Hello everyone!
I'm continuing my witchy trilogy this Thursday, and remember how I always say the second part in any trilogy whatsoever is always the weakest?
Basically, it's not an introduction, and it's not the finale, so it's just a bridge leading from one to the other, and as such it will inevitably suffer from writer ennui or something of the sort while readers try to plod on.
Well, not THIS book.
Seriously, when I started reading A Discovery of Witches, I thought I'd seen it all and that nothing could top it. Especially in a trilogy, you have to be extra careful because you go in with such high expectations for the second and third books, and sometimes (a lot of times) they fall flat on their faces like pancakes dropped from high above.
So I honestly opened the second book up with trepidation and a little flutter of hope somewhere.
I needn't have bothered.
Shadow of Night not only meets its predecessor, but it surpasses it with flying colours.
For a link to my review of A Discovery of Witches, check the bottom of this page.
Very briefly, however: Diana Bishop, a witch from a powerful line of witches, falls in love with vampire Matthew Clairmont, and accidentally calls up a manuscript thought lost for ages, Ashmole 782. Considered to be some kind of Holy Bible for each of the three species co-existing with humans (witches, daemons and vampies), everyone wants a piece, of book AND witch. So after mating with Diana and almost losing her to power-hungry individuals, Matthew takes her first to America, and then they decide that they need to hide somewhere else.
SomeTIME else.
This is where Shadow of Night begins, as Diana and Matthew timewalk back into the past, more specifically October 31st, 1590, and land in a sprawled heap in Old Lodge, Matthew's home.
It's also where we get our first glimpse of Matthew as someone else: the elusive and mysterious Matthew Roydon, who seemed to be behind the infamous School of Night, members of which are Matthew's friends: Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, Thomas Harriot, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Henry Percy.
These five know Matthew is a vampire (and honestly, two of them are daemons anyway) and are more than happy to help Diana blend into society and try and find a witch to teach her about her magic. Well, everyone but Marlowe, who's in love with Matthew himself and therefore jealous, but I couldn't quite bring myself to care. He sounded mostly like an annoying teenager to me and I would've smacked him upside the head super fast.
Of course, finding a witch when the monarchs of Europe are gearing up to start the hunts proves to be a bit of a difficulty, and the one old widow they do meet afterwards seems convinced Diana is in league with the devil (a handsome one, but still ...).
To top it all off, after the arrival of Matthew's nephew Gallowglass (a big-ass Gael with a brilliant sense of humour), Matthew receives a coin from his father, Philippe de Clermont, who thinks his son might be dead, and demands his presence at Sept-Tours at once. BUT AT ONCE I SAY.
So, Diana and Matthew trudge off to meet the vampire in person, while the journal Diana had written in is later discovered in the present, somewhere in Spain.
But we have to focus on France, and potentially the biggest individual leaping off the page with mere words: one Philippe de Clermont who is basically larger than life. I'm telling you, no one reading about him will ever say anything against the vampire. The more I read of this part, the sadder I was that he's no longer alive in the present (after being tortured by Nazi witches, Matthew took his father's life since it drove him mad).
HE would never stand for any idiocy from the Congregation! ... And let's be real, the Congregation would probably be terrified he'd eat them if they did anything wrong.
Anyway, Philippe is obviously opposed to Diana and Matthew from the start, but he offers them his protection, helps them get closer (during which Matthew admits he commited suicide and feels guilty for it), and adopts Diana as his blood-sworn daughter because he's just that cool.
Oh he also kicks Matthew's ass because Matthew has issues with blood rage. As you do.
And he seems to have this thing about his daughters marrying in veils. Oh yes, he insists the pair get married properly AND consumate the marriage (like, Matthew, what ARE you waiting for?), especially after a witch tries to pry Diana's secrets from her mind and Diana kills him. But by this point Philippe is very pro-Diana so, when he gets word witches are coming to investigate their fallen comrade, he sends Matthew and Diana (now mated) on their way, but not before telling his daughter-in-law about a game he and Ysabeau play, leaving hidden messages in books for one another.
In the present, Ysabeau finds just such a message, in which her husband details the Christmas the young couple spent with him, and the possibility of grandchildren, which alarms her and Diana's aunts because, hello, a witch and vampire child would get in MORE trouble with the Congregation! So they decide they have to keep an eye out for historical anomalies - just to be safe.
Diana, who is actually pregnant, and Matthew are now in London, and Diana still needs a witch, but when a quest with Matthew's friend the Countess of Pembroke yields no results, Diana lets herself be seen in the city, which invites the attentions of Father Hubbard, a self-styled king of creatures in London. Normally, any new creature shares blood with him so they're under his protection, but the de Clermonts don't fall under the rule, and neither does Diana as Philippe's blood-sworn daughter (merci beaucoup, Philippe). But Hubbard DOES send Diana a teenage witch Annie, who introduces Diana to her aunt, and through her to Goody Alsop.
We finally start figuring out Diana's magic - that is to say, she's no ordinary witch. She's a weaver, meaning spells from other witches won't work for her, as she needs to weave her own.
So while she's getting acquainted with her familiar, a firedrake named Corra (because why would it be anything tame?), Diana and Matthew receive a pair of miniatures of themselves, which are later recovered in the present and bought by Marcus. They also take in a young pick-pocket named Jack, and, unfortunately, Diana miscarries the baby.
She takes solace in learning how to weave, with the silken cords Goody gifts her, and also from the hunt for Ashmole 782, which has surfaced and is in Prague. Not to mention, during an alchemical experiment where Diana recognizes Matthew's family banner on a mural, she adds her own blood and Matthew's to make a tree first die, then bear fruit.
But their work isn't done yet, as they need to go to Prague under orders from Elizabeth I, but also their own wishes - they need to see Ashmole 782. While in Prague, the couple become closer by sharing blood and thoughts to calm Matthew's mated side, and do eventually get a glimpse of the first three pages of the manuscript. Not only does it seem to depict that different species can procreate together, but the pages are made of skin (from creatures), the ink is made of blood (also creatures) and the glue of bones (...).
Ashmole 782 is basically a record of creature DNA. Which is not weird AT ALL.
We also learn one of Matthew's sons (whom he has disowned) is on the loose, they have to run like hell from Prague, but even so their time in the past is now coming to a close.
In the present, Peter Knox and Gerbert decide to send a force against Sept-Tours, where our friends are gathering to demand a repeal of the covenant. Chop, chop!
Before they can get to it, however, Diana gets abducted by Marlowe and Matthew's crazy sister Louisa, but luckily she and the babies (she's pregnant with twins this time) are alright and she can be merciful to her attackers. The two of them make sure their friends know which lies to tell after they're gone, Diana gives one of Ysabeau's earrings to one of her ancestors so she can later receive it in the present, Father Hubbard gives the statue of Diana Marlowe sent him to the Norman family which will also eventually give it to Diana, and the couple is ready to head home.
And not a moment too soon: Emily, one of Diana's aunts, has died protecting daemons' Nathaniel and Sophie's baby girl, Margaret, who was born a witch.
But the initial reunion is joyful (after Matthew gets over his heart attack he has to drive silly cars instead of the ones he prefers), and Ysabeau detects the heartbeats of her twin grandchildren.
Not a moment too soon on either front, however, because war is brewing on the horizon. Different de Clermonts have found their way to Sept-Tours, among them Philippe's daughter Verin from whom her father extracted a promise to be there when things went down, and a present-day Gallowglass.
As a final note, Diana brazenly had a telescope engraved with Thomas Harriot's name, so that he would be recognized by historians, as a sign they were really going home.
THE END
Or is it?
Absolutely not, as there's one more book in the trilogy before we finish, but for better or worse this is where I leave you. Next week we'll come to what's promising to be a stunning conclusion to All Souls, and I cannot WAIT to immerse myself into the world again in The Book of Life.
Still, there is no way I can ever completely include everything that happened in the book itself, or every nuance; there's so much more going on than can be said in a puny review! All the character quirks and humor inserts need to be read by the individual reader, but I'll have you know that, if Philippe or Gallowglass de Clermont are on the page, there's bound to be laughter.
I can't decide which of them is my favourite character - probably both!
Until next week, however, I leave you with this mental image: Philippe de Clermont's ghost perched in Sept-Tours watching his grandson Gallowglass bellow ballads at Diana's firedrake Corra.
xx
*image not mine
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