Charlie Hall, glue trap for disaster, crooked from the day she was born, who’d never met a bad decision she wasn’t willing to double down on, may have finally met her match.
After the events of the previous book, Charlie actually thought she’d won. She had managed to defeat Lionel Salt, and rescue her lover―the powerful shadow, Vince―back from under the noses of the powerful Cabal leaders, instead of Vince going to his cousin and Salt’s granddaughter, Adaline. Agreeing to become the Hierophant and risking her life hunting down dangerous rogue shadows (known as Blights) seemed an easy price to pay if she got to do it with Vince tethered to her.
But Vince is no longer the man she loved. The tethering process wiped away his memories of the last year, leaving only Red―the ruthless shadow who spent years as a killer for a cruel, mercurial billionaire. Red doesn’t remember Charlie and doesn’t like her. (But then again, Red doesn’t seem to actually like anyone.)
So when Charlie is ordered to track down the Blight (or whoever else is) responsible for a massacre at a local church, a church she herself has history with, she’s worse than just alone, heartbroken, and outmatched. She’s vulnerable. And in a world where shadows have wills and desires of their own, the question isn’t just how to survive; it’s how to protect yourself from the one thing you can never escape―your own shadow. Or maybe just yourself.
Seeing as it’s been three years between Book of the Night and this book I probably should have re-read that first, but I managed to remember enough to follow the story. And oh boy, what a story it was.
In my opinion, this book continues to show why Holly Black is as popular a writer as she is. I did not remember that this duology were the first books of hers to be considered a piece of adult fiction, because her previous books are as good and discuss as adult of topics as these two. Even in her young adult work, Black does not talk down to people.
I’m sorry that this is going to be purely a duology, because at the end of the book I wanted to read more about Charlie and Red. (That ending paragraph; more of that, please.) If you replace the word “weirdness” with “damage, trust issues, and love of f*cking up anyone who gets in your way”, those two embody the old Dr. Seuss quote.
I was also hoping to read a scene where Charlie realized that she and Red probably had a better relationship than she and Vince had, less because of the lack of secrets and more because they’re cut from far more similar bolts of cloth. Surprisingly, for a relationship that consists of potential murder for a large chunk of the book, Red is the best relationship Charlie has with anyone, romantic or familial. Holly Black has a real habit of writing the familial relationships between characters as incredibly dysfunctional, and Charlie’s with her sister Posey, or her mother, are no different. Things get said that can never be taken back, and the feeling I have is that they’re never discussed again because no one wants to admit the truth in them, and how that truth will just fracture them forever. So, very true to life there. Plus, I want to read them (hopefully one day) burning the Cabals to the ground; other than maybe Bellamy (maybe), they should all go.
Adaline and her friends (if you can call them that; I got total “popular clique in high school whose members all have perfect attendance because they know the day they’re out the catty comment victim of the day is going to be them” vibes), just like all the rich assholes in the previous book, prove why the phrase “Eat the Rich” is in existence.
If Adaline had any self-reflection she might realize she’s a bigger monster than Red could ever be, but seeing as she’s as deep as a puddle, that day will never come.
And personally, I would actually not mind being a bartender in a bar run by a dominatrix; if nothing else, shifts would probably never be boring. And the cocktails Holly Black describes in the book make me want to see if I can figure out how to make most of them. Though if I had coworkers like Don, I’d probably do what Charlie winds up doing eventually (and was that a reveal I did not see coming).
The only thing I will ding Holly Black on, and it’s a minor thing, is that who the villain is revealed to be was pretty obvious from his appearance; it’s the only reason him being in the book would make sense. However, it’s balanced out by the naming of the cat Lucipurr; as all cats are little demons bent on devouring your soul by annoying it out of you one piece at a time, the name fits.
Definitely would recommend picking up this duology, and I can not wait until the next book Holly Black puts out.