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A review by zoridia
Cogheart by Peter Bunzl
2.0
Honestly, I would rather give it a 2.5 stars, but since it's not possible it will be 3, as it was a quite pleasant book to read. I really liked the universe in which the story is set, it's steampunk and awesome (mechanimals!! mech-fox! balloons! air-pirates! penny dreadfuls! clocks and cogs! Everything I love), and the story flows rather well, in spite of some lengths (it may be me, but I found the descriptions of fights/attacks really hard to read/boring). However, I was quite disappointed by the plot and the characters, which I found hackneyed and without depth. They are "nice" protagonists but I've met them a billion times already. So if it was the first book I've read I would have liked it more (which makes me think that children may enjoy it more than I did).
1) I found the overall plot very predictable. I had guessed about the Professor Silverfish after a third of the book, and about the Cogheart after half of the book and then everything pretty much followed my predictions (Anna was a nice surprise however).
2) Flat characters: Lily and Robert are likeable but also very empty. She is a tomboy like.... 90% of girl protagonists in adventure books, lost her mother, brave, trouble with authority and beyond that nothing. We don't know how she feels, how she thinks (or very vaguely: she is sad about the loss of her parents.) If I compare with Lyra in The Golden Compass/The Northern Lights, Lyra had such an interesting inner life that the reader got to discover, imagination, lying, plotting, some arrogance, bravery, we knew in detailed ways how she perceived the other characters and her own story. I guess not everybody can be Pullman, but still, I was quite disappointed that Lily did not become more of a "person" and less of an empty protagonist.
3) I may need to think more about it, but gender-wise I was also a bit disappointed, Anna is cool, and initially Lily as well (while Robert had some weaknesses that made him more human), but as the story went by Lily basically became completely passive: she follows Robert, she follows her father, she needs saving again and again, and her main feature, the cogheart, is something that has been done for her. I want her to be able to do stuff! Understand things, or fight, or think. I felt that the book often promised some form of equality between the characters (they are both orphans (sort of) on the same adventure, but that the facts ended up making her quite passive. I hope it will be balanced better in the next volume.
However, I enjoyed reading the book, and absolutely loved Malkin, and would like to know more about whether/how mechs can have a soul or not. There are many good things in the book and I hope they will be developped later on.
Spoiler
To be more specific, here are my issues with the book:1) I found the overall plot very predictable. I had guessed about the Professor Silverfish after a third of the book, and about the Cogheart after half of the book and then everything pretty much followed my predictions (Anna was a nice surprise however).
2) Flat characters: Lily and Robert are likeable but also very empty. She is a tomboy like.... 90% of girl protagonists in adventure books, lost her mother, brave, trouble with authority and beyond that nothing. We don't know how she feels, how she thinks (or very vaguely: she is sad about the loss of her parents.) If I compare with Lyra in The Golden Compass/The Northern Lights, Lyra had such an interesting inner life that the reader got to discover, imagination, lying, plotting, some arrogance, bravery, we knew in detailed ways how she perceived the other characters and her own story. I guess not everybody can be Pullman, but still, I was quite disappointed that Lily did not become more of a "person" and less of an empty protagonist.
3) I may need to think more about it, but gender-wise I was also a bit disappointed, Anna is cool, and initially Lily as well (while Robert had some weaknesses that made him more human), but as the story went by Lily basically became completely passive: she follows Robert, she follows her father, she needs saving again and again, and her main feature, the cogheart, is something that has been done for her. I want her to be able to do stuff! Understand things, or fight, or think. I felt that the book often promised some form of equality between the characters (they are both orphans (sort of) on the same adventure, but that the facts ended up making her quite passive. I hope it will be balanced better in the next volume.
However, I enjoyed reading the book, and absolutely loved Malkin, and would like to know more about whether/how mechs can have a soul or not. There are many good things in the book and I hope they will be developped later on.