Book Review - Deborah Harkness's Shadow of Night
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: July 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Hamish warned Diana. She would have no way of knowing who or what Matthew would be once they timewalked. The man she knew would be gone. In his place would be a far different creature. It took Matthew hundreds of years to become the man she fell in love with and in a different time and place, among old cohorts, he could backslide. Arriving at the Old Lodge in Woodstock outside Oxford in 1590 Diana thought the hard part was over. They'd be able to search for Ashmole 782 and find her a teacher and return to the present ready to take on the Congregation. But timewalking was easy compared to being thrown directly into the middle of the School of Night, of which Matthew isn't just a member but the historically illusive poet Matthew Roydon. The smartest and savviest and most renowned and infamous men of the age seem to view Matthew's house as their home... and they do not care for Diana, at first, or forever as the case may be with the lovestruck Marlowe. Soon it becomes apparent that maybe this wasn't the best idea. As Hamish predicted, Matthew is falling back into his roisterous and secretive ways. Back into his life without Diana. Perhaps she should have taken more than forty days to tie her fate to the man she's mated to. There's destiny and then there's duplicity. Matthew has so many secrets she doesn't know where to get a foothold. It's not like she's in a era where she can just go about her business without the help of a man. Despite having a queen, Elizabeth's England is a patriarchal society and Diana is beholden to the whims of men. What's more, she obviously doesn't fit in. From language to comportment to behavior. She. Doesn't. Fit. With unrest in Scotland witches are being rounded up and soon it looks like nowhere will be safe for Diana. Not the past or the present. And then Philippe summons Matthew. Denying his father isn't an option. He could bring their world down around them in an instant. Travelling to Sept Tours and living amongst Matthew's past is trying for Diana, as is the fact they have done nothing that they planned to do. She remains ignorant of her abilities and Ashmole 782 looks as if it is as elusive in the past as in the present. What's more, they don't have a say in their lives, they are buffeted around by all the people who have a claim on them, from Philippe to Queen Elizabeth to Emperor Rudolf II to the Congregation, from France to London to Prague, they try to fit there lives and their needs among the demands of these great people. As time goes on, there is more and more of a chance of affecting the past and there is more and more of a need for Diana to learn why she has always struggled with her witchcraft and to find a spell to get them home. Luckily, fate does seem to occasionally shine on them and sometimes their tragedies turn into greater joys.
When rereading a series or a favorite author's work there's always a book you're looking forward to. Now, the more you reread them the more likely it is that there's a sliding scale and it changes every time. At least this is how it is with me and Jane Austen. Seeing as this is only the second time I've read the All Souls Trilogy I was really excited to dive into Shadow of the Night because I loved it the first time around for the fact that the series was fully embracing historical fantasy by being set in Elizabethan London. And I gotta say, while I still love it, I have issues. Major issues. Because Diana is a modern woman travelling back to a patriarchal society she is obviously going to chafe at the restrictions placed on her, which is probably why Matthew didn't warn her in advance of their destination. Me, reading this book in 2012 accepted it for what it was, me rereading it in 2026 after #MeToo and manspreading and the overturning of Roe v. Wade and every other macro and micro aggression that women are constantly facing including our "ability" to handle voting coming into question just made me hate Elizabethan England and the School of Night. But I also blame Queen Elizabeth for this whole attitude, she of the "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king." As well as referring to herself as a Prince. Yes, she didn't know she'd be one of the most famous female rulers in history, but her couching her rule in terms to make it palatable to the patriarchy just drove me up the wall. Or maybe I'm just having PTSD from watching way too many Tudor dramas of late. Yes, that might just be it. That and the fact that a lot of this book feels like it's spinning its wheel and feels more like a grand tour than a purposeful journey. I felt that we where being led on a tour of Elizabethan England. I was reading a travel guide for the time, not historical fiction. I quite literally cheered when Diana said it was "time to stop treating our sojourn here as an advanced seminar in Shakespeare's England." Because that was what the book was! Hundreds of pages of exposition when they came to search for the Ashmole 782 and get Diana a teacher. I didn't need them playing Elizabethan house for the whole first half of the book! But to play devil's advocate, I think that by having Diana go through this journey she realized that she needed to find out who she was, she needed to reclaim her identity as a witch, not for herself but for her child, which is a profound moment. It actually justifies everything that came before and is a profound step on her Heroine's Journey. She is becoming who she is meant to be, and that is why I still love Shadow of the Night.
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