Review: Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness
“‘Too soon? There is no such thing,’ Ysabeau said. ‘We are, all of us, asked to grow up too quickly. It is the way the gods remind us that life, no matter how long, is still but a breath.’”
The Basics
Title: Time’s Convert (All Souls #4)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Published: 2018
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 434
Format: Paperback
Genres: Fiction — Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Fantasy romance, Urban fantasy, Historical fiction, Paranormal romance
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Book Synopsis
In this spinoff of the All Souls Trilogy, Marcus, Matthew’s son, takes center stage. With chapters alternating between the past and present day, Marcus’ life prior to being made a vampire during the Revolutionary War is revealed, as are his current goings-on. A secondary focus of this book is Phoebe’s transformation into a vampire and her subsequent journey to adapt to her new self. In spite of all of the planning that went into her transformation, she quickly learns that becoming a vampire is not as easy as she had imagined.
My Review & Overall Thoughts
TLDR: A hugely disappointing follow-up to the All Souls Trilogy.
Time’s Convert is one of my most disappointing reads in recent history. Having read (and reread) the All Souls Trilogy, I was quite eager to pick up this book and delve back into the All Souls world. Unfortunately, it ended up paling in comparison to the preceding three books. Whereas the other books are filled with romance, intrigue, and suspense, Time’s Convert has but a smidgen of romance and is devoid of any sense of intrigue or suspense. It is a rather dull story, and if not for the fact that I set out to review this book, I would have shelved it after the first few chapters.
The biggest knock against Time’s Convert is that it doesn’t have much in the way of a plot. The book is heavily character driven, with the primary focus of the book being the unveiling of Marcus’ life both as a human and young vampire. These glimpses into his early life, while insightful, are not particularly stimulating.
They are, however, more enjoyable than the portions of the book that deal with Phoebe’s transformation into a vampire. I found her chapters to be not only the most tedious but also the strangest. The scenes involving Phoebe read like a Dr. Spock book for how to raise a vampire – a What to Expect When You’re Expecting for vampires, if you will. Her chapters were made all the more tiresome by the fact that I am not that invested in her character. Both her and Marcus were fairly minor characters in the All Souls Trilogy, so I did not have much of an opportunity to learn about them or become invested in their storylines prior to this book.
The most entertaining chapters are those narrated by Diana, as they provide a glimpse into her and Matthew’s life after the events of The Book of Life. We are able to see how her twins are doing, as well as how the other de Clermont and Bishop family members, such as Ysabeau and Sarah, are faring. Even these chapters, however, have their faults; namely, that some of these chapters are rather clumsily used as a segue into the next part of Marcus’ story.
Lastly, owing to its organization, this book feels a bit disjointed. The story jumps back and forth from Marcus’ past to the present day, and within the present-day timeline, there are two storylines, Phoebe’s transformation and the Bishop-de Clermonts’ goings-on. Each chapter begins with a date, and I often found myself flipping back to previous chapters to see how much time how passed in the respective timeline. It was difficult to remember what was the last day listed in Marcus’ past timeline vs. Phoebe’s timeline vs. Diana and Matthew’s timeline.
The good
As was true with the All Souls Trilogy, Time’s Convert boasts an impressive attention to historical detail. It is clear from reading this book that Harkness conducted extensive research on Colonial America in order to bring that time period and place to life. Harkness also does a masterful job of blending together fiction and reality. Through the inclusion of actual historical events and people, she makes the events of this book seem believable.
Lastly, as someone who grew up in New Hampshire just north of Massachusetts, I enjoyed reading about such western Massachusetts towns as Hadley and Northampton. It was fun to have all of these towns that I grew up near name-dropped.
Overall
All in all, Time’s Convert is an unsatisfying follow-up to the All Souls Trilogy. With none of the pizzazz of the original trilogy, it falls flat and succumbs to mediocrity.
Have you read Time’s Convert? If so, let me know what you thought of the book in the comments section below!
