Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Warning! Do not read this story until you’ve read A Discovery of Witches!

My review of A Discovery of Witches:  http://ineedanotherbookcase.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-discovery-of-witches-by-deborah.html

Now, before I begin, for anyone who may have read the A Discovery of Witches close to its release and have taken some time to get to its sequel, I recommend brushing up.  It’s very detail heavy, so forgetting one bit of information could have you scratching your head for chapters.

Immediately following the events of A Discovery of Witches, Diana and Matthew have just timewalked to 1590 Elizabethan England.  There they hope to locate the intact Ashmole 782, find Diana a witch who can teach her how to best use her magic, and stay out of the Congregations watchful gaze.  Diana finds herself leaping feet first into the life of Matthew’s 500 years younger self, a world of spies, political struggles, and the ever mysterious School of Night, which includes such members as Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh.  While Diana attempts to find a proper tutor to aid her in mastering her magic, Matthew must deal with his own past, a life he thought would forever stay buried.  As they deal with their individual struggles, they must also do everything in their power to locate Ashmole 782, a tome whose true purpose slips further into mystery as their knowledge of it increases.

I was glad to finish Shadow of Night, part two in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, and find myself not too disappointed, as middle sequences of trilogies often leave me.  I greatly enjoyed A Discovery of Witches, and the few problems I had with it were largely fixed this time around.  While its prequel suffered from an excess of detail causing the story to progress at strange intervals, Shadow of Night was able to avoid those same problems.  Here the pace was even, the amount of detail used consistent throughout.

Starting this book I was looking forward to seeing Diana fully manifest her powers and abilities, as the previous book had alluded to the fact that they would very helpful against any of her or Matthew’s enemies.  The progression of her power development was very natural, taking time as she encountered natural roadblocks along the way.  My only complaint—and this is more of a gripe than a criticism, brought about by other stories typically not taking the route that Harkness did—was the lack of her power usage.  She has these spectacular powers and doesn’t use them.  But as her reasons for not using them align with her already very well establish mentality, I can’t say it’s a fault of the writer, but instead a fault of this reader.

The alternate history direction this book took was interesting, to say the least.  It wasn’t an outlandish direction for the book to take either, even though it’s a slightly different category than A Discovery of Witches fit into.  I was able to watch Diana interact with various predominant historical figures like Queen Elizabeth I, Rudolf II, Sir Walter Raleigh, and numerous others. Also, how she and Matthew became involved in various well-known historical events was both entertaining and eye-opening.  This is where Harkness’ historian chops shined brightest, as she wove Diana and Matthew’s path through the late 16^th Century into historical blind spots.  While I read I had Google ready to go so I could fully appreciate the very real history used in this work of fiction, as I often stopped to look up dates, places, and people.

However, while Shadow of Night is a well-constructed book, it was a bit of a step down from its predecessor.

The first installment of the trilogy had the problem of losing the reader to the level of detail used in describing the scene, as well as pacing, but those points were largely corrected this time around, each scene an excellent balance of detail and action.  However, the pace at which the story progressed through the plot was incredibly slow.  There are a range of mini-story arcs in this book, but not enough to fully justify the length.  One part of me loved it, the way each day was described with such detail, allowing full immersion into the Diana’s life without losing track of what was actually happening.  The sensory details were amazing while not overpowering.  Unfortunately, the other part of me quickly grew tired of it, wanting some actual progress in the story to be made. 

Did the level of writing change or deteriorate throughout the story?  No.  Could this book have been much shorter without losing any of the power of the writing or skimping on key events?  Yes.  I’d say this is a problem of excellent skill in the wrong place.  This type of writing is perfect for contemporary fantasy, but there’s just too much writing.  If a book can be half the length and not lose anything in the plot, then there’s a problem.  Simultaneously, I like words, especially when they’re used to construct excellent sentences.  The writing is very pretty so I can’t dislike the book too much, even though the plot suffers heavily due to the stretching of events.  Regrettably, I’m going to have to rate the book placing higher emphasis on storytelling ability rather than appearance.

For anyone who enjoyed A Discovery of Witches, I am confident that they’ll equally enjoy Shadow of Night.  A historical fiction full of beautiful writing, this contemporary fantasy is a must read for any lovers of drama, the supernatural, historical fiction, or fantasy.

Rating 3/5

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

172 Hours on the Moon (or DARLAH) follows the standard moon-themed horror story—there’s a reason humanity never returned to our closest spatial neighbor. It’s a good reason, too. However, in order to regain access to an old research base known as DARLAH 2, we must return. 
This is the premise that precedes humanities return to the moon in this space horror. Hidden powers in the United States government clamor for a means to return to the moon and reclaim the old research base and any mysteries it holds.  To accomplish this, however, they need to garner public appeal so as to avoid suspicion as well as raise the proper funding. In order to rekindle the world’s passion for space exploration, these powers begin a lottery to select three teenagers, age fourteen to eighteen, to send into space.  For a fulfilling life, for escaping failed love, for fame and fortune.  These are the reasons that Mia, Midori, and Antione have decided to venture into space, hoping that by doing so, they can use this as a means to accomplish their goals.  Although they aren’t traveling alone, accompanied by fully trained and accomplished astronauts, what they find up there may just be worse than any could have imagined.

First and foremost, I really, really wanted to like this book.  It has everything a good YA book needs: fleshed out characters from diverse backgrounds; an interesting setting; (relative to Earth) dreams, goals, and troubles that are relatable to its audience; and its adherence to the genre.  “Even though it’s just YA,” he says, irritated at all those who say YA should be ignored after you turn 18, the horror in this book was phenomenal.

Mia, from Norway, is a rebellious teen whose parents sign her up for the lottery against her wishes.  After thinking about the opportunity, she decides to turn this experience into a platform to launch her and her band’s music career.

Antoine wants to travel to the moon to get [I’m so, so sorry] some space after his girlfriend breaks up with him to be with someone else.  And of course, he’s French, because what other nationality could a character so perfectly heartbroken be.  He gives off a bit of a stalker-y vibe, but other than that he’s a nice kid…

Midori is a fashionista who hopes to leave the repressive culture in Japan, fearing the life that she knows she will inevitably fall into as a female.   She believes that New York is where she can live the life she’s always dreamed of, and by traveling to the moon by way of NASA’s training camp, she will take her first step out of Japan for good.

They’re solid characters and, though they may have some minor flaws as far as stereotypical qualities go, Mia, Antoine, and Midori all bring something different to the story.  Taken together, they’re a good crew to follow along on this adventure.

Last but not least, we have what I’d like to refer to as, the special character.  With only minor appearances in the book, though detached from the main story, we’re given a senile old man named Oleg Himmelfarb.  Old Himmelfarb used to be a janitor at the facility that was in charge of creating DARLAH 2.  Working there he learned something and, while he may not remember much of his past now, or even where he lives, he still knows enough to be terrified of humanity’s return to the moon.   Though not highly involved in the story, his involvement is useful in bring a sense of danger to the readers’ attention early on, before any truly frightening scenes begin.  I would have liked to have had a couple more chapters with him as the central character.  Aside from him simply being a fun character, even another short chapter could have gone a long way in building suspense.

When the teens are still on Earth, Mia, Midori, and Antoine come across messages, codes, and warnings, all with one common link.  Don’t go. 

Despite the story’s slow approach to the actual horror aspects, I greatly enjoyed the contrast between the comparatively lengthier portion that proceeded the horror and the actual horror portion itself.  While the beginning of the story was relatively normal, setting the tone of the story much more as that of a drama/science fiction novel than that of horror/science fiction, it provided excellent buildup and foreshadowing.  I should also point out that this is less a mix of horror and science fiction, and more a horror story with science fiction elements.  As soon as the frightening events started occurring—I’ll leave this vague since spoilers are even worse when horror is involved—I became incredibly panicked, worrying about what would happen to Mia, Midori, and Antione.  To call the ending eerie would be an understatement.

However, 172 runs into the problem of having a lot happening but lacking the space to fully address it all.  While the characters are all interesting, due to constraints of size, they aren’t explored as much as they should be to add to the world of the story.  The diluted plot did a lot to take away from the legitimately terrifying moments in the book.   Harstad also skips over a several month long period of time, which would have been a great place to see relationships form and characters develop.  Even if it was only mentioned shortly, who doesn’t love a good montage?

Then we come to the plot holes…this is awkward.  There are some plot holes centered on events that occur to and around the three teenagers, some with the whole reason for going, some that I can’t even vaguely touch on without spoiling one of the key horror elements of this piece.  It’s difficult to talk about these events without spoiling anything, but suffice to say there are a few, the cause of which seem to be of the standard variety:  they’re there because the story needed to happen.  The plot holes in question, while a bit distracting, don’t hurt the story much and I can’t imagine the story without theses points.  Sure they could have been avoided with some explanation later on, but they’re minor and simple enough to overlook.

This is by no means a short book (at roughly 370 pages), yet I found myself finishing it faster than other books its size due to the speed at which I was pulled through, grasping at pages as I raced to see what would happen next.  A must read for any horror buffs, but expect to be frightened of crowds for the foreseeable future.  And the person currently sitting to your left.

Rating 4/5

Cannibal Reign by Thomas Koloniar

In Thomas Koloniar’s first novel, Cannibal Reign, we find ourselves preceding the end of the world from two perspectives.  The first is that of Jack Forrest and his friends and fellow Green Berets.  The second, that of Marty Chittenden the astronomer.  Both possess knowledge that very few others do:  an extinction sized asteroid is on course to collide with Earth.  Due to some inside information, Jack Forrest and crew gather supplies and outfit a recently purchased missile silo, preparing to survive within with carefully chosen family and friends.  Simultaneously, Marty Chittenden, the man who discovered the meteor in the first place, is doing everything he can to warn the rest of the world of the inevitable catastrophe, seeking the aid of the women loved long ago.  Unfortunately for Marty and everyone else on Earth, the United States government wants this kept a secret in order to prevent panic over this unstoppable event.

Marty Chittenden and those he falls in with find themselves in any number of dangerous situation.  The two sources of conflict are created by both his desire to go warn the planet despite the wishes of the US government and survival on post-apocalyptic Earth.  The situations they find themselves in are diverse enough that it’s interesting to see what will happen next, but there’s always the sense that their success has already been determined.

To all those horror movie characters who didn’t listen when I told you not to go in there, you could learn from this book.  Jack and his allies always make the right decision due to, what we are asked to believe is, their military background.  My knowledge of active military personnel begins and ends at what I’ve read or in movies and TV shows, but I can only assume that the main characters ability to act the way they do is because of said background.  For obvious reasons I don’t know how soldiers act when preparing to confront, and actually confronting, danger, much less confronting the apocalypse, but they’re portrayed here as faultless, in respect to their ability to work under incredible pressure.  Now that I think about it, in respect to just about every other way, too.

The logical actions of these characters was a unique quality of this book, something not often found in apocalyptic fiction (or many book genres for that matter).  In this, the logical (read ‘correct’) method of action is always taken by the characters.  Always.  Which can seem a bit unrealistic at times.

In Cannibal Reign Koloniar approaches the apocalypse with the belief that ‘might makes right’ and that, as a general rule, awful people will survive because they are awful to other people (with the exception of the main character, who are essentially inside traders as far as knowledge of oncoming doom is concerned).  Cannibalism, rape, tribalism, violence and more, everything one would assume to appear when there is no reason to follow now outdated societal laws and morals.  The world within this book is that of a worst case scenario of societal fallouts with only small and widespread pockets of humanity left to make the world better.

One of my key complaints with this book is that the characters felt a bit lacking.  Essentially, each character had a roll in moving the story along, but besides forming a purely mechanical relationship, they didn’t have much to them.  Character flaws were either nonexistent or didn’t amount to anything that had any visible impact on the story.  The characters were too logical, too perfect, and too plain. 

The storyline had a similar problem.  While problems and conflicts that arose throughout the story brought interest with them, they didn’t have a lot of density.  The character did their perfectly logical thing and went about it the best possible way.  The events of the story were handled perfectly.  And in any story that wants to grip the readers and keep them wondering what will happen next, perfect is boring.  Reading through this book I found myself not finding any points to stop and wonder at the twists the story had taken or the actions of the characters.  My attitude towards it was that of “okay…and?”

I was glad to see a story with characters who acted rationally, but now that I’ve seen it, I realize why I don’t see it more often.  People rarely act in such a way that is always beneficial to them, especially given these circumstances.  However inexplicably easy to overcome they may have been.  Along with some added complexity and tension to the plot, the characters need work to seem more real and deserving of the reader’s interest.

Mechanically, the plot and characters could both be improved, but the spirit of the story makes it worth the read.  Is it brutal at moments?  Yes, however it’s brutality that’s not out of place.  For all those interested in Dystopia/Apocalyptic Fiction with the right bit of Military Fiction mixed in, I recommend you pick up Cannibal Reign for your next rainy day.

Rating 2.5/5

I should caution those readers out there who might be turned away by, or in any way insulted by, incredible violence by men towards women simply because of sexual reasons.  While it is displayed in a way consistent to this specific view of the apocalypse and is present throughout the entirety of the book, it can be seen as bordering on, if not crossing, the line of excess.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Let’s take a look to Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches, part 1 in the All Souls Trilogy, or what I refer to as the book that should really have captivated the current Twilight fanbase (Yes, I know it came out afterwards, but time is just a construct).  Plot, legitimate character development, historical acumen, action, adventure, believable and realistic (in so far as fiction can be) romance, and a healthy use of popular lore.  In this story we find our main character, Diana, a reluctant witch and active historian deep in study in Oxford’s Bodleian Library.  Within, she finds a mysterious book that, after a brief glance, she disregards with no second thought.  However, it serves as a beacon, flooding Oxford with daemon, witch, and vampire alike.  One such is the charming, yet dark, Matthew, 1500 year old vampire and current biochemist at Oxford who, despite the rules of the Congregation, a group formed by all three nonhuman creatures who dictate the allowed activity of their kind, finds himself drawn to her and, inevitably, her to him.  Thus begins Diana’s adventure to discover the mystery of this book, a tome that has been sought after for centuries by beings of all three kinds.  Throughout this search her feelings towards Matthew change, as do her views on using her powers, and what exactly it means to be a witch.

I know what you’re thinking!  What with the number of vampire romances being written lately, what makes this any different?  Bear with me.

Now normally, I’m not one for romance in books, finding they are often needlessly-heavy handed and out of place in their involvement.  That being said, I found the use of romance here to be, dare I say, normal.  Insofar as romance between a witch and a vampire can be normal anyway.  Additionally, while there is romance present in this story, it is not the main, or sole, point of this story; if it were removed there would still be a story left behind.  However, the romance in this book adds to the plot as a whole, which is an excellent sign.

The creatures are an interesting part of A Discovery of Witches, daemon, witch, and vampire alike.  These are creatures that are incredibly popular in current media, so I can understand why they would the three chosen.  Daemon’s are incredibly intelligent and driven so long as their subject of interest is involved, being completely absentminded when it’s not.  Witches have an affinity towards various elements which determines how their magic manifests itself, all involving a strong tie towards Nature.  Vampire, well, are vampires.  Timeless creatures with enhanced physical abilities, a fondness for blood, and the ability to alter normal humans.  The only deviation from original lore comes when Harkness includes vampire’s overprotectiveness/possessiveness of loved ones, but every author needs a bit of artistic freedom.

The individual characters is also lovingly crafted, each with their own goals and personalities that are clear from the start.  Every main character, secondary character, and even some minor characters, all serve a purpose and act under their own volition, going about their lives in reasonable manners rather than in such a way that is convenient for moving the story along.  The only downside to this is that, at times, that inherent free will can cause the story to drag at parts.

At first I was enamored by the story in every way.  There was seemingly nothing extraneous to this book as I devoured it.  The simple joy I got from reading this book is exceptional.  However, that slowly fades away once I took some time to actually think about what I’d read.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if the book goes from hero to zero, but there are issues.

One of the greatest boons, and banes, of this novel is the description found within.  Each scene is so lovingly crafted that I found myself immersed in the world of the story.  I could feel, taste, hear, smell, see everything so vividly that I could practically see the story playing out around me.  That would be the boon.  The bane, on the other hand, comes when I had to ask myself whether or not such detail was really needed for every single scene.  The gregarious amount of detail can also overshadow character traits or development, causing the characters to get lost in the world being formed around them.

Similar to the novel’s level of description, both boon and bane, the plot can seem a bit extraneous at moments.  There are simple, subtle moments in the story that go to minutely advancing the plot as well as the romantic feelings of Diana towards Matthew.  The things about these small moments, unfortunately, is that while they are fine—in my opinion great—when used to keep a story from getting too intense and adding a little spice, they can become tedious, if not outright annoying, when used excessively.

Overall this is definitely an above average story, and one that I would recommend highly to those interested in Contemporary Fantasy, Romance, and a solid spin on Vampiric Literature, or those who are just interested in reading a beautifully detailed story.

Rating: 4/5