Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) Review

From Goodeads. Gorgeous, no?

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy)
By Deborah Harkness
From Goodreads:

 "Together we lifted our feet and stepped into the unknown"—the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestseller A Discovery of Witches

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.

Midnight Thoughts

~There's a song by Au Revoir Simone that goes:

You make wanna measure stars in the backyard with a calculator and a ruler baby
I found a letter that describes how the moonlight will lead me to the distant place that you will be

Well, Shadow of Night makes me want to study history, whilst reading ancient books by candle light and sipping wine from Matthew's wine cellar. I read for pleasure, not usually to learn, but Deborah Harkness's books always stir the (practically comatose) scholar in my heart.

~First off, you need to read A Discovery of Witches now.  Me and this review will wait while you go do that. 

.Waiting...

.Still waiting.  Yes, I know it's long...

.Almost there, keep reading!

~A Few Days Later:

Yes, you are welcome!  I know, it's a great read!  You've probably already raced to the nearest bookstore to get Shadow of Night, so I'll try to keep my review spoiler free. 

~The book picks up just where A Discovery of Witches leaves off.  Which is great... but not so great too, because it's been awhile since I've read the first book so I wouldn't have minded one of those "Previously on As The Witch Burns..."  Sorry, was that in poor taste?

~There is SO MUCH going on.  And I wanted to punch Christopher Marlowe in the face.  Which makes me sad, because Rupert Everett was such an attractive Kit Marlowe in Shakespeare In Love, and I wouldn't want to mess his pretty face up. 

~Diana discovers more and more of her powers, which are awesome.  And it comes with cool stuff, like a firedrake.  The Hubs would NEVER let me have a firedrake.  But I can't be held responsible if one just pops out of me, right?

~Matthew is a really busy dude, even for a vampire.  And it reminds me of the scene in Mean Girls where they're talking about the one popular girl with big hair, that it's full of secrets.  Matthew's hair has got to be huge!  Because there is nothing he's not into!  Are there any lazy, couch surfing vampires?  Because that would be the type of vamp I would be.  But I'd finally get to my tbr piles!

~So many new characters!  I liked them, but I really missed what was going on back in the present (back to the future?) and obviously a lot was happening there, but we only see tiny glimpses.

~The pace is a bit slow, but it works for me, because this is a book I want to wallow in.  Whatever you want to say about Deborah Harkness, you can't say that she skimps on detail.  If I went back in the past in place of Diana, I would have been burned at the stake in 5 days or less.

~Matthew frustrated me at times because returning to the past also made him withdraw into himself and regress.  I loved that Diana could be so patient with him, because they've had a very intense and fast courtship.  She's able to put up with his Time Traveling PMS.

~Matthew's papa, Phillipe, is hands down one of my favorite "new" characters in the past.  Meeting him explains so much about Matthew and Ysabeau.

~Diana and Matthew get drawn into some major royal drama, which Diana and Matthew handle in their way, but again I would have been burned at the stake, or since it's so popular with the royals, had my head cut off.  Especially since most of what I know about the past I've learned from movies and the occasional PBS miniseries.

~Be forewarned, if your grasp of history is as bad as mine, this novel will no doubt send you on a late night Wikipedia spree.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, just make sure you can sleep in the next day.

~The communities of witches, daemons and vampires is impressive, but seriously I would be pissed if I had to hide from stupid humans.  *grumbles*

~Fortunately going into the past doesn't create quite the Butterfly Effect that I was expecting.  I think it is possible to time travel without messing up too big, assuming you don't make any drastic changes to prominent historical figures.  Kind of like 11/22/63- saving one person from being paralyzed for life does not have the same effect as saving the life of JFK.  So while some little things changed for Diana and Matthew, they didn't come home to apes ruling the earth or anything.  Sorry if that spoils the book for you.

~The only real big complaint I had was the one event that I thought would take place in this book only really began towards the end.  But that's like complaining you really wanted a bottle of wine after you downed 3 Margaritas... It's all alcohol and it's all good.

~You will not like this book if you didn't like Discovery of Witches.  I saw some one star reviews of people who hated Shadow of Night, and yet read the ENTIRE thing.  This is a huge book, ya'll.  I loved it.  But if you don't, that's cool.  But why on earth would you read over 600 pages of a book you would only give one star too?  I don't give up easily on books either, but after 100 pages or so of a book I'm really not enjoying, I'd just quit reading it.  Or put it down with the "intention" of finishing it... someday.  Am I meant to be impressed that you read a book like you were held hostage by the Library Police?  Okay, I am a little impressed.

~I got to meet Deborah Harkness at BEA, and she signed my book.  I also wanted to tell her that I wanted to drink wine with her someday, but I think I just ended up gushing and stretching my mouth into a freakish grin that, had I been wearing more make-up, would have called down Batman to kick my Joker ass. However, Harkness was very nice and didn't hit the panic button that I just know was hidden under the desk.

~Before the next book comes out, I will definitely re-read this book, only I'll listen to it on audio.  I listened to the first book, and although it's long, the narrator for this series is wonderful. I can't recommend it enough!

~I really hope Deborah Harkness is sitting at her computer right now with a large glass of wine and an adult diaper, because I can't wait for the third book!

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #1) gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 **Disclaimer: I picked up a copy of this book at BEA.  All thoughts, opinion and snark are my own and were not influenced by anything other than my own warped mind**