Hour of Mischief by Aimee Hyndman

First book in The Clockwork God Chronicles

3.25 stars

Janet has a prosthetic arm and was born in a whorehouse in the city of Fortuna. She has made a living stealing from the Clockwork gods’ temple, but she finds herself in prison and must make a pact with the God of Mischief (Itazura) to free her friends. A battle between the clockwork and elder gods is surmounting passed its usual game of small offenses towards all out war. Janet must convince the gods that humanity is worth saving. I read this book in 2015 and I should’ve reviewed immediately. Sadly, that was a very busy year for me and I kind of forgot about this book. I don’t remember much about this book overall from my memory, so it didn’t leave a lasting impression. I do remember bits and pieces of the story and the overall impression is that I enjoyed the plot because of its fast-paced nail-biting speed. I was also a fan of the more mature YA heroine who bordered more along the lines of adult than young adult. The worldbuilding is fascinating and offers a strong promise when it comes to developing a sound and believable world structured around gods. The writing is solid and does a good job at setting up a story that hooks the reader. I remember that I really enjoyed the heist aspect of this novel as well as the community of friends looking to pull it off. But besides that, this review is not as helpful as it could’ve been years ago. I would recommend it for fans of mythology and the incorporation of warring gods in their literature.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 3

Character Scale: 3

Plotastic Scale: 3.5

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover. It’s so beautifully illustrated and striking.

Thank you, Netgalley and Curiosity Quills Press, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was an interesting read. I just finished it last night and I still don’t know how to feel.

Hour of Mischief is funny, it’s fast paced and it has decently interesting characters. At times the writing felt like the book could have been for a younger audience, even the character’s and their reactions felt like this too. Janet would say things like ” Why did my cheeks get warm? I did not give them permission to do that.”And though I laughed, the writing felt more middle grade than YA. Save for the few uses of the word “fuck” and the PG13 mentioning of Janet’s mom being a prostitute.
Also the plot was pretty predictable, which that’s the other reason I found it sounded like a younger book.

Janet herself was a good character. Strong, sarcastic, and a great thief. Everything I needed to be interested in her. Sadly the author threw in some problematic ideas that made me take off a full star. Janet, in response to a question about having relationships says she’s never had any, and then says she’s probably “broken” because of this. Unfortunately nothing was ever said to contradict this and I felt very uncomfortable with this. It would have been one thing if this was just her own musings, but it felt like the tone of the book said it was a bad thing that she hadn’t had relationships yet. It was sort of one of those “when she finds the right guy she’ll good.”

The rest of the characters were good. There’s an unnecessary romance between Janet and Itzura, but besides that I enjoyed reading the two’s interaction.

In the end I gave this book 3 stars, I wish I could have given it more.