Shadow of Night review

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.





 My thoughts:

To say that I loved this would be an understatement. I devoured it. I read A Discovery of Witches and immediately feel in love with the characters. Shadow of Night just deepened that love. It's so beautifully written, I was transported right along with Diana into the past. You almost forget that it's not really happening.

Matthew becomes a different sort of vampire than Diana is used to. Diana becomes a person she doesn't know as well. Watching her explore who she really is, and learning to harness it is like doing it right along with her. They were sent to the past to keep them safe, but is the past any safer? They are thrown into a world of secrets and intrigue. Who can really be trusted? The jumping between past and present normally bothers me in other books, but for some reason with this one it seemed natural. I liked seeing the family in the present time looking for them in the past. I highly recommend this book!! 5 stars