It's like all the energy has been sucked out of the story, and all that's left is words on a page. There was no tension, no suspense, no compulsive need to turn the pages. Instead, the writing was so flat, I didn't feel anything reading this. Where do I even start? When I think of Holly Black, I think of The Cruel Prince, with its sharp writing, compelling characters, well-plotted story, and seamless worldbuilding. I thought for sure I would love Book of Night, one of my most anticipated reads of the year, from the author who wrote one of my favorite YA fantasy series of all time. Holly Black makes her adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies.

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. 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. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires.

And sometimes, it has a life of its own.Ĭharlie 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. 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. 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. In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences-but also to increase power and influence.

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