I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness Series: All Souls Trilogy #2
Published by Headline on February 14, 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 630
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
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Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes Diana and Matthew on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782 deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them, and they embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey.
Shadow of Night beautiful weaves the fantasy elements with the rich detail of historical facts.
The main problem with this book is that all the characters that we grew to love in A Discovery of Witches is that, besides Diana and Matthew, are not part of the story. Instead we have a whole slew of new characters. Many of whom seem placed in the story at the whim of the author, rather than as an essential part to the plot.
Yet the tone of this book is completely different to its predecessor. It is set in the 16th Century offering a different tone. Before Diana and Matthew were finding their feet, not only in their blossoming romance but also with the realising that some of the world was against them. Here the focus is mainly on whether Diana can learn to control her magic and what that magic actually entails. We also find out more about the mysterious manuscript.
In the first book it all seems so simple but the plan unravels as Diana and Matthew become caught up with Matthew’s life at the time. Matthew battles with his past demons and how his presence and knowledge of the future could mean that he somehow dramatically alters the future. This led me to question how altered the future (or my current present) would be if even the smallest thing had been changed. While Diana, at first appears more concerned with fitting in than anything else, and while she has a few missteps she does succeed.
Shadow of Night definitely is not a disappointing sequel, it’s just different and I honestly cannot wait for the final book, as this trilogy draws to (hopefully!) an epic conclusion.
Only a few more days until the release of Book of Life! This has been a wonderful series. I’ll be sad to see it come to a close. We can only hope she keeps writing or that AST makes it to a big or little screen and that Richard Armitage is cast as Matthew Clairmont!
Haha, that would be lovely 🙂
[…] our favourite characters from A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night combine forces, minus a few exceptions – well there was always going to be casualties. […]
[…] is thanks to book blogging that I was able to read her books – A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night and the epic conclusion in the trilogy The Book of Life. The All Souls Trilogy has become one of […]