"Watership Down" by Richard Adams

Well, now I've read this.

I don't have very coherent thoughts about it, to be honest. It was better than I expected, but I still probably won't read it again for quite a while (if ever); it's also long and rather depressing, and I could only take so much at a time.

Watership Down has a bit of a problem in that its subject matter and its tone do not match: it's dark and long and depressing and occasionally violent, and it's about rabbits. That may be part of why it took me so long to read.

For whatever reason, the rabbits in this can't count past four. The numbers the know encompass zero through four, plus "all of them".

One of the characters in this, Fiver, kicks off the plot (and helps the rabbits through much of the rest of it) by having prophetic visions. But in the best nature of prophetic visions everywhere, they're apparently kind of trippy, so I had a joke theory for a while that he just had weirdly pertinent hallucinations.

|Nobody| dies in the |final battle|. However, |Richard Adams seemed to me like the sort of author who would kill off characters if given a reason, so I went through that entire ending sequence fully expecting someone to tragically die|.

This review is part of my first completed quest.

Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E10+ for fantasy violence and some veiled sexual references. This was intended as a children's book, so there's not a lot of violence in it (although, given the reputation the book has, I must acknowledge that there is still some).

3 stars, on the grounds that while it's well-written and I dare even say the ending is good, the rest of the book is long and difficult. Much like the rabbits' journey, I suppose, but that doesn't make it fun to read.

Favorite lines:

    ...Then, very quietly and with no trace of fear, the strange rabbit [Fiver] said,

    "I am sorry for you with all my heart. But you cannot blame us, for you came to kill us if you could."

    "Blame you?" answered Vervain. "Blame you for what?"

    "For your death. Believe me, I am sorry for your death."

    Page 452. Probably the best line in the entire book.

(Endnote: Next I'll be reviewing the spinoff, Airship Sideways.)