The Nine Pound Hammer

A wonderful book! So refreshing to see someone write some real American fantasy using the stories of people like John Henry and Johnny Appleseed, and medicine shows, and hoodoo magic. Well written, too. My only complaint would be that the author seemed to feel that, in the end, he had to return to some of the old fantasy cliches, like the evil force that feeds on children and can only be combatted by a team of children. That made the ending a little predictable.

I very much liked the set-up here, American fantasy set in the late 19th century and very much drawn from actual American tropes, both mythological and real -- the rise of the railroads and steam engines and John Henry and Indians and medicine shows and bottle trees and mechanical engineering and robber barons and the Mississippi and orphan trains and more.

It opens with Ray, one of the orphans on the orphan train, deciding to take his chances on his own, and he meets up with a traveling medicine show made up of an interesting cast of performers and workers, and other orphans. They are being pursued by an Evil Mastermind and his giant mechanical hunting dog, and the kids gradually come to realize that they are the children and potential show more heirs of the Ramblers, a roving band of preternatural folk heroes who were dedicated to fighting evil.

So, love the Americana because that's awesome. Not convinced this needs to be an entire trilogy with a funky name, though. Putting my frustration with the proliferation of fantasy series with cryptic titles aside, and looking at this rationally, the book could have done with a fair amount of editing down and would have been a perfectly serviceable stand-alone fantasy story.

Grade: B
Recommended: This will probably hit with boys who like adventure and fantasy, although it isn't as compelling as some of the other stuff out there, and it isn't trying to be funny. It maybe reads a little long for a book that has a lot of action scenes, seemingly for the sake of having a lot of action scenes. show less

The Nine Pound Hammer is a sci-fi adventure set throughout the exanspive territories in 19th century America. As the characters develop throughout the story they learn that the American legends of Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, and others are true. The young protagonists (early teens) soon discover that they happen to not only be the kin of the famous legends, but they also can harness the hoodoo power they inherited from their parents. Throughout the story the protagonists sail with pirates in the Gulf, ride on hundreds of miles of railroad tracks with performers and a mermaid, and embrace their love of nature and family. I think this is a fantastic book to introduce American history in a "Riordanish" way to children. I will definitely show more be recommending this to many of my library's advanced middle grade readers who are ready to be challenged by new vocab words - something Bemis does a GREAT job of doing throughout the story. One of the characters prides himself on speaking with a varied and eloquent vocabulary. This book also introduces concepts, terms, and historical figures that are relevant to our cultural and national history. show less

It's been eight years since Ray Cobb's dad dissapeared on a "job of work". As an orphan, Ray has had much diffuculty surviving with his younger sister Sally and fears that she won't get a proper family with Ray hanging around and decides to leave her at an orphanage. Once he leaves her, Ray has no clue what to do, and gets lost in the woods. There, he meets a young giant and an escape artist.

Little did he know that meeting these two would be the start of one the most adventurous and daring stories ever to have been written. Ray figures out his true identity and the true identity of his father. He has his first feeling of being part of a family.

I would've have given this book 5 stars, hands down, if it hadn't been for one part at the show more end. Other than that, this story will always be one of my favorites. John Bemis puts together the old fables of John Henry and Johnny Appleseed in this first book of a series. I think that the author did a great job writing the book but could definitely use some improvements, but all in all this book was hard to put down and one of the best books I've ever read. show less

While it might make sense for the older orphan in this story to abandone his sister, it felt contrived, and I just couldn't stand another casual abandonment. I may well come back to this book - it does seem otherwise appealling. I just can't get past the imitial abandonement right now.

The Nine Pound Hammer is an eclectic mix of American Folk Lore and Steampunk which adds up to a charming story. I listened to the audio CD version of this book and it was excellent. John Mayer did a great job performing the characters voices which helped add to the down home feeling of the book. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

For my Book Club, we are reading by genre, rather than title, and this month we are reading Steampunk. I selected this book because of the title (it contains the word "clockwork" after all) and also due to the American history aspect.

It was a fun read, filled with interesting characters, intriguing plot developments and a few twists (one of which I didn't seem coming until it almost hit me!). Overall, a good, fast paced adventure novel particularly for boys.