The All Souls Trilogy Continues

SHADOW OF NIGHT (Book 2 Of The All Souls Trilogy)
Deborah Harkness
Penguin Group
July 10, 2012




Deborah Harkness burst on to the literary scene in 2011 with the first book in the All Souls Trilogy, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Ms Harkness is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and combined her historical knowledge with science in a very different sort of paranormal story. Matthew Claremont is a centuries old vampire geneticist obsessed with discovering the origins of all the supernatural species; vampires, witches and daemons. Diana Bishop is the last of a powerful American line of witches and a scholar studying the history of alchemy at Oxford. Diana's witch powers have never fully manifested and she has spent a lifetime denying her heritage. When Diana calls for a manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Ashmole 782, she sets off a series of events that attract both Matthew and all the other "creatures" in Oxford. The manuscript has been supposedly lost for years but it not only can be called by Diana, it allows her to open it. Her powers begin to manifest and she has no idea how to control them. She slowly comes to trust Matthew to protect her and the two fall in love, thereby violating the greatest taboo in the supernatural world.  The governing body of the creatures, The Congregation, is threatening both Matthew and Diana. Not only does it want to punish them, it wants access to the manuscript and Diana's powers.


SHADOW OF NIGHT picks up right where A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES ends. Diana and Matthew, having discovered that one of Diana's powers is the ability to "time-spin", travel back to England in 1590. Their idea is to  evade The Congregation and to find a witch who can help her find out what her powers are and how to control them, and to find Ashmole 782 in the Elizabethan era. Diana finds that despite her historical knowledge, functioning in the 16th century in an everyday manner is difficult for a woman and she is not able to hide her witch nature. Matthew has a wide acquaintance with such Elizabethan figures as Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Henry Percy, and Thomas Harriot and in fact is a spy for the court of Queen Elizabeth. The two travel to France to see Phillippe, Matthew's vampire father and to the court of Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia in Prague. They make many enemies and friends in their travels before returning to modern day France and Diana discovers that she is a very rare "weaver of spells". The relationship between the two deepens as Matthew finally reveals his many secrets.


I was able to read SHADOW OF NIGHT digitally and admit a lot of "googling" back and forth of the historical figures involved. I actually found this added to my enjoyment and learned more about those I only knew superficially. Many of them had an interest in both the occult and science so it was not a great leap to see them interacting with Matthew and Diana. The characters were well rounded and vivid. I particularly enjoyed Philippe, and Kit Marlowe was a villain one truly loves to hate, obnoxious to the end. I grew to be more attached to Matthew and Diana than I was in A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. The revelation of Matthew's secrets and regrets made him more understandable and I admired Diana's commitment to him despite all the difficulties. The visual descriptions of the magics and places are often breathtaking, almost cinematic.


SHADOW OF NIGHT is a erudite fantasy for grown-ups. I highly recommend it to both fantasy fans and fans of historical fiction and look forward to the final book in the trilogy. Why only 4 1/2 stars? I found the time travel element somewhat confusing and still am not as emotionally connected to Matthew and Diana as I would like to be. I suspect that is just a matter of personal taste.


RATING- 4 1/2 stars