In the morning you should think You might not last unto the night In the evening you should think You might not last unto the morn Boy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic, and deadly chases, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick s palace. Boy is transported to a world of splendor, and wealth beyond his wildest imagining. But beneath its golden veneer, this world is full of madness and cruelty, closely guarded secrets, and terrifying revelations. In a mesmerizing conclusion to the enthralling story begun inThe Book of Dead Days, Boy and Willow are plunged into the heart of it the furies of the Emperor; the tricks of necromancers; a trail of blood that will lead to the grisly Phantom. Holding all their lives between its pages,The Book of Dead Dayswaits to deceive its next reader. From the Hardcover edition. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 6-9-A teen who doesn't know anything about his past, or even his own name, swirls deeper into mystery against the background of a Vienna-like decaying city. In this creepy but melodramatic sequel to The Book of Dead Days (Random, 2004), Boy is yanked from his previous life of serving the doomed magician Valerian and thrown into the deepest dungeon of the mad Emperor Frederick. The ruler is convinced that the boy possesses the secret of the Book, which foretells the future and might allow the aged Frederick to gain immortality. If Boy will not tell what he knows, he may be thrown to the mysterious Phantom, who dwells in the depths of the palace and drinks the blood of his victims. But Boy is determined to find the Book for himself, to learn his real name and who his parents were, and to be reunited with his sweetheart, Willow. Dark Flight Down, which will perplex most readers who haven't read Dead Days, is more than a little theatrical; the characters speak in many shouts and exclamation points, and marvelous secrets are revealed in the denouement. But young teens who have read and enjoyed the previous book might embrace this open-ended conclusion.-Walter Minkel, New York Public Library Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 6-9. The sequel to The Book of Dead Days0 (2004) begins where the previous book left off: Boy's master, the magician Valerian, is dead, and the teenager is now in the hands of the scientist Kepler. Many questions remain unanswered. What does Kepler want with Boy? How will Boy's relationship with the orphan girl Willow evolve? And was Valerian really Boy's father? But newer, more dire concerns take hold once Boy becomes the prisoner of the eccentric Emperor Fredrick, who wants to live forever. As in the first book, Sedgwick's writing is gloriously textured, and the plot is intricate, even heart-stopping. But this doesn't stand on its own, and even readers familiar with the previous book will need to have read it recently. In fact, both volumes seem like one book that was uncoupled, with a back story added to the second half. Even so, fans will be enthralled by the twists Sedgwick provides, many of them literal, that lead to a dank dungeon. There is horror down there, but redemption as well. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.