Cogheart

By Peter Bunzl

The first in the bestselling Cogheart Adventures series, where mayhem, murder and mystery meet in a gripping Victorian world of fantastical imagination.

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 realizes that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRANFORD BOASE AWARD
SELECTED AS ONE OF THE NATION'S 100 FAVOURITE STORIES TO SHARE (World Book Day, 2018)

"A steampunky tale of ambition, pursuit and revenge." The Guardian

"A delightfully badly behaved heroine, enthralling mechanicals and a stormer of a plot." Abi Elphinstone

"A glittering clockwork treasure." Piers Torday

• Language: English
• Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781474919302

Peter Bunzl

Peter Bunzl started his career as an animator and film-maker. He is now best known as the award?winning and bestselling children’s author of the Cogheart series. Peter’s debut novel, Cogheart, was nominated for several prestigious awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award and the Carnegie Medal.

Reviews for Cogheart

[goldengrove_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If Joan Aiken had written steampunk it would have been rather like this. That is very high praise indeed, and I think that Cogheart deserves it. Aiken first came to mind with the character of Madame Verdigris the sinister housekeeper, who certainly owes a few traits to Miss Slighcarp. Lily is as feisty a heroine as Bonnie, and the action trips along nicely with suitable period touches which are also very reminiscent of Aiken's not-quite historical England.Airships, hybrid villans and automata make this a definitely alternative Victorian setting, and they are nicely bedded in, feeling quite natural in the world of the novel. The growing trust between Lily and Robert is handled well, and the irresisitible fox, Malkin, is simply - irresistible.I liked the inclusion of the Dictionary of curious words, and the attractive chapter headings. I'm looking forward to the next instalment - Moonrocket - and sincerely hoping that we'll find out what happened to Robert's mysterious mother...

[arkhamreviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked Cogheart. While I may be a little biased by my fondness for the steampunk aesthetic, I felt that it was a really well written book for younger readers. The setting is wonderful. It paints a picture of an alternative Victorian London, where Kings Cross station has an airship dock and humans live alongside both mechanicals and mechanimals, both of which run on clockwork. While the world building is strong, it's never too heavy to deter a pre-teen reader and there's even a brief glossary at the back to explain concepts that a young reader may be unfamiliar with, such as perpetual motion machines and penny dreadfuls.The story is quick to begin and filled with exciting chases and air piracy. While I did feel that it slowed down a little towards the middle, the climatic fight atop Big Ben was truly thrilling and the mystery builds well throughout the story, leaving enough clues that an eagle-eyed reader may guess the identity of the villain while still taking its audience's intelligence very seriously. The novel is apparently intended to be the first part of a series but still stands alone very well, leaving most loose ends neatly tied up.Yet the dialogue in the novel never read quite right. It often came across as being forced and melodramatic, with characters often breaking into lengthy detailed and inspirational monologues that just didn't come across as natural speech. While I liked lighthearted way that the book was written, this didn't really carry across into the way that the characters interacted with each other.Yet I did feel that some of the characterisation was a bit lacking. Most of the protagonists felt a little flat, their motivations not really fleshed out in full. For example, Robert's fears never play much into the story. Despite it being established that he's terrified of heights, he barely hesitates when swinging between airships. Similarly, Anna is surprisingly passive given her incredible profession. She's a female reporter, aviator and writer of penny dreadfuls in Victorian London. Why does she not get more invested in the chance to live out her air pirate fantasies?I was also ultimately a little disappointed by Lily. While she started out the novel incredibly strong yet ultimately did need to be rescued from the villain by the male characters. I was also surprised that her discoveries over the climax didn't seem to really affect her at all. I mean, the villain's motivation actually turned out to be pretty damn strong. He had a really legitimate reason for wanting revenge against Lily's family. Yet she did not seem to acknowledge this at all.All in all, I did enjoy Cogheart and would recommend it. It was really only let down by some clumsy dialogue and flat characterisation. It was still an exciting read with some great world building and I'm sure that young science fiction fans will love it.

[Abdullah Rafique · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it it is a good book to read

[ziv zhou · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think the book is very very very very good.