Book of Night is my sixteenth Holly Black book. I've never considered myself a major fan of hers, but dang, I've read a ton of her books so I guess I am. I'd heard pretty conflicting reviews on Book of Night before I started it, so I'm very happy that I ended up among the group of people who really enjoyed the book. In fact, this is probably my favorite of all her books so far.
As a con artist, Charlie Hall is not a particularly good person, but I still found myself loving her as the morally grey protagonist that she is. She tries to distance herself from the dark dealings she's been involved with by hiding her past from her boyfriend, but she inevitably gets pulled back in. I also really liked Vince, Charlie's quiet and mysterious boyfriend who's hiding a few secrets of his own. I thought all the characters in this book were very well-written and fleshed out.
The concept of shadow magic was really cool to me. In this world, you can steal someone's shadow to gain more power, manipulate your own shadow to look different for aesthetic purposes, and even cause your shadow to come alive as its own entity.
On its surface, Book of Night is about Charlie getting wrapped up in the plot to steal a dark and powerful book that contains secrets about shadows, but it's also a story about power and dark magic and unexpected relationships.
The way this ended, there is no way Book of Night is a standalone story. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and following Charlie Hall on her next shadowy adventure.
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