Reviews

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

juliamc_corner's review against another edition

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3.0

I actually liked this better than the first one!

kelsobutch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

romyaoe's review against another edition

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

2.5

philosophicellie's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

4.0

chelseatheting's review against another edition

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5.0

June 2018: I just freaking love this series.

readwithmesashamarie's review against another edition

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4.0

To me the first novel felt a little more fast paced. Perhaps that is because I was just being introduced to this world and everything was new but this one lacked a little something or other. It was a great read that progressed the plot, world building, and character development but I'm really hoping for more action in the third novel.

jenns09's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5
Really enjoy the premise of this book and love the world she has created. Something just went seriously wrong for me with the telling of the story. A witch travels back to Elizabethan England with her vampire husband in search of a manuscript which may contain the secrets to the existence of creatures on earth, and I didn't love it? I'm actually pretty bummed that I didn't.
If you are a fan of time travel at all you must throw out any ideas you have about it. This was some of the sloppiest time travel I have ever read. In her defense time traveling in a world with immortal beings would definitely be difficult. There is no way of leaving the past unaffected by your presence, but they just meddled without a care in the world of how it would affect the future. It was simply strange. One would have thought that two scholars would have better sense than that. It almost seems like this book was nearly 600 pages of set up for the next book of dealing with the repercussions of their actions in the past.
Happy to finally be done and yes I will read the next considering there are still so many questions left unanswered.

leafyjosie's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

3.5

britt_isa's review against another edition

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3.0

Update: I have been thinking about these books a lot lately. And my opinion of them has done a complete 180. I have come to realize that the second and third book are actually not that good? I think I just read them at the right time. I was coming out of a reading slump and this was just one of those books that I flew through. Thinking back to this book, I can barely describe what happened except that they went to the past. O and they met the vampire-daddy. I mean: nothing really happened?
Reconsidered rating: 3 stars

Original review:
Rating: 4,5

I am having so much fun reading this series! Sure, I recognize that it has flaws, but my enjoyment level is through the roof. Harkness doesn’t just tell you that the protagonists are in the past, she paints the most vivid of pictures. While her style - which is quite descriptive - might not be for everyone, I love it.

It’s been a while since I last binge-read a series, but the third book has already been taken of the shelf.

6lair's review against another edition

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3.0

I feel like this doesn’t necessarily deserve 3 stars but I’m far too nice to give less.

Most of the story is unnecessary and prolonged really for no reason. The parts that actually MATTERED to the plot were quickly written or progressed in a sentence or less??!! Like what. Meanwhile there were INSANE amounts of new characters introduced truly for no reason. Then the MAIN ISSUE in the first book pops up and kind of just simmers off as if it’s not that important anymore??

Confusing. Their relationship starts to make a little bit more sense (I guess) but I think my issue is that I can’t tell if I like or hate the main male lead in the book. Nonetheless I will prevail and finish the series just so I can hopefully get the closure to the innumerable loose ends the author gave us in this book.