The Last Hour Between Worlds

By: Melissa Caruso

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

A whip-smart adventure fantasy packed with reality-bending magic, and sapphic romance, The Last Hour Between Worlds is the brilliant launch of a new series from David Gemmell Award-nominated author, Melissa Caruso.

In the Deep Echoes, no one can save you.

Kembral Thorne has a few hours away from her newborn, and she’s determined to enjoy herself at the year-turning ball. But when guests start dropping dead, she can’t help sniffing out trouble—she’s a Hound, after all. Especially when her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is also on the prowl.

Everyone knows you shouldn’t get involved with Echo games. Let alone one involving ancient Echo lords who can turn layers of reality into a gameboard with human lives for pieces. But as the ballroom grows stranger and more otherworldly with each strike of the hour, it’s clearly too late.

Kem knows the rules: One Echo down is no big deal. Stay alert for trouble.

Four Echoes down, there are things with eyes in their teeth, and walls that drip blood. Four is the limit.

As the party plunges through increasingly deadly realities, the rules can’t help Kem anymore. She’ll have to rely on her wits—and Rika—to unravel the most dangerous game of the century before it unleashes catastrophe on their world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Melissa Caruso (P)2024 Orbit

Critic reviews

"A charming fantasy mystery that kept me guessing until the very last page—I completely adored this book and would read a dozen more of Kembral's adventures."—Shannon Chakraborty, New York Times bestselling author of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

“This book has everything you've been craving: sword fights, time loops, complicated feelings about parenthood, and banter with your sworn enemy. What an absolute delight!"—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author

“The Last Hour Between Worlds is a masterpiece—filled with excitement, romance, and characters you would protect with your life. The wobbly time effects in this book reach past its pages, making hours of reading blink by in a moment. Unmissable!”—Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

Full of action

I love how we jumped into the world without a lead up, and figured things out as it went along.

Just Incredible

I read this in January. And I fear it’s ruined me for the rest of the year because I’m not sure I’ll find a book I love more than this. 5/5 for well, everything. Humor, adventure, romance, narration, plot, characters. All I felt after reading it was that I wanted more. I really feared I’d be confused out of my mind with the reality changes but that never happened. Cannot recommend this book enough.

Incredibly Underrated!

Melissa Caruso is an extremely underrated author. The worlds she creates are so unique and interesting and I need everyone right now to give her a chance!

This was the first book in a new world than her previous two trilogies and I think it was done so well! It set up the next book to be incredibly interesting and I'm excited to see where it goes.

At first I thought that the many callouts to the MC's pregnancy was a bit much, but I think by the end it worked out really well with the story. Also, maybe this is a sign that we as a society should be less weirded out by the results of pregnancy and definitely be more thoughtful about giving people TIME OFF. haha it was a great book.

Moira Quirk is fantastic

A fun and engaging fantasy, with an interesting use of ‘alternate’ realities in Echoes. The two main characters and a fun dynamic, and it reminded me a bit of the Locked Tomb series if the two leads in that actually could have a conversation. And Quirk was a great narrator. Distinct voices for each character and wonderful narration.

A fun action packed fantasy!

I thought that “The Last Hour Between Worlds” by Melissa Caruso was a lot of fun. I started reading it on my Kindle and then changed over to the audio version narrated by Moira Quirk (the voice actor of the Locked Tomb series) and she really was the perfect fit for this story.

“The Last Hour Between Worlds” is a fantasy about two women going thru a groundhog day scenario ….trying over and over again to save a party full of public officials from dying. It had magic, action, time loops, campy humor, illusions, and sapphics with swords.

What made the story unique though is that the main character a couple of months ago gave birth to a baby…… so she is an exhausted nursing mother who is also smart and good with a sword. A protagonist who is a single mother with a newborn is very rare to see in an action packed adventure.

She has to power thru her maternal exhaustion and is forced to team up with her arch nemesis in order to attempt to save everyone. The story also includes a sapphic romance subplot and the two women grow closer as they work together to save the world.

There is death and destruction, but there is dry humor and sapphic yearning too and Moira Quirk’s understated narration subtly captured all of it. It was a great performance!

It’s the first book in a series and is a complete story, but the stage is set for the next adventure. It doesn’t end in a cliffhanger. I will definitely be getting the next one.

“The Last Hour Between Worlds” by Melissa Caruso was a fun listen and the narration by Moira Quirk is excellent!

Twisted plot!

A violent, sci-fi, magic and violent read! Kept me guessing until the end! Great character development!

Fun, unique, and cozy.

Murder mystery, romance, loveable characters, a cool magic system, and a single mom on her night out. If that doesn't sell it to you I don't know what will. Moira Quirk kills the narration, yet again.

So much fun!

Completely original, and just a wild ride until the end. I’m glad I picked up the audio book because the narrator was fantastic!

Action packed!! Fantastic world!!

Her best book to date! It was SO hard to stop listening too! Great voice and amazing story! I loved the high stakes and all the Exho stuffs! We learned about the world as we went and it was absolutely captivating!! Makes me want SO much more! Highly recommend this!

Great story and great voice acting

The story was very engaging with great characters and it was all brought alive with the excellent voice acting. I look forward to the next one!