Ember Falls

S. D. Smith's Ember Falls is the second Green Ember book, a rabbit war story for 8 year olds with a lot more swordplay and a lot less peace and quiet.

What happens

This one carries straight on from The Green Ember, so start there. A lot of what happens in the first book is simply taken as read here.

Heather and Picket are older now and right in the middle of the fight against the Lords of Prey, the great birds of the High Bleaks. They still haven't found the family they lost.

It opens with Picket and the prince creeping through thick fog towards a slave camp, hoping Picket's family is being held there. The camp is empty. Then three huge birds come shrieking down out of the sky. What a first chapter!

Back at the hidden citadel, Heather is made a field medic. She's attached to the Fowlers, Captain Helmer's daredevil unit, and Picket is one of them. They swing on ropes and glide between branches, slicing at wooden birds with pumpkin heads (pumpkin juice everywhere).

Helmer is brilliant. He chews celery, calls Picket "Ladybug" and knocks his whole team flat just to prove they aren't ready yet.

There's plenty of fun between the battles. Heather and her friend Emma trade silly rhymes about the villain. Then a captain comes puffing up the path with news of an army of huge, unknown rabbits marching their way under a black banner covered in silver stars. Friends or enemies? Nobody knows.

Heather's chapters are full of feeling. She misses her parents and worries about Picket, who acts tough but is hurting underneath. Picket's chapters are pure action. He's learning to treat his fear as something that sharpens him rather than something that's in charge.

It's worth knowing that this is a war story and it doesn't pretend otherwise. A raptor's talons leave a long gash down Picket's back. Birds are brought down with flaming arrows. Rabbits are kept as slaves, and one short chapter goes inside the villain's lair, where a frightened slave scrubs at stains she'd rather not think about at the foot of his throne.

None of it is lingered over, but a sensitive reader may find the darker chapters heavy going. A child who loves banners, battles and fiercely loyal friends will be right at home.

What to read next

If they're after another war fought by smaller creatures against bigger ones with wings, Sword Quest is set in a world of birds where an emperor's knights are hunting a magic sword and a little tribe of doves gets in their way.