Clockwork City

Gr 4 Up—McClaren's fantasy graphic novel, originally posted online, is an aesthetically pleasing but uneven introduction to this clockwork world. Orio is a doll-like girl, newly awakened in the city of Cobble. She and her strange, skull-faced pet, Bauble, travel the city attempting to find a job that will suit Orio. Each prospect turns disastrous quickly, and Orio suffers from strange nightmares and broken memories. Meanwhile, an ominous presence skulks in Cobble's shadows. McClaren's art is beautiful but accessible, with hints of a Japanese style. The environment is interesting and engaging, reminiscent of the settings in Jim McCann's Return of the Dapper Man (Archaia, 2010), though much starker. However, with a lead character who never speaks and a sequence of events that is sometimes hard to follow, the novel only succeeds as basic introduction to the story to come in later volumes. Older readers will feel shorted of any real narrative upon finishing this volume.