Book Review: The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: This is a reality bending world with a mom who thought she would get one evening away from her baby being thrust into a time loopy adventure. It’s not very long, and it’s pretty much the setting that kept me hooked. To describe terribly, there are layers of realities that get more and more unhinged as you step from Prime layer to deeper and deeper echoes, and there aren’t many people who survive, or even want to consider stepping away from the layer that serves at ground truth. A new year party goes haywire and our protagonist Kembral is stuck trying to prevent murders, understanding why things are happening and what the stakes are for her and her baby, and just trying to get back home safe.

Kembral is shown to be an extremely competent Hound on maternity leave. There are people who want her back at work to do some challenging things, and she’s just trying to get them to understand that she’s not back at work yet. What a Hound (or a Cat, as you shall see if you read the book) does I think I’ve understood, but I couldn’t explain satisfactorily with a gun to my head, or worse. She’s like a magical investigator. You’ll just have to read the book and see for yourself.

You know those movies, where there’s a party or social gathering, and that’s used to introduce the viewer to different characters who may or may not matter to the story? The first two chapters are that, and it’s a bit dizzying in how much information is given to the reader at the get go. Quite a lot of it is useful, but I just couldn’t hold it in my head as the story progressed, and I just relied on the author’s competence to remind me of something important if it mattered. It did work out, and I really enjoyed watching the main character put things together and make her alliances. Now, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I am not sure if this makes the book friendly to newbies of the genre.

As for the magic, I really enjoyed how the different layers of echoes added awe but also stakes to the adventure, and loved watching things go more and more insane as Kembral got deeper in. The setting is what got me to pay attention to this book, and while it can be a wholly of information initially, I don’t think there was a way to smoothen it out, and get the impression that the author did the best she could. Beyond that point though, there’s a steady drip of the setting given throughout the book, and that was done very impressively.

A prominent theme of in book that gives it a niche target audience would be motherhood. Like I said, new mom away from baby for a night, and while we have seen it before in TV shows or movies or even books (I haven’t so if you know any that do this, feel free to drop a recommendation in the comments), but I liked how every other action taken by the main character was colored by her new responsibility or concern for the world that her baby Emmi would inherit, as well as her conflicting emotions in taking time away for herself, or trying to decide how she would balance what she wanted in her career/job and with her daughter. I do wish the resolution wasn’t abrupt here. When I mean abrupt, there’s a drastic change in like three paragraphs, and this needed to be done better, and more convincingly. As for repetition, you know how much I loathe it in books. There were a lot of the same phrases or words used (we could’ve done with one or more less mentions of her insides being rearranged during pregnancy etc), and I think the concentration on some aspects of motherhood was overly done in pockets, and there had to be stronger editing to spread it across the book in a less making-a-point-in-your-face way. I realize I’m not in a position to critique the content, but it’s the delivery here that I’ve an issue with. Just copyedit better next time?

Extending on my feelings about the motherhood theme, I enjoyed how the romance and pining (if you like a book with pining) worked its way into it and her need to be able to ask for help when needed. Now, the miscommunication, it wasn’t bad here. There is some. But you get to watch it being worked out by the end. So just keep that in mind.

CONCLUSION: I said a lot and have trouble pinning down my feelings for this book, but just know, I do recommend it. If you review, it’s definitely worth a request, and if you don’t, worth a purchase. Or talk to your library. I think a lot of you will enjoy this one.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: SUNG-IL KIM was born in Seoul in 1974. Despite his lifelong dream of writing fiction, he only got around to it in his forties. He writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, or some blend of those. In South Korea, he is known for Blood of the Old Kings, I Will Go to Earth to See You, and “The Knight of La Mancha,” the last of which earned him an Excellence Award at the Korean SF Awards in 2018. He spends most of his time in his downtown Seoul apartment with his wife and two cats.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Bethany Jacobs is a former college instructor of writing and science fiction, who made the leap to education technology and now teaches tech heads how to write. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her wife and her dog and her books. These Burning Stars is her debut novel.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Nicole Evans (she/hers) is a queer, disabled SFF writer. With an MFA in Fiction, more trunked novels than she can count and too many ideas to keep track of, she made her authorial debut with Blood Price. She currently lives in the Midwest with her partner and their pets, though she yearns to escape to the forest one day. You can find her online via her LinkTree.