Early Review – The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives, Book 1) by Melissa Caruso (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 420 pages
Publisher:‎ Orbit
Release Date: November 19, 2024
ASIN: B0C9ZPZVMN
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Echo Archives
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for review
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Star investigator Kembral Thorne has a few hours away from her newborn, and she just wants to relax and enjoy the year-turning party. But when people start dropping dead, she’s got to get to work. Especially when she finds that mysterious forces are plunging the whole party down through layers of reality and into nightmare.

One layer down: It’s no big deal. Stay alert, and you’ll be fine.

Two, three layers down: Natural laws are negotiable, and things get very strange.

Four layers down: There are creatures with eyes in their teeth and walls that drip blood. Most people who fall this far never return.

Luckily, Kem isn’t most people. But as cosmic powers align and the hour grows late, she’ll have to work with her awfully compelling nemesis, notorious cat burglar Rika Nonesuch, for a chance to save her city—though not her night off.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 1st book in the Echo Archives. I got this on ebook from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is very creative and intriguing, the characters were awesome, and I enjoyed how twisty, turny the plot was. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book but it definitely exceeded any expectations that I had. This is the first book I have read by Caruso, I do have “The Obsidian Tower” on my wish list to read at some point as well.

Kembral Thorne is on maternity leave when she decides to go to a work party, just to have a few hours with other adults. It’s the year-turning party, and as long as she can dodge offered work (she is on leave) and politics, she should have a lot of fun. Then people start to die, and she is forced to work or die herself. As the clock ticks on, she drops down into further unrelated layers of reality. Yes, she can time hop, but this is quickly getting out of control, the clock keeps resetting and the party keeps dropping further away from the Prime reality…this many layers down, things start to get beyond strange. She finally relents and calls on her nemesis, Rika Nonesuch, to help her figure out what is going on and hopefully stop the party members from getting killed again and again.

I absolutely adored this book. The characters are realistic and easy to engage with, and I loved them all so much. Poor Kembral never wanted to have a child but is doing her best to be a good mother. The doctors told her hopping through time wouldn’t affect the fetus and now here she is finally trying to get a break and ending up in total chaos. Rika and Kembral have unfinished business, a date gone wrong, and horrible betrayal when Kembral thought they had something good going on. Rika has a lot of secrets and skills, and one of the big ones is the reason she betrayed Kembral in the first place. Even the side characters are incredibly well done with excellent depth.

I loved having a main protagonist that is a new mom and thought this was portrayed very accurately; the tiredest I ever was in my life was as a new mom trying to work a full time job and earn a second college degree at the same time…not recommended.

Then there is the world-building, oh my goodness, there is so much going on here that is intriguing and unexpected. From the idea of godlike players fighting to name a year to all these layers of reality on top of each other, I really enjoyed the world here. I loved how you never knew what to expect after you dropped down into a new layer of reality. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, which I enjoyed as well. At its heart this story is a who-dun-it mystery with some interesting and unexpected twists.

The pace is non-stop and I was always engaged in the story. I struggled to put this book down. The writing was easy to read and flowed well. The dialogue is campy and fun. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this first book in The Echo Archives. I enjoyed the wonderful characters, the unique world-building, and the intriguing unexpected plot. This was fast-paced with a lot of action and some campy fun humor as well. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.