The Thirteenth Hour

There is a Dr Seuss saying about reading everywhere: on a boat, with a goat, on the train, in the rain,… If I hadn’t been glued to this book over the winter holidays, I would have travelled places with it. I would have taken it to work or to the lake, I would have read it on the bus, I would have read it while walking to the bus stop and back (not always advised). Instead, I read it on the couch, on the bed, with a cup of tea, on the stairs, with my cats, with a pencil and sticky notes in my hand. And when I was not reading The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies, I was daydreaming about it and for a little while, putting together a playlist. 

Friends, you can call me ‘obsessed’. So get a cup of tea and get ready for one of my longer reviews on Armed with A Book. This one is going to compete with Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo and SK’s Let Loose the Fallen. I have included a few key points towards the end if you are short on time. Not all of us are Diviners.

Thoughts on The Thirteenth Hour

Beginnings are hard when you love a book so much! So, instead of posting my reading experience last, I will start there and drill into each of those aspects:

Cover & Cast

The cover depicts the brilliance of the world of Chime. The smoky-foggy feel sets up the world contained in this book very well. The conditions in which people live, the cruelty of the gods, the role that Kayl and Quen play is central to the story. I knew this book was going to get read when I saw that cover for the first time, back in May.

I was part of the cover reveal for The Thirteenth Hour and the graphics from back then were immensely helpful in imagining the cast and the world. I actually kept a clip of the character aesthetics below handy when I first started reading the book.

The Thirteenth Hour is set in the city of Chime. The world has 12 Gods that each rule their own domain and have each created a unique race of mortals that worships them. Our main band of characters is composed of people from different domains and for different reasons. I was worried it would be hard to keep track of all the different races but the domain glossary at the end of the book along with the character art was very helpful. 

How could I have known that a book about heathens and apostates would be so interesting! Representing Vespers (Kayl & Malk), Diviners (Quen), Ember (Sinder), Seren (Harmony), Umber (Dru), Merser (Reve) and Necro (Vincent), our band of characters is diverse with their own history and reasons for defying their Gods. Of course I had favorites! Kayl and Quen as protagonists offered great points of views. I am biased towards Quen for many reasons partly because he is a lot like me. We are both analytical, love tea and paper and books, always on a mission for something. I highly recommend reading this article by Lucy McLaren where Lucy is in conversation with Quen during his counselling session. In Quen’s words from the session:

Lately I’ve wanted to investigate inequalities in the Undercity. You may have heard of the workhouses underground? I’ve reason to believe mortals are being mistreated inside them, however my supervisor won’t grant me permission to launch a proper investigation. We’ve butted heads before over cases and decisions, but this… I feel like he’s deliberately ignoring me and the situation at hand.

As for my visions, they get worse with stress. Part of being a Diviner means visions every now and then, and I should be grateful. My Father gifts me these visions for a reason, so I may act on them and make Chime a better place, but… Sometimes these visions feel like a curse. They’re violent. They keep me awake at night. And then I feel such ingratitude for receiving them.

And they’re getting worse. These visions. They’re never pleasant images of tea or scones. Why must visions always be so ghastly?

Quen in therapy with Lucy McLaren

Quen’s visions play a pivotal role in the story, and more on them in a minute.

Kayl is everything Quen and I are not. She is fire and a storm. She is headstrong and I love her so much too. I am not sure she would agree to go to counselling though if I find her with Lucy after the second book, I will add that link here.

Dru is the sweetest! She grows flowers on her head which are precious and being presented with a flower from an Umber is an honor.

You’ll have to pick up the book to read about the rest of them. 

The Thirteenth Hour, as captivating and magical as it is, is a dark story. Bad things have happened to the characters to get them where they are now and bad things are going to continue to happen as the story progresses. At the end of the day, the fun part was that I wanted them all to persevere and I was cheering them on. Characters play a huge role in making the book memorable and all of them are unforgettable, whether for their goodness of heart or the wickedness of their desires.

Plot, Storytelling & World Building

Let’s talk about the world now! I love Chime! Before reading The Thirteenth Hour, I had been exploring an alternate Victorian world with clocks (check out Timekeeper by Tara Sim) and that came in very handy in imagining Chime. I loved the sprinkling of British culture that Trudie wrote into this book.

You have probably guessed some of the story so far. Set in the Undercity in Chime, what starts off as Quen’s secret investigation in the mistreatment of dwellers soon turns into a colossal world-scale disaster that threatens the very foundations of residents’ beliefs and world. 

Chime is portrayed as this bustling town where people from all domains live together. The Gods cannot enter Chime and Wardens uphold the Gods and their creations to their respective promises. Kayl and her gang have long denounced their God. The Gods may have created them but they toy with them, tourture those they find interesting and keep the suffering going. People escape their homes in their home domains and escape to be safe in Chime, where, depending on which race they are, they either flourish and have access to universities, education, high-paying jobs, or oppression and disregard in the Undercity. Kayl and the Heathens find the people in need and try to help them out.

Quen is one of the Wardens. He doesn’t like how Chime is rotting away. He wants to help but he can’t because that would go against his God, Dor, and dissatisfying your God has consequences. Quen’s perspective was more engaging to me because it is very clear that he is always trying to make a difference. As the plot unfolds, the tensions between the person he wants to be and the person he has to be are in conflict all the time. He is able to maintain a balance but that comes at a very heavy cost. Trudie, the amount of pain and suffering that you have put Quen through… is the whole reason he is unforgettable. 

Ironic because this is related to memory.  Speaking of, I will take this opportunity to share a little about the Amnae, the native people of Memoria:

An Amnae so loved to study that they could read the same book over and over and pass on those first impressions to their god.

Pg 412, The Thirteenth Hour

Walter, a professor and mentor to Quen is an Amnae and I quite enjoyed their conversations about memory and time. 

The Thirteenth Hour starts off as a fight against inequality. Even though the Covenant signed by Gods and mortals had deemed all mortals equal, their physical attributes, powers and Gods’ political reach has led to a hierarchy. Mortals who are Vesper are exploited extensively and when it is revealed that the Glimmer and Vesper Gods might be in cahoots together, it causes a chain reaction of discoveries and incidents.

I enjoyed being on the adventure so much that I actually left myself notes for my next read. 

Then that blasted Mesmer had gone rooting through my mind and pulled out the one memory I’d wiped over and over and still it returned. Every time I touched him, it came back with more clarity, more painful than ever.

Note to Future Self: Pg 240

Pg 262-263, The Thirteenth Hour

Immersion, Emotional Response & Thought Provoking aspects

At the beginning of Chapter 19 I noted, “I am officially hooked.” This is no ordinary hook. It’s the one where we are stuck together like glue. I just want to be here. With the pain and the relationships and the mess. I just want to be in Chime with Quen and Kayl and be there for all that unfolds next.

I am glad I did.

And I will never be able to leave because there is this scene (see pg 474 if you have the book or the end of Chapter 34 (or just the whole chapter); Note to self: Quen is such a trooper!) from The Thirteenth Hour that is stuck in my head with Billie Ellish’s No time to die from the latest James Bond as the soundtrack. This song to me is for Quen and Dor.

It is actually not the happiest scene to be stuck in. One of the books I will be sharing about next month, Soundtracks by Jon Acuff says that trauma has a lasting echo. Nothing has a more lasting effect on us than pain so no wonder I am stuck with Quen. 

For a moment, time hung around me, squeezing me with such familiar warmth, as though pleased fate had finally won out. 

Pg 473, The Thirteenth Hour

Haunting.

I have said so much and yet I have hardly scratched the surface of this book. I haven’t told you the plethora of thoughts I had about what it would look like if gods were truly accessible. We will keep that for another day. I will be rereading this book for a long time.

How it only gets better from here:

• This is only the first book of the trilogy.
• I left myself solid notes. At some point, reading this book turned into studying it. I would do well as an Amnae though I am not a fan of their aquatic habitat. I will chose Chime as my home.
• Quen’s alcoholic drink of choice is a hot toddy which I will know how to make by the time I read this again so that will be cozy company.

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The Short Review for The Thirteenth Hour

• The mystery, suspense and pace of the plot were spot on and sometimes surprising because it was unpredictable. I loved that!
• I haven’t swooned over a character since I was a teenager. As a result, Quen is very special to me as he brought out a side of me I had forgotten.
• The Thirteenth Hour made me reflect on my evolution as a reader and what I want for my characters. Trudie did a great job of balancing Quen and Kayl’s perspectives that I understood both sides of their stories and as much as I want them to get together, I also recognize that I have no say in that and what happens will be just what happens. Doesn’t mean I am going to stop wishing.
• Time has been a theme for me in January. I have read a time travel romance, a few books including this one about time magic but none have gripped me like this. 
• One of the aspects that makes The Thirteenth Hour unique in my mind is that it is a true fantasy – we are not talking humans with magic. We are talking mortals with magic and then add on the Gods and make them accessible (and cruel)… I had a blast. I should read more Fantasy without humans. It is truly escapism!

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Interested in reading The Thirteenth Hour? Add it to your shelves on: Goodreads, Storygraph and Indie Story Geek. Buy it on Amazon, available on Kindle Unlimited.

My immense gratitude to Trudie for creating this breathtaking world and sending me a signed copy. This is a story I want to remember by heart. Many thanks to The Write Reads for having me on the tour for this amazing book.

Mark February 3rd in your calendar as I will be hosting Trudie for an interview and quizzing her about many aspects of the book. And that will probably also set a new record. It is wonderful to find another author I can just talk to for hours about their book. The other is SK and she knows how much I love quizzing her about her books (Between Starfalls and Let loose the Fallen interviews).

Thanks for reading till the end of my gush for this book! I hope you enjoyed this post! 🙂

Cover image: Photo by Fabrizio Conti on Unsplash