Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Oh Deborah, where did you go wrong with this book? From top to bottom this was just… awful. I built up so much anticipation for this story after reading A Discovery of Witches. The pedestal I put the All Souls Trilogy on came crashing down, then incinerated into a heaping pile of crud. Dashed hopes and dreams (and copious spoilers muahaha) following the picture.

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Let’s start with the premise. Matthew and Diana travel back in time to 1590 in order to keep Diana safe from the Covenant in the future and to find a witch (or several) who can teach her how to use her magic. Initially I thought this premise was stupid. Humans have never been friendly to “other” creatures, so why would traveling back in time help? Also, Diana wouldn’t have the knowledge to fit in even though she’s a historian because she never actually lived there. Matthew was also an ardent witch hater at this time. So he shows up with a wife who is a witch… and no one is supposed to question this? Right. Finally, there are always ramifications for time travel. Why would they think they are any different? This plan wasn’t thought out at all. In fact, sometimes it felt like Harkness was making the story up as she went along with no regard to continuity.

Now for my overall impressions. First, this book was entirely too long. Almost 600 pages for what? The plot couldn’t handle this volume so she filled it up with unnecessary characters and excruciating detail to setting descriptions. The first 300 pages were pure filler. Nothing happened besides meeting all of our favorite historical figures that made Diana weak in the knees. *yawn* We also discover that Matthew had more secrets. *double yawn*

Second, expanding on the idea of filler, Harkness introduced too many characters in the story. Most of their individual story lines could have been trimmed away. There were the people in the village, the varying royal figures, Matthew’s friends (and various political obligations), and the two children Diana adds to their estate. Every time a new character was introduced I wanted to pull my hair out. Why was she making the story more complicated than needed? Stop!

Third, after sifting through 300 pages of filler (I am superbly bitter about this) Diana discovers her magic (woo!) but then Harkness doesn’t take any of the same pains to describe what is happening (*pulls hair out*). Even toward the end of the book I am still a little confused about what is happening to Diana. Why wouldn’t you spend 100 pages telling us about the magic instead of describing the stupid setting or royal dinners with the Emperor??? (*rants and throws things*)

Fourth. Diana’s father (who she hasn’t seen since she was a child) time walks to where they are. I don’t even think I could begin to explain how livid I was when this happened. WHY WHY WHY! What was the point? Diana needs to grow up and face her path like an adult. She hasn’t had Daddy around for any of the other foolish things she’s done, why bring him back now? Why make her parents’ death such a big part of her life just to bring the father back? It wasn’t heart warming. It was a stupid plot choice that added another 50 or so pages for no reason.

Fifth (sorry this is getting as long as Harkness lol) the story followed the same “climax” as A Discovery of Witches. Matthew never lets Diana out of his sight, but the second he does Diana is captured and must rely on her emotions to save her. T I R E D. Please don’t insult me by thinking I wouldn’t notice the same exact scenario from the first book. Maybe if she wouldn’t have spent so much time describing the smell of the 1590s she could have written a better rising action.

The ONLY saving grace to this story was Phillipe. He is the only one with a lick of sense in the entire story! He might be ruthless but he got things done and instilled sense in Matthew. (and Diana too). Unfortunately, even my devotion to Phillipe was not enough to save this story.

Overall, the story was too long. Harkness spent more time showing off her knowledge of the past and left the story wanting. There were too many characters, Diana and Matthew were stupid. They spent entirely too much time in the past. They did more harm in the past than good. Diana’s father annoyed me. Diana’s magic wasn’t sufficiently explained. When they (finally) got home someone important had died. I can’t sit through another 600 page book to find out what happens, this series is just going to have to continue with one less fan. 2/5 stars.

Review: Canada by Richard Ford

Like so many other reviews I’ve read on Canada, I was drawn to the book by the tag lines “First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.” The book was well recommended and reviewed so I had to try it out for myself. Well, I have come to regret that decision.

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The theme of this book was: Adults suck sometimes. I was tempted to stop reading way too often. It was beyond dull. The main character is Dell Parsons. His parents rob a bank, therefore leaving him and his twin sister to figure out what to do. Well it turns out that the sister skips town and Dell’s mother sets up for him to be taken care of by a mysterious man in Canada (hence the name) named Arthur Remlinger. The book then fills up with mundane details, boring events, and an attempt to create sympathy (or pity) for Dell. Later it is revealed that Arthur has a dark past as well, which catches up to him during Dell’s stay. Unfortunately, the adults in his life just can’t get it right. Dell is forced to grow up quickly in a pseudo coming of age novel.

I didn’t like this book at all. Which is unfortunate, because it has the plot structure that should set up a very interesting tale. Parents are bank robbers? Twin sister skips out on you? Murder!? Sounds like writing gold! Unfortunately, Canada does not live up to it’s fantastic plot. It was slow and painful to read. The time that should have been spent developing the plot was wasted on developing setting. All around the characters that should have been interesting fell flat. The book was much longer than it needed to be, with pages of filler that didn’t move the plot along at all. Dell was less realistic than I wanted; his methods of dealing with all the events happening around him didn’t seem healthy at all. At 15, his entire life came crashing down (twice) and all of his previously held ideals were shattered (a lot) yet he remained upright. The book was just plain boring. The only good part about the book was the ending (i.e., last 20 or so pages).

I should mention that I borrowed this book from my library so I had no monetary losses to consider when reading it. In the end I rated Canada 2/5 stars. Don’t bother.

Review: Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

A friend suggested this book to me, and since I value her opinion I decided to give it a whirl. Well, I still love her, but I didn’t like this book. At all. Review after the pic!

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This book is about a family who owns a Swamp themed amusement park down in the Florida everglades. It’s your typical dysfunctional family. The mother is the hero of the story, so of course she dies. This leaves the dad, a son and two daughters. Oh and a grandfather who lives on a nursing home that is out at sea. The story starts off well enough but then it diverges into more intimate details of the four main characters and their lives. The older daughter has paranormal relationships that cause her to run away from home. The older son has dreams of going to college, and is the typical socially inept genius. The father leaves the swamp in order to make money on the mainland, but of course he disappears and doesn’t contact his kids. Then the youngest daughter, who is just trying to make sense of it all, goes in search of her sister after being abandoned by the rest of her family and ends up with a bird chasing cuckoo which makes for some very uncomfortable scenes. What?

I didn’t like the over the top scenarios the characters were faced with. I didn’t like any of the flawed characters. I didn’t like the fact that the book diverges into two different stories, one following Ava on her search to find her paranormal activity sister (Ossie), and the second following Kiwi, who has committed the ultimate sin against the family and gone to find a job on the mainland. It was just too much. It was poorly written, with idiotic characters. (seriously, Ava goes off with the random bird guy?) ((Ossie and her relationship with a ghostly boyfriend, like what?)) Finally, I hated the ending. Everything becomes neatly wrapped up in a little bow, no charges pressed, no investigation begun. It felt like the author just threw it all together because she had run out of ways to describe the landscape. Not to mention the random tossing in of new characters just because. It was just. No. I gave it 1/5 stars.