Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy 2) [Kindle Edition]

Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I read the first, A Discovery of Witches last year and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to seeing what Deborah Harkness would do with the story next.
Shadow of Night begins exactly where A Discovery of Witches left off. I would highly recommend reading the books in order so you can get a full grasp of events so far.
Matthew and Diana have travelled back to Elizabethan England, the year 1590 to be precise. Here Matthew is Matthew Roydon, a spy for Queen Elizabeth and a member of the School of Night. Other members and friends include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Harriet and Sir Walter Raleigh. I found this aspect of the book completely fascinating. Deborah Harkness brought these famous historical characters to life on the page; her background as a historian is evident and her attention to detail cannot be criticised in any way.
Matthew and Diana are in danger from the very beginning. There are only so many people that they can be completely honest with so it is vital that Diana can pass as an Elizabethan woman of the time or suspicions will be raised . Matthew and Diana have two main problems to solve during this book. They must find the text Ashmole 782 which is how their story began and they must also find another witch who can teach Diana how to harness her magical powers.
Shadow of Night is lengthy at 768 pages but I found that I flew through it. Deborah Harkness creates a fantastic pace, her descriptions are extremely vivid and she reveals a lot more about Matthew's past. I felt myself turning more and more pages as I wanted to know what was going to happen next and whether Diana and Matthew would get what they came for.
These books are wholly fantastical but I love the story that Deborah Harkness has created. She has added paranormal edge to historical fiction and in doing so has created an enchanting trilogy that will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

I absolutely loved Discovery of Witches and believe it or not I literally counted the days to the sequel being released. I pre-ordered it and didn't even mind paying the extortionate price for the kindle version than the beautiful hardback; I was too excited to care. However I am up to Page 132 and can honestly say I'm bored-very bored. What has happened to the wonderful Diana and her dashing gorgeous vampire, Matthew? Yes the 16th century descriptions are absolutely amazing but nothing at all has happened. I'm completely devastated and hate to admit my overwhelming disappointment at having to say this. I usually read at least a book a week but I've been plodding along now for the best part of 10 days. . I cannot express my deep regret about this but I'm calling it a day if something doesn't happen soon. I don't give up on books lightly, and especially one which I have eagerly anticipated and paid an extortionate price for, but life is too short to read something you're not enjoying. I had such high hopes but sadly this hasn't materialised.

****update.
I did stick with it and read until the end. I was so thankful I had finished it and grew to dislike the book even more, but I was hoping against hope that things would pick up: sadly they didn't. The middle of the book was great, with Diana getting to grips with her 'witchy' things and which was the whole foundation of the first story. The pace was sadly lacking throughout the entire book and I felt I was punishing myself for continuing to read when I should, in fact, have given up when I said I would, which was virtually at the beginning. I would like to reiterate that I absolutely adored DOW and was looking forward to devouring the whole trilogy but I think I am going to leave Matthew and Diana firmly in the past and give the final book, when it is eventually released, a miss; and I am severely disappointed that I have made this decision.

I have given this 2 stars due to the enjoyable middle of the book as I thought 1 star a little harsh, but really I would have given it 1. 5 if this was an option.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series I was looking forward to the second but have been disappointed. It feels like the book was written largely as a means of demonstrating the authors knowledge of history rather than to move along the narrative, with too many poorly-defined characters shoe-horned in. Pacing was painfully slow at times and some key elements rushed over.

I will read the conclusion when it's released but won't await it with the same level of anticipation!