Look no further for the perfect book for boys and girls who love fantasy, adventure, and white-knuckle action! "Can you imagine eternal Darkness, sir?" So asks the sickly stranger who staggers into Peg Leg Nel's birthday party. Before the man dies, he tells Ray and his friends of a Darkness spreading like wildfire across Kansas, turning good people bad and poisoning anyone who tries to escape. It's clear that though the evil Gog is dead, his devilish machine has survived and is growing stronger. Now a full-fledged Rambler, Ray leads his friends on a mission into the heart of darkness. Vital to their success is tracking down the legendary Wolf Tree, rumored to be a pathway to the spirit world. Only with one of the tree's limbs can the Nine Pound Hammer be repaired and the Gog's terrible machine finally destroyed. The search for the Wolf Tree grows desperate as the Darkness spreads, threatening Ray, his friends, and all of humanity. The Wolf Tree is the second fantasy adventure book in John Claude Bemis's series The Clockwork Dark, and adds new layers of myth and magic to Bemis's original take on American tall tales in The Nine Pound Hammer . Gr 6-9–The Wolf Tree is a busy book with multiple characters, frenetic action, and a hodgepodge of plot points. It's part steampunk, part American tall tale, and part pseudo-Native American legend. The story begins with readers learning that Conker, John Henry's son who was thought to have died in The Nine Pound Hammer (Random, 2009) is alive, having been saved by Redfeather's magical copper necklace. The siren, Jolie (who also disappeared at the end of book one), takes him to a secret spring to nurse him back to health. Meanwhile, Nat, Si, Buck, Marisol, Ray, and the children they rescued from the Pitch Dark Train are living an idyllic life in the Smoky Mountains. Ray finishes his training and becomes a full-fledged Rambler. Life is reasonably comfortable until a dying stranger with pasty gray skin and motor oil in place of his blood comes to Shuckstack speaking of a terrible Darkness that is consuming the towns of the prairies. Ray and Marisol leave to investigate the Darkness, and Sally, Ray's sister, leaves to try and find her father. Meanwhile Conker and Jolie are trying to find the Nine Pound Hammer in order to repair it with wood from the fabled Wolf Tree that is a path into the spirit world. It is the only weapon that can destroy the Gog's evil Machine, which is causing the Darkness. Ultimately there is too much happening, and it is difficult to invest in either the characters or the story line. Recommended only where the first book is popular.–Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Picking up a year or so after The Nine Pound Hammer (2009), the second book in the Clockwork Dark series is every bit as peculiar and inventive. Ray and the remnants of the Ramblers are living in the Smoky Mountains when a visitor arrives, dripping oil like blood and speaking about the Darkness: a black cloud that has wiped out most of the daylight in Kansas and is spreading like smoke. The very thing that will challenge some readers—the quirky plot that jerks along like an old jalopy—will be the thing that endears it to others. One thing’s for sure: Bemis’ pastiche of steampunk and Americana is a refreshing change of pace from the paranormal stuff crowding the shelves. Grades 7-10. --Daniel Kraus John Claude Bemis grew up in rural eastern North Carolina, where he loved reading the Jack tales and African American trickster stories, as well as fantasy and science fiction classics. A songwriter and musician in an Americana roots band, John found inspiration for The Clockwork Dark trilogy in old-time country and blues music and the Southern folklore at its heart. John is a former elementary school teacher and lives with his family in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Visit John's Web site at www.johnclaudebemis.com.