Book Reviews, Children’s fiction

Helmer in the Dragon's Tomb

by S.D. Smith 2025 / 243 pages Rating: GOOD/great/gift Helmer is a young rabbit who wants to farm the same land his family has been working for generations. But the king is old, and the heir to the throne is missing, and rabbit gangs are roaming (or should I say hopping) and taking whatever they want. And they want the Helmer family farm. But when Helmer stands up for his lands, he gets bundled off to a forced labor camp deep in the Dragon's Tomb. How is he ever going to escape to let the King know what's going on? Well, it'll take some patience... and some help! Cautions The one caution would just be that there is someone masquerading as a priest at one point. In a book by a Christian author that seems to be pretty deliberately not explicitly Christian, it does strike me odd whenever he brings in religious trappings, but not really God Himself. Conclusion Author S.D. Smith has paired this, the 12th book in his Green Ember series, with a video game of the same name. He's entered the game domain for the same reason he started writing books – to create what he wanted for his own family – so if your family is into gaming too, it might be worth checking out (though I haven't myself... yet). As for the book, what I like best about it is that it will serve as a great on-ramp to the Green Ember universe. The series is probably for 12 and up (if they are reading it themselves - younger if dad is reading it), but this is a little simpler, and could be tackled a year or two earlier. It is also a standalone, so your kids don't have to have read any of the other Ember books to follow along. But if they have been reading the others, then they'll love to learn this backstory to a favorite character, Captain Helmer. However, while I think the whole series is great, this simpler story warrants only a "good" grade.