Aimee Hyndman: Hour of Mischief

In her debut novel, Aimee Hyndman takes the reader to a steampunk world where the Gods are never finished meddling in the human's lives. 

Seventeen year old Janet Redstone has had to fight for everything she has in her life, which has lead her to become the leader of one of the famous thief gangs within the city. Janet prides herself in her planning ability and keeping her friends and accomplishes in line and getting them out each job. When a job of stealing from the Clockwork God's temple goes wrong and Janet and her friends end up in prison she is willing to do anything to get them out. The God of Mischief  has comes calling right when Janet is the most desperate and offers her a deal that she knows she cannot refuse. Janet is going to have to use every skill she has developed in over the years in order to succeed as not only her life and that of her friends are at stake but that of the human race are all hanging in the balance

I liked this book, it has been a while since I have read a book that had Gods meddling in with humans' life, so for me it was a nice change. I also think that Hyndman did a good job at world building, it has a steampunk fantasy feel to it especially it seems like there are a lot of mechanical aspects in the world and also the main character, Janet's arm. I will say that the Gods at times became a bit confusing as Hyndman seems to mix a few different Gods from throughout history, but this was a minor point in the world building. I did like that the Gods that Hyndman did feature in the book were different interpretations of the classics, for example the God of love being Male and really more of a man whore than about love, lets say love is loosely interpreted in this book.

This book is a fairly fast paced read with Janet trying to complete the tasks that Itazura, The God of Mischief, has set out for her, in order to save her friends from prison. However, there were times when the tasks or trouble that Janet would get in were over too quickly and really Janet no worse for ware because of Itazura's power. For me this caused the suspense and at times the mystery to falter as you knew Janet was going to make it out alive and well, there was really no cause to worry over her. There is a hint of romance in this book, but it does not dictate the story (yet, I have feeling there is more to come) as Janet is all about loyalty to her friends and wanting to save them.

Janet is an interesting character and I loved that she had a mechanical arm, such a cool idea, and it gives her something special to rely on when dealing with gods and thugs as most of them do not expect it. I like that Janet has had to struggle to obtain everything that she has in life including her friends, who she is loyal to, to a fault. Janet is very street smart, able to think on her feet and while she may only have a rudimentary education she does not allow this to hold her back. It is also interesting that Janet scorns all the Gods, especially the God of love because of her mother being a whore but prays to him nonstop for the love she seeks but never receives it, and yet it is Janet who the God of Mischief seeks out. I do wonder how he chose Janet and I hope that this is explained in future books (I'm pretty sure this is going to be a series) as I am also pretty sure that Itazura rigged the job that Janet got caught for.

This book ended in a weird place. I mean I'm all for a cliff hanger but in this book it felt like a strange place to end in a way that it felt like I only got half the book. Overall, this is a good read and I really liked Janet as a character as well as the steampunk world that Hyndman created. I would continue on in this series but I haven't seen any news for the next book to be released. I would recommend this book to those who like the steampunk feel and/or like books with Gods meddling with humans.

Enjoy!!!

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