Book Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Goodreads 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.
Goodreads Ratings: 4.07 stars with over 150,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Vampires, Witches
Previous Review on the series: A Discovery of Witches
Goodreads Challenge: 4/60
2020 Reading Challenge: #10 A book that takes place in Winter (find the full challenge here)

Book Review:

One moment, please. I have to let out a giant Fangirl squeal... 

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Okay, so I don't know if that will tell you anything, but I LOVED Shadow of Night. I think I liked it more than A Discovery of Witches, which is kind of weird for a second book. It starts up right after the first book leaves off, and we're instantly whisked away into the 1500s and Matthew's past. Matthew picks a fascinating time in his life for them to go. He thinks it's going to be an easy trip and only take a couple of weeks, of course, if it was the Shadow of Night would be a lot shorter book. Mayhem ensues around every corner for our main characters. 

Writing-wise, the main thing I appreciated about Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness is that it is more action-packed than A Discovery of Witches. I feel like the academic side of it is easier to read. In Discovery of Witches, it was kind of overwhelming at times, if I remember correctly. The scientific stuff is in Shadow of Night, but it's more spread out and for me only got really confusing when it was the actual alchemy stuff.

We get introduced to a lot of people from Matthew's past, which centers around his companions in the School of Night.  There's an interesting dynamic to the friends. Matthew definitely seems to be the leader of the group and here are some lovable characters in it as well as some that were definitely not enjoyable. We also get introduced to Phillipe and Goody. I so badly want to go into who they are and what they're about, but I feel like if I do I won't stop giving spoilers. Just know that they're my favorites in the book. 

Diana really gets in touch with her powers in Shadow of Night. Her power is actually really unique and interesting. I thought the idea for it was a pretty original concept. I really hope book three goes even further into what she can do. I always love reading the specifics with magic that authors give their characters, I think it has so much potential to showcase creativity. It usually ends up being my favorite part of a book, if I like it. Diana's power is very visual the way it's explained, and I felt like I could picture her performing her spells.

Matthew kind of lets some of his guard down in Shadow of Night- Eventually. He's a broody overprotective vampire for a lot of the book. He doesn't really let his guard down with other people, but he does eventually let Diana into more of his secrets. They actually have a real wedding ceremony early on and is a really sweet scene. 

I honestly don't have anything critical or bad to say about Shadow of Night. Even in some of the worst parts I was grinning like an idiot because I was just so into the story and loved it so much. If you've read Discovery of Witches definitely take a chance on this second installment of the story. There's a lot of fun story developments with Matthew and Diana's relationship, the sciency stuff, and how them being in the past affects the future. Plus, if you need a book for #10 on the 2020 Reading Challenge, most of this takes place in the winter.