If a BookTok hall of fame existed, Holly Black would certainly have her picture hanging on the wall.
The fantasy author, who penned “The Spiderwick Chronicles” and “The Cruel Prince,” already had decades of published work under her belt by the time BookTok came around. But her readers exploded to a “whole different level” when they got hold of her “Folk of Air” series, originally published in 2018. As did the word “romantasy” – a digital era rebrand of the romance/fantasy subgenre Black was known for.
She released her first adult fantasy novel, “Book of Night,” in 2022. For three years, fans have waited with bated breath to see if she’d continue the shadow magic story, which ends on a major cliffhanger. At last, they can rest – “Thief of Night,” the duology’s closer, is out now from Tor Books.
Holly Black isn’t surprised at romantasy surge on BookTok
Black dreamed of becoming a writer long before she published her first novel. She wrote “very bad” stories in elementary and high school, including one “Interview with the Vampire” and “Lord of the Rings” mashup.
She was writing for the Dungeons and Dragons magazine when she met Tony DiTerlizzi, who would help guide her through publishing her first young adult book “Tithe” and later become her coauthor on “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”
Black had already cemented herself in the YA and middle grade fantasy scene. Then “The Cruel Prince” went viral. Black says she wasn’t surprised to see romantasy become the internet’s favorite genre.
“I don’t think people have always been aware of how many romances are really being read and how big a part of publishing it is,” Black says. “For a long time, it was the money maker that actually bankrolled a lot of literary fiction. And so it’s not surprising … there’s people who can go through three books a day reading romance, and that’s just not a pace that you see in other genres.”
The funniest part of BookTok fame has been seeing fans discover how extensive her bibliography is.
“I remember a signing fairly early on where somebody had read the (“Folk of Air”) trilogy and they were like, you know this guy Roiben? I think he could have his own story. I was like … have I got great news for you!” Black says, laughing. Roiben is the protagonist of Black’s debut novel, “Tithe.” “People have asked me for many things I haven’t produced or cannot produce quickly, but in this case I was able to have that exact thing already ready for them.”
Why Holly Black loves writing ‘cons, heists and liars’ in ‘Thief of Night’
Black intended “Tithe” to be an adult novel, but changed it to a young adult story at the suggestion of DiTerlizzi and another friend. Writing her debut adult fantasy “Book of Night,” (the first in the “Charlatan Duology”) then, was a return to form. But Black was still nervous. She’d never written a character so old before. It felt challenging to get to know an adult character with “10 to 20 more years of life, which means they are more people and they have more varied experiences.”
Charlie, the protagonist in the “Charlatan Duology” is a bartender and a con. Who were her con artist friends? Who were her bartending friends? Black spent a lot of time ruminating on this before putting pen to paper. The writer doesn’t have any bartending experience herself, but she makes a mean LaPhroaig martini at her annual New Year’s Eve party.
Charlie embarks on all sorts of dark heists, working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to do their bidding. But as Charlie tries to distance herself from her shady underground work in “Book of Night,” her sister is desperate for magic and she has a hunch her shadowless boyfriend is hiding something from her. By the end of the book, readers find out just how shocking her shadowless boyfriend Vince’s secret is.
Setting a romance between an already existing couple is an unusual trope in the genre, and it presented a challenge for Black as a writer. But she was interested in exploring what we hide from the people we love.
“Magic is always a metaphor, right? It’s magic, but it’s also a metaphor. And when (it’s) shadow magic, you’re talking about somebody who has a shadow self and a shadow self that they’re unwilling to acknowledge for various reasons. Charlie has a lot of shadows in her own past,” Black says. “I love cons, heists and liars. It comes up a lot in my work, and I think I love it in part because writing is a con and a heist and a lie.”
The end of the ‘Charlatan Duology’ starts with a ‘fraught’ relationship
“Thief of Night” picks up after the last book’s bombshell cliffhanger. Charlie has agreed to risk her life to hunt dangerous rogue shadows if it means she can stay tethered to Vince, even if he is no longer the man she loved. She must venture on a dangerous mission alone, vulnerable and heartbroken.
Black says she knew how “Thief of Night” would end when she started writing “Book of Night.” The stakes are higher for Charlie and her relationship is “fraught.” It’s a reversal of the first book – they may be tethered, but Vince no longer remembers her and being bound to her feels like “being bound to a new person that he cannot trust and potentially wants to rid himself of by any means necessary,” Black says.
Gird your loins, readers.
“It is definitely all resolved,” Black caveats, with a smile.
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.