Book of Night

By: Holly Black

Narrated by: Sara Amini

2022 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2022 Dragon Awards, Winner

2022 Audible.com Best of the Year, Long-listed

2022 Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, Long-listed

"Award-winning YA author Holly Black has created an imaginary masterpiece yet again with her first foray into adult fantasy, narrated with perfection by Sara Amini."—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)

In the vein of Erin Morgenstern, #1 NYT bestselling author Holly Black’s stunning new audiobook is a dark fantasy of betrayals and cabals with a dissolute thief of shadows at the center of it all.

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make.

She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but getting out isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that Charlie's shadowless, and possibly soulless, boyfriend has been hiding things from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends into a maelstrom of murder and lies.

Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world—all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power

"Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists—a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages."—Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House

“Heart, soul, and a bit of kink—The Book of Night is smart, decadent fun.”—Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize Finalist

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2022 Holly Black (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Mixed Feelings

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this book. On one hand, I loved the creativity and new ideas surrounding magic shadows. I've never read another book like it. On the other hand, when I hear "adult novel" I am expecting adult romance and some steamy scenes which this book lacked. I loved The Cruel Prince trilogy but this book is definitely nothing like it. I do hope this is a series and not a standalone book as it definitely ended on a cliffhanger. I feel like 3.5 stars would be a more accurate rating if I could give that. The narration was decent. I enjoyed Sara's voice but she wasn't able to voice more than a few different sounding characters.

Fan-freaking-tasting!!!

Another smash hit from Holly Black. I’m not going to go into details other than to say this story is fan-freaking-tasting!! The narrator Sara Amino is a vocal genius.
A MUST READ!!!!

Great premise squandered

I mostly enjoyed this book but got a bit frustrated as it went on trying to take off. The premise is fantastic but stays in the realm of being cool without going much deeper. The voice of the author is enjoyably rebellious. The voice of the narrator does a pretty good job with all the characters except makes the bad guys sound trite. The idea of shadows coming to life is just wonderful, and in the case of one of the leads is beautifully fleshed out, but mostly remains a typically human drama. It felt like it was written in the hopes of becoming a low budget movie rather than soaring to its epic promise. I do hope there’s a sequel though to explain some of it’s confusing and in my opinion, senseless ending. Keep going Arthur, you’re on the right track.

a little slow

It ends with a cliff hanger. we are given more back story than things actually happening. it took me awhile to complete because I got tired of the narrative. And I didn't like Charlie or connect with her at all.

Slow start, but not bad overall

I read Tithe and Holly Black's other YA work when I was in highschool, so I decided to give this a chance.

It was a pretty solid listen, but the start was painfully slow. Having finished the book, I can now understand why. Once it picked up though, it got good.

An Unusual and Intriguing Tale

This story was unique… it read as a mystery, crime drama, dark fantasy, biography and romance. Relationships between characters were believable, dynamic and flawed. Black shaped each character’s story so that the person they were directly impacted how they behaved. Nothing was ever just magic and fantastical. The paranormal was explained and came with real work and consequences. I’ve not read anything like it before. I fell for the story from the first sentence and I bet you will too.

five stars

can't remember ever giving a five star review across the board. This was dark but with humor, enough twists to keep it moving, a protagonist who you rooted for in spite of herself, an odd starcrossed romance and excellent reader doing all sorts of voices that kept characters straight with little effort. I stayed up till 2 am listening. Worth the time.

This was an addictive ride!

I absolutely 💯 loved it!!! the story weaving was incredible. loved the exploration of our personal darkness through physical shadows as mirrors- this was awesome and I hope there will be more in this world!!

Complex Storytelling

The concept for this book, the first in a series, is very unique. I actually had a hard time wrapping my head around it, which isn't a bad thing.

I split my time between reading and listening. Due to the complexity of the story, the narration was, at times, a little hard to follow. The narrator did a good job; I think there are simply some stories that lend themselves better to reading the physical book versus listening to an audible production.

I plan to continue with the series when the 2nd book comes out. If you like magic and the supernatural, mixed with a little bit of Science Fiction, this book is for you!

Loveeeeeeee ittttt

Love it so bad I need a part two and it was amazing!! Holly black!!