Great Universe, Disappointing Writing

Cogling

By Jordan Elizabeth

Paperback: 354 pages

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press (January 25, 2016)

ISBN-10: 1620077396

ISBN-13: 978-1620077399

Approximate Lexile: 670

 

Publisher’s Blurb:

When fifteen-year-old Edna Mather tears an expensive and unfamiliar pocket watch off her little brother's neck, he crumbles into a pile of cogs right before her eyes. Horrified, Edna flees for help, but encounters Ike, a thief who attempts to steal the watch before he realizes what it is: a device to power Coglings-clockwork changelings left in place of stolen children who have been forced to work in factories. Desperate to rescue her brother, Edna sets off across the kingdom to the hags' swamp, with Ike in tow. There, they learn Coglings are also replacing nobility so the hags can stage a rebellion and rule over humanity. Edna and Ike must stop the revolt, but the populace believes hags are helpful godmothers and healers. No one wants to believe a lowly servant and a thief, especially when Ike has secrets that label them both as traitors. Together, Edna and Ike must make the kingdom trust them or stop the hags themselves, even if Ike is forced to embrace his dark heritage and Edna must surrender her family.

 

My Thoughts:

It started out so well. I loved the steampunk-ish, Dickensian world. The plot had some nice peaks and valleys.

 

But a lot about this book just didn’t wow me. Edna’s desperation to recover her brother at all odds really isn’t explained, except that she doesn’t feel “the evil” inside her so much when he’s around. So he’s basically your teddy bear but you don’t necessarily love him? And the author tried to be so coy about “the evil”, but it was quite obvious. Then, when she reveals what it is and where it came from, it’s really no big deal and Edna easily accepts it.

 

The falling action is much too neat and tidy, with no real justification for how it came about. Edna and Ike fall into a relationship far too easily. If a boy was sticking his tongue in my mouth the first time he kissed me, I’d smack him. It’s almost as if the author was told to “steam things up a little.”

 

There are some nice twists and turns. The narrative style is fine, although the editing really gets worse toward the end—lots of very obvious typos. This is not labeled as a pre-release galley; I hope this got cleared up. There was also a rather obvious continuity error,

 

The cover is beautiful, and I quite like the design of the chapter dividers.

 

Possible Objectionable Material:

Kissing scenes, chase scenes, peril and imprisonment.

 

Who Might Like This Book:

Definitely a middle/YA audience. Readers of either gender. Steampunk fans.

 

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.