Reviews

Book of Night by Holly Black

karatechoptime's review against another edition

2.0

WTF? That ending. This book was slow. And while I really enjoyed the main character and her connection to Vince the rest of the book was sloppy, underdeveloped, and dare I say, a little bit dull? I see now that it is part of a series. I wish it was just one really concise book. Not everything warrants a series. Blech.

godofwar's review against another edition

4.0

surprising myself by giving this four stars since i have some major issues with this book, like:

- the magic system needed a lot more explaining
- i don't know why the book is interchangeably referred to as "the book of night" and "the book of blights" without any kind of comment about it from anyone in-world
- i hate pop culture references in books, and there's a lot of that here (especially mentions of social media, which is the true bane of my existence)

but... i don't know! i really liked the characters. i love the protagonist. and i do think it's well-written. i hope the sequel improves on a lot of the lore/clarifies things, because there's a lot of potential for this to be a really good urban fantasy series. it just needs a little work.

mbennett78's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

glimmerlikebolan's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

julitear03's review

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

tee207's review against another edition

5.0

Loved it. Holly Black never disappoints.

marystuartsghost's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

modernstmarg's review against another edition

5.0

Sorry, I can’t talk right now. I’m too busy curled into fetal position thanks to Holly Black being the queen of heartbreaking cliffhangers.

shmadsie's review against another edition

5.0

I don't know why this didn't jump off the page for more people because I loved it! The magic and mythos was freaking cool and I adored Vince. Charlie wasn't my favorite character but she made sense to me and that's really all I need. Also, this is the first YA-turned-adult author that had no shades (heh heh) of YA to it. That was actually an adult book. (Maybe that's why people didn't love it because who would've expected that, given the way that none of the others even come close to passing that test??) There's no certainty your fave couple is going to end up together because relationships are complex and need more than just good vibes to survive (and, hey, Holly Black knows how to make relationships complex without the cheat code of just having someone have an affair - yay!), sibling relationships aren't all love all the time - and props for how Posey's story worked out because I was really worried about that one - and appreciates that it's hard to just be an adult living in the world and having to support yourself when every tiny thing can mean a major setback. Adult, and neat-o shadow magic, so I was super into it!

crisis_dilemma's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this far more than I thought I would. I honestly expected this to be an average read or to not like it at all. It was dark, mysterious and tense the entire way through. Once it starts it doesn’t quit.