None more so than Charlie’s shadow-less boyfriend Vince, whose enigmatic existence was possibly my favorite part of the whole story. Black writes a cast of characters to populate Charlie’s small-town world that feel equal parts magical and real. We have gaps filled in at just the right time to add depth to the here and now. Charlie’s trying to put her life of small-time crime somewhat behind her, but let’s be real, this book wouldn’t have been written if our girl was succeeding at that.īook of Night tells Charlie’s story in a fraught push-and-pull between the present and the past. Charlie Hall just can’t seem to stick to the straight-and-narrow that regular people seem to achieve with seemingly no effort at all. Charlie Hall, like Jude before her, is an antiheroine. What’s a little fame and power if it can’t be exploited after all? That’s where we meet our lead in Book of Night. Like most industries, even the new magic-shadow business falls prey to a thriving underbelly of crime. But It’s only a lucky few who have this ability, so of course this leads to fame, fortune, and prosperous opportunities unavailable to the rest of the regular-shadow crowd. These shadows can be altered they can be manipulated and even stolen.

Set in an alternate reality of our world, it’s been discovered that our shadows can quicken and move as extensions of ourselves. If you’re a fan of Black’s previous work, this new dark urban fantasy could be just the thing you want to pick up next. Book of Night finally released last week, and I must say, I wasn’t disappointed. When Holly Black announced a little while back that she would be writing an adult fantasy series, I eagerly placed it at the top of my 2022 Must Read List. In a young adult series, Jude felt like a wholly new and daring feast for the senses. But Jude was also a product of her environment and the trauma that, as a human growing up in faerie, she was forced to endure. She was brash, she was secretive, and made dangerous deals to make sure she succeeded. Jude was everything a young female fairytale lead hadn’t yet been.

I originally fell in love with her heroine Jude in the young adult fantasy series The Cruel Prince. They have subversive desires, and they’re not afraid to do absolutely anything to meet their goals. I’m convinced Holly Black writes exactly the type of women I want to read.

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