I picked this out during a spontaneous bookstore stop, and I had no idea what to expect or what the plot really was—and in a way, I still kinda don't. While I loved the concept, the worldbuilding, and especially Charlie, the main character, this left a few things to be desired for me. Let me explain...
"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 is a thief, and a good one at that.
She learned her trade from an early age, when Rand, one of her mom's many ex boyfriends, employed her to assist in his work as a con artist. After a con gone wrong, Rand is killed and Charlie barely escapes alive, thanks to the help of a disembodied voice behind her. The voice guides Charlie to safety, as long as she follows one simple rule: don't look behind you.
Charlie's work as a thief continued into adulthood, mostly stealing books and artifacts relating to shadow magic—the art of altering one's shadow.
Shadows can be altered simply for fun, such as creating wings or a tail, but they can also be used for more sinister purposes. Quickened shadows can slip through keyholes and cracks, allowing them to access places their owners cannot. They can also take possession of another person, known as puppeting, to manipulate their thoughts and feelings, and even make them speak whatever the shadow says. Shadows can even be used to kill, with no evidence connecting their wearer to the crime.
If a shadow is powerful enough, it can live on after the death of its owner, becoming something known as a blight.
In addition to altering your own shadow, shadows can be bought, sold, traded, and even stolen.
"Who we were and what we did and what was done to us—we don't get to shrug that stuff off and become some shiny new person." "We can try."
After yet another near-death experience, Charlie is done with stealing, once and for all. She is determined to build a better life for herself, her boyfriend, Vince, and her younger sister, Posey. She wants nothing to do with shadow magic, or any of the crimes that come with it.
Much to Charlie's dismay, Posey is obsessed with becoming a gloamist, one who practices the art of quickening their shadow. Contrastingly, Vince has no shadow to speak of—it was stolen.
After discovering a body in an alley, with its shadow ripped to shreds and blowing in the breeze, Charlie needs answers. An internet search leads to a phone call, which leads to a confrontation at work, and she finds herself reluctantly pulled back into the world of shadow magic, where she is tasked with the seemingly impossible job of tracking down and stealing the Liber Noctem, also known as The Book of Night.
This mission forces her to confront Rand's killer, discover the true reason for Vince's lack of shadow, and finally learn the source of the mysterious voice that saved her life all those years ago.
Charlie comes to realize how far some gloamists are willing to go to protect their craft—and their secrets.
"She'd never been all that afraid of getting hurt, or dying. It had always been her own abilities, her capacity for solving a puzzle, for getting a job done at any cost. She was terrified of what she could do if she tried."
The concept of shadow magic was incredibly cool, but the execution fell a little flat for me. I wish there had been at least a bit of introduction to the concept and the terms somewhere early in the story, because I was completely lost trying to figure out what these words meant and piecing together what was going on.
I absolutely adored the characters, especially Charlie and Vince. It did get a little confusing trying to remember who was who, especially when there were throwbacks to characters who had only a brief mention in the beginning, but that's not the fault of the author—just me and my bad memory.
It's hard to explain how I feel about this book because I enjoyed reading it, but it felt off somehow. You know when you first start a book, and the first few chapters are setting the stage for the rest of the story? That was how the first half, or maybe even two-thirds of the book felt for me. I kept waiting to get the introductory stuff out of the way so we could get to the plot, then I realized this was the plot.
However, the final few chapters and the conclusion were fantastic, and if Black were to write a sequel, I'd read it in a heartbeat.
As always, bear in mind that all of this is simply a matter of opinion, and I mean no disrespect to the author in any way. It's also entirely possible that I'm just an idiot and missed some key points of the story, thus leading to my confusion and mixed feelings.
All thoughts aside, I think this is definitely worth the read, and please let me know if you do! If you haven't already, I'd love to have you join me on Discord so we can chat about it, and be sure to tell me about your favorite book as well. It may just be what I review next!
'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'