Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night (All Souls, #2)

by Deborah Harkness

The #1 New York Times bestselling second installment in the All Souls series, from the author of The Discovery of Witches and The Black Bird Oracle.

Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder!


Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes reluctant witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782—the lost and enchanted manuscript whose mystery first pulled Diana and Matthew into one another's orbit—deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew's past tightens around them. Together they find they must embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey.

“A captivating and romantic ripping yarn,”* Shadow of Night confirms Deborah Harkness as a master storyteller, able to cast an “addictive tale of magic, mayhem and two lovers”(Chicago Tribune).

Reviewed by Beth C. on

4 of 5 stars

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This was a very good follow-up to the first book in the trilogy. I appreciated more of the background for Matthew, and the different historical settings (and by association, the people in them) were fascinating. It did seem like it ran a bit too long, and each new very famous person started stretching the boundaries of the believable a bit. The jumps back to the present were a little disorienting as well. However, it kept me entertained, and I really just enjoyed the story. I will be looking forward to seeing how the last book wraps all the loose ends together.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 October, 2012: Finished reading
  • 15 October, 2012: Reviewed