Cover: Fernando López Juárez
High fantasy for MG
Kieran Larwood has possibly done more than any other contemporary writer to bring ‘serious’ high fantasy successfully, and appropriately, to young readers. Now the undisputed king of small-furry-animal questing, he has built on from the work of his illustrious (and still very enjoyable) predecessor, Brian Jacques. However, whilst retaining just as much excitement over an equally large canvas, this writer has developed a high fantasy world that is more intelligent, more thoughtful and basically, more moral than that of Redwall.
Gentle but still exciting
This Five Realms series very effectively encapsulates many of the tropes of more grown-up fantasy, but Kieran Larwood’s convincing world of animal characters successfully takes away much of the more realistic violence and immorality of the classic genre; it very clearly places the reader in the context of ‘made-up’ story. In this sense it could perhaps be called ‘high fantasy light’. There is also a sense in which it could be called ‘high fantasy soft’, although, in view of its intended audience, I mean this as a compliment. Early in this latest novel, protagonist, Uki, uses his new power to hurt (not kill) other rabbits. He immediately feels terrible remorse about this, vowing that he will never again use his special strengths to harm others. This is typical of the way this writer uses the genre to propitiate positive messages to his young readers. This does not make his stories one jot less gripping, though. Each with a framing narrative, surrounding a principle ‘legend’ told by a bard, Kieran Larwood’s books both celebrate and demonstrate the power of storytelling. His own writing is masterful without being in any way ostentatious or inaccessible to his young audience.
Second trio, part three
This new volume constitutes the concluding part of a second trilogy in the series, the ‘Tale of Uki’, related to, but distinct from, the earlier ‘Podkin One Ear’ books.
In another departure from much classic fantasy, this author is thankfully aware on the need to avoid gender stereotypes; a captain of guard, a poet-bard, an evil warlord or a reluctant hero is just as likely to be a ‘she’ as a ‘he’. However, is it perhaps time for the next eponymous protagonist to be female?
Stunning illustrations
David Wyatt is one of our finest contemporary illustrators and his stunning, super-detailed, double-spread pencil drawings are one of the great joys of this series, in this latest volume no less than any of the others.
Different but the same
Of course, despite excitingly different storylines, there are many ways in which each new Five Realms book feels like ‘more of the same’. But there are times when this is a good thing - and this is one of them, I am a great admirer of originality, yet there are undoubtedly periods in a child’s reading journey (and mine), when the comfort of a return to the familiar is exactly what is required. And when subsequent books are just as thrillingly engrossing as the ones that came before, what’s not to like? For me, and for many, Kieran Larwood provides the perfect escapist read. Long may he continue to do so.
