- Fantasy
- Flember collection
- Ages 7–10
Flember
Part of the collectionFlember→Best for readers moving from funny comics into longer illustrated adventures, especially if they like inventions, magic islands and robot sidekicks.
- Books5 / 5
- Arcs2
- Span2020–2025
- StatusComplete
The series
At a glance.
Flember is a five-book illustrated adventure series written and illustrated by Jamie Smart. It follows Dev, a young inventor, and Boja, his lovable giant red robot bear, as the mystery and danger of Flember Island gradually open out. The books combine Smart's usual comic excess with a more sustained fantasy-adventure structure: gadgets, caves, glowing skulls, wild magic, villains and a final threat to the island's magic flow. It is a good fit for readers who need visual energy and jokes, but who are ready to hold a longer story in their heads than a comic-strip collection.
Best for readers moving from funny comics into longer illustrated adventures, especially if they like inventions, magic islands and robot sidekicks.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Funny
- Adventurous
- Exciting
- Absurdist
Read in publication order. The island mystery, Flember magic and Dev and Boja's friendship build across the five books.
Two arcs
A series that changes as it goes.
- INarrative arcBooks 1–3 · 2020–2025Moderate sensitivity
Dev, Boja and Flember Island
Dev and Boja discover Flember Island's magic, hidden places and growing danger.
The opening arc introduces the key appeal of Flember: Dev's inventiveness, Boja's robot-bear charm, and an island where magic and machinery seem to belong together. The Secret Book establishes the friendship and the mystery; The Crystal Caves opens the setting into stranger hidden spaces; and The Glowing Skull adds a spookier, more villain-led adventure. The books are busy and funny, but the story is more continuous than Jamie Smart's pure gag-comic work. This stretch is the best entry point for children who want pictures and jokes to support a proper fantasy mystery.
- IINarrative arcBooks 4–5 · 2022–2025Moderate sensitivity
Wild magic and the island's heart
The final books raise the stakes around wild magic, the island's future and Dev and Boja's loyalty.
The closing arc gives Flember a broader fantasy shape. The Power of the Wildening links the island's magic more strongly to nature and balance, while The Golden Heart brings the series to a conclusion with the island in danger and Dev and Boja placed at the centre of the rescue. The humour remains lively and cartoonish, but the stakes are larger and more emotionally pointed than in the opening books. This is still middle-grade comic adventure rather than dark fantasy, but the villainy, danger and magical threat make moderate sensitivity a sensible envelope.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 7–10
- Read aloud · 6–9
- Independent · 7–10
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Very high
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Designed to
Sensitivity envelope
Moderate overall, and consistent.
Content notes
- Scary imagery
- Violence
Per-arc breakdown
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Similar in feel
Different shelves, same wavelength.
Read this after…
Series that pick up where Flember leaves off.
- Podkin One-Ear →
- How to Train Your Dragon →
About the author