Lauren
2.75
The Last Hour Between World is about Kembral, a woman whose job it is to go into the echos of reality to save those who have become lost within them. Although she is currently on maternity leave, she attends a work New Year’s party, but it seems work never ends for Kembral thanks to the echos who plan to wreak havoc on the party. Listen, I actually think this book is good for someone, that someone just wasn’t me. The reason this book wasn’t for me is simple: I’m not a mom and I have zero desire to be one. Kembral’s whole identity is centered in the fact that she is a new mother. I have no doubt that new mothers probably feel very seen by this book, the struggles she’s facing around whether to return to work/which parts of work, and the bodily changes that come from having a baby. I totally respect that. However, I got so tired of hearing about her baby and how she wanted to be there and also wanted to be with her baby and how her baby rearranged her insides before being born. Again, I am sure this is super related able for those who have experienced this, but I got so tired of it pretty quickly. My more natural complaints: the world building was…odd. It felt like a lot of information for info dumped but at the same time nothing really made sense and a lot of the victories our protagonists had were honestly more lucky than anything else. We get told over and over how wonderful she is at her job, but honestly? I don’t see it. A lot of left unexplained. Things happen and then we just keep moving forwarding. Lastly, some of the writing was very campy, and I didn’t vibe with it. I think the idea behind this book was great, but the execution was just not it for me.
Note: I don’t remove stars for this, but while the audiobook narrator was good and I’ve liked her work before, the bongs she did for the clock drove me bonkers.
2.75
The Last Hour Between World is about Kembral, a woman whose job it is to go into the echos of reality to save those who have become lost within them. Although she is currently on maternity leave, she attends a work New Year’s party, but it seems work never ends for Kembral thanks to the echos who plan to wreak havoc on the party. Listen, I actually think this book is good for someone, that someone just wasn’t me. The reason this book wasn’t for me is simple: I’m not a mom and I have zero desire to be one. Kembral’s whole identity is centered in the fact that she is a new mother. I have no doubt that new mothers probably feel very seen by this book, the struggles she’s facing around whether to return to work/which parts of work, and the bodily changes that come from having a baby. I totally respect that. However, I got so tired of hearing about her baby and how she wanted to be there and also wanted to be with her baby and how her baby rearranged her insides before being born. Again, I am sure this is super related able for those who have experienced this, but I got so tired of it pretty quickly. My more natural complaints: the world building was…odd. It felt like a lot of information for info dumped but at the same time nothing really made sense and a lot of the victories our protagonists had were honestly more lucky than anything else. We get told over and over how wonderful she is at her job, but honestly? I don’t see it. A lot of left unexplained. Things happen and then we just keep moving forwarding. Lastly, some of the writing was very campy, and I didn’t vibe with it. I think the idea behind this book was great, but the execution was just not it for me.
Note: I don’t remove stars for this, but while the audiobook narrator was good and I’ve liked her work before, the bongs she did for the clock drove me bonkers.