The Grade: B+
Why I Picked It: I read A Discovery of Witches, and wanted to read the second in Harkness’ trilogy
Reading Challenge: 2012 Witches & Witchcraft I reread ADOW prior to Shadow of Night, so I’ve read two of my 5 books for the Initiate level of this challenge!
Book One or Book Two: Definitely Book Two
My Thoughts: I definitely preferred Shadow of Night to A Discovery of Witches. For one, while Matthew and Diana are still my least favorite part of the world, they didn’t annoy me as much in this chapter of the trilogy. The first book is mostly about the two of them falling in love. In Shadow of Night, they time travel—excuse me, time walk–back to Elizabethan England in search of the mysterious alchemy manuscript Ashmole 782, and to find some witches to train Diana.
I was concerned when I finished ADOW that Book Two would be all Diana and Matthew in Elizabethan England. They were my least favorite part of ADOW, and I wondered if Shadow of Night would hold my attention without their far more interesting friends and family members to fill out the narrative. Shadow of Night starts slow; I wasn’t really on board until they went to Matthew’s family’s home in France and we meet his vampire father, Philipe. We meet more of Matthew’s friends and family members in 1590′s Europe, and again, I found these vampires, daemons, and mortals more entertaining than our lovers. Though Matthew and Diana did grow on me.
Fans of ADOW shouldn’t be disappointed, and those who had a more temperate reaction to Book One may find themselves a little more compelled by the couple and their exploits. I’m now looking forward to Book Three.
This book was definitely amazing…I loved Matthews family and all the Elizabethan Friends Diana got to meet!
[...] Challenge. For Witches & Witchcraft, I challenged myself to read 1-5 books and read one: Shadow of Night, the second in the All Souls [...]