

I enjoyed the book and kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. However, some parts were a little slow (the beginning). I appreciated how it had no spice- if anything, fades to black.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the copy. All opinions are my own.