Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (1 star)

Well, here we are, second book in the terrible series that I'm reading for no good reason. Spoilers ahead.

This has got to be hands-down the least plausible conception of time-travel that ever made it to print. But first some background. So Matthew picks a time (the year 1590) seemingly pretty much at random, but presumably because Harkness had done the research for that time period and wanted to show it off.

There's literally no good reason to pick that time in history - Matthew doesn't know any powerful witches to train Diana alive at that time, and people are being executed left and right for witchcraft, whether they are actual witches or not. So you know, asking around for a witch to learn from isn't going to exactly be easy. Not to mention that Diana is going to stick out like a sore thumb: she is a modern woman and doesn't know anything about how to live in 1590. Cue long boring sections about how to write with a quill and get dressed.

So poor life choices, but fine. Here's how the time travel works. Matthew shows up and 1590 Matthew just disappears....Umm. OK. Sure. What happens when they leave? Apparently 1590 Matthew just reappears and he is going to be confused AF because for a good few months he was apparently hanging out with some crazy woman, who he married, and carried on with at Queen Elizabeth's court, adopted a kid etc. But 1590 Matthew is just going to pop back into being and what? Be really confused? And somehow he doesn't remember that experience a few centuries later when he starts hanging out with Diana? This situation is just so dumb.

That's why most time travel fiction actually tries to avoid your real self in the past. But no, that would get in the way of making Matthew THE MOST IMPORTANT MAN IN HISTORY. I mean he's friends with literally everyone famous from that era, which seems like a poor decision for a creature who's supposed to be hiding, since you know, he doesn't actually age at all. It's all just so implausible.

Anyway, the novel continues in it's boring way, with even more abusive terrible relationships, this time modelling spectacularly bad behavior towards Phoebe:

Phoebe’s hand was trembling. That man—that strange man with no grasp of proper etiquette and startling blue eyes—had kissed her. At her place of work. Without her permission.

Kit's obviously the largest danger to Diana, but everyone seems implausibly oblivious to this. Especially Diana and Matthew themselves. It allows Diana to get into a slow-motion bond-villain death trap with a jousting mannequin.

I'm pretty sick of hearing about Ashmole 782.

1 star.