Into the Hourglass

Everly Donovan’s quest for revenge against Killian Markham is not over. After the battle at Dagger Island, where Markham and Everly's sword – the legendary sword of Avelyn – were swallowed by a giant whale named the Terrible Dorcha, the convicted streetwalker, Vevina, mutinied against Lieutenant Jamison Callahan and took control over the last remaining ship with Claret, Laverick, Quinn and the other convicts as a crew. Jamison and Harlow, another convict who works with Markham, are locked in the brig not being trusted to run free after the mutiny. Now on a quest from Father Time to stop Markham from destroying the land of Avelyn, Everly searches for the Terrible Dorcha so she can find Markham. However, when the crew finds the whale, Vevina, who despises magic of all kinds, tries to kill Dorcha instead of following Everly's plan. Everly is able to convince Dorcha, with her pixie friend Radella’s help, to take her where he took Markham – The Land Under the Wave. Laverick, Claret, Jamison and Harlow all escape with her into the Otherworld, a place that Father Time warned Everly was a refuge for outlaws.
When they arrive in the Otherworld, the group finds Markham has lost the sword and been marooned by pirates on the Skeleton Coast where merrows, a deadly kind of mermaid, try to coax him to his death with their songs. With Harlow’s help, Markham calls the pirates back and tries to trade Everly and her clock heart to the Captain, a giant named Redmund who has clock collection. Redmund tells Everly her heart is broken and that it will not last in the Land Under the Wave as time moves differently and all clocks eventually stop there. Everly is taken as part of his collection while the rest of the group is imprisoned. However, Markham tricks Everly into helping him escape, and a race between the two begins – who can get to the king of the merrows and retrieve the sword of Avelyn first? Everly, with her friends and the elf first mate Osric’s help, must be quicker than Markham, and quicker than the sands of time that slow her heart every minute.

The sequel to Before the Broken Star brings out new characters, worlds, artifacts and lore to expand upon the groundwork laid in the previous novel. The Land Under the Wave introduces new races and creatures as well as shows the tensions between them. Redmund and the other giants harbour a hatred towards humans for inheriting the Land of the Living while the elves simply remain out of it. The merrows aren’t romanticized, but, instead, they are made to be quite terrifying with green skin and claws instead of a more human appearance. They also have their own tensions with another kind of human fish hybrid called finpeople, which are the opposite of merrows, with fish heads and human legs. As well as expanding upon new and old races, the Land Under the Wave is an exciting new world with pirates, sirens, and a magic all its own.

In addition to learning more about the Otherworlds and other races in them, the characters from the previous novel are also expanded upon. Laverick and Claret’s relationship is explored and tested when Claret goes missing and Laverick must balance finding her with finding the sword as well as grappling with her newfound feelings for Claret. Harlow briefly shows another side to her when she opens up about her parents and shows Everly the necklace they gave her. Readers learn more about Markham’s past before he met princess Amadara, from Osric an elf, and the first mate on Captain Redmund’s ship.

While some of the other characters are developed, the novel’s highlight is Everly’s development. The questions of her humanity in relation to her clock heart are fully explored and developed in this novel when Everly’s prickly personality and her inability to open up to others are tested after her heart is revealed by Markham to the group. She must deal with questions of her humanity in relation to her heart, and whether someone without a real heart can truly love, or was her heart only given to her so she can avenge her family? With Father Time's help, Everly is taken out of time and sees parts of her and her family's past, allowing her to heal from her trauma, and not only accept the love her friends give her, but return it.

Everly Donovan's adventures continue in the sequel to Before the Broken Star, with exciting new worlds and characters, while expanding on the groundwork laid in its predecessor. Into the Hourglass will entertain new and old readers of “The Evermore Chronicles” and leave them waiting for the next instalment of Everly's story.