Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you? I hope you’re well!
I’ve just finished Time’s Convert, book 4 in the All Souls series by Deborah Harkness and I ADORED it! It’s my second time reading it but the first time I read it, I didn’t enjoy it half as much as in this in depth read.
“Time’s Convert” details Phoebe’s transition into a vampire, as well as Marcus waiting or pining for her and his past before vampirism and during his first years as a vampire up until present day. A couple of things I enjoyed the most about the story were Miriam’s motherly, or not so motherly ways in ‘bringing Phoebe into vampirism,’ as well as Marcus’s history as a human and him becoming a vampire. The story also brings Diana, Matthew, their twin children and other members of their family, like Freyja, Marcus’s vampire aunt into the story, too, but the plot is certainly focused on Phoebe and Marcus and their coming together, rather than anyone else. I absolutely ADORE the original All Souls trilogy! It’s my absolute favourite book series EVER! And I’m VERY pleased to say that I LOVED “Time’s Convert” this time too! Last time I read it I wasn’t so in love. It was just okay. I guess I just wanted more of Diana and Matthew the first time I read it and I didn’t really get that, although they do feature, as I’ve said above, just not to the extent that I necessarily wanted the first time I read it.
5 Stars!
“Time’s Convert” is told in a dual timeline fashion. We have the past timeline that details Marcus’s life before he was a vampire as well as after. And then we have the present timeline, where we see Diana, Matthew, their children, as well as Phoebe. We get more about Phoebe and Marcus because is their book. I’d say it’s probably split 70/30. 70% Phoebe and Marcus and 30% Diana, Matthew and their children. The novel is also told in both 3rd and 1st person. We see Phoebe and Marcus’s parts in 3rd person, and Diana’s parts from her perspective, just like in the original trilogy. This worked well because I already know Diana’s personality.
I read Time’s Convert for Reading Rivalry for my Always Fully Booked Reading Challenges.
RR - A book with an immortal character - There are vampires in the All Souls series, so it works perfectly for the immortal character prompt.
AFB - A book set in at least 2 different countries - Time’s Convert is set in the USA and France.
AFB on the Cover challenge - A Clock Face - On the cover of both the UK and US editions there’s a clock!
Spoilers below…
“That night, Marcus took his pillow and arranged it at the top of the stairs. The pain in his backside and legs had gone from a fierce burn to a dull ache. His father had given him the promised beating, and had used a leather strap from the barn this time rather that his hand so that Marcus wouldn’t forget the lesson.
His ma and pa were arguing in the kitchen. Marcus couldn’t make out what the fight was about, but he suspected it had to do with him. His stomach growled with hunger—there hadn’t been enough food at dinner, and his ma had let the bread they were supposed to have with it burn.
“Mind your place, Catherine,” his pa said, storming out of the kitchen and grabbing his hat off the newel post. The woolen felt was dry now, but the brim had wilted and it no longer had a familiar, triangular shape.”
This highlights the abuse that Marcus has to go through as a young boy at the hand of his father, Obadiah. Obadiah is a cruel father to Marcus. He doesn’t want his son to go to war as a soldier, but of course Marcus wants to to prove himself and escape, more than anything. I felt for Marcus in these scenes more than his father. Obadiah is a mean, jealous, old man. The way he beats and argues with his wife, Catherine is testament to this, as well as his obvious hatred toward his son.
Marcus DOES go to war as a soldier. There he meets friends such as Vanderslice. Vanderslice comes into the story again later in the novel after Marcus is made a vampire. Marcus is the one who makes Vanderslice a vampire but not everything goes perfectly. Vanderslice ends up dying and getting killed and leaving Marcus alone again. This was sad, but we know that Marcus is okay in the present storyline of the book, in fact he’s in love!
Phoebe is wanting to become a vampire. She has to go through a certain amount of challenges to become this new version of herself, however. Miriam, her vampire mother is there being as strict as ever. Freyja, Marcus’s aunt is mentioned in the original trilogy but she really HAS a role in “Time’s Convert” as Marcus’s second in command, helper.
“Phoebe stepped on the scale.
“My God, you are tiny,” Freyja read the numbers to Miriam, who recorded them on something that looked like a medical chart. “Fifty-two kilograms.”
“I told you to gain three kilos, Phoebe,” Miriam said. “The scale shows an increase of just two kilos.”
“I did try.” Phoebe didn’t see why she was apologizing to these two, who were on the equivalent of a raw-foods-plus-liquids diet. “What difference does one kilo make?”
“Blood volume,” Miriam replied, trying to sound patient. “The heavier you are, the more blood you have.”
“And the more blood you have, the more you will need to receive from Miriam,” Freyja continued. “We want to make sure that she gives back as much as she takes. There are fewer risks of rejection with an equivalent exchange of human blood for vampire blood. And we want you to receive as much blood as possible.”
The calculations had been going on for months. Blood volume. Cardiac output. Weight. Oxygen uptake. If Phoebe didn’t know better, she would think she was on trial for the British national fencing team, not the de Clermont family.”
This how how Freyja and Miriam make sure that Phoebe is ready for vampirism at the beginning of the novel. I thought it was funny how the author compared Phoebe’s transformation and joining the de Clairmont family to being put on the fencing team.
“A man came into focus, one so large he filled the doorway. He was wearing a dark blue coat with a standing collar, few buttons, and no gold braid. French. Marcus recognized the cut and style from the parades he’d seen on Market Street in Philadelphia.
“Are you a doctor?” The Frenchman spoke perfect English, which was unusual. Most of his countrymen got by with hand gestures and the occasional English word.
“No. A surgeon. I’ll call—”
“There’s no time. You’ll do.” The man reached out a long arm and caught Marcus by the collar. His hands were crusted with blood, and his white breeches were smeared with splashes of red.
“Are you wounded?” Marcus asked his captor. The Frenchman seemed robust enough, but if he were to fall down, Marcus wasn’t sure he would have the strength to lift him to safety.
“I am chevalier de Clermont—and I am not your patient,” the Frenchman replied, a sharp edge to his voice. He pointed again, his arm long and his fingers fine and aristocratic. “He is.”
Another French soldier lay on a makeshift stretcher, nearly as tall as his friend and covered with enough gold braid to draw the notice of even the most discriminating Philadelphia maiden. A french officer—an important one, by the looks of him. Marcus rushed to his side.”
It’s during the war that Marcus meets Matthew as the chevalier de Clermont. Matthew wants Marcus to come with him to help heal a wounded French official as a doctor, which is what Marcus becomes after he’s tried being a soldier. Matthew as we know from the previous books has been a medical professional as one of his many jobs. Marcus gets transformed by Matthew when he’s hurt almost beyond death.
“Marcus slept for a while after that. When he woke, the chevalier de Clermont was in the midst of a story that was more fantastic than Marcus’s own dreams. He said he had lived for more than a thousand years. That he had been a carpenter and a mason, a soldier and a spy, a poet, a doctor, a lawyer.
De Clermont spoke of some of the men he had killed. Someone in Jerusalem, and others in France and Germany and Italy. And he mentioned a woman, too, someone named Eleanor.
There were frightening parts to the story, elements that made Marcus think he was indeed in hell. The chevalier talked about his taste for blood, and how he drank from living creatures and tried to kill them. Surely such a thing was impossible.
“Would you drink from a man’s veins to survive?” Even in the midst of his story, the chevalier de Clermont kept asking questions.
Marcus was burning up with fever, his mind addled with the heat and the pressure in his veins.
“If I did, would the pain stop?” Marcus’s asked.
“Yes,” de Clermont replied.
“Then I would,” Marcus confessed.”
This is how Matthew wants to check that Marcus is ready for vampirism. Matthew lets Marcus know that he’s lived for over a thousand years and the jobs that he’s had. The biggest question, though is will Marcus be okay drinking from a man’s veins to survive? When Marcus gives the answer of yes to Matthew, the chevalier de Clermont, Matthew changes Marcus into a vampire!
The rest of the novel is focused on Marcus’s changes and how he works through his vampirism with the help of Matthew and others such as Veronique, his girlfriend in the past timeline and Ysabeau, his grandmother and Matthew’s infamous vampire mother. Philippe, Ysabeau’s dead vampire husband makes a few appearances towards the end of “Times Convert,” too in the past storyline.
“It was already dark outside when Marcus and Veronique emerged from their attic on the left bank of the Seine. Veronique’s red, curling hair tumbled freely about her shoulders, the patriotic ribbons on her white cap fluttering in the breeze…She was buttoning her blue coat under her breasts, which accentuated her curves in ways that had Marcus longing to return to the bedroom.
Veronique, however, was intent on getting to work. She owned a tavern, one that Marcus still frequented along with his friend and fellow physician Jean-Paul Marat. There Marcus and Marat talked about politics and philosophy while Veronique served up wine, beer, and ale to the students of the nearby university. She had been doing so for centuries.
Veronique was that rarest of all creatures: a family-less vampire.”
We never do get a resolution to every part of Marcus’s story. Most of it is summed up but not all. For example, Marat is a physician who we don’t learn too much about. He’s a daemon and a scoundrel, who wants to cause trouble and wreak havoc among Marcus’s vampire friends. This is proven when he steals Veronique away from Marcus. Veronique doesn’t have much backbone and is easily persuaded by others to do their bidding. She probably became that way from being “a family-less vampire” as the text above reads. She wouldn’t have had the strict family to bring her up, like Marcus did. We never learn what actually happens to Veronique. It would have been nice to get an outcome, whether life or death for her. But then again, she might appear in another novel later in the “All Souls series!” I hope she does! I’d like to see a war between Phoebe and Veronique for Marcus’s heart!
Now, in the present timeline, we’re following a few characters. One, is Phoebe, whom I’ve already discussed, but I’ll add that she gets a cat to feed on. She, however doesn’t want to feed on the cat and kill her, so she turns it in to a vampire kitty and calls her Persephone. Miriam is not happy about this. I found some of the reactions of Miriam to the things that Phoebe did quite funny.
“Miriam is going to be furious.”
“She is,” Jason agreed.
Phoebe caught her lip in her teeth, anxious. “And I’m still hungry.”
“You should have had Margot while you had the chance,” Jason commented.
A middle-aged while woman strolled by, texting madly on her phone. She stopped, and dug in her purse.
“Do either of you have a light?” she asked, barely looking up from the screen.
“Sure,” Jason replied, tossing his lighter to Phoebe with a smile.”
Phoebe knows that Miriam will be furious with her, above. Phoebe doesn’t want to feed on humans, but inevitably does. Jason, her trainer isn’t present for much of the book. Just when Phoebe needs to learn how to feed.
The romance in “Time’s Convert” was a lot better than I remember when I read it before. The romance between Phoebe and Marcus is obviously pining for the first half of the novel as they can’t see each other due to Phoebe not being able to have contact with Marcus, but when they’re reunited it’s perfect. Marcus and Phoebe move into the house he had as a child at the end of the novel. I thought this was sweet and wrapped up his or their story perfectly.
Lastly, I’ll note what Matthew and Diana are doing while Phoebe is becoming a vampire. They’re looking after their twins in France, in the Revenants, the house that Ysabeau gave them in Book 3, “The Book of Life.” I actually forgot just how present Diana and Matthew are in Time’s Convert, even though it is primarily Marcus’s and Phoebe’s story.
“Good morning, team!” I said brightly to Matthew when I finished showering and dressing. I slipped my feet into my waiting sneakers. “Time to rise and shine!”
Matthew groaned and then pulled me back into bed.
Our latest project—managing two Bright Born children entering the terrible twos slightly ahead of schedule, one with a griffin and one who liked to bite—had proved far more difficult than finding Ashmole 782 and its missing pages, or facing down the Congregation and its ancient prejudices. Both of us were utterly exhausted.
After an energizing tussle under the canopy, Matthew and I went to the nursery to rouse the twins. Though the sun had barely risen, the rest of Team Bishop-Clairmont was awake and ready for action.
“Hungry.” Becca’s lower lip trembled.
“Sleeping.” Philip pointed to Apollo. “Shh.”
The griffin had abandoned the fireplace and somehow managed to climb into Philip’s cradle. His weight caused it to list alarmingly, his sling tail spilling out over the side. The cradle swayed gently in time to his snores.”
This is a good example of what Dianna and Matthew do. They wake up, make love, and then go to manage their 2 year old, Bright Born twins, Becca and Philip. Diana sums up that looking after two Bright Born twins with otherworldly capabilities is harder than finding Ashmole 782, the elusive manuscript that the original trilogy was based around finding, and beating the Congregation was two years or so ago. Apollo, Philip’s familiar griffin is a character full of sass, and attitude. I loved reading about him. I wonder just what or who Becca’s familiar will be. I really hope there’ll be a romance in future books between Becca adnd Baldwin, her stuffy vampire-uncle. Becca is obviously a baby in Time’s Convert but its clear to me that Baldwin loves her in,
“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. I had never heard him so much as 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?”
Matthew looked a bit faint at the prospect of Baldwin and Becca going hunting together.
“Here cara. Drink this,” Baldwin said, holding his blood and wine to her lips.
“There’s too much wine in it,” I protested. “It’s not good—”
“Nonsense,” Baldwin said with a snort. “I grew up drinking wine at breakfast, lunch and dinner. and that was before Philippe sired me. It won’t harm her.”
“Baldwin.” Matthew’s voice sliced through the rising tension in the air. “Diana doesn’t want Rebecca to drink it.”
Baldwin shrugged and put his cup down.
“I’ll mix her some blood and milk. She can have it before she goes to bed,” I said.
“That sounds disgusting.” Baldwin shuddered.”
The way that Baldwin calls Becca “cara,” tells me that he cares deeply for her, as an uncle right now, maybe, but in the future as she grows into a young woman and he stays the same who knows? It’s obvious that Baldwin doesn’t agree with Diana and Matthew’s ways of raising their Bright Born twins, but Diana doesn’t care. I like how she finally had some backbone and stood up to him. Being a de Clairmont in marriage as well as having children with Matthew has fully cemented her place as one of the family, it seems, as well as being Philippe’s bloodsworn daughter.
Well, that’s it, my thoughts on “Time’s Convert” by Deborah Harkness, the fourth book in the “All Souls series,” my favourite book series in the world. Have any of you read it? If you have what did you think? Were you like me? Did you read it the first time and didn’t love it but the second or third time did absolutely love it? Let me know below! I’m going to wait a little while before I dive on into the new Deborah Harkness book, “The Blackbird Oracle,” which again follows Diana and Matthew and their Bright Born twins, this time delving more into Diana’s father’s past, I believe.
I’m going to read a couple of contemporary novellas which I won’t review here next. I might review them all when I finish the series but not now.
Thanks for reading!
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