Reviews

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

bibliocatts's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mels_reading_rook's review against another edition

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2.0

The sequel to A Discovery of Witches. While I enjoyed my time with the first book of the series, as it proved to be exactly what I wanted right now, the second book unfortunately did not live up to my hopes.

There were parts of it I enjoyed, like in the first book, when it was a fun and lighthearted romance. And honestly, that's what I was reading the book for. However, there were more issues I noticed in this book compared to the previous one that dampened my enjoyment of it. For example, decisions the characters made were ridiculously stupid and made no sense, considering what they learned in the first book. The constant secrets and their reveals were becoming ludicrous, although to also play devil's advocate on this one, there wasn't good reason for them to get mad about each other over certain secrets.

A big hit to the book's quality was the pacing. I didn't mind it so much in the previous book for the most part I found the meandering that happened fun. This time, not so much. Diana and Matthew seemed to do a lot of things that didn't really adhere to the plot well. Plus, I felt like a lot of the time was spent in a state of whiplash, as their attitudes about things, especially regarding aspects of their relationship.

Overall, there was a lot that happened that didn't matter, and probably wouldn't have happened either if the characters actually spent a moment to think about the consequences of their actions. It can be easily summed up in a brief discussion that happened at the end of the book:
Spoilerwhen confronted with the fact that the two of them had made changes to the past that would affect the future in significant ways, their response to that was basically "Oh yeah, I guess we did. Oops."


To send off this review, I just want to note that I'm writing this a mere few days after finishing the book, and I'm having difficulty remembering 90% of the story. I hope I enjoy the last book in the trilogy, because I really do want to love these books.

hebberelle's review against another edition

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2.0

I think I skipped half of this and didn't miss a thing.

blackeyedsuzi's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

kattila's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

nerdynaturopath's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I am emjoying the story a lot and am much more invested in their relationship now. I love the history and knowing the author is a historian and doing things accurately and the FMC noticing oh this is different than I thought - was really cool! Just felt a bit long and slow. Looking forward to last one and to watching the show! 

sofia_santana's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

anthea_christie's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

daniobsessivelyreads's review against another edition

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4.0

Did not enjoy as much as the first one, but still a wild ride into the past.

allyreadsromance's review against another edition

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5.0

Oh once again one of my favorites! Enjoying my annual reading!

This installment of the series is simply amazing. The historian in me is very jealous of Diana! Spending time in the past and meeting those who are legends in our own time is just fascinating. As the story of Matthew and Diana progresses it is impossible not to get swept up and want more!