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A review by lizshayne
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Possibly a generous two.
Things I liked about this book - The Maharal is pretty cool, although I feel a little slighted that the man who was so vehement in his Torah scholarship comes across so quietly here.
Also stuff. Harkness has a very good feel for stuff, historical and contemporary, and the descriptions of clothing and objects make for really intriguing reading.
Shame it doesn't extend to the people.
The generous read is that it's difficult to enjoy wish-fulfillment stories when you're wondering "who the heck WANTS this?" This was not a book written for me.
First of all, Diana and Matthew's relationship is based entirely in "We don't talk about Bruno...or anything else" and like...WHY? Whyyyy? It's so irritating.
Also like the whole "my vulnerability is that I need to be super masculine and possessive in order to stop acting super possessive" and I just...is that compelling? Is that attractive?
There's this hilarious moment where Harkness lampshades that she's just writing another set of vampire romance novels and has her characters bickering about it, and you can tell she kind of wants it to be a deconstruction, but it's just a lampshade. You're not Jane Austen on the novel in Northanger Abbey here. ("I knew Jane Austen and you, ma'am, are no Jane Austen")
These characters are not interesting enough to carry the plot. I don't care about them. I don't care if they are happy because they do such a terrible job, for no apparent reason, of making themselves happy. It's like watching the Aladdin sequels where, for plot related reasons, Aladdin forgets everything he learned in the first movie about honesty and good relationships. Narrative tension in this book is driven by no one EVER changing based on their realizations or having a conversation with each other and that's a good thing?
Also, Harkness's treatment of queer characters leaves...a lot to be desired.Marlowe is a walking stereotype of "gays thwarted in love are evil" and the one happy queer couple ends with one of them dying off-screen to save a baby. So...two for two with bury your gays and it's not that you can't have jilted ex is evil as a plot for queer people but when that's it and no one else, including the selfish monarchs treat Matthew that way? I have questions and all of them are why.
I will grant that I absolutely stan Kit Marlowe and so I want to see fully realized and thoughtful portrayals of him and also, like, I was actively irritated at how contrived this was.
I am definitely not the right audience for this series.
Things I liked about this book - The Maharal is pretty cool, although I feel a little slighted that the man who was so vehement in his Torah scholarship comes across so quietly here.
Also stuff. Harkness has a very good feel for stuff, historical and contemporary, and the descriptions of clothing and objects make for really intriguing reading.
Shame it doesn't extend to the people.
The generous read is that it's difficult to enjoy wish-fulfillment stories when you're wondering "who the heck WANTS this?" This was not a book written for me.
First of all, Diana and Matthew's relationship is based entirely in "We don't talk about Bruno...or anything else" and like...WHY? Whyyyy? It's so irritating.
Also like the whole "my vulnerability is that I need to be super masculine and possessive in order to stop acting super possessive" and I just...is that compelling? Is that attractive?
There's this hilarious moment where Harkness lampshades that she's just writing another set of vampire romance novels and has her characters bickering about it, and you can tell she kind of wants it to be a deconstruction, but it's just a lampshade. You're not Jane Austen on the novel in Northanger Abbey here. ("I knew Jane Austen and you, ma'am, are no Jane Austen")
These characters are not interesting enough to carry the plot. I don't care about them. I don't care if they are happy because they do such a terrible job, for no apparent reason, of making themselves happy. It's like watching the Aladdin sequels where, for plot related reasons, Aladdin forgets everything he learned in the first movie about honesty and good relationships. Narrative tension in this book is driven by no one EVER changing based on their realizations or having a conversation with each other and that's a good thing?
Also, Harkness's treatment of queer characters leaves...a lot to be desired.
I will grant that I absolutely stan Kit Marlowe and so I want to see fully realized and thoughtful portrayals of him and also, like, I was actively irritated at how contrived this was.
I am definitely not the right audience for this series.