A review by mynameismarines
Book of Night by Holly Black

2.0


This was the July pick for House Salt Book Club, live show linked.

My experience with Holly Black has always been middling so my expectations for this book also were. I was still disappointed, primarily because this had so much potential and then just kind of squandered all of it. I don't know how this book that just about clears 300 pages feels like double that length. It dragged and yet managed not to fully develop the world and gave us a main character with muddled motivations and questionable decisions.

Okay, so breaking that down:

- The premise and world were really cool and I was in for the shadow magic. Unfortunately, there were elements of the magic that were just kind of thrown out and never explained. I'm down for a magic system based mostly on vibes, but the book kept bringing up details about the magic in a way that invited too many questions that were never answered. It was distracting.

- The story is told in alternating timelines and I think this did a disservice to a story that was already struggling with pacing. Every time we jumped back, it choked the momentum and it was always to give us some heavy-handed, very important information. I wish all of that had been a bit more graceful and sparingly used.

- I really wanted to like the main character, but some of her characteristics were told to us and not really shown? I didn't fully buy into her bad-assery, especially when she started to make some questionable choices. I didn't always follow her logic and it started to annoy me.

- The main love interest was interesting, at first. I really liked the idea of joining a relationship in progress instead of showing us people falling in love. I had the most feelings invested in this area of the story, watching both of them navigate wanting to be closer but withholding secrets. Unfortunately, partway through, he disappears and then when he comes back, it feels like the story just kind of jumps forward a bunch of steps? It felt a bit rushed.

- I am a sucker for sibling relationships and I was primed to love this one, but unfortunately we didn't get to see many moments between them that were about affection or closeness. It was all friction and a lot of repetition.

- I find Black's writing just sort of fine. Plain and serviceable, but definitely not adding anything great.

- The end was strong and it's a shame cause now I feel like I have to keep reading the series lol. It was a good ending for this story but the kind of cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more.

Meh.