A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
Additional Note: This review contains light spoilers for The Last Hour Between Worlds.
Kembral Thorn is tired; it’s been only a few months since she named the Crux year after surviving a deadly New Years Eve party, and the only thing she really wants to do is spend time with her daughter and rival-turned-lover, Rika Nonesuch. But a friend has need of her services as a Hound, and when Kembral is brought to a will reading at an abandoned mansion formerly owned by a wealthy matriarch, she finds the simple act to have a few more snags than originally imagined. With three powerful objects created to produce a wish, and the lives of her childhood friends on the line, Kembral needs all the help she can get to find out who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes and how she can save not just her friends, but also Rika.
The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso is the second book in The Echo Archives series, and leans into many of the same elements as the first with regards to structure: a gathering in a metaphorical “locked room” have an opportunity to earn something powerful, but soon bodies start dropping and the only place to find answers is deep within the echoes. However, these details provide the structure of the novel where Caruso takes the opportunity to expand on the characters and worlds she created in The Last Hour Between Worlds so that the reader can better understand some of the motivations behind the characters and their connections.
Kembral and Rika are dating at the start of the novel, and though everything seems solid, there are small details revealed throughout the story showing that, despite their commitment to one another, Kembral and Rika still have to work on building the kind of trust and safety that comes with being in a healthy relationship. Further, the reader gets introduced to Kembral’s childhood friends in the story, and in doing so are offered an opportunity to explore and understand where Kembral comes from and how her character has been influenced not just by the events revealed about her upbringing in The Last Hour Between Worlds, but also by the kind of poverty that Kembral has had to grow up with and far too many are able to relate to. However, while character development is one of the many fantastic features of The Last Soul Among Wolves that differentiates it from the first book in the series, Caruso’s novel offers a significant amount of adventure and fantastic components to keep the experience fresh for anyone continuing the series to enjoy the new developments, even as it uses similar structures to maintain that sense of familiarity.
For casual readers, The Last Soul Among Wolves offers an appealing murder mystery coupled with fantasy that could be enjoyable for anyone who enjoys either genre. The murder mystery elements are a bit more in-line with The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton than Agatha Christie’s works, but if a reader enjoys either, they will likely find enough to enjoy about The Last Soul Among Wolves. The fantasy elements are a little more unique, but given that the novel relies on a strong female protagonist wielding unique powers against godlike beings, it would offer a unique experience if there’s any interest in the fantasy genre at all.
For writers, The Last Soul Among Wolves offers similar lessons to those outlined in The Last Hour Between Worlds, but this iteration of the series does highlight the ways that character relationships can be used to explore and develop character traits. While many novels offer this in different ways, Caruso’s development of Kembral through the introduction of her childhood friends is a bit unique in that it’s clear enough to understand what she was trying to get across, but still refrained from coming out and explicitly stating what Caruso wants Kembral to be. The additional element of murder adds the complexity of grief on top of the relationships built over time, so if anyone wanted to include elements like these in their story, they would benefit from a template like the one Caruso provides.
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What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These!
One Final Thing Before You Go…
In recent days, I’ve been thinking more about the way I want to share these thoughts and ideas with readers, and have decided that I’m going to be pivoting to a newsletter format starting the first of the year under the title “The Coffeehouse Creative.”
This will allow me to discuss more than just book reviews, sharing some of my thoughts on writing, work, and life, of which book reviews will be a part.
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The Writerly Review 