Cogheart by Peter Bunzl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cogheart is a punky, sparky adventure with hints of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and I enjoyed it very much. Lily and her friends have to figure out what’s happened to her father. Along the way, she’s helped by a cast of mechanicals – automatons that need winding up in order to work – and her friends, Robert, a local clockmaker’s on, and her father’s mechanical fox Malkin. The band is slowly assembled as things go from bad to worse for Lily and then things wind up (pun unitentional!) to a great and spectacular finale.
What’s impressive here is how confident Bunzl is in his world. Every part of it feels very solidly worked out and real and it’s very easy to race through this book and just embrace the adventure. I had a lot of time for the detail of it – the mechanicals speak in a particular language, and there’s a lot of lovely stuff about airships and clockmakers and a world that’s just different enough to spark interest in every step. I liked this. It’s a very genuine thing.
I also think it’s important to note that this book was recommended to me by my Book Penpals school which is most definitely another mark in its favour. Thanks Penpals! You have excellent taste!
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Daisy May Johnson 