Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Book of Night

Listen, it is no secret to the people that know my love of reading that I am hoe for @blackholly . I would read the woman’s grocery list. Happily.

Book of Night wasn’t my favorite book she has ever written (nothing has topped Tithe in over 20 years for me), but it still left me eager to dive deeper into this world and get to know these characters.

PROS:
🖤It is Holly FREAKING Black
📓The fact Shadow Magic has been around forever, but it seems like it was a secret underground thing until the last few decades was super neat.
🖤The reveal about Shadow Daddy had me screaming.
📓The world building was top notch, as per usual.

CONS:
🖤I still felt like I was left with more questions than answers in the end.
📓I have to wait for the answers.
🖤I have a hit list of characters that could catch these hands for free because they are the worst kind of people.

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Content Warnings

hazel_oat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

madmadmaddymad's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really loved this book, it had me gripped the whole time.

I wondered the whole time what Lionel Salt had taken from Charlie…. Was it just her innocence? To be fair, I found him extremely sinister and chilling. In a world where shadows and magic exist - still a pretentious billionaire who’s used to getting anything he wants can be a compelling villain.

Also, I really liked Charlie! A very different sort of YA heroine, set in her faults and hooked on the adrenaline of adventure. Vince was hard for me to trust at first. Then, I thought he betrayed her. And that ENDING!!!! Wow! I wasn’t expecting at all.

Excellent, thrilling, and very dark - and somewhat spooky. I loved it.

Content Warnings

cosypuck's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No

2.0

Cool concept for the magic system/lore, but the plot was really confusing with too many characters, I don't love a dual timeline, and I didn't like the ending. The author told us the same obvious things loads of times but didn't explain a lot of the connections between characters and events enough for me to feel satisfied when the plot concluded because I didn't really know what I was meant to be waiting for. As other people have said, the main character is meant to be 28 but reads like an 18 year old.

Content Warnings

bcope84's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

silver_violet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

lost_windsock's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This story captured my attention from the first page. The back and forth between the past and present was compelling, and the shadow magic was interesting and well executed. There was plenty of action and a lot of tense moments, and it just flowed so perfectly and had me hanging on every interaction and decision Charlie made.

Content Warnings

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I had a complicated experience with this book. It dragged so much, and then right when it started moving, we'd get a chapter where we jump back to the past. And all the momentum was lost. There were a lot of character that got garbled up at times, and the pacing was really rough throughout. I think it picked up for me in the last 75 pages, and of course it ended in a wtf moment. I'm kind of glad the next book isn't out yet, because I wouldn't be super motivated to continue at the moment. I'm hoping the next book is able to move more quickly now that we have the bulk of the plot/history outlined.

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