5 Star
Deborah Harkness exploded onto the literary scene with her debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, Book One of the magical All Souls Trilogy
and an international publishing phenomenon. The novel introduced Diana
Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist
and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the
center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as
Ashmole 782.
Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night
plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies,
subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious
School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh.
Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced
to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of
Ashmole 782 deepens.
Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping
journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical
discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the
season.
Kaley - 5 Star
I had been
anxiously awaiting Shadow of Night’s
release since I finished reading the first book in the All Souls Trilogy back
in April 2011. I fell in love with the world author Deborah Harkness created in
A Discovery of Witches. It was like
the best of Harry Potter and Twilight all rolled into a magnificently huge (ie almost
600 pages) novel. I don’t think I ever questioned whether book two would be
able to compare. I was right to trust Harkness as she delivered another spectacular
novel.
Almost the
entire novel takes place in the 1590s, which I found really interesting. I
thought it was pretty neat to see what Harkness thought Christopher Marlowe and
Sir Walter Raleigh, among others, were up to. I always like to see what authors
think could have happened in historical situations – especially when they have
obviously done their research. There are always gaps in history so it’s fun to
see how writers fill in the blanks. Like adding in a few vampires and a couple
of witches!
This novel is
not for the faint of heart. I’m a fast reader but this one slowed even me down
– not that this was necessarily a bad thing. I think it took me longer to read
because there was so much detail to sort through, both in the historical and
descriptive sense. I must admit that I did get a little confused at points
because there were so many characters to keep track of. Not to mention trying
to remember who was human and who was a creature. Harkness did have a list of
all characters but it wasn’t very convenient for me in my ebook format.
All in all, I
loved Shadow of Night by Deborah
Harkness. It continued the fantastical storyline I learned to love in the first
book of the All Souls Trilogy and gave me so much more historical background on
Diana and Matthew, as well as history in general. I’ll now be counting down the
days until the third and final installment is released!
Thank you to Viking for our review copy
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