The Hammer: The True Danger Lies Within

Vance Neudorf
Novel Concept Books (2008)
ISBN 9780978374006
Reviewed by Neha N. Kashmiri (age 14) for Reader Views (12/08)


Corvan doesn’t fit in at school. His only friend is Kate, a feisty girl who has stopped talking to him for no reason. Corvan is picked on in school because of his small stature and the fact that he can never stop lying. His latest claim is that there is a three-foot lizard living in the rock formation near his house. Of course no one believes him, but what they don’t know is that Corvan is telling the truth this time.

Corvan goes to the rock formation one day and gets caught in a storm. That is when he finds a mysterious stone hammer that glows blue whenever he touches it. The hammer has the power to heal and sometimes to harm. The only person he tells is Kate, who steals the hammer from him and goes to the rock. There they both encounter the lizard, who, come to find out, can talk. Kate frees the lizard from his bond with an evil master and ends up with the same bond. She travels underground to the Cor. Corvan follows her and with the help of the lizard ends up in a city ravaged by an evil ruler. The city is waiting for someone called the Cor-Van to save them and they believe Corvan to be the Cor-Van. But how can he be when he can’t even save Kate? It’s a good thing Corvan has many people helping him in saving Kate and solving the mystery of the hammer.

Though “The Hammer” by Vance Neudorf has lots of action, most of it doesn’t even start until the fiftieth page.  The writing is strange and I had to read a few paragraphs twice to understand what had happened. For some reason I got it stuck in my head that there was a piece of the story missing because everything happened very quickly. But I also think there should definitely be a sequel because I want to know what happens in the Cor and with Corvan and all the other interesting characters.