I don't think I've ever read a book that dealt with time in the same way that this book does. Vole spends years at a time in a suspended environment, which means he doesn't have access to things like the internet, machines, or motorized transportation. I thought this was a unique take on time manipulation, especially since that means that Vole has to get a little more creative and be prepared to put in a lot of extra work to get things done. But, this also means that, especially at the beginning of the book, the pacing is pretty slow as he has to painstakingly gather all the materials he needs from different places and plan things out. As the book goes on, there are also just huge time jumps where he presumably just is doing a bunch of grunt work and not anything of note. 

Because most of the book is just spent with Vole during his time stops, we don't get to know any of other characters as well. Past stories are interjected in between the entries of the present timeline in which we get to see moments of Vole's relationship with Bay and some of his interactions with his son, William. I did appreciate that Vole was an imperfect and believable person, and even though this story is all about him, some of his selfish nature kept him from being my favorite character. My favorite character would definitely have to be Bay. She is just portrayed as such a sweet person with much better life perspective than her husband. The depiction of her isn't all that complex, but I could be convinced that this was because it is all from Vole's perspective, and in his current state of regret of not making her happier, he only is seeing the good in her. Some of the little random tidbits we do learn about her are amusing, though.

Ultimately, it is sweet that Vole is putting in this much effort, at his own expense, in order to do something for Bay that he believes is what she would want. The ending feels inevitable, and is a nice way to end their love story, even if that means the future isn't as great for their son. 

For me, the greatest strength of this book was in its uniqueness. For others, I'm sure it will be the retrospective analysis of a married couple's relationship from the viewpoint of being near its conclusion. Even with the time manipulation, I wouldn't consider this to be an actual fantasy novel, especially since the focus isn't on the fantastical element, but rather, how it gives the main character more time to both reflect on his past and to do what he thinks he needs to in order to make amends.