This is the second book in The Spindlewood Tales I’ve read and I have yet to come across any depth either in the story or the characters.  It’s pretty much a dark and dreary tale, and although it’s not stated, it must take place during the Dark or Middle Ages.  They call it a city, but it’s really a village, called Hangman’s Hollow… charming.  Children are nonexistent, banished, stolen, jailed.  Mr. Jarvis, the antaognist, lives for the sole purpose to find hidden children and drag them off.  Captain Dooley, a wooden toy sailor made from a tree from the woods, will answer any question posed to him and sniffs out children, who are then hauled to the woods.  The war is between the village’s Jarvis and the woods, with the children used as pawns.  The story is about three children hiding from the evil, and the constant threat of being discovered.  There is quite a bit of action within the 170 pages, which should please immature readers.  More capable readers will question the reasons for the misery, as well as want to know more about the children, and why there aren’t any people willing to stand up for them.  This story needs a true hero.