Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness

Date Started: July 10, 2012

Date Finished: July 16, 2012

Let me start by saying that I really liked this book. As previously mentioned, I LOVED the first book, “A Discovery of Witches,” and haven’t been this excited about a sequel in quite some time. 

One of the first things I loved about this sequel was that it literally continued right from the last page of the first book. There was none of this “five months later, when Diana has been living in Elizabethan England” business. She started the time-traveling at the end of the last book and finished it in this one. We get to experience the entire journey with her and Matthew and that was a good point for me.

Now, one of the elements that I’ll bet gets criticized was the number of new characters introduced in this book. I agree, they were many. In some instances I wasn’t quite sure why the story went where it did (for example, when Diana and Matthew had to go to Prague). My guess is that the historical accuracy was at stake, though the repeated travels took its toll on the story. Just when I was getting excited about Diana finding witches to teach her in London, she heads to Prague (for example). If my memory serves me, Diana and Matthew travel from outside of London to France, back to London, to Prague, and then back to London before returning to modern times. That’s a lot, and with new characters at every place, a lot for readers to manage.

There were a few chapters, scattered here and there, of the modern-day characters and what they’re up to. I really enjoyed these, particularly seeing how the new “artifacts” kept popping up from Diana and Matthew’s time in 1590/91. I also really liked Gallowglass keeping tabs on Diana as a child and waiting for the day when she would be an adult – it added depth to his character and to the story. I almost wish there had been more time dedicated to the modern-day characters. We got to know so many of them so well in the first book that seeing only snippets of them in the sequel was somewhat disappointing (though obviously we know they’ll be back in the third book, presumably set in modern-day).

I was also left wondering about Jack and Annie, the kids Diana and Matthew took in during their time in 1590. Annie, we know, is taken care of, so I was less concerned with her. But I wanted to know what happened to Jack, what he made of himself as he grew up. I’m hoping the last book will touch on this point.

I read a review of this book on amazon and someone called it a “filler” – basically just filling the space between the first and third books. I don’t disagree with that categorization but I think it does the book a disservice. The story is exciting and you want to read it because you care about the characters at the center: Diana and Matthew, and this book does go further into their relationship than the first ever did. (Oh, and there is a LOT more sex in this book!)

Did I love this as much as the first book? No. But I still liked it a heck of a lot and will probably read it again before the next one comes out. Now I just have to wait something like a few years for the conclusion of the story… yikes!