It took me a little while, but I finally finished the second book in Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, Shadow of Darkness. Now, similar to the second season of A Discovery of Witches, this book wasn’t really my favorite, but there were still parts to enjoy.
This second entry picks up with Diana and Matthew timewalking into 1500s England, though in much less peril than the show. One of the starkest differences were the sheer amount of characters in this book! I would say it’s normally the opposite effect. What was troubling about having so many characters in this book, was that sometimes I couldn’t totally remember if I’d read about them before. Also, some really added no value. Why not have fewer characters and flesh them out a bit more? I feel like that was an improvement the show made.
Something else that was talked about constantly was how out of place Diana was in this time period. I suppose this makes a lot of sense, but they were always drawing comparisons to her accent and her height. Again, something I was thankful for in the show was the lack of time spent dedicated to these details. In a story there can be more pages to fill and details to elaborate on, but it really didn’t make a difference in the long run. Regardless, somehow Diana managed to make due, but bot before pretty much everyone in town knew that she was new and a little different.
The rest of the book though pretty much followed the events of the season in a similar manner. They both went to visit Phillipe, who at first was a little awful, but in the end accepted Diana into the family almost more than Ysabeau did in the first novel! Matthew still told a lot of the same lies, but he was overall a lot more controlling then he came across in the show. That definitely made him a little more off-putting, and it made rooting for Diana a little more frustrating. I know that she was warned he’d be different going back to this time, but she basically seemed like a petulant child at times. She’d just huff, stomp her feet, and yell, which all made her seem a little unintelligent. I wish she would have used her academia and strength to put Matthew in his place sometimes.
Similar to the first book, this one also ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, which if I were reading these as soon as they had been released I’d be so pissed! Books sometimes take years to come out! That’s a long time to wait to get some sort of resolution. Regardless, I’m all caught up now with the books and the show, so perhaps I’ll be impatient and read the final book in the trilogy before the series finishes. But, I know that will just come back to bite me, so I may just end up waiting it out. Either way, the book, like the second season of the show, could have benefited from more time spent with the present day folks. I found their activities slightly more interesting and entertaining. With that being said, the story is still excellent for those loving romance and fantasy!