Book of Night follows Charlie, who lives in a world where shadows can change in magical ways. Charlie has lived a life full of treachery and is trying to go on the straight and narrow. But life is never that simple, and when the Liber Noctem is stolen her life is thrown into chaos.

I absolutely loved the idea that shadows can be altered. I’ve never read anything with this idea before and loved it’s uniqueness. Unfortunately, I found the execution a little lacking. There wasn’t enough world building for me, which often left me feeling completely confused by the ins and outs of it all. I wish that time had been taken to really build the world, it’s laws and the people involved. I didn’t feel any tension, although the book was able to shock me at one point which I always enjoy! I read this as part of a buddy read and we all agreed that it seemed like the author knew what she wanted to write, but wasn’t actually putting that down on paper. Things were just being thrown at the reader without explanation.

I also didn’t connect with any of the characters, although I did quite like Vince by the end of the book. I find it so hard to love a book when I don’t connect with the characters or care about what happens to them! I also found that there where a lot of side characters, who were briefly mentioned and then would be brought up again later. They had no stories or personalities, so it just felt like their were a load of names being thrown around. I just couldn’t remember who any of them were! By the end I almost gave up trying to decipher all of the side characters! That being said, if a sequel was written I would read it!

I would recommend this to fantasy fans if you want to read something based on shadow magic. But it may be worth keeping notes on the theory and side characters!