Podkin One-Ear
By Kieran Larwood
Hi! How would you feel if tiny little people were turned into monsters by an evil villain? Well, that’s what this story is about. I know that sounds a little scary, but trust me, it’s not.
The part in this story that sounds scary is exactly what happened to Podkin. It was back in the days of the tribes. Not just any old tribes. The rabbit tribes. Podkin was a chieftain’s son - a spoiled, lazy chieftain’s son. Podkin was known just as “Podkin the rabbit” these days. Not “Podkin One-Ear” - just plain Podkin. He was supposed to be learning all sorts of things. But instead, he snuck away from his teachers to go pick berries or play games of hide-and-seek. Podkin’s sister, Paz, wanted desperately to be chieftain. But, there are rules, such as “girls aren’t allowed to be chieftains.”
But one night the Gorm (a tribe a lot more like the scary thing that I described before, except that they were made of iron) attacked Munbury Warren, the tribe that belongs to Podkin’s family. Podkin’s aunt, Auntie Olwyn, gave Podkin a package and led them to a secret tunnel that led them away from the tribe to escape from the Gorm. They fled into the winter night and they made camp and rested for a while. Then they went on the run again. Eventually the Gorm found them again. But Podkin opened his package when he saw the Gorm. In it was a dagger, an old, dusty dagger. And with it came a note. It was from his mother and it was about the dagger. It told him that the dagger could slice through anything except iron, which the Gorm were made of. But they were in a forest, so he cut down all the trees that made the Gorm’s path locked. They escaped!
But, Podkin and Paz weren’t safe yet. They ran into trouble in a warren they knew very well. They tried to escape because the Gorm had taken over, but Podkin’s ear got caught under a gate when they had just finally made it out of an escape gate. Paz had to slice off Podkin’s ear with his knife! I know that sounds a little violent, but it’s really not too bad in the story. Well… maybe it is a little bad. They ran far away from that warren.
Soon, they heard the bushes rustle. Out came a witch! A good witch, in particular. Her name was Brigid. She said that she’d been expecting them. She said that because she could predict the future. She invited them inside. They stayed for a while. Then, she gave them directions to where to go. They went to an old tribe that’s been hiding from the Gorm for a while. They got captured by some kidnappers. They were forced to steal anything they could find. Pook, Podkin’s little brother, rolled bones for them in a game. (The bones were made of clay.) He used the coins that he got to buy a person in the training coop, but he only had 30 minutes. He figured out that this was an old friend of his father’s, who tried to fight the Gorm off. He helped them escape from the people who kidnapped them and he led them to his old warren. He was the son of a chieftain. He didn’t want to be a chieftain so, the whole tribe just gave up and left. The warren was now deserted and so they stayed there until Podkin made a battle plan against the Gorm.
Will they defeat the Gorm, or will the Gorm continue to take over and rule the land? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who can take a little violence. If you’re the type of reader who can’t take even a little violence, this is not the book for you, folks!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There were a few scary parts, as I have already mentioned.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
None, nada, zero!
I give this book 4 1/2 wands.
I didn’t give it all 5 wands because of its violence. If it had had a little bit less violence, then it would have been perfect-o!
Source: Review Copy
