The Cogheart Adventures Books In Order

Publication Order of The Cogheart Adventures Books

Cogheart Adventures Series
Cogheart Adventures is a literary series by Londoner Peter Bunzl (1975—). A former TV producer who has had freelance animator stints, Bunzl attended Alleyn’s School for his basic education. He pursued filmmaking and animation in various institutions, including the University of Surrey; and is an alumnus of National Film and Television School, wherein he has a master’s degree in animation.

Bunzl’s numerous influences include: British authors Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, and Sir Philip Pullman; the comic works of Quentin Blake and Carl Barks; and French authors Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Bunzl, whose literary agent is Jo Williamson, specializes with the steampunk and juvenile literature niches.

Books in Cogheart Adventures Series
Bunzl credits his storytelling background—including scriptwriting occupation; and writing diaries, poems and short stories since he was aged around ten—for his easy transition to authorship, despite his initial false start. Pre-Victorian automatons inspired Bunzl’s Cogheart Adventures series, whose first instalment doubles up as his debut. His literary works are based on his imagination of the social impact of emotionally intelligent automatons.
Cogheart is Bunzl’s first book in Cogheart Adventures series. The multi-translated book’s foreign editions include; Inimă cu cheiță (Romanian), Kugghjärtat (Swedish), Det mekaniske hjerte (Danish), Besmrtno srce (Serbian), and Mechanické srdce (Czech).

It is originally dated September 1, 2016, and set in the 1896 London. Named after a character’s cog implant, Cogheart’s protagonists are: a guardian foxy automaton called Malkin; a steampunk inventor’s daughter called Lily, aged eleven; and a boyish go-between named Robert whose mother’s whereabouts are unknown.

Malkin survives an attack-related airship accident that has seemingly claimed its secretive inventor Professor John Hartman—he is Robert’s trainer—who wants Malkin to reach out to her child Lily who later on realizes she is a half human, half automaton. The sleepless Robert was gazing out the window when he saw and helps the agitated Malkin to contact Lily concerning enemies—including her untrustworthy guardian—who are seeking Professor Hartman’s innovations. Professor Hartman was midway through a unique but unidentified invention when he disappeared, prompting the curious Lily’s investigation amid two other spooky men who tag along behind her.

Initially dated May 1, 2017 and set in the 1897 London; Moonlocket is the second book in his Cogheart Adventures series. Moonlocket’s translations include Månberlocken (Swedish), Diamantul Lunii Sângerii (Romanian), and Blodmånens Diamant (Danish).

In the Moonlocket, the innovator’s daughter Lily and fox Malkin are helping intermediary Robert to trace his little-known mother whom he has not seen since his baby dumping. By and by, the investigative trio switch their attention to locating the Queen (Victoria) of England’s lost royal gift, called the Blood Moon Diamond; the three finders are competing with a high-profile escapee called Jack of Diamonds, alternatively named Jack Door, who acquired the diamond in a heist 15 years previously before his imprisonment. The runaway circus performer was previously incarcerated in a maximum security prison called Pentoville Prison; the freedom-seeking rogue Jack’s gateway to the royal diamond (the key to his escape to freedom) is a locket that the trio found unexpectedly in the ashen residues of Robert’s razed home.

First dated October 4, 2020; the serialized Cogheart Adventures’ third book is Skycircus whose translated titles include Himlacirkusen (Swedish), Atraksi Maut (Indonesian), and Podniebny (Polish).

While still finding Professor Hartman, the investigative trio associate with and accompany an airborne traveling carnival; where they interact with other uniquely talented inventions, including a housewife automaton called Mrs. Rust. Even then, the highlight is Lily’s unexpected birthday present—she is exactly aged fourteen—where someone anonymously hands her flying mother’s personal effects, and a brochure plus accompanying tickets for a strange circus that turns out to be abusing automatons. The brochure’s feature image is a girl in flight named Angelica whom Lily goes looking for hoping to be led to her mother. During their ensuing forced sojourns with the carnival, the trio help dismantle and save many other automatons from their life-threatening exploitation by the circus handlers.

Originally dated January 9, 2020; Shadowsea is book four in his Cogheart Adventures series. Shadowsea¬—its Swedish edition is titled Skugghavet—has a New York setting. The investigative trio is vacationing alongside Robert’s newly-found mother and sibling at a hotel; the trio befriends, relates with and morally supports a mouse-loving orphaned child called Dane who desires to familiarize himself with his deceased parents. In their quest to assist the grieving Dane; the trio’s investigation leads them underwater where—after a nurse automaton kidnaps Dane—they battle it out with awoken, nightly and sea-dwelling zombies (of mass murder victims) whose re-animating automaton is associated with the orphan’s experimenting aunt.

Awards for Cogheart Adventures Series
In May 2018, Bunzl was the Awesome Book Award winner for his book Cogheart that had won the early 2017 Dudley Teen Book Award too. Both Branford Boase Award and SCBWI Crystal Award have also shortlisted Cogheart whose other nominations include the 2017 editions of the Carnegie Medal, Waterstones Book Prize, and Kate Greenaway Award.

Other Books You May Like
Initially dated March 1, 2018; Brightstorm, by Englishwoman Vashti Hardy, is her first book in the Brightstorm series. Brightstorm is named after the shared surname of its protagonists, namely Arthur Brighstorm and Maudie Brightstorm; the aforementioned orphaned twins prove their mettle during the death investigation of their posthumously disgraced father Ernest Brightstorm who perished during an ill-fated polar exploration amid alleged conflict of interest.
First dated March 5, 2015; The Nowhere Emporium, by Glasgow-born author Ross MacKenzie, is his first book in The Nowhere Emporium series. Its fleeing, orphaned protagonist is Daniel Holmes who chances on and trains under—but is merely a confined figment of—a wizard called Mr. Silver whom he protects following his disappearance and looming magical suppression.

Initially dated February 7, 2019; A Pinch of Magic, by Essex-born author Michelle Harrison, starts the similar-titled A Pinch of Magic series. Its protagonists are three islanders—siblings Betty Widdershins, Charlie Widdershins and Fliss Widdershins—who want to free themselves from a restricting generational curse.