Review: Hour Of Mischief by Aimee Hyndman

Title: Hour Of Mischief
Author: Aimee Hyndman
Publication Date: Sept 7 2015

Genre: Steampunk Fantasy

I received a copy of this book for an honest review from the publisher, Curiosity Quills Press, through NetGalley.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Born in a whorehouse in the slums of Fortuna and burdened with a prosthetic arm, seventeen-year-old JANET REDSTONE doesn’t think she owes the Clockwork Gods anything—which is why she makes a living stealing from their temples. But when she lands her team in prison, making a pact with the God of Mischief, ITAZURA, is the only way to right her wrongs and free her friends.

Janet doesn’t trust Itazura as far as she can punch him, but with her soul in his hands, she has no choice but to do what he says. The clockwork gods and the bad-tempered elder gods of the ancient past are locked in a game of cat and mouse and the human realms are caught in the middle. If Janet can’t somehow convince the gods to step in a save the world, humanity is in an abyss of trouble.

Using her unconventional wits, an impressive tolerance to alcohol, and a strong right hook, Janet has to convince the gods that humanity is worth saving. Unfortunately, it’s a lot more difficult to stop an apocalypse when you’re slowly being driven crazy by the Lord of Mischief, especially when he starts growing on you.

Janet and her band of thieves set out for what should have been a simple job since they had planned for every eventuality; or so they thought!

One of her team members is caught in a trap and in an attempt to rescue her they all end up being captured and thrown into the worst prison imaginable where they had no chance of ever escaping. Wracked with guilt as team leader, Janet jumps at the chance to get her people out when help comes in the form of Itazura, the God of Mischief. But at what cost? Janet must convince the other Gods to join a cause to avert an apocalypse in order to save not only her band of theives, but all humanity.

My Thoughts

First of all, what a gorgeous cover !!

Kudos to the author on this highly original and clearly well thought out take on the Gods. In this world the rulers are the Clockwork Gods. From my understanding, they take the form of Time(The Clockmaker), the Hands of the Clock(Mother and Father), Seasons(Elder Gods) and the Hours (the Twelve Clockwork Gods) plus minor Gods. Absolutely fascinating!

This symbol appears as the heading for each chapter. How cool!!

I loved the characters from Janet the main character to the Wendigos and Shapeshifters and most of all Itazura.
Janet is a relatable heroine. She uses her skills with blades and the strength of her mechanical arm to help her out of tight spots and boy does she attract trouble! She is far from invincible and gets wounded quite a few times, comes close to dying, as one would  expect from a mere mortal fighting against superior counterparts.

I absolutely loved Itazura; I felt he lived up to his role as the God of Mischief. He is sly and cunning and never tells the whole truth but he does redeem himself by trying to avert the apocalypse even if his reasons for doing so might be questionable.

The story was captivating and moved along at a quick pace. Interspersed with quite a few fighting scenes and confrontations, this made for a very engrossing read. I liked the inclusion of Wendigoes and Shapeshifters within the story to add that extra bit of the supernatural that I’m fond of and kick the fighting up a notch.

I did find it a bit of a challenge to keep track of all the Gods and it took me a while to understand the hierarchical structure but that just meant I had to engage my brains a bit more which is fine by me.

The book ended in such a way that left me wanting to read the sequel right away but that’s just impatience on my part and definitely not a bad thing.

My Rating

I label this a page turning thrill-ride, both weird and wonderful, in a richly imagined steampunk world!! It was fun, quirky and engrossing and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

Recommend

I recommend this to everyone!! Lovers of steampunk fantasy or just fantasy would eat this one up! It will not disappoint!!

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