It's got a lot of common themes, both of Black’s previous YA work and a lot of successful fantasy more generally, but some of its own twists and originality too, so it doesn’t feel too samey.
There’s sexy crime – daring heists of secret magical books – as well as secrecy, hidden arts, a potential pedigree stretching way back into history – the secret magical tomes to be stolen have to come from somewhere, right? – and plenty of scope for there being downtrodden people who can use their wits to outfox the powerful. What it is aiming for, and succeeds at, is a fun, dark, enthralling bit of world building, something that the reader can immediately get sucked into and get the feel of, while still with plenty of mileage to build throughout the story. Much like Black’s YA books, the plotting isn’t desperately original, but that’s also not what it’s aiming for, really. Obviously, this doesn’t last, and she gets pulled back into the world she tried to leave behind. She’s working a normal job bartending at a dive bar, dating a reliable boyfriend about whom she’s having some doubts and trying to help her little sister get into college. The story follows Charlie Hall, a reformed con artist and thief who used to work adjacent to the shady (ha) world of the gloamists, who work magic on shadows, but she’s now trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Her first foray into writing for adults is simultaneously definitely more grown up, but also 100% the same feel. None of them were groundbreaking books, but they were fun, pacy page-turners with sympathetic (if not always likeable) main characters and interesting, immersive worlds. It’s not a desperately original formula, but it’s one that absolutely worked on me in my teens and kept me coming back for more. They also often meet men on the way who are tied into those magical worlds, and go past initial dislike or apathy to find that they’d do absolutely anything – even dangerous, disastrous, extremely inadvisable things – to keep hold of them. She tends to have slightly feisty female protagonists who come from less-than-ideal circumstances, and succeed in magical or strange situations using their wits and grit to overcome people with more power than them. I read a lot of Holly Black YA when I was growing up, and she has a Vibe.
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