Review: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Adult, a tiny bit of language, a handful of love scenes, lots of kisses & make-outs, some violence
Length: 584 pages
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publisher: Viking Adult
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

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.

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I HATE THAT I SOMEHOW ENJOY THIS.

Alright, well, I sped-read (I mean really, flew through unnecessary paragraphs at an alarming rate) and was still able to grasp the entire book. Goes to reiterate, this book is entirely too long and with too many side plots that sway from the trilogies original intentions.

Once again I struggled with the atmosphere of vampires. I think that kind of character is just too much for me. Though, Gallowglass is definitely my favorite side character from this spectacle. I love that he calls Diana, “Auntie” and watches our for her while adding in chuckling anecdotes.

This book was spent 95% in 1590 Elizabethan London. That’s too much time y’all. I was so ready for everyone to be back in the 21st Century and actually focus on the problem at hand, Ashmole 782. The entire series is predicated on this manuscript and it doesn’t seem to even be that big of a focus throughout. The book, truthfully, focuses more on the love story between Matthew and Diana. And while I don’t have a problem with that, that’s where the synopsis and the beginning plot lines should have sprung from. I think I thought too much into where the plot was really taking me. It’s almost more a romance novel than anything else.

I still did appreciate reading about the love story. It’s tender, and Diana has more a backbone in this book at least. The human intentions and emotions from meeting people from the past gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s enough for me to speed through this last book so I can at least know what the ending holds.

Very little language. A handful of love scenes that range from a soft gloss-over to detailed (though not as erotic as we all know some books go haha). Too many vampires to not have a decent dose of violence.