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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is somewhat of a mixed bag for me.
I loved the story and the writing itself breaks out into beautiful descriptions and prose. Adam's use of symbolism is fantastic as well and don't get me started on the beautiful last chapter. 😢
However, the whole story has a sense of foreboding hopelessness which I found a little bit draining. There's a lot of characters to keep track of, so adding to that made it an exhausting read for the most part. On top of that there's quite a few fairy tales and mythological stories which I did not find as interesting as I expect the author hoped. They were good, no doubt, but it came to a point where most of the additional tales told by the rabbits (while it added to the lore) felt like filler. And this book is decently long.
I loved the overall story and really do think there's a lot to love here (talking rabbit stories are right up Joshua Hoppman's alley, haha); but there's a lot to go through to get to the good stuff. Is it worth it? I would certainly say so, thus my rating of four stars. I do plan on reading the sequel and I may return to this one someday but with the added notion of skimming through certain chapters.
I loved the story and the writing itself breaks out into beautiful descriptions and prose. Adam's use of symbolism is fantastic as well and don't get me started on the beautiful last chapter. 😢
However, the whole story has a sense of foreboding hopelessness which I found a little bit draining. There's a lot of characters to keep track of, so adding to that made it an exhausting read for the most part. On top of that there's quite a few fairy tales and mythological stories which I did not find as interesting as I expect the author hoped. They were good, no doubt, but it came to a point where most of the additional tales told by the rabbits (while it added to the lore) felt like filler. And this book is decently long.
I loved the overall story and really do think there's a lot to love here (talking rabbit stories are right up Joshua Hoppman's alley, haha); but there's a lot to go through to get to the good stuff. Is it worth it? I would certainly say so, thus my rating of four stars. I do plan on reading the sequel and I may return to this one someday but with the added notion of skimming through certain chapters.
Before reading Watership Down, all I had heard of it was that it was about rabbits and that librarians loved it. After listening to the audiobook, I get the hype. It was a sweet book which had a bittersweet ending.
The Good
Adams is great at building his "rabbit world". I loved the rabbit language which had a fluffy feel to it. The stories in between created a sense of a world that had been going on long before we joined these rabbits. The different warrens were well thought out and created some interesting themes that certainly raised some head scratching questions.
The Bad
Wow, there were a lot of characters. And often, the characters were hard to tell apart. There were a couple of times that I got confused between who was who. The characters lacked singular personalities and depth. Their saving point was the plot. And I get that it's about rabbits, but I hated the way Adams wrote his females. Very "damsel in distress".
Overall the book was sweet and cute, with interesting themes. It certainly will make me look at rabbits differently from now on!
The Good
Adams is great at building his "rabbit world". I loved the rabbit language which had a fluffy feel to it. The stories in between created a sense of a world that had been going on long before we joined these rabbits. The different warrens were well thought out and created some interesting themes that certainly raised some head scratching questions.
The Bad
Wow, there were a lot of characters. And often, the characters were hard to tell apart. There were a couple of times that I got confused between who was who. The characters lacked singular personalities and depth. Their saving point was the plot. And I get that it's about rabbits, but I hated the way Adams wrote his females. Very "damsel in distress".
Overall the book was sweet and cute, with interesting themes. It certainly will make me look at rabbits differently from now on!
I've had this book on my "want to read" list for well over 5 years and am SO GLAD I finally read it! It has a similar feel to Brian Jacques "Redwall" series and Kenneth Grahams "The Wind in the Willows", which are two of my other favorite stories. This book is lyrically written, has some of the most fascinating and lovable characters, and is just flat out engrossing. Somehow it reads like both a folktale and an adventure story, blended together seamlessly.
I read the author's forward and particularly took liking to the fact that he said that "Watership Down was never intended to be some sort of allegory or parable. It is simply the story about rabbits made up and told in the car." The fact that Adams wrote this for the purpose of entertaining his children and not providing some big, hidden narrative just really makes me like this book even more.
Without a doubt I'll be buying my own copy of this and rereading it in the future.
(Also I just want to be honest and say I literally cried like three times while reading this. Yeah, I'm a woman in my twenties crying over fictional rabbits. It be like that sometimes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
I read the author's forward and particularly took liking to the fact that he said that "Watership Down was never intended to be some sort of allegory or parable. It is simply the story about rabbits made up and told in the car." The fact that Adams wrote this for the purpose of entertaining his children and not providing some big, hidden narrative just really makes me like this book even more.
Without a doubt I'll be buying my own copy of this and rereading it in the future.
(Also I just want to be honest and say I literally cried like three times while reading this. Yeah, I'm a woman in my twenties crying over fictional rabbits. It be like that sometimes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
I had heard of this book again and again, but the rabbit prominently on the cover had always confused me as to what the story was about, and not in a tickle-my-curiosity way. After being challenged on a "100 Greatest SciFi/Fantasy" list, I decided to finally get this under my belt. I was surprised and delighted! Guess there's a reason it's on the list. =P
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
sad
I simply missed the window of opportunity with this book - I'm sure if I had read it as a child I would've loved it, but not enough to hold my adult attention and interest.