On Time's Convert back cover the reader is given the promise that the plot will focus on Phoebe Taylor and Marcus Whitmore, two of the secondary characters from the Deborah Harkness's All Souls series, as we are supposed to follow Phoebe in her transformation into a vampire while Marcus reflects on his own transformation at the fangs of Matthew de Clermont in the late 18th century during the war of independence in America. And though we do get glimpses of Marcus' early life as a warmblood, they are often cheap opportunities for Deborah Harkness to have important historical figures (much like in Shadow of Night)appear in the narrative: Alexander Hamilton, le Marquis de La Fayette and John Adams as well as Benjamin Franklin, Jean-Paul Marat and Joseph Guillotin, etc.
Throughout the novel, there are parallels between what Marcus experienced as a new born vampires and how Phoebe is adjusting at her new life as a vampire. These parallels could have been interesting if they hadn't been so stretched out which only strengthens my opinion that Time's Convert would have gained to be a short story instead of a novel for there was not enough material to create an engaging and meaningful plot. That is probably why Deborah Harkness has filled the narrative with scenes of Diana Bishop, Matthew de Clermont and their twins. And in the end, their presence greatly impacted Marcus' and Phoebe's stories as Diana and Matthew, who already had a trilogy for themselves, stole the show and became the main drivers of a plot they were not the main protagonists of.
Another character who fell victim of the overbearing presence of a de Clermont character was Miriam Sheperd. Ever since A Discovery of Witches, I was hoping that Miriam would be given the credit she deserves and I foolishly thought that Time's Convert would provide her with a central role in the narrative as she has been chosen to be Phoebe's maker. But instead, Deborah Harkness has turned Miriam into a reluctant "mother" who doesn't want to be involved with her child's vampiric education leaving the job to Freya de Clermont, a member of the de Clermont family who wasn't even in the All Souls trilogy.
I wish I could find more aspects of the novel to review. However, it is difficult to do so when Time's Convert is devoid of plot, meaning and depth and has, in the end, nothing to bring its readers.
Harkness, Deborah. Time's Convert, New York, Headline Publishing, 2018.