WHEN THE SAINTS FAIL, THE SINNERS STEP UP.
Cruel gods rule the steam-powered city of Chime, demanding worship and tribute from their mortal subjects. Kayl lost her faith in them long ago, and now seeks to protect vulnerable and downtrodden mortals from their gods’ whims. But when Kayl discovers powers that she didn’t know she had— and destroys a mortal’s soul by accident — she becomes Chime’s most wanted.
Quen’s job was to pursue sinners, until the visions started. Haunted by foreboding images of his beloved city’s destruction, Quen hunts soul-sucking creatures made of aether who prey on its citizens — and Kayl is his number one target.
To ensure Chime’s future, Kayl and Quen must discover the truth of Kayl’s divine abilities before the gods take matters into their own hands.
Hiu
To be transparent, I should say that I’d read The Thirteenth Hour prior to this year’s SPFBO. I’ve since read it a second time to make sure any thoughts I write down are accurate.
I first picked up this book in September/October 2021 after receiving a review request from the author. Afterwards, I made the decision to… Not review it. Which sounds a little backwards, but bear with me.
The Thirteenth Hour is really fucking good. And I’d seen that Trudie Skies was planning to enter it into this year’s SPFBO, where I had every faith it had the quality to compete as a finalist. So, in my head… instead of yelling into the just-coming-out-of-COVID-time void, where in my experience a lot of people were burnt-out with their reading… why not wait until the most people were willing to listen, and then YELL?
So with that gamble having paid off, and with all eyes on the scoreboard… Let’s get into all of the shit that I’ve been dying to say for the last 20 months. Let me talk you into buying the fucking book.
First of all, let’s set the scene.
The city of Chime hosts the gateway/portal to twelve different domains — each accessible on a different hour on the clock. Within each of those domains are people of different fantasy races, ruled over by all-powerful gods.
In the undercity of Chime is a group known as the Godless. These rebels are taking a stand against the cruelty and apathy of their gods — every one of them having their own horror story. Kayl is a key member of the Godless, and our first POV character. She’s very snarky, very horny, and might just have a second personality locked away inside her brain.
Our other POV, Quen, is pretty much Kayl’s opposite in most ways. Where she is chaotic and impulsive, he is thoughtful and considering to a fault. Where she is overconfident, he is anxious. She lives in the undercity, whereas he lives up the elevator on Chime’s topside. Where Kayl wants to tear down the system of structured worship, Quen’s job as a warden is to enforce it.
And the dynamic between the two? Chef’s kiss. Strained at first, naturally. But there’s electricity there.
The world that Trudie Skies has built here is nothing short of incredible. They’ve crafted a setting that feels utterly unique, with a startling amount of engaging and creative originality. Even with some heavy and obvious influence drawn from the likes of the Final Fantasy game series (Final Fantasy VII in particular), this is the furthest thing from a pastiche.
Now, I generally hate books that center fantasy races instead of normal humans. For me, they often feel too divorced from reality, too distanced from relatable human emotions. Here, though? Absolutely not the case. This book drips with capital-f Feelings, and Skies skilfully weaves those into the reality of their world. Every worldbuilding decision has consequences for plot and character. It’s really impressive, and that level of thought and care did wonders for sucking me into the story and really making me give a fuck.
And shit, man. I really gave a fuck about these characters. To be honest, that’s probably putting it mildly. I gave many fucks. I would even go as far to say that I gave two or three orgies worth of fucks.
Beyond just Quen (who I love) and Kayl (who I adore [both of her]), the secondary character cast is filled with colourful people all with their own motivations and histories. It sounds sadistic, but I loved seeing how each of these characters had been ground down and broken by the current system, and all the little ways they tried to fight against it. Revolution fantasy is entirely my shit. But this is a degree above. It’s high fantasy and magic-heavy as fuck on the surface level, but that never comes at the expense of character depth or growth.
And also, y’know. Those gods are really fucking hateable. So I really wanted to see them die.
Of course, though… You can’t love everything about a book. And I do have my criticisms. A lot of the worldbuilding is info-dumped up-front in the first few chapters, which meant I initially had a hard time getting to grips with the story. However, this does have the benefit that the rest of the story is all plain-sailing. And on my second read-through, I actually didn’t think this was as egregious as I’d first thought.
My major complaint, though, has to do with character consistency. There’s a character who is present throughout and is pivotal to the last few chapters, but undergoes a huge and sudden shift near the end of the book. There’s a narrative justification for this, but the shift in character still rattled my immersion, and consequently made me feel like some of the emotional scenes during the finale felt ever-so-slightly unearned.
There were also some abuse-adjacent scenes and story threads that I have some feelings about. But again, like everything else, it was clear that a good deal of thought had gone into these. And while I oscillate on how I feel about this, I think their inclusion strengthens the story told as a whole, and the content warning at the start of the book does well to set expectations.
But even with all of that said… I love this book. To me, The Thirteenth Hour is a masterpiece. It’s a celebration of fantasy and character. It’s over-the-top crazy, but it’s real and grounded and raw. It is perhaps my favourite self-published book of all time (right up there with Senlin Ascends and We Ride the Storm, even if Orbit went on to steal those), and far and away my favourite book out of all I’ve read for SPFBO over the last three years.
It’s very difficult to think of a comp for it, but I feel like fans of Netflix’s League of Legends: Arcane series, and of course Final Fantasy VII, would really enjoy this one.
So please, read it. If anything you’ve read about this book interests you, read it.
Read it. Because if I don’t have more people to talk about this book with, I’m going to be going door-to-door hawking paperbacks like girl scout cookies.
It’s fucking brilliant.
9.5 / 10
Devin
The Thirteenth Hour is amazing.
I would happily leave this review there, especially with Hiu having already put all the reasons why into excellent words. But since I can’t, here we go.
Everything about this book is wild and imaginative and deep. And snarky. And horny. Really, it’s the best combination of things thrown together into a fast-paced romp of an adventure that’s difficult to put down. Or hard to stop listening to if, as I did, you take the audiobook option. It is, for me, hard to find something about this book to criticise. The setting is magical and varied and nods away at the spectre of FFVII in the background like one fervent fan passing another fervent fan in the street with a knowing look. The characters are unique and distinct and complicated as all hell and I wanted to hug most of them and punch the rest. Some, I would even punch then hug. And then maybe punch again. I laughed out loud more times than I can count and was constantly surprised by the directions the plot took and how thoroughly I could be as mistaken in characters as the protagonists were. Nothing here is straight forward. Everyone has a network of complicated motivations and desires, and with it all constrained within the literal construct of a religious social structure — especially given the gods actually exist and are alternately petty, cruel, greedy and wise in that way of someone who speaks in riddles and treats you like a fool — the depth is impressive. Who owns your thoughts? Your soul? Who are you if you don’t remember things you’ve done? How does it change you if you’re not born but made at an older age, stealing away the concept of the childhood? If all the gods are real, which one gets the final say?
As for the abuse-adjacent scenes Hiu mentioned, I agree that a lot of thought went into this, as with everything, and that it does strengthen the overall narrative where those characters are concerned. Honestly, I’m willing to argue this point at length with notes and citations if I must because we all need pointless hills to die on.
Everything else I’d like to say about this book would probably require spoiler tags and while this book is extremely re-readable, there is a joy in first time discovery I don’t want to ruin. I can only highly recommend The Thirteenth Hour, and its audio form. It’s an adventure of self-discovery, of fighting a repressive system, of found family and magic, negotiation and mistakes, identity and sublimation. And tea. Lots of references to tea.
Thus, as with Hiu, I beg you all to read it so I can shout at more people about it. There’s only so many times Hiu and I can gush to each other without needing to drown someone else in our enthusiasm. Truly, The Thirteenth Hour is everything I want in a book, even the bits I didn’t know I wanted, and I cannot wait to continue on to the rest of the trilogy. A hearty congratulations to Trudie Skies for writing such a wonderful book that is immediately one I will come back to again and again.
9.5 / 10
The Fantasy Inn’s final score for The Thirteenth Hour is:
9.5/10
