This is a perfect manga from start to finish. steampunk madness at its finest <3 <3 <3! The author bio at the end mentions she was inspired by Lemony Snicket and Eoin Colfer, and it shows. The series' darkness is offset with levity and cuteness. There's humor; there's heart; there's adults being selfish, abusive and terrible; and there's children being intelligent, caring and resourceful. The story earns its - literally - explosive ending XD.

And it's a cute, beautiful, smartly-drawn manga. It was easy to read, because speech bubbles would be embellished to suit the character: zigzags like lightning for a robot, frothy bubbles for a science experiment, bold boxes for an adult and simple circles for a kid... The author played with framing and space, too. Like at one point, a character is knocked into another panel by a booby-trapped toy bunny. I will be keeping an eye out for future manga from this writer, she's got skills!

Spooky, sci-fi, shenanigans! A fun read for any age reader.