Shadow of Night (All Souls, #2) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Mar 08, 2015 Brandy rated it liked it

Diana (witch) and Matthew (vampire) time walk (one of Diana's powers) out of twenty-first-century America back to sixteenth-century England both to escape danger and find answers. One of the main purposes of their time walking is to find a witch to help Diana learn about and control her powers. The wide array of witches and their many powers is, by far, my favourite aspect of the book. The descriptions of weavers; fire, wind, water, and earth witches; and the witches' fetches (sort of like pets, Diana (witch) and Matthew (vampire) time walk (one of Diana's powers) out of twenty-first-century America back to sixteenth-century England both to escape danger and find answers. One of the main purposes of their time walking is to find a witch to help Diana learn about and control her powers. The wide array of witches and their many powers is, by far, my favourite aspect of the book. The descriptions of weavers; fire, wind, water, and earth witches; and the witches' fetches (sort of like pets, but with a lot of power, that live inside a witch's body and can be released when their assistance is required) are very finely detailed and definitely imaginative. The fact that I enjoyed these fantasy aspects more than the sixteenth-century setting says a lot considering I am a historical fiction junkie. The sixteenth-century setting was well done and clearly well-researched, but I found that most of the focus was on changes required of Diana's clothing more than anything else.

Harkness intermingles the past with the present considerably well. Diana and Matthew could not travel to the past without affecting the future and the author makes sure to address that detail intelligently. All of the characters that remained in the twenty-first century from the first book were brought into Shadow of Night in some clever way so as not to be forgotten. Traveling to the sixteenth century in turn, allows the introduction of new characters from both Diana's and Matthew's past adding to the depth of character development and plot.

In my review of the first novel I critiqued how Harkness casts Diana in the stereotypical role of damsel-in-distress and allows Matthew to become the knight-in-shining-armour. In Shadow of Night Diana receives some redemption despite the female-oppressing gender dynamics of the sixteenth century. As she increasingly masters control of her powers, Diana is able to save herself and rely less on Matthew for protection.

Shadow of Darkness is a bit slow to get going, but the last half of the novel is quite a page turner. I don't think I'll pick up the third book, The Book of Life, anytime soon, but I won't write it off forever. Overall I'm giving Shadow of Darkness 3.5 stars. ...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Kaitlin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

Second book of the trilogy. I do love historical fiction, so this story appealed to me. It's not a great work of literature or anything, but I enjoyed the plot. I did miss some of the characters from the first book. I also thought the beginning was a bit too long, and I wish the part about Diana and women from Old Oxford had been a bit longer and convincing. However, I really did enjoy reading this book. I can't wait for the third! ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Hilary rated it liked it

When something suspenful was finally happening this was great but there was a lot of stories that were unnecessary and really dragged out this book. The ending was a let down; especially after how book 1 ended.

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