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Review: "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness

From Goodreads:  Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the season.

My Thoughts:  I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  It has been almost a year since I read A Discovery of Witches and I had forgotten how much I loved it until I picked up Shadow of Night.  This sequel is as good, if not better, than the first book and I flew through it. 

Diana and Matthew are still wonderful characters and throughout the story we learn more about their pasts and about their abilities.  At times it is heart-breaking to watch as each of them confronts their pasts but it definitely adds a lot to the characters.  There is constantly new information about what Ashmole 782 holds, Diana's powers, who/what she is and the many creatures inhabiting the human world.  There were also a lot of new characters added to the story, many of whom were members of Matthew's 'family'.  It was never boring because there was always something new and exciting happening in the story. Most of the story is set in Elizabethan England as Diana and Matthew traveled back in time and it was really neat the way that Harkness included people like William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I into Diana and Matthew's lives.  The story is a mix of history and paranormal, so how could I not love it?

The only thing I struggled with was the fact that Shadow of Night literally picks up right where A Discovery of Witches left off.  It took me a little while to get into the story because I had a hard time remembering exactly how A Discovery of Witches ended.  Otherwise, I absolutely loved this book.  There were a ton of questions left unanswered leading me to think that the next book will be amazing!  4 1/2 stars.
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