Cogheart - Peter Bunzl

I read this book based on a recommended young adult reading list - this was near to the top of the list as a brilliant fantasy. Although it’s only March, I know this is going to be amongst my favourite books of the year!

The novel is set in a steampunk Victorian setting, where both humans and mechanicals (and mechanimals) live in harmony. The story primarily follows our protagonist, Lily, whose mother died a few years ago and whose father has just been lost in a tragic aircraft accident - the details of which don’t quite add up. Lily has been left in the care of a heartless guardian who wants to change her beautiful family home and wipe away all memories of her past, and she is desperate to know if her father is still alive somehow.

Lily begins to suspect that there is more to her father’s disappearance than meets the eye, and notices strange men with mirrored eyes who stalk her from the shadows. She meets Robert, a clockmaker’s son, who helps her to escape the clutches of her evil new guardian and the mirror-eyed men who track their every move. What do they want from her? The pair embark on a perilous journey to discover the truth about Lily’s foggy past, and what exactly happened to her mother and father.

This novel is imaginative and filled with magic, and I adored the murky, industrial backdrop of Victorian London. The writing style is reminiscent of the His Dark Materials series, and there are many similarities in the plot and idea of the animal sidekick (Lily’s mechanimal is a wind-up fox called Malkin). Bunzl has constructed a beautiful world in which to stage this wonderful novel and I am so excited as there are three more books which follow in the Cogheart series.

Despite this book being the first in a series, Cogheart was nicely rounded-off with a solid conclusion which I liked as I hate being left on a cliffhanger! Has anyone else heard of these books, as I hadn’t until recently?! If you’re a Philip Pullman fan you’ll love Cogheart!