chapter_adventure's Reviews (801)

I really, really loved Discovery of Witches and was excited to read Shadow of Night. I completely fell in love with Diana and Matthew. There are a lot of secondary characters in this book and I really enjoyed how multidimensional they all are. Each one has something very unique and special about them. I was anxious to continue their stories. As a history buff, I really enjoyed all the historical references and interactions that Diana and Matthew have along their journey back in time. However- it got old fast and it felt as if Harkness was trying to cram as many historical figures into the book in any way that she could.

So even though I loved this book, there were some aspects of it that bothered me. First, this book is long- and nothing very exciting happens in it. Also- the romance between Diana and Matthew is basically gone- in fact, they hardly ever interact at all, except to argue.

I will read the third book in the series and I'm hoping that it's up to where I felt Discovery of Witches was. Shadow of Night was a good book but a little flat for me.

I normally can't stand books that make me cry and get all sappy on me. I had the impression that this book would make me uncomfortable in that way. Yet- I picked it up one day and read the first couple of pages. Then I laughed- out loud- that hardly ever happens to me. It takes a lot to make me laugh out loud. So I read a few more pages and laughed some more. Half way through, I set the book down to declare out loud "This book is so good!" to no one in particular and then I sighed. I sighed! And I didn't feel all weird about it. Four hours later I was a blubbering, sobbing mess as I finished the last page. I actually hugged the book to my chest. That's how in love I am with it.

I am completely surprised by my reaction. This is not my kind of book. Yet, to me, it is the best book I have read all year. It is a book I would happily hand over to anyone I know. It is a book that I genuinely wish everyone I know could read, and love as much as I did.

There is just something about John Green, isn't there? Do teenagers really think like that and talk like that? You'd be surprised. Most of them do not- but there are the very few who are incredible. These characters stole my heart- and not in a sappy way. They are just simply awesome in every way possible and I wish that I had had the courage to think what I wanted to think and say what I wanted to say at that age. It's a gift that not many teenagers have.

Anyway- this is a super quick read and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I listened to the audio book:

I was pleasantly surprised. This is a wonderful book. It's a little hard to get in to at first because it starts off introducing the character you end up hating and it's just a little vulgar to start. Once the book introduces it's other characters (including Julie) you will be hooked. The plot is set during WWII and follows the stories of several characters eventually bringing them all together in the end.

The writing is wonderful and the narrator was great to listen to. It was easy to distinguish between the characters and keep track of the story line and how they all related. Part of me loved this book for its historical nature, but it's full of adventure and suspense as well.

It's a fantastic read and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I didn't know this book was the second in a series so my initial impression was that everything could have been built upon more and the characters could have been more developed. Now, after knowing that there was a first book, I still feel the same way. The plot felt rushed through most of the book. Also, because the characters were so transparent, I never really connected with either of them. Because I didn't feel connected to the characters, I didn't really care what happened to them. I mostly read on out of pure curiosity. I wanted to see how the story unfolded but didn't care what happened either way. I also felt that some of the imagery was confusing. I never did fully grasp what the heck the 'village' was. I couldn't picture myself inside the story with the characters and that was frustrating.

Peter's relationship with his mother and father was different. To be honest, I was surprised by his mother's part in the story. That being said, I really did enjoy this book. The concept behind the artificial bees and the upgrading is a plot line that I found interested because it was a new idea to me. I haven't read any other books that I can even compare to this one so I did enjoy reading it. I also liked the format that it was written in. I find journal entries in books to be kind of fun. It was also a really quick read, which was nice but I would have liked to see it expanded on.