Cogheart

by Peter Bunzl Narrated by Rachael Beresford

Overview

Thirteen-year-old Lily Hartman always dreamed of adventure. A strong-willed girl, Lily felt trapped in a life of Victorian stuffiness at her prim boarding school. But after her father-a famous inventor-disappears on a routine zeppelin flight, Lily's life gets turned upside down. Now cared for by her guardian, the heartless Madame Verdigris, Lily is quite certain that she's being watched. Mysterious, silver-eyed men are lurking in the shadows, just waiting for their chance to strike. But what could they possibly want from her? There are rumors, Lily learns, that her father had invented the most valuable invention ever made-a perpetual motion machine. But if he made such a miraculous discovery, he certainly never told Lily. And all he left behind is a small box-with no key, no hinges. With the help of a clockmaker's son, Robert, and her mechanimal fox, Malkin, Lily escapes London in search of the one person who might know something about her father's disappearance-and what he left behind.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Introduces dastardly villains, friendly mechanicals, and thrilling airship action ... with hair-raising and cinematic charm." —Kirkus Reviews

"Swiftly paced with clever details, this novel’s world of weird mechanical creatures, heroes, and villains in a fantastic Victorian England setting will appeal to young readers." —School Library Journal

"Delightful and inventive—a captivating adventure for middle-grade readers." —Foreword Reviews "Fantastically imaginative. With great style and panache, the novel deftly winds through the intricacies of friendship and moral choice while maintaining a fun edge."—Publishers Weekly "An exciting, fast-paced adventure." —Booklist "This steampunk adventure has it all: a missing person, deadly sabotage, secret technology, zeppelin chases, and a cast of heroes the reader will come to love." –VOYA

Kirkus Reviews

2018-10-28

A new steampunk trilogy introduces dastardly villains, friendly mechanicals, and thrilling airship action.

Robert and Lily, both 13, wouldn't normally have encountered each other in 1896 England. Lily's the only nice girl at a nasty finishing school where all the other students and teachers are dreadful and mistreat their mechs. When her father's airship crashes in a mysterious accident, Lily's fetched from school by her family housekeeper. But as any astute reader trained on the likes of Roald Dahl will know, an orphan can't trust her old housekeeper, especially when she covers her face with a black veil, speaks with an unplaceable "foreign" accent, and has been maltreating the family mechs. Robert's the son of the local clockmaker, eager to help Lily with her quest. But two terrifying baddies with mirrors for eyes are after them both, and it will take all the airship adventure and steam power they can muster to succeed. What dark family secrets was Lily's dad hiding? Surely his old friend, with the totally trustworthy name of Professor Silverfish, will know more about the important clockwork research. The plot gleefully deploys genre tropes while puzzles lead to a CGI-ready series of climactic escapes. "Cogs and chronometers," cry the mechs, and "crankshafts and carburetors"! The human (and humanlike) cast members all present white.

Treads familiar ground but with hair-raising and cinematic charm. (map, glossary) (Steampunk. 10-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171229849
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	05/03/2019
Series:	The Cogheart Adventures , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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