Uki and the Swamp Spirit

Kieran Larwood's Uki and the Swamp Spirit is a rabbit fantasy for 9 year olds where a small hero has to wade into a swamp to catch a spirit made of sickness.

What happens

It's the fifth Five Realms book and Uki's tale is already well under way, so the book before, Uki and the Outcasts, is the place to meet him.

Uki was thrown out of his tribe because his eyes and fur are different colours on each side. Then he bonded with an ancient spirit called Iffrit. Now he has to catch four escaped spirits in crystal, and two are already shut inside the gems on his spear harness.

The third is Charice. When Uki reaches out to sense her, he feels the whole fen buzzing with life, then a sickly green poison creeping through the water. She wants to fill every living thing with disease, and she's hiding right in the middle of the swamp.

He isn't on his own. Jori ran away from a clan of assassins and keeps a speed potion on her belt. Kree is a plains rabbit who rides a jerboa called Mooka and insists on calling Mudstock warren "Mud-plop".

There are super funny moments between the scary ones. A priest who counts sacred numbers warns them never to say four or fourteen. So Uki bobs his head nine times, loses count, panics that he's done fourteen and adds a few more (the priest asks if there's something wrong with him).

The bard tells it all to his young apprentice Rue while they're stuck in a ruined tower with archers outside. Rue is homesick and crying for his mum, and a story takes his mind off it. Isn't that exactly what a good story is for?

It's worth knowing this one has a dark edge. Uki's mother died before the story starts (it's part of his past, not something that happens here). There are rumours of a clan who put their victims on spikes, sometimes while they're still alive. A witch has one of her own followers beaten. And Uki's visions of the plague make him feel properly ill.

If your reader is bothered by cruelty or sickness, this might be one to share. If they already love some real danger in a quest, they'll follow Uki straight into the reeds.

What to read next

If they'd like to see where the bard's tales began, The Legend of Podkin One-Ear is the first Five Realms book. It opens on a snowy night when the same bard knocks on the doors of Thornwood warren (Rue's home) and the little rabbits beg for a story.