Podkin One-Ear: Longburrow, Book 1

While it's not especially gory or nightmarish, there's a lot of combat and violent conflict. Podkin loses an ear in a narrow escape. Young rabbits flee the takeover of their village by relentless, zombie-like robot rabbits who kill their father, want to kill them, and pursue them throughout the story. Lots of fighting, hand-to-hand combat with stabbing and slashing. Also explosives.

"Oh, badgers' bottoms" is about as strong as it gets. Some old-fashioned British phrases, like describing a baby being carried "in a papoose" may startle U.S. readers.

Adult rabbits drink mead, especially on festive occasions.

Parents need to know that Kieran Larwood's Podkin One-Ear is the exciting first book of a planned two-volume series about the heroic struggles of young rabbits trying to protect themselves and their loved ones against the Gorm: monstrous, zombie-like robot rabbits that have already killed the young ones' father. As such, it may be too intense for some readers, but there's a lot to love about this tale of a spoiled young rabbit changing his ways and becoming a hero, losing an ear in the process -- as told to enthralled rabbit children by a mead-swilling, long-eared bard one winter holiday. Sleeping potions play a role, both for medical purposes and for tricking an enemy; there's a bit of dice-rolling for survival money; young Podkin fights some battles and slays some monsters. Strong messages of family, courage, and looking out for one another, as well as working hard to make things better.