![]() And the characters' actions don't really ring true for me either. The different parts of the magical world felt randomly tossed together without really blending into a cohesive whole. This book, with a few fade to black ones, was somehow completely devoid of any sizzle or spark.īut for me, the biggest issue is that the story just doesn't make sense. I remember the sexual tension in The Cruel Prince, and it didn't even have any sex scenes (being YA and all). This is supposed to be Holly Black's adult debut, yet it doesn't feel any more adult than her previous YA books, other than a few F-words here and there. So the overall effect is the mother of all slow burns. You have the present one, slow and plodding, intercut with the past timeline, which was somehow even more glacial, if you can believe it. The story unfolds via a dual timeline, but the pacing was extremely slow for both. and feelings? Gloamists trade shadows and have power, but why? What is carapace, Cabal, Hierophant?) Most of the time, I felt like I was guessing at what everything means. I don't think the magical system is that complicated, yet somehow, the explanations provided just didn't work for me. The worldbuilding was so awkward and confusing, I'm still not sure I understood it, even after having read the whole book. It feels like anytime something needed to be explained, a new character would be introduced along with a random digression, just to get the point across. They're all haphazardly introduced without any distinguishing characteristics that would make them unique or memorable. There were so many side characters, I had trouble keeping them apart. We are only told constantly of what she is, but never shown. There's no insight into her underlying motivations. Her only attributes seem to be that she has righteous anger and she makes bad decisions, but I don't really understand why. To say Charlie is unlikable would be to imply she has some personality for me to dislike. The characters were some of the dullest and most unmemorable I've ever come across. I held on, hoping that it would turn around and grab me. I honestly forced myself to continue and see it through to completion. It's like all the energy has been sucked out of the story, and all that's left is words on a page. There was no tension, no suspense, no compulsive need to turn the pages. Instead, the writing was so flat, I didn't feel anything reading this. Where do I even start? When I think of Holly Black, I think of The Cruel Prince, with its sharp writing, compelling characters, well-plotted story, and seamless worldbuilding. I thought for sure I would love Book of Night, one of my most anticipated reads of the year, from the author who wrote one of my favorite YA fantasy series of all time. Holly Black makes her adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister-all desperate to control the magic of the shadows. ![]() But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear-and at worst, non-existent. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.Ĭharlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden-a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. You can alter someone’s feelings-and memories-but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. ![]() ![]() Urn:oclc:733818617 Republisher_date 20120919132607 Republisher_operator Scandate 20120918225152 Scanner Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences-but also to increase power and influence. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 17:02:16 Bookplateleaf 0006 Boxid IA157501 Boxid_2 CH118101 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donor
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |