The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read (review)

When Emily’s mother and father suddenly disappear from their London home, it’s up to Emily to follow them into the Midnight Hour, a magical pseudo-Victorian world hidden alongside her own. There she discovers that her quiet postal worker father is a Dangerous Deliveries Specialist of the Night Post, her flighty artist mother had a hand in the Great Working that created the Midnight Hour, and an ancient power called the Nocturne is bent on claiming the Midnight Hour’s magic for herself and wreaking havoc in the non-magical world. Portal fantasy fans will not be surprised that Emily and her famously outspoken “gob” are more than a match for a quaintly antiquated magical world, squaring off against assorted baddies and armed with magical allies, a hedgehog, and a limitless supply of one-liners. Unfortunately, intrusive over-narration slows down the action. The novel’s commentary on British imperialism, most notably the family history of immigrant Constable-in-Training Postlewhite of the Night Watch, is undermined by its liberal application of Irish stereotypes (Emily’s newly discovered uncle Pat is particularly egregious) and phonetic brogue. Nevertheless, fans of Percy Jackson–style humor and readers working up to Terry Pratchett may enjoy this as an irreverent, mildly snappy read with plenty of scope for a sequel.