Cogheart

Oh, be still my heart! This is one of the most creative steam punk novel for teens! Lily and Jack are really just adorable and brave as they navigate their way through dangers along with mechfox. I just wanted to hang out them and be a kid again! I was able to get lost in that world completely. The author manage to paint the steam punk world very vividly along with words such as cogs, by the ticks, and so forth. There are many factors in the book we deal with in real life. Overall, this book gave me overall warm fuzzy feelings! I believe many kids along with adults would totally enjoy this book. I cannot wait for the next book to come out! You guys have got to read this adorable novel!
I received this cute ARC of this book from Net Galleyes and North Star Editions for an exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

A fun middle grade adventure set in late 1890 London where mechanicals (robots) are a thing. Lily and Robert are clever main characters. A unique story that will appeal to most middle grade age kids.

This is a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's kid lit but this adult found it to be a delightful read. I'm always interested in steampunk books and am happy to have discovered this series. The cover is gorgeous!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy!

This is the First Steam Punk Middle Grader Book that I read and I absolutely I adore it. The cover was eye catching which grabbed my attention instantly

I loved the how the story went and how the characters and world building was developed. It was a fun and thrilling read.

I love this adventure trilogy! It is great for kids to think outside the box! The story brings a boy and a girl, both heroes, and that makes the book great for girls and boys as well! Children can relate to one of the two main characters! Peter Bunzle opens a world for all the dreams out there ! Can’t wait for the third book !

Cogheart was an adventurous story. It was an exciting read. I enjoyed it, and I believe it’s a great read for middle schoolers.

ARC Copy...decent and adventurous middle grade steampunk adventure consisting of soaring airships and curious mechanical animals plus adventure.

This was a true "ripping yarn." It reminded me quite a bit of some of Joan Aiken: a lot about the tone, the suspense, the plucky orphans, and the alternate historical England was reminiscent of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. I enjoyed it thoroughly and found it quite un-put-downable, especially towards the end. Although my guess is this is middle-grade, sensitive children might need a warning of some quite graphic, if cartoonish, violence, with the protagonists experiencing real peril.

Fun Steampunk novel involving clocks and clockwork!

Cogheart was easy to read and understand (read it to my little nephews and they loved it too). The story flowed well enough and I've already got a few favourite characters. Can't wait until Feb 2019!

Great story and character development. I'm already attached and eagerly awaiting a sequel.

This is the First Steam Punk Middle Grader Book that I read and I totally enjoyed it! I found the interaction between the main character and the robotic servants to be a rather unique concept. I had to laugh when the robotic servants made mistakes. Making them nearly human.. with the exception of crying oil.

Loved the cover! That is what drew me to the book right away. I'd buy a physical copy if it came with a cover poster included! Yea.. I WOULD!!

Actual rating of 3.5

Lily Hartman finds Miss Scrimshaw's Academy boring, and dull. She's not allowed to read her Penny Dreadful magazines as they're forbidden, and all the girls are horrid. But that's okay, because she only has to wait until her father John Hartman comes to get her at the end of term, she can handle that. That is, until she is told by her headmistress that her father's zeppelin, the Dragonfly, has crashed and her father cannot be found, and is presumed dead. She leaves the academy with her housekeeper Ms. Verdigris to head back to Brackenbridge Manor. On the way Lily finds herself crossing paths with Mr. Roach, a strange man with silver eyes, and from this point on her life is thrown into turmoil as she soon finds out that there is a group of nasty men out to find a secret contraption that her father has invented. And they will stop at nothing to get it. Lily doesn't know who to trust as she starts to unravel the truth of her past, with her mechanimal Malkin, and the clock maker's son Robert, she sets off to try and find safety, and hopefully, her father.

All of the above happens in a charming old London, steampunk setting, with Zeppelins and Mechanical people and animals roaming about running daily errands and going about their tick-tocking ways.

Cogheart was a charming story, I feel mostly written for a middle grade age group, but still enjoyable for an adult audience. I found the world interesting, and I loved the addition of mechanicals and mechanimals. I've always had a fondness for steampunk, and this made me a little bit giddy with all the mention of cogs and clockwork. The characters were likable, and I felt for Robert, especially with the hardships that he goes through in this story. I found Lily to be a little bit obnoxious, but I don't feel that that was the intention of the author, it may have just been the way her dialogue was written. I absolutely hated Madame Verdigris on 'site' you could tell straight away that she's up to no good. I loved Anne and Malkin.

I found this story to be a bit too slow paced for my liking. A few times I thought about giving up and not finishing it, but I persisted because I hate DNFing books. I really do. The pacing honestly didn't get better until about 65% of the way through the story, as this was where the action started coming thick and fast and I found that I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. I'd even go as far to say that the pacing didn't really pick up properly until after the 70% mark, now that I think about it. The last 30% was great, it was non-stop, and the reveals were done fantastically.

I had some of the things worked out beforehand, but there was one thing that I didn't know about, not until we were told, so in this aspect, the story did a good job.

I found that the copy I received had some formatting issues, I had pages repeating fully, and then I had some segments missing the beginning of them which kinda threw off the flow of the book.

It's a faraway adventure and I believe any middle grader will enjoy the story, some adults too. The last couple of chapters were worth pushing through the worst of the book for, I must admit. I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series or not, I am interested to see where Lily, Robert, Malkin and Anne go next though.

This was a great Victorian era steampunk story for younger readers which I would highly recommend.

This book was never boring, and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. Full of action and adventure to keep you on the edge of your seat, it will leave you wanting more. With good guys and bad guys (very bad guys) and some plot twists and turns, this is one book that I found hard to put down.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more character and relationship building as it sometimes felt "tacked on". I also thought it might be a bit violent for some younger readers so would recommend this book to the older end of the "middle grade" scale.

Overall a great book and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Received from NetGalley.

A really really cute book! Lily is stuck at a boarding school she can't stand when she's whisked home and told her father is missing, presumed dead, and her world is flipped upside down.

She's being chased by people who want answers and she doesn't really know what they seek, she just knows she can't give it to them. She finds allies in a new friend and her faithful fox who had come to find her and keep her safe.

It's pretty much a non-stop book of adventure and some danger. Set in a steampunk world, it has mechanical beings and airships and is full of heart.

A really enjoyable book for any ages, I will definitely read more.

This newest entry into the steam punk genre is aimed towards younger readers. It has excitement and adventure, humanistic machines, a touch of romance, and places for tears. It may not be for every child, but those that seek out the unusual story, they may find a home here.

Enjoyed the tale, though I realised belatedly that it was a middle grade book. Those are not normally my jam as I find many of them not complex enough in characterisation or plot. For example, in Cogheart I was constantly flummoxed at how the two main characters were inexplicably found again and again by the bad guys with no clear plot reason as to how they were so easily discovered at least a dozen times (while being helped by adults for half those times).

In saying that I can see it being a great adventure for middle grade levels as it has that immediacy to the writing, the focus on action, and the kids being independent and making strides forward to change their situation on their own terms, thinking up their own solutions, I found though that the book didn't really start hitting its stride until half-way through the book, in my mind that is WAY too long for the set up, if it wasn't my first NetGalley read I might have put it down before then. Once the pace picked up half way through with the kids escaping it was easier to be swept up in the story. I found adults to be problematic in this book, they are incredibly useless (without there being a reason for it) and (spoiler) the killing off of multiple parents was a little too convenient.

Strengths of the book included an atmospheric setting, including airships, clock shops, mechanicals, and big mysterious mansions and boarding schools. As well as an alternate universe London which I always enjoy. All in all it was a good book, but probably more for a younger audience than I had anticipated.

Lily Hartman's father has gone missing. Her housekeeper, named guardian in her father's will, has turned into a tyrant, selling her father's mechanical servants and searching the house for some mysterious item. When Malkin, her mechanimal fox, comes bearing a cryptic message from her father, Lily flees her house with a little rosewood box. Does it contain the perpetual motion machine that everyone seems to want?

Aided by Robert, the son of a local mechanic, Lily must escape ruffians with silver-plated eyes, survive an airship scrimmage, and make her way to the heart of steampunk London. Along the way, we will discover just what secrets her father has been keeping as both Robert and Lily use their wits and their hearts to save each other from the heartless villain that pursues them. 

This middle grade adventure is a fantastic introduction to the steampunk genre. Lily and Robert both demonstrate loyalty and bravery in the face of terrifying odds. The mechanical creatures and airships that fill the pages are winsomely described as is the pseudo-Victorian setting. The book's best feature is probably its pacing, which propels the reader like a streamlined dirigible from beginning to end at breathtaking speed.

The cover itself had me intrigued and the summary finished to draw me to this book. How glad I was to quickly discover that the story itself was everything that I was expecting and more.

Cogheart is at turn enchanting and terrifying. The world draws you in and never cease to present you with more and more wonders that you wish you could take out from the pages. The characters are diverse, have depth and one cannot do anything but read on to know how their story will end.

Despite it's colourful and joyful cover, Cogheart is more of a dark tale and would suit the older side of the middlegrade public, much like Jed and the Junkyard War that I found very similar.

I am beyond excited to jump into the rest of this series.

3.5/5

Victorian steam-punk for middle grades! Cogheart by Peter Bunzl is an action-packed mystery that will keep you on your toes! Young Lily has just learned that her father is missing after his airship mysteriously crashed. When Madame Verdigris, Lily’s guardian, brings her home from boarding school, everything is different and she soon fears that Madame Verdigris is not to be trusted. Sure enough, Lily finds herself being chased by two mirror-eyed men who mean to do harm if Lily doesn’t answer their questions. But what do they want? And why do they want Lily?

A deep, dark secret begins to unfold as Lily, her friend Robert, and her mechanical fox Malkin begin a quest to find Lily’s father and reveal the truth behind the mysterious Cogheart!

Imaginative and full of adventure, I thoroughly enjoyed Cogheart. There are so many unexpected twists and turns; it will keep you guessing. There is also a glossary of words for young readers to refer to in case they are unfamiliar with steam-punk terms. This book will be great for 8-12 year olds and fans of The Series of Unfortunate Events.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press for this E-ARC. I’m looking forward to this book series (Cogheart, Moonlocket, and Skycircus) to be released in the US!

Cogheart is engaging and well-written. It’s a fine example of the fantasy genre, and one I would gladly share with readers young and old.

Enjoyable and creative fun.

So, this is a rough one for me to review. Anyone who has been following me for any length of time knows how much I love Middle Grade books. There's something beautiful about a tough topic dealt with in a way that is consumable by young readers. Even better, there's something lovely about watching a young person conquer an unimaginable adventure. I always have high hopes for all the MG books that I read, and this was no exception.

At first, I was enchanted with the idea of a steampunk story for young readers. The idea of Lily living in a place that was populated with dirigibles and mechanical people just stole my heart. However, I soon found that this book had a few flaws. While the story moves quickly, and the plot stays on track, there's not a lot of depth here. I found myself thinking about many other books that this story is similar to, that do things just a little bit better. It's a little cookie cutter, and that made it a rough read for me.

Now, do I think that young readers would like this book? Probably! The story has plenty of twists and turns and Lily's group is plucky to a fault. As I mentioned above, the plot moves quickly and the characters are rather fun. As an adult reader though, this book just didn't hold the magic that I really wanted it to. Lily was the basic version of every young heroine I've followed on an adventure, and all of the things that happened to her felt similar to other books I've read as well. This wasn't a bad book, just not a memorable one for me.

For young readers who enjoy high flying adventures with a touch of danger, this is a book they'll love. For adult readers, I'm not so sure.

This was fun to read with my 9 year old. The storyline was perfect for her age bracket. It didn't hold any huge surprises but for us, that was appreciated. Great book that we would definitely share with friends.

Lily is away at boarding school learning, reading penny dreadfuls and hoping for adventurous travel with her father when she receives terrible news her father's had an accident and is presumed dead. She is whisked out of school and brought home. Robert the son of the local clockmaker find and helps repair a mechanical fox made by Lily's father. They both get caught up in danger and adventure when they are pursued by two men searching for all of them. Danger, air chases, and lock picking this book has it all. I truly enjoyed this book it has a feeling of a true adventure, there is real danger and consequences for everyone.

*thank you to Netgalley, North Star Editions and Jolly Fish Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

OMG my what a fun read this was. I love middle grade stories, victorian era and steampunk so when I saw this I just had to read it and I was not disappointed. I have to say that I LOVE the cover! It seems that I am not the only one thinking that it is simply gorgeous. Would highly recommend.

A great steam-punk sci-fi novel for middle-graders.
Lily and Robert are fantastic characters who bravely tackle the variety of problems thrown their way. This book deals well with a range of sensitive issues, such as the loss of a parent, and discovering that someone you believed in is not what they seem.
I loved the way the author throws out little clues for the big reveal - to allow people to possibly work it out for themselves! Malkin, Lily's mechanimal fox companion is a little ratty, but loveable, and together with Anna the scrapper/writer/aeronaut/investigator, they make a great team!
The world Peter Bunzl creates is immersive and enjoyable, with its own little quirks and catchphrases which just make it feel all the more real.
I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, and I'll be recommending them to my 8 year-old niece, too!

Well wasn't that just full of fluff and sugar with some crunch!

This is middle grade story following our main character Lilly, a young fellow bookworm, who's father has disappeared. She then receives more bad news that these people called the "mirror-eyed men" are after her because of this machine her father was rumored to have. This was so action packed and kept me on the edge of my seat, it's mixed with so many elements like fantasy, historical, steampunk. It's all rolled into one incredibly charming story. I couldn't put this one down. I'll be keeping an eye out for this authors new releases because I need more of this easy and buttery writing style.

This is my first steampunk, Victorian adventure and I had no idea what to expect! “Punchcards And pistons!” This book was so much fun!

Lily is a fiesty, young girl living away from home in an all girl’s school, when she learns her father is missing and presumed dead. This is where her adventure takes off!

Lily was being protected by her father, but she doesn’t even know why. Now she is being hunted for an invention her father was trying so hard to protect. Does she find the invention that everyone is after, or ever see her father again? I won’t say…

But it is full of adventure with evil teachers, creepy bad guys and mechanical friends! The author was able to create such a creative, fantasy world with inventions and clock-workings that I was easily able to feel apart of and thoroughly enjoyed!

This is a book I would highly recommend to a young reader!

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley and the publisher, Jolly Fish Press in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will be published February 12, 2019.

A charming adventure for middle-grade audiences.

Lily's just received the devastating news of her father's airship accident, but she doesn't have time to grieve: mirror-eyed men are chasing her down, hunting for a so-called perpetual motion machine her father was rumoured to have invented. With the help of Malkin, a mechanimal fox filled with cogs and springs and a crisp attitude, and Robert, a clockmaker's son, Lily sets out to uncover the secrets her father's been hiding from her for a long time.

It was an entertaining read from beginning to end. Set in a steampunk edition of England and featuring a colourful cast of characters, young readers will have much to enjoy. For adult readers, there''s not much to be found in terms of character depth or spellbinding prose, but for the middle-grade audience its targeting, I can imagine it'll land very nicely.

Danger, air-ships, nasty teachers, mechs, Victorian...what else is there to say? Cogheart is a middle-grade steampunk that hits all bulls-eyes! Lily was sent into hiding by her father, who then goes missing. Adventure ensues. Looking forward to the next installment!