Cogheart by Peter Bunzl
The Blurb On The Back:
Some secrets change the world in a heartbeat.
Lily’s life is in mortal peril. Her father is missing and now silver-eyed men stalk her through the shadows. What could they want from her?
With her friends - Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox - Lily is plunged into a murky and menacing world. Too soon Lily realises that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart …
Murder, mayhem and mystery meet in this gripping Victorian adventure.
It’s 1896 in steampunk Victorian Britain. 13-year-old Lily Grantham is a reluctant student at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies - she’d rather read penny dreadfuls and work on her lock-picking skills than deportment and polite conversation. When news comes that her father’s been in an airship accident and is presumed dead, Lily’s life is thrown into turmoil. Her father’s awful housekeeper, Madame Verdigris, becomes her guardian and is far too keen to sell off her father’s estate. But Lily’s sure that her father’s still alive and when Malkin (her mechanical fox) gives her a letter from her father that alludes to a secret invention and she learns that the airship was brought down by the same silver-eyed men who’ve been hanging around her house, she’s determined to discover the truth. Her only allies are Malkin and Robert, the son of the local clockmaker, who helped bring Lily and Malkin together. But the silver-eyed men aren’t easily shaken off, and they’re determined to make Lily find and hand over her father’s invention - no matter who they have to hurt to do so …
Peter Bunzl’s debut fantasy novel for children aged 12+ is a solid steampunk adventure with a strong main character, some great world building and genuinely creepy scenes but it’s hampered by two-dimensional antagonists and guessable twists. Lily is a great main character - courageous, resilient and smart - I liked her obsession with crime stories and believed her reactions to discoveries about her father and her own past. Robert is a decent sidekick but I would have liked more scenes with his father to flesh out his background as his emotional development comes through a cheap device. Malkin is easily my favourite character - prickly but loyal he’s got a lot of potential - in fact all the mechs are well drawn and I enjoyed their dialogue, which is warm but emphasises their artificial nature. The big issue with the book is that the central twists are easy to get and while the silver-eyed Roach and Mould are sinister henchmen, the main antagonist is two-dimensional and the climactic scenes are a little predictable. That said the world building here is done well - I enjoyed the mix of airships, mechs, cyborgs and other steampunk technology and there’s a lot of potential in the set-up for an interesting and exciting sequel, which I will definitely check out.
The Verdict:
Peter Bunzl’s debut fantasy novel for children aged 12+ is a solid steampunk adventure with a strong main character, some great world building and genuinely creepy scenes but it’s hampered by two-dimensional antagonists and guessable twists. Lily is a great main character - courageous, resilient and smart - I liked her obsession with crime stories and believed her reactions to discoveries about her father and her own past. Robert is a decent sidekick but I would have liked more scenes with his father to flesh out his background as his emotional development comes through a cheap device. Malkin is easily my favourite character - prickly but loyal he’s got a lot of potential - in fact all the mechs are well drawn and I enjoyed their dialogue, which is warm but emphasises their artificial nature. The big issue with the book is that the central twists are easy to get and while the silver-eyed Roach and Mould are sinister henchmen, the main antagonist is two-dimensional and the climactic scenes are a little predictable. That said the world building here is done well - I enjoyed the mix of airships, mechs, cyborgs and other steampunk technology and there’s a lot of potential in the set-up for an interesting and exciting sequel, which I will definitely check out.
Some secrets change the world in a heartbeat.
Lily’s life is in mortal peril. Her father is missing and now silver-eyed men stalk her through the shadows. What could they want from her?
With her friends - Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox - Lily is plunged into a murky and menacing world. Too soon Lily realises that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart …
Murder, mayhem and mystery meet in this gripping Victorian adventure.
It’s 1896 in steampunk Victorian Britain. 13-year-old Lily Grantham is a reluctant student at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies - she’d rather read penny dreadfuls and work on her lock-picking skills than deportment and polite conversation. When news comes that her father’s been in an airship accident and is presumed dead, Lily’s life is thrown into turmoil. Her father’s awful housekeeper, Madame Verdigris, becomes her guardian and is far too keen to sell off her father’s estate. But Lily’s sure that her father’s still alive and when Malkin (her mechanical fox) gives her a letter from her father that alludes to a secret invention and she learns that the airship was brought down by the same silver-eyed men who’ve been hanging around her house, she’s determined to discover the truth. Her only allies are Malkin and Robert, the son of the local clockmaker, who helped bring Lily and Malkin together. But the silver-eyed men aren’t easily shaken off, and they’re determined to make Lily find and hand over her father’s invention - no matter who they have to hurt to do so …
Peter Bunzl’s debut fantasy novel for children aged 12+ is a solid steampunk adventure with a strong main character, some great world building and genuinely creepy scenes but it’s hampered by two-dimensional antagonists and guessable twists. Lily is a great main character - courageous, resilient and smart - I liked her obsession with crime stories and believed her reactions to discoveries about her father and her own past. Robert is a decent sidekick but I would have liked more scenes with his father to flesh out his background as his emotional development comes through a cheap device. Malkin is easily my favourite character - prickly but loyal he’s got a lot of potential - in fact all the mechs are well drawn and I enjoyed their dialogue, which is warm but emphasises their artificial nature. The big issue with the book is that the central twists are easy to get and while the silver-eyed Roach and Mould are sinister henchmen, the main antagonist is two-dimensional and the climactic scenes are a little predictable. That said the world building here is done well - I enjoyed the mix of airships, mechs, cyborgs and other steampunk technology and there’s a lot of potential in the set-up for an interesting and exciting sequel, which I will definitely check out.
The Verdict:
Peter Bunzl’s debut fantasy novel for children aged 12+ is a solid steampunk adventure with a strong main character, some great world building and genuinely creepy scenes but it’s hampered by two-dimensional antagonists and guessable twists. Lily is a great main character - courageous, resilient and smart - I liked her obsession with crime stories and believed her reactions to discoveries about her father and her own past. Robert is a decent sidekick but I would have liked more scenes with his father to flesh out his background as his emotional development comes through a cheap device. Malkin is easily my favourite character - prickly but loyal he’s got a lot of potential - in fact all the mechs are well drawn and I enjoyed their dialogue, which is warm but emphasises their artificial nature. The big issue with the book is that the central twists are easy to get and while the silver-eyed Roach and Mould are sinister henchmen, the main antagonist is two-dimensional and the climactic scenes are a little predictable. That said the world building here is done well - I enjoyed the mix of airships, mechs, cyborgs and other steampunk technology and there’s a lot of potential in the set-up for an interesting and exciting sequel, which I will definitely check out.