3.5/5

For fans of: Peter Pan, con artists, magical societies, murder mystery

The Big Questions:

• What genre is this in? new adult, magical realism

• Are there any swoon-worthy characters? Charlie is a sexy, curvy former con artist who has turned a new leaf. Vince is a built, blonde, super chill boyfriend who isn’t all that he seems.

• Is it spicy? Fade to black

• Is it violent or gory? Oh yes. Bloody, vicious murders.

• Should I buy, borrow, or pass on this book? This is a new genre for Holly Black, so I would borrow this one before deciding to go on with the duology.

Synopsis: In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. 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. 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. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie 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. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. 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. 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.

Review: It was okay. I love the concept of shadows being an actual extension of yourself and can be controlled by magic, but I am starting to realize that murder mystery tropes just aren’t for me. Let’s start with what I liked. Charlie and Vince, our main ship, I love their relationship. It isn’t a sweep-you-off-your-feet romance, but more of a convenience-turned-peas-in-a-pod romance, which is a nice change of pace. Charlie is a great character to get to know. She is a product of her environment, but trying to go on the straight and narrow. But when you’ve grown up a certain way, it is hard to escape from that mindset and that world. She’s doing her best, but the criminal world has a way of never letting you go. Same with Vince, but with so many twists. Speaking of twists, I did enjoy the twists in this story, which is the fun of con stories. All the misdirections and half-truths all leading to long-winded explanations and clever reveals. All that was great fun. The ending however, was absolutely crushing and definitely has me hooked for the sequel.

What soured the story for me was first the pacing. It was all over the place. Second, the flashbacks were tedious for the majority of the story; I had a hard time getting into them until they finally led somewhere. I just wanted to stick with the main story, but they do end up being necessary. Third, I think I would have preferred more of Vince’s POV, especially in the first half of the book. So much is devoted to Charlie, but this is really their story, not mainly hers. Fourth, the world building of the gloamist world felt clunky at best. I was really interested in it, but it left me both wanting and kind of bored with it. Now that the all that is done, however, I am hoping for a more dynamic story in the sequel.