Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah Harkness

This is the 2nd book of the All Souls Trilogy.  I completed this book in August but am just now getting around to entering all my book reviews.

Deborah Harkness, a professor of history, has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries.  She has become one of my favorite writers.

Shadow of Night picks up a second after A Discovery of Witches ends. We join Matthew and Diana in their time jump to the 1500s where their goals are to 1) find a witch to train Diana and 2) find the mysterious Ashmole 782. 
As the book opens we find Diana and Matthew entering Elizabethan London, where Mathew is part of the mysterious School of Night, a group that counts Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh among its members.  It was wonderful to get lost in sights and smells of Elizabethan history.

I couldn't get enough of Discovery of Witches so it was no surprise that I was a bit disappointed in the Shadow of Night.  It is still an excellent book and well written, but Discovery is a VERY tough act to follow.  I found disappointment in Matthew as he kept too many secrets but I was still enthralled with Diana.