The Nine Pound Hammer

September 21, 2009
Bemis, in his debut novel, first in the Clockwork Dark series, attempts to spin classic American tall tales into an epic historical adventure, but undercuts the solid setting and action sequences with some poor character choices and predictable twists. Ray, an orphan being taken south for adoption, jumps the train, thinking his sister will have a better chance of finding a family without him. His adventures in the wilderness bring him to a medicine show traveling on a train called the Ballyhoo. The assorted members of the show have unusual powers, and as Ray talks to them, he learns about the heroic Ramblers and their fight against the mysterious Gog. Encounters with pirates, a siren and a fearsome mechanical beast called the Hoarhound all enliven the book, and the climactic battle is engrossing and well-choreographed, but there's little new in the story itself. Every twistâfrom the inevitable betrayal to the revelation of the Gog's identity to the heroic sacrificeâis telegraphed, and along with some awkward racial stereotypes, the action sequences are not enough to sustain the story. Ages 9â12.

October 1, 2009
Gr 6-9-Bemis's debut novel presents a unique way of creating fantasy by drawing on the themes and archetypes of Southern folklore and American legend. In place of knights and dragons are hoodoo conjurers, pirate queens, and sirens. Twelve-year-old orphan Ray Cobb has a lodestone his father gave him that is pulling him to the South from rural Maine. He jumps from an orphan train and connects with the "Ballyhoo", a train that houses a medicine show with a blind sharpshooter, a snake dancer, a fire-eater, and a sword swallower. Ray learns that his father was (and perhaps still is) Li'l Bill, a Rambler who helped John Henry win the competition with the steam engine. Ramblers, like knights of old, are protectors. Their evil adversary, known as the Gog, is a captain of industrya cold and calculating champion of the machine who desires dominion. The medicine show is hiding the last of the mythical Swamp Sirens from him as he wants her for her ability to lure people so he can feed his evil machine with ruined souls. As the Gog rebuilds an even more monstrous machine than the one John Henry destroyed, a new generation of Rambler heroes, including Ray, takes up the fight of defending the wilderness. While Bemis's setup is fascinating, the novel is as overblown as any tall tale. The convoluted plot is difficult to unravel, and the connection with John Henry and his hammer not clear for the better part of the book."Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2009
Grades 6-9 If todays readers stillpossess a twinkle of wonder for the step-right-up days of sideshow hucksterism, Bemis debut will shock and amaze them (or, rather, SHOCK! and AMAZE!). The rollicking plot follows 12-year-old orphan Ray as he abandons his sister so that she will have a better chanceof being adopted. Ray takes up with Cornelius T. Carters Mystifying Medicine Show and Tabernacle of Tachycardial Talent, a troupe of snake-oil salesmen whose various performing abilities have supernatural origin. Notable among them is a towering strongman named Conker, who happens to be the legendaryJohn Henrys son. And that steam-powered hammer John Henry defeated? Its just a myth to cover up the truth: Henry defeated a demonic machine created by an evil entity known only as the Gog. Anyone who pays attention will quickly guess the Gogs alternate identity, but that wont detract from the steampunk collision of heroes, mermaids, pirates, and good old-fashioned Americana. Fans need only bide their time until the second book in the Clockwork Dark series arrives.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)