Duncton Wood

[Alatar]

Mentioning "Longest Day" in another thread reminded me of this book. It was once described as "Watership Down meets Lord of the Rings" and thats not a bad description. Instead of Rabbits or Hobbits, however, the protagonists are Moles, who live in a burrow close to an older and more ancient burrow.

Our hero, Bracken, is the runt of his litter and to survive has had to use his wits instead of his strength. Over the course of the book we find out that there were once 7 great burrows in Moledom, each surrounding a standing stone. Bracken ends up on a quest to the Great Stone to find his destiny and save his burrow and the religion of the old ways. Its a clever mix of pagan mysticism, political intrigue, power struggles and an adventure quest.

In the giant mole Mandrake, we have one of the best drawn villains I've ever read. Viciously terrifying, but also vulnerable and lost, a product of his birth and survival in the wastes of Siabod under the shadow of the stone. Added to that we have the complication that his daughter Rebecca is loved by Bracken, and in eternal fear of her father, while also pursued by the insidious Rune, a power hungry politician of the worst kind. In fact as the book develops we find that the real power and terror resides in Rune, not Mandrake, the power behind the throne as it were.

Now, much as it might sound like it, I have not given you even close to a synopsis of the story. Its wonderfully detailed and epic in nature. Also, despite having animal protagonists, this is not a kids book. There's sex and violence, even a suggestion of rape at one point, but I think probably disguised enough that a younger reader could miss it.

So, has anyone else read it? Loved it? Hated it?

[vison]

Years ago. It was pretty good.

[Primula Baggins]

It sounds good. This is the first time I've heard of it.