Review: Shadow of Night

Title: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy ~ Book 2)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publication Date: July 10 2012
Publisher: Viking Adult
ISBN: 0670023485
Length: 584 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 5 Stars

This is the moment I dread the most... When I have finished a wonderful book and realise that the next instalment is more than likely several months if not a year away.

Shadow of Night has not disappointed me. It picked up immediately where A Discovery of Witches left off and I was enthralled from the first word to the last. I read a lot of books and those books cover a lot of different genres. I can honestly say that these books have fast become my favorites.  I am enamored with the world that Deborah Harkness has created.

What I find the most fascinating is that my love does not simply lie with Matthew and Diana. The side characters are just as enchanting as the main. I would in a heartbeat read any spin-off novel which featured any of Matthew and Diana's friends or family. This says a lot about the level of writing that has been achieved. Yes you can like other characters and want to see more of them in the main story... but to have such characters so loved that people would read entire novels of their own story? Like I said before... amazing writing. I simply adore Marcus and Gallowglass, I am very excited to see what the future has in store for these two in book 3.

I loved being able to get to know a bit more about Matthew's life. Him being able to spend time with his old friends, the new friends Diana made and of course the children in their care while they were in 1590. This also gives Diana a small glimpse into the loss that Matthew feels as he has had a lot of goodbyes in his long life. But I do not want to say too much about the story itself... as Matthew would say "This is not my tale to tell..."

I will be reading these books again in the wait for the final book in the trilogy. Now that I have completed book 2 I already feel a depression starting  as though I have lost a good friend.  I can only imagine how I will feel after the final book is read.

Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (Twilight ~ Book 3.5)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publication Date: June 1 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
ISBN: B003GZ4YYY
Length: 193 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 4 Stars

This was a very enjoyable little read.  I was needing a smaller book to read today while I waited for the release of a different book tomorrow and since I never managed to read this when it eventually came out, it made perfect sense to read it now.

Of course Bree had such a small role in Eclipse, if you blink you would miss it.  It was very nice to see the newborn's side of the 'army' that was being created to take on the Cullen's.  Reading this actually made me want to go back and read the Twilight books again.

Review: Bloodfever

Title: Bloodfever (Fever ~ Book 2)
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Publication Date: October 1 2007
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 038533916X
Length: 303 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 5 Stars

I really liked Darkfever, but I loved Bloodfever!  There was some major character development that took place in this book. Of course there is a lot of story to go and way more to learn but I feel much closer to Mac now. Yes she still daydreams of her previous life but you can tell how much she has grown up. Even Barrons referred to her as a woman.

I do wish Mac would trust Barrons a bit more. Yes I know he has secrets and I know that scares her but he has saved her so many times. The fact she still has the thought in her head that he is only keeping her around as an OOP locator is ridiculous. He has kissed her (or so she thinks she remembers), pushed his obvious attraction onto her and nearly crumbled when he thought she was close to death. That's a bit more than just wanting somebody around for their locating skills.

I know a lot of people's reviews of book two seem to mention that it was at this stage that they had figured out what Barrons is... Well I must be thick because I still don't know.  But I am going to really enjoy reading more to find out.

Review: Darkfever

Title: DarkFever (Fever ~ Book 1)
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Publication Date:  October 1 2006
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: B000MAH7SQ
Length: 342 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 4 Stars

This book did take me a little bit to get into but in the end I was really enjoying it and am eager to continue on with the series. I think a lot of my reluctance was coming from two areas.

First would be the writing style. In a lot of instances the author would add something to the effect of "I didn't know this at the time but would find out years later..." or "Barrons and I didn't discuss it then but we would weeks later." It is said quite a lot and was starting to grate on me a little.

Second is Mac in general. I think this is just because I am coming off a few books where the lead is a strong and confident female. I know she has been thrown into a world she didn't know about and didn't want to know about but you are knee deep now, buck up! Too many times she would refer to her 'old life' of bartending, fashion magazines, sunbathing, clothes, her long blood hair or her pink nails. She is just very superficial. Even toward the end when she finally kicked ass she thinks about her three broken nails and after she was applying her new coat of nail polish. I hope she is over the little lamb lost act in the next book and has finally accepted what she is and what she needs to do.

There is so much to learn about Barrons and I have a feeling I am going to enjoying finding those things out.

Review: A Discovery of Witches

Title: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy ~ Book 1)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publication Date: September 1 2011
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 0755374045
Length: 690 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 5 Stars

A Discovery of Witches was an absolute joy and pleasure to read. This will be a book and series that I can easily say I will read multiple times over.

The blend of history, science and magic was breathtaking. I never once got bored and was riveted each time I picked up my Kindle to where I never wanted to put it down. I love that it is a longer book, normally in a new series the first book is smaller with the end books being larger. So much was able to take place and as mentioned previously, I was never bored. There were moments when I got tears in my eyes, I laughed and one particular moment where I actually screamed out 'NO' and drew my hands up to my face unable to continue reading for a few minutes. My heart was honestly pounding in my chest.

Diana is such a smart, level headed woman. I will be the first to say I loved Twilight but I can honestly say Bella at many times annoyed me. Far too much the 'Damsel in Distress' in a lot of the earlier books. Diana is strong. Yes there are moments of despair as there would be for anybody that faced some of the challenges she must face but she is brave and honest.

Matthew is... simply wonderful. Yes he is protective over Diana as it is his nature as a vampire but you see how he realizes she is a strong woman. She is his 'lionne' and 'coeur', this meaning she is his lioness and his heart.

The history and science in this book intrigued me. Matthew is Scientist and a very old vampire, who in his long life has known many fascinating people. Diana is a Witch and an Historian. You learn much about Matthew's life and the people he knew and the science that he is currently working on when trying to determine how and why the creatures of their world were created and why they now seem to be dying out. Those creatures being Witches, Daemons and Vampires, they share the world with humans who are oblivious to their existence. A world where creatures do not normally mix or even become friends, let alone fall in love.

My head is filled with thoughts of how book two will play out and all of the wonderful people Diana and Matthew will come into contact with and the many mysteries they will start to unravel when Diana learns to harness and control her magic.