Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

I cannot even begin to say how excited I am for this book. We all know how much I love the All Souls Trilogy, so it should come to no surprise. Time's Convert was what I needed to bring me back to really loving to read, after reading Sybil and Sybil Exposed which were incredibly depressing, I needed something completely unbelievably magical to make me fall in love with what reading is all about, and Deborah Harkness is always able to do just that.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Time's Convert follows the love story of Marcus and Phoebe, who met while Diana and Matthew were time walking through the 1590s. Both have fallen completely and irrevocably fallen in love with each other, so Phoebe has decided that she is going to follow the path of becoming a vampire. Following tradition, after Phoebe becomes a vampire, her and Marcus must spend 90 days apart as she learns how to not only be a vampire, but be a vampire in the de Clermont family, with the help of Miriam, her vampire sire (and therefore her mother), and Freya. During the separation, Marcus reflects on his early years as a warm blood and a vampire, and relives his story with Diana, who loves having a first hand account of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. While she helps Marcus work through the trials of his early life, she and Matthew are trying to raise two bright borns who are currently going through the terrible twos, one showing more vampiric traits, the other more witchy traits. Will the de Clermont family be able to handle to pressures of a new vampire, a vampire who is stressing over his human errors from centuries past, and two bright borns? And will Phoebe choose Marcus when they are reunited, or will her lifestyle change also change her heart?

(Source: Giphy)

I love Marcus and Phoebe together, and so I am glad that Harkness continued their story with Phoebe's transformation, for a few reasons. Obviously, after reading All Souls and the companion novel, The World of All Souls, I was curious about how it really was for a warm blood to go through the transformation of becoming a vampire. Not only do we get to see how Phoebe goes through the transformation in modern times, with everything planned and thoroughly thought through, we learn how Marcus suffered in his transformation during the 1770s. Having the comparison was extremely interesting to see the similarities and the differences.

I loved that my favorite character, Gallowglass, returned, although it was only for a few chapters. If Harkness made even a novella about him, I would read it even more eagerly. His wit and brashness always make me swoon, even when he is being a bit of an ass.

"'The chevalier de Clermont?' Gallowglass tipped his head back and roared with laughter. 'Christ's bones, boy. He's your maker! I understand your reluctance to call him Papa-Matthew is as paternal as a porcupine in full needle-but you might at least call him by his first name.'" (p. 250)

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One thing that I really enjoyed about the book was that it was not just about Phoebe and Marcus. Harkness brought back all of our favorite characters, and with Diana having brought twin bright borns into the world at the end of All Souls, I was eager to find out what was going on with their development. As expected, it is not easy. Raising one kid is hard, raising twins even more so; raising twins that have magical abilities that might lead to them being a weaver and one that bites when she is angry is a stress level I cannot imagine. But they are not the only familiar characters. Ysabeau and Fernando and Baldwin and Jack, along with so many more. I believe my favorite part was seeing the softer side of Balwin when it came to Rebecca.

"'Juicy juice.' Becca, who was sitting next to Baldwin, drummed her feet against her chair. As far as she knew, there were two marvelous elixirs in the world: juice (milk mixed with blood), and juicy juice (blood mixed with water). Becca preferred the latter.

'Aren't they feeding you enough, cara?' Baldwin asked Becca.

Becca scowled at him, as if the idea that there was enough food in the world to satisfy her appetite was completely preposterous.

Baldwin laughed. It was a rich, warm-and entirely unfamiliar sound. In nearly three years of knowing him, I had never heard him so much as a chuckle, never mind laugh out loud.

'I'll trap a pigeon for you tomorrow,' Baldwin promised his niece. 'We'll share it. I'll even let you play with it first. Would you like that?'" (pp. 277-278)

(Source: Giphy)

I have always wanted to know more about Baldwin, and this little insight was extremely rewarding. I would also not mind if Harkness wrote more about him. I would love to see him fall in love with being an uncle, even if he is only warm towards his niece and not so kind when it comes to his nephew. Also, just like Gallowglass, I would like to see him find a mate. The romantic in me just wants everyone to be happy. But I also would not mind a story line where he is a total player and has a woman in every country; I feel like that would be more fitting for him.

Overall, the book was amazing. Right now it does not look like Harkness will be continuing Time's Convert, or have any other books in the All Souls world. I cannot wait to see if she writes more in the world; it is a universe that I love just as much as the world of Hogwarts. They are worlds that I can lose myself in and forget about the normal world.

(Source: Giphy)

Rating: 9/10

Author: Deborah Harkness

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical Fiction

Dates Read: September 18-23, 2018