The Beasts of Grimheart by Kieran Larwood illustrated by David Wyatt

When I saw this book, number 3, from the Five Realms series in a brand new book shop here in Sydney (Three Sparrows) I was excited to buy it. I adored The Legend of Podkin one ear when I read it in 2018 and a short time later I read the second book - The Gift of Dark Hollow.  

All through this third book I kept hoping this would be the final book in the series. Of course it cannot be the final instalment because there are Five Realms and twelve gifts of the Goddess. Today I finished The Beasts of Grimheart which ends with a huge battle and then I dared to look and see if there are more books. Yes there are - here is a list and I just read that there will eventually be nine books in total. Oddly though Kirkus (this review does contain a spoiler) also thought this book was the final one. 

Here's the list so far:

• The Legend of Podkin One-Ear (2016)
• The Gift of Dark Hollow (2017)
• The Beasts of Grimheart (2018)
• Uki and the Outcasts (2019)
• Uki and the Swamp Spirit (2020)
• Uki and the Ghostburrow (2021)
• Podkin and the Singing Spear (2023)

I had not looked at the back of The Beasts of Grimheart prior to reading The Beasts of Grimheart and so I was pleased to discover Kieran Larwood has provided readers with a character list and a list of the twelve gifts.  I do wish I had seen the character list before I read The Beasts of Grimheart because it is now five years since I read the first book and I have really lost track of many of the important but more minor characters.

In this third book, the Grom have made a huge machine and it is destroying the forest which is home to all the different groups of rabbits. 

"At the front of their line, half hidden by the forest itself, were ten contraptions built from the same rusted, jagged iron as the Gorm's armour. Like some kind of hellish insects, they had an array of blades, spinning teeth and crushing jaws at the front. At the back they had a massive wheel, taller than five rabbits, which spun steadily round powering the cutting equipment before them. ... The blades torn through trunks and roots, iron mandibles crushed and chomped branches into pieces, and teeth crunched wood into splinters. ... the devastation was awful."

Podkin along with his sister Paz and little brother Pook have been collecting the gifts of the goddess. Even though they are children it seems that their destiny is to defeat Scramashank the Gorm Lord and thus stop the terrible destruction of their precious forest. Of course this is not going to be easy. There will be battles, the constant threat of danger, betrayal by someone who they thought was a friend, and sadly the death of a loved member of the Dark Hollow Warren. 

As with the first instalment this book has a parallel story where the bard is actually telling the tale. I won't spoil this but the identity of the bard is sure to both surprise and delight you. Meanwhile, though, the bard has to really tell the best story of his life because if he doesn't do this the bonedancers will take his life.

"We wish to hear this story that has earned you a contract on your life. You will tell it to use as exactly as you told it to the Golden Brook rabbits. We will judge whether it is offensive enough for you to die, and it the Goddess Nixha demands it, then die you shall."

And there is an extra threat:

'Bonedancers have to kill something every day ... it's part of their tradition. They carry pouches of bugs around with them, so it doesn't always have to be a rabbit.'

Bookseller blurb: The bard is captured by the bonedancers and taken to their temple where he has to retell the tale that earned him a contract on his life. The story of Podkin continues . . . The Gorm have started to attack the forest, trying to flush out the Darkhollow rabbits. Podkin and the others leave for Sparrowfast warren, on the other side of the forest, to ask his uncle for help and for the use of his magic bow (one of the 12 Gifts). As they make their way through the forest, Vetch turns traitor and tries to seize the Gifts Podkin and Paz own for his masters, the Gorm. The young rabbits flee into the forest depths, where they discover a lost tribe of rabbits and a another of the sacred Gifts - a crown which lets the wearer speak to animals. With their new allies, Podkin, Paz and Pook emerge, meeting up with the others at Silver Rock warren. His uncle and the Sparrowfast rabbits are already there, as the Gorm have marched round the forest edge and taken their warren. When the two sides meet in battle, who will win? And will the bonedancers let the bard live?

Here is the web site of the illustrator David Wyatt.

You do need to read the five Realms books in order so you can follow all the twists and turns of plot and character connections. Fans of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques will adore these books. OR if you and your young reading companion love The Five Realms be sure to hunt out Redwall. There are 22 books in that series.