Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
Headline Publishing Group, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-7553-8474-7.
(Age: 15+) Mathew and Diana's adventures continue in this stunning
second
instalment of the All Souls Trilogy. At five hundred and eighty pages
this novel may seem daunting but the reader is guaranteed to fall head
over heels in love as they lose themselves amongst the pages of time.
An informative book, Deborah Harkness has created a wonderful work of
historical fiction which I am sure will be enjoyed for years to come.
Shadow of Night covers the plight of Diana (a spellbound witch)
and her
forbidden lover Mathew (an outstanding figure amongst vampires) as they
continue their search for the mysterious book of origins, Ashmole 782.
Having found refuge in the past from her fellow witches and the Covent
(a secret network of creatures charged with the task of ensuring that
humans live in ignorant bliss of creatures) Diana set out to find a
witch from whom to learn her craft but she soon finds that learning her
craft won't be as simple as she'd first believed.
From the little things such as fitting in to discovering the secrets of
her own spellbound nature Diana finds she's found a lot more then she
bargained for in the refuge of the past. What will she do when the
impossible becomes reality? How can the pair stave off disaster as they
tweak the strands of time as prominent figures of the sixteenth century
even as their notoriety grows across time?
Littered with sixteenth century notoriety such as William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, John Dee and Queen Elizabeth you'll find it hard
to tear yourself away. I would highly recommend both A Discovery of
Witches and its sequel Shadow of Night for anyone aged
fifteen and over
who love history and paranormal romance . . . and even those that
don't! I
have very rarely read anything that could contend with these novels.
Deborah Harkness' work as it is truly a cut above the rest and I look
forward to reading the yet to be released final instalment as I am sure
that it will match its predecessors in sophistication and excellence.
Kayla Gaskell (age sixteen)