Yet again I am sucked into buying a book because of its cover. But look at it, it’s so pretty! And the back cover has a blurb from Neil Gaiman! I love Gaiman so much that I don’t even mind knockoff Gaiman, so I was hopeful this would be a nice little sci-fi jaunt with the gothic twists he’s expert at.
For someone who loves book covers so much, I sure don’t read the actual relevant information on them. This isn’t about time travel (well, any more than forward at the rate of one second per second like the rest of us anyway), or stopping time. It’s about someone who ages slowly enough to be essentially immortal (though the “albas” like the protagonist with said “anageria” do succumb to wounds or senescence eventually, just much harder and slower).
It’s a good enough book, and the idea is interesting enough, but the story progresses exactly like you’d expect it would once all the players are assembled. There’s a cute bit where Shakespeare (why must every character who lived in his era inevitably have dealings with Shakespeare?) helps our protagonist escape, but the characters are all one dimensional and the plot holds few surprises. To borrow from another author I’ll read knockoffs of because I love him so dearly; “the good ended happily, and the bad ended unhappily. That is the definition of fiction.” I don’t regret having read this, but I’m not sure I would have bought it if I had skimmed the first few pages, and it’s destined for my resale pile.