This novel doesn't start at the beginning. Nor does it conclude at the end. Not when there are horologist about, souls who do not die but simply bounce to another body when the previous one expires. 
 But it's not about them, not really. It's about Holly Sykes, but not truly about her, either. It's about everyone she interacts with over the course of her lifetime, but then it's not about them at all. It's about all these people you think will be important, and then they're not. There's something sad and mortal about that, which is ironic in a book whose underlying theme is immortality. 
 I kept expecting something big and grand to occur. Then it didn't, and I was left disappointed. But the more I thought about it, the more beauty I saw in the mundane. The Horologists are special, but for them their "talents" are normal. Holly was born special, but her fate is changed over the course of her life. 
 "Normal is whatever you have come to take for granted." 
 This book shifts plots halfway through, from the "mundane" to something more fantastical. And Holly's supposed to just accept all this--which she doesn't, which makes the revelation more believable. If you can call it that. I'm being intentionally vague, because... spoilers. 
 I don't know. It's impossible to describe this novel without retelling the entire thing. I just know that I was enthralled by it, and perplexed, and by the end of 600-some-odd pages I was still thirsty. It doesn't end, just like it never properly began. It's an endless cycle you think maybe has finally concluded, until someone is reborn and the cycle begins over again. Until, of course, they don't. 
 An aside: This book has the smoothest paper I've ever experienced, so please go to your local bookstore just to touch it.