Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

"My place beside you, my blood for yours. Till the Green Ember rises or the end of the world!" So ends the prologue to The Green Ember. What a start! S.D. Smith's debut novel stands in stark contrast to most contemporary middle school fiction. Courage, loyalty, wisdom, and hope abound. Classic virtues are esteemed. It is moral without moralizing. It is dramatic without resorting to preteen angst. It is swashbuckling without glorifying violence. Good is good and evil is evil. Clearly Smith is influenced by Lewis' Narnia, but this isn't derivitive fan fiction. Smith has created a new world that stands on its own inhabited by wonderful and sometimes terrifying characters. Heather and Picket are young rabbits who are dragged into world events much larger themselves. Their journey begins as their parents are visited by mysterious strangers, and their father hints that the family history may be tinged with intrigue, betrayal, and great pain. Within the first few pages, Smith launches the reader along with Heather and Picket on a fast-paced flight away from their home and headlong toward something momentous. From labyrinths to hidden kingdoms, our heroes travel toward their destiny. Along the way they meet wonderful characters like the unexpectedly capable Smalls whose own path may be more dangerous than theirs. There is the dark and mysterious Helmer whose mastery of the arts of war draw Picket out from the prison of crippling self-indulgence and sets him on a trajectory of great danger and self-sacrifice. The wise Maggie O'Sage and Uncle Wilfred set hope firmly within their hearts. Despite living in a blighted world surrounded by foes and treachery, Heather, Picket, and their new friends hold firmly to that hope. Till the Green Ember rises or the End of the World! The Green Ember is at its core simply a good story. I recommend it as a read-aloud for younger children or a self-serve novel for middle schoolers. The reading level is comparable to the Chronicles of Narnia. My small kids love it. Rabbits with swords! What's not to love? [Disclosure: I am related by marriage to the author. This relationship has not affected my objectivity when observing my children beg, "Please just one more chapter!"]