Shadow of Night
The second unputdownable book in the spellbinding All Souls series
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4.6 • 497 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Fall deeper under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the captivating second instalment in the runaway Number One Sunday Times bestselling All Souls series.
'The balance of romance, magic history and suspense is just right' Reader Review, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'No words can describe how much I loved this . . . it was perfect' Reader Review, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Excellent world-building . . . meticulous and absorbing' Reader Review, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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In a world of witches, daemons and vampires, the fragile balance of peace is unravelling. Diana and Matthew's forbidden love has broken the laws dividing creatures. To discover the manuscript which holds their hope for the future, they must now travel back to the past.
When Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont. Now the coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.
Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.
Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...
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Five reasons to read A Discovery of Witches and the ALL SOULS series:
'Haunting in every way. A story thick with family secrets, human heartache, and the kind of deep magic only Harkness can conjure. You will be enchanted'
LEIGH BARDUGO
'Harkness's lush prose makes a fantastical world real enough to touch'
JODI PICOULT
'Rich, thrilling . . . A captivating and romantic ripping yarn'
E L JAMES
'Intelligent and off-the-wall . . . irresistible to Twilight fans'
SUNDAY TIMES
'A bubbling cauldron of illicit desire . . . an assured saga that blends romance with fantasy'
DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Propelled by her successful fiction debut, A Discovery of Witches, historian Harkness concocts an energetic if chaotic sequel filled with witches, daemons, vampires, wearhs, weavers, and warm-bloods (aka humans) racing to retrieve a lost manuscript that details the origins of supernatural species, which, in the wrong hands, could hasten their extinction. The first novel culminated in the mixed marriage of vampire/scientist Matthew de Clermont to historian/untrained witch Diana Bishop. This novel opens with the newlyweds time-traveling to Elizabethan England so Diana can study witchcraft; never mind they're burning witches in Scotland or that in London an educated American woman doesn't exactly blend in. There, they hope to retrieve magical manuscript Ashmole 782, last seen in Oxford's 21st-century Bodleian library. Diana gets in touch with her inner firedrake, Matthew with his father, but they can't find a tutor for ages, and they can't rescue the manuscript without a trip to Prague. Supporting Diana and Matthew in their quest is a secret society that includes dashing Walter Raleigh and dangerous daemon Christopher Marlowe. Harkness delights in lining up the living dead and modern academic history, as in her explanation of how a forger named Shakespeare, with supernatural prompting, takes up playwriting. This tale of a feminist Yankee in Queen Elizabeth's court charms amid the tumult, as the gifted heroine and her groom fight for generations and another sequel to come in order to protect the magical world that's all around us.
Customer Reviews
Keep reading
Slow to get into as there are so many new characters (plus it had been a while since I read A Discovery of Witches), but keep reading. It is a great continuation of the story. I do hope there is a third book as there are a lot of questions still to be answered.
Brilliant
Wow. This series just gets better and better.
Such a complicated twisty story.
Absolutely cannot wait to read the final book in this series.
Recommend to all
All Souls Trilogy
This series is a class above many fantasy romances. The quality of writing develops characters that are complex, whilst the plot is captivates throughout.
The depiction of historical figures and times is vivid and believable.
A must read.