Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Souls Trilogy. This installment finds Matthew and Diana back in Matthew's old home of 1590 London. There we meet some of Matthew's famous friends during the time, including his employer, Queen Elizabeth I. Matthew and Diana are still on the search for the elusive manuscript, Ashmole 782. Their search takes them from Elizabethan England to Prague.
I honestly did not enjoy this one as much as the first. I loved the first one, mostly because of the scholarly atmosphere of Oxford that the book was set in. I didn't enjoy the location or the time period this book was set in. I've never been interested in historic London. I enjoy books set in modern London, but not so much historical fiction set in the city. However, even the story line wasn't as interesting as the first one to me. It was good, but compared to the first it falls short a bit.
I found I did enjoy the parts set in Prague a bit more. The change of setting was nice. I also enjoyed the addition of the characters of the children, Jack and Annie. Most of the parts I enjoyed featured them, especially little Jack. I will miss them if they don't somehow make an appearance in the third book.
In this book, I also found I liked Matthew a lot less. He reminded me of Edward Cullen. Just so mercurial and really like an overgrown whiny baby. I guess those are stereotypical vampire love interest traits. But, ugh! There were points where I was wondering what Diana could see him other than he's rich and apparently their fated (or more like doomed) to be together.
Despite a few annoyances (the setting and Matthew) I did enjoy this book and I do look forward to the next, The Book of Life. I pre-ordered it on Amazon and I am interested to see how the story will end and if they will ever find Ashmole 782 and discover its secrets (if any).
I am giving Shadow of Night 3 out of 5 stars.
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