If you’ve been unable to recover from that gut-punch of an ending to Holly Black’s Book of Night, then I anticipate you picked up the sequel, Thief of Night, as soon as humanly possible in September. Apparently, I like suffering and prolonged my misery to just now, and let me tell you, Black wanted you to suffer a bit longer through this dark and chaotic finale to The Charlatan Duology.
Career criminal Charlie is starting to believe the Hall women are truly cursed. Not only is she tracking down wayward shadows for the Cabal, but she’s also tethered to a violent shadow who hates her guts. And when a grisly massacre in town seems related to the shadow world, one of the Cabal leaders demands that she find the killer. Between her own shadow simmering for freedom and Charlie’s desperation to right so many wrongs, it will be a miracle if she makes it out of her predicament, not unscathed, but hopefully alive.
Charlie Hall is a fun-as-hell protagonist to follow down every dark alley and posh New England socialite event that this book throws at you. She keeps me on the edge of my seat because she’s an act first, think later type of gal. Charlie is squirrelly and tough and gets back up every single time when she gets knocked down. And that happens a lot in this book. Her strong survival instinct keeps her running on adrenaline, and in this fast-paced plot, she never has a moment to break. Charlie is a great character overall, but I think she especially resonates with readers who tend to play it safe, slow, and steady. Speaking for myself, it’s cathartic to experience a day in the life of Charlie Hall because she is antithetical to everything I am—risky where I am cautious and quick to act where I am hesitant. And I get to live through her and her chaos in the safety of my own bed nest.
Holly Black is such a tease. She gives you a bite of this world of living shadows and then takes the plate away. This is not a criticism; it’s quite the opposite, actually. I lament often around here when books build out the framework of a world to just be a set piece for the characters to act around. But Black always builds her worlds well. And what we end up with in Thief of Night is an alluring setting with a lot of possibilities, but due to the nature of the story, we don’t get to indulge in every avenue. Black treats us to little morsels and shows us just how deep the world actually is. But this is Charlie’s story, and her perspective limits us to the events directly affecting her. That is why I think this book is a tease, because the world is there to explore, but Black keeps turning your head to keep you focused on Charlie’s task at hand. And as the second book of a duology, it ends with finality so that you know you’ll never get a bigger taste of such a cool world.
There is a lot of power and control dynamics in this book. The Cabal controls Charlie, as their Hierophant, to track down masterless shadows, known as Blights. Charlie now controls the new shadow that is tethered to her. And Adeline controls Red’s ability to get his old, affluent life back. Charlie and Red, especially, are entrenched in the power struggle, both having their strings pulled by others while having the ability to tug on someone else’s strings. It’s interesting to see the push and pull of the power between all these characters. Some are confident that their control cannot falter. There are some who don’t want to exercise the power they have over others. And there are those who are being controlled, but decide there is a grey area in how they operate within the confines of their predicament.
Whether it’s the full throttle plot bent on destroying Charlie Hall or the complicated dynamic she has with her tethered shadow, Thief of Night will easily steal your attention. It’s a hard book to put down, and it goes by way too fast. But all the best things do, don’t they?
Rating: Thief of Night – 9.0/10
-Brandee
