The Doomsday Archives: The Wandering Hour

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 18:15:49 -0800

With a great plot and creepy supernatural stories, this fantasy/horror story was delightfully engaging. The characters include the following: Emrys, who has just moved to the notoriously haunted city of New Rotterdam; Hazel, Emrys's longtime friend, and unexplained phenomenon enthusiast; Serena, Hazel's friend. In the book's beginning, Emry and Hazel return to their apartment in the middle of a thunderstorm. Soon, a mysterious whistler is heard: Emrys, Serena, and Hazel decide to snoop around their mysterious neighbor's mysterious apartment (where they hear the Whistler going in). What they find astonishes them: destruction, and in the midst of it, a talking book containing the consciousness of the apartment's former owner, Mr. Van Stavern. He tells them that they are to be members of a secret order. Their mission is clear–protect New Rotterdam and the world from paranormal forces by containing powerful cursed relics. But a dilemma is caused when Serena, the skeptic, decides to forget about it. Their first task begins as a red hourglass starts appearing all over New Rotterdam, and people start disappearing. With only 2 members, will the team be able to survive the deadly relic and the organization that is putting them in public spaces? First of all, the book had very relatable themes such as climate change and friendship. The characters, such as Emrys, were all fleshed out and relatable too. The Wiki entries after every chapter were interesting and in my opinion, made the book a lot better. But I felt that one of the big flaws of the book was that the Wandering Hour, which is what the book is focused on (it's in the title even), could have been a lot scarier and stranger, like the other Wiki entries in the book. Finally, the dialogue feels natural and there are even some funny parts, which lighten up the grim tale of disappearing juveniles. About the scariness level, it's pretty mild, but there is talk of humans disappearing and dying, so I would recommend this book to middle grades and above. Also, if you like unexplained things such as cryptids, this would be an interesting book (the book goes by pretty quickly, so it's good for light reading).