The Charlatan Duology
#8223.59 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 2022–2025 Reading commitment Low Holly Black Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Overview
The Charlatan Duology is Holly Black's first fiction written for adult readers: a noir-inflected heist story about gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows, and the con artist drawn into their underworld. The first volume, Book of Night (2022), was generally well received both critically and commercially and won a Dragon Award, marking a shift for Black, best known for young-adult fantasy, into darker, more explicitly adult territory. The sequel, Thief of Night (2025), continues the story in the same shadow-magic setting; Black has described the move to adult fiction as an opportunity to write morally grayer characters and a more overtly noir tone than her earlier work allowed.
Dark fantasy, Urban fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Charlatan Duology Holly Black
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Book of Night | 2022 | 1 | core | 3.54 (90,665 ratings) |
 | Thief of Night | 2025 | 2 | core | 3.97 (11,633 ratings) |
A complete two-book adult heist/noir fantasy about gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows for power; Holly Black's first novel marketed explicitly for adult readers.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Charlatan Duology? The Charlatan Duology's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Charlatan Duology? Publication order, starting with Book of Night. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Charlatan Duology finished? Complete (2022–2025).
- How much reading does The Charlatan Duology take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~581 pages).
- How is The Charlatan Duology ranked? #822 in this site's official ranking, based on 102,298 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #822?
Ranked #822 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.59 across 2 core books.
- Backed by 102k reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.54 to 3.97.
- Less than 0.01 behind #821, The Bog Wife (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 2 books · Complete · 102k ratings · Ranks #822 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- Book of Night (2022)
- Thief of Night (2025)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No independently-verified awards on file for this universe.
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Suggestions computed from what The Charlatan Duology and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Endsong New Weird / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.65
- The Dark Star Trilogy Mythic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.56
- Zothique Sword & sorcery / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.22
- Kane Dark fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Low commitment · 4.10
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.59 across 102,298 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Charlatan Duology admitted as a new universe accepted 2026-08-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Holly Black - Wikipedia Tier 2
- Holly Black official site: Book of Night Tier 1
- Rating-platform listing: Book of Night Tier 4
- Rating-platform listing: Thief of Night Tier 4
Last reviewed: 2026-08-21
Rule: Core Canon is the complete duology: Book of Night and Thief of Night.