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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy 2)
|author=Deborah Harkness
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-0755384730
|pages=592
|publisher=Headline
|date=July 2012
|website=http://deborahharkness.com
|video=
|summary=Mystery, excitement, romance with thrilling twists and a big dose of intelligence; Deborah Harkness has done it again with the added bonus of a new take on 16th century society. It can be read as a standalone, but you'd miss so much if you didn't read [[A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness|A Discovery of Witches]]' first.|cover=0755384733|aznuk=0755384733|aznus=0755384733
}}
''Shadow of Night'' moves on from where [[A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness|A Discovery of Witches]] finishes. Matthew Claremont (vampire, intellectual and, even after centuries of life, still looking a pretty decent 37 years old) and Diana Bishop (historian and witch with a pedigree stretching back to the Salem witch trials) are married and have time-walked to 1591 to look for Ashmole 782, the ancient book that Diana let slip through her fingers in 2010. They also need to find Diana a tutor to help her control the powers that she's chosen to ignore for a lifetime. There aren't just supernatural items on the agenda though; Diana thought she knew all there was to know about her new spouse but there are secrets to be discovered, his connection to the historic 'School of the Night' being one of the less dangerous. Oh, and another thing, they discover that the 16th century isn't, perhaps, the best time to visit if you're a witch, especially if you need to advertise for a tutor. (I think we could have told them that if they'd asked!)
This, the second in [[:Category:Deborah Harkness|Deborah Harkness']] ''All Souls Trilogy'' is a worthy sequel to her block buster from last year. The author shares the same day job as her heroine (historian, not witch) and it shows. For Deborah Harkness writes as if she's the hugely more talented love child of [[:Category:Diana Gabaldon|Diana Gabaldon ]] and [[:Category:J K Rowling|JK Rowling]]. (There are indeed biological problems with that statement, but you know what I mean!) There are elements of both in theme but it's not a copy and there's an added reader-orientated reward: the ''All Souls Trilogy'' is a lot better written and more intricately researched.
Throughout the novel, as our loved-up couple travel across Europe, Diana begins to realise that 40 days (the time span of ''Discovery of Witches'') may not have been long enough to have seen all Matthew's little quirks. As with all couples this leads to 'domestics' but, as not with all couples, the subject matter differs. They have a mixed marriage (vampire and 'warm blood') with mixed loyalties that love will struggle to conquer and it will have a tougher time still conquering the prejudices and regulations laid down by their own kinds. (Yes, the Congregation exists back in 1591 too.) Sometimes the enemies from within a creature's world can be more powerful and unreasonable than those in a human's.
If you've enjoyed this and want to read more about the background of the Salem witch trials then we recommend [[The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent]].
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[[Category:Women's Fiction]]
