Mini reviews: Shadow of Night & The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (spoilers)

Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Synopsis:

Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.

Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realize that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.

Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers…

Published: July 10th, 2012 by Viking Adult

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 

I was so excited to start the sequel to A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night but, sadly, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Don’t get me wrong! There were a lot of good things about this book. I loved the fact that we got to travel through time and experience a different setting. The descriptions in this book were spot on and the amount of historical knowledge that Harkness includes is incredible. I also really loved the side characters! (except a few… especially Kit!