"Charlie hall. Drawn to a bad idea like a moth to a wool sweater. Every hustle an opportunity to let her worst impulses out to play"

"Charlie Hall, with a furnace inside her that was always burning"

Charlie Hall, my favourite thief, my favourite con artist, my favourite girl.

Book of Night is an amazing book. I loved it and I absolutely loved Charlie. Her character was really well written, is she supposed to be this obviously liked character? No. She makes bad decisions, so so many bad decisions but thats exactly what makes her so likeable.

Vincents story was particularly interesting, this mysterious boyfriend who was with Charlie but she didn't really know anything about? His storyline was so well done and I loved how well it tied into the whole story. I really enjoyed his character and the interesting dynamics of his and Charlie's relationship and how they showed they cared for each other.

The storyline was incredibly intriguing, every page had me hooked. There was an appropriate amount of twists that actually worked in the story and the story progressed at a good pace. It didn't feel like the book was starting to drag at any point, something i find a lot of fantasy books struggle with, they tend to hit a point in the middle of the book where the story slows down and loses it's appeal. I don't think this was the case at all with Book of Night, the story was great all the way through and got more and more appealing as it went on.

I also found myself actually enjoying the chapters that went to the past to explain the backstories of the characters. I usually find chapters like these boring as I'd rather just get on with reading about the present timeline but the past chapters in Book of Night were really good and it was obvious when reading them that they were really important to the overall storyline.

The last couple chapters were great with lots of twists and left the book at a really good point. I can't wait to see what Charlie and (spoiler alert) Vincent/Red get up to in the next book.

Holly Black has done a great job of transitioning from writing YA books to an adult book. The book was obviously 'Adult' without having extreme amounts of gore, swearwords and sex in them to prove itself as an adult book, which I have found a lot of YA authors fall trap to when writing an adult book. YA authors wanting to write an Adult book should take notes from Holly Black.

4.5 stars out of 5

The premise is interesting and I was really intrigued by the first several chapters of the book. However, I wasn't aware at the beginning that this arc would only be a sample.

Based on what i've read so far, it certainly has promise and I have hope that when I purchase the book that I'll actually enjoy it.

Would love to read more before I can fully give it an honest review.

3 stars for 3 chapters.

On requesting the full title I was given a sampler of The Book Of Night and asked to provide a review and rating.

I will do so if and when I purchase the book in total.

Didn't realise this would be just a sample and so hard to comment or rate a sample. But i was intrigued and sad to not to be able to get more so i guess i have to give it four stars, it certainly got me looking forward to the book. Though wish it had been marked in some way as a sample.

Didn't realise when I requested this that it would be a sample. The beginning was interesting and was left wanting more. But since it was just the beginning of a book, it's hard to say more.

Wow.. the beginning was so interesting and i can't wait to read the more. I love Holly Blacks writing style.
I couldn't put the reading sample down.

This little sample teased big things from Holly Black, who seems to have taken a much darker turn for her adult debut. The opening chapters certainly promise exciting things to come, and Charlie seems to be an interesting protagonist. Im excited to continue on.

this sneak peak left me wanting more! i love the descriptions and holly black's writing style. a dark gothic urban fantasy set to transport you.

A short sample but what I read grabbed my interest with an original idea involving the theft of people's shadows and the ability to conjure magic with them. I'm eager to get hold of a copy and read it in full.

It's incredibly difficult to rate a part of a book, especially as it contains so little in the first few chapters. Mind you, I didn't know I would only be receiving a sliver of the full novel. I have purchased it, so I will continue reading after this. My rating here is based on the prologue and the first three chapters.

Charlie is a bit of thief, but she is trying to walk the straight path. People alter their shadows in this world and she has worked for people who do that. We also get to know a little bit of her backstory, but not enough to make me like her. I haven't met a character I like yet, but we're a bit too early in the novel to be sure. Vince, Charlie's boyfriend without a shadow, might be a nice guy.

I'll continue reading now, but based on the first couple of chapters that were provided by the publisher I can't rate it higher than three stars, because the world does sound interesting but none of the characters do so far.

It's hard to write much of a review for a 3 chapter sampler but I'm a huge fan of Holly Black and think I'm going to enjoy this book just as much as all of her others. I'm looking forward to reading the full book

I received the first three chapters from Random House UK, Cornerstone via Netgalley, thank you!

As this was a short read, I may wrongly judge this urban fantasy, but this sounds like a mysterious shadowy world, Charlie and her sister, Posey, and other probably many characters, well, I like to know their story!

I have been a huge fan of Holly Black since reading the Folk of The Air series and Book of Night is one of my most anticipated reads for 2022. I adored it so much. Holly Black is a master at creating a suspenseful, shadow-y atmosphere and I got chills reading certain parts. And though I only got to read three chapters in this ARC, I fell in love with Charlie as a character. She fascinates me a lot and I know when my physical copy comes in, I am going to enjoy reading from her perspective even more.

All in all, Book of Night is a stunning adult debut which I cannot wait to read in full!

As others have mentioned, only the first three chapters were provided in this arc. I quite enjoyed what I received but honestly cannot review the book because the book had hardly begun before I finished. I will rate this 3 stars just for the three chapters but I am not willing to post to review sites until I’ve read the full book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Cornerstone for providing the three chapters.

A big thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this eArc!

An interesting start! Only a sampler but I’m hooked!

The first few chapters were interesting enough, but didn’t grip me. I’m looking forward to my Fairyloot copy to see what I think!

I didn't realise that it was just an excerpt that I would be sent.
Hard to write a review based on the first 3 chapters but seems a promising start!

I've only got the first look but man what an opener, first thoughts are it seems to have a sharp narrative and some easy world building. I can't wait to read the rest :)

This sneak peek just made me want to read the entire thing even more. I am beyond excited for this new Adult Fantasy debut by Holly. I can just feel how good this is going to be!!!

Received a preview of the first 3 chapters on Netgalley.

I was really put back when I saw “delivers hot sex” in the endorsements and had no intention of buying and reading the whole book. I wouldn't have requested the arc had I seen that earlier. However, I did see a review on TikTok where someone explained that there's little romance and the sex scenes fade to black. Obviously, I don't exactly what's written, but an inaccurate description might turn away readers and disappoint those who were expecting more from the romance.

I can't really tell whether I'd like this book or not, though I am a bit intrigued. I love Holly's writing, so I might pick it up were I to come across it.