Friday, March 8, 2019

Cogheart

Cogheart
by Peter Bunzl
368 pages; ages 12 & up
Jolly Fish Press, 2019 (US edition)

Action! Adventure! Danger and Daring! What a great kick-off for the new series of Cogheart Adventures .

Thirteen-year-old Lily Harman is stuck at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies. She would rather be anywhere else, especially if it involved adventures and piracy, like the stories she reads in her penny dreadfuls – the Victorian equivalent of comic books. Instead, she’s condemned to classes on deportment and posture and the Art of Making Polite Conversation (in French, no less).

Then her father, a famous inventor, disappears on what should have been a routine zeppelin flight. Suddenly Lily’s life is turned upside down. Her father’s housekeeper Madame Verdegris, becomes her legal guardian and brings her back home. Lily is happy to be away from the pretentious school. She is happy to be reunited with Mrs. Rust, a mechanical servant who cooked so many of Lily’s meals.

But something strange is going on. Madame Verdegris is selling some of her father’s mechanicals off for salvage, and strange men metal-eyed men lurk in the shadows.  Then there’s the clockmaker’s son, Robert, who has rescued Lily’s mechanical pet fox, Malkin. Why were metal-eyed men chasing – and shooting – at her fox?

I love the wild adventure that takes Lily and Robert across the rooftops of town. I love the mechanicals – and how each has its own winder. They are as precise as clockwork. I love Mrs. Rust’s wonderful lexicon of alliterative idioms. “Cogs and chronometers!” she exclaims. “Smokestacks and sprockets!”

And I love how the secret of the Cogheart is revealed. I’d say more, but there are metal-eyed men lurking in the shadows, so I must be off. I look forward to more exciting adventures in this series.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle , so hop over to see what other people are reading. And drop by one of his earlier posts where he reviews Cogheart. Review from Advanced Reader Copy provided by Blue Slip media.

10 comments:

  1. This sounds like a wonderful book! I'll have to take a gander at it. I love the idioms, too. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the rec!

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  2. Oh, this sounds fun! I think middle-grade is the best medium for steampunk, because it can be weird and nonsensical and playful. Sounds like this will be a great series.

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  3. I am not usually a fan of steampunk, but you make this sound so inviting, I think I will try to find a copy. Thanks for the review.

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    1. I was ambivalent at first - and then fell in love with the story! So give it a try, Rosi.

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  4. What an unusual book -- mechanical servants, pets? This story really sounds like a thrilling teen read. Love the cover and title.

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  5. I read about this book recently on someone else's blog. Sounds like a book I'd enjoy.

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  6. Sounds like an interesting mystery. Thanks for the review.

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  7. Yes, I did enjoy this story. Such a unique premise and the characters really draw you in. Thanks for your thoughts and support for this exciting book.

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  8. This book sounds unique and interesting. Thanks for sharing it for MMGM!

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  9. I saw this on another blog and I was curious about it. Loved hearing your thoughts. It sounds like a very unique and interesting book. Thanks for sharing. :)
    ~Jess

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