Helpful Score: 2
Duncton Wood" is a very difficult book to describe, not because it's not about anything but because it's basically about everything. Adventure, love, hate, destiny, terror, the mechanics of how evil arises both within a society and within an individual, romance, play, disaster, the clash of species, hope, faith, mystery, abyss-deep horror, nature and character. And it's all from the perspective of moles.
Helpful Score: 1
My overall impression of this book is more positive than this review will probably imply. It's not a bad book, but it's not as good a book as it could and should have been. It's a first novel, and it shows. The author betrayed his lack of faith in his writing in several ways that I personally found rather annoying.
First, the book is about moles. Moles? Really? Yes, moles. The rodents. Moving on.
There is a lazy "world building" technique that mediocre fantasy authors sometimes employ; they take something familiar and give it a different name. A rabbit might be a long eared hopper; a mile becomes a footday; a month becomes a moon cycle. In this book, it took the form attaching the word "mole" to everything. Moledays, moleyears, molemonths, molefeet, molemiles, molethises, molethats, whatchamamoles, and whoozitmoles. It all got a bit silly. Were henchmoles and guardmoles really necessary?
The plotting felt tedious at times. There were periods where you really felt like all the characters were just hanging about waiting for something interesting to happen. No, check that. The characters literally were sitting around waiting for something interesting to happen. The book even said so. The length could have been cut by a third and the novel probably would have been better.
If you are fond of Watership Down and hoping for a similar experience, you won't find it here. The rabbits in WD were rabbits, not humans in rabbit guise. The moles here are humans. Sure, they have poor eyesight and eat worms and beetles, but they are simply small furry humans. This isn't necessarily a criticism, just an observation.
Yet, in spite of my complaints, it isn't a bad book. It's okay, if a little too slow in parts. Not a great read, but at worst a harmless one.
First, the book is about moles. Moles? Really? Yes, moles. The rodents. Moving on.
There is a lazy "world building" technique that mediocre fantasy authors sometimes employ; they take something familiar and give it a different name. A rabbit might be a long eared hopper; a mile becomes a footday; a month becomes a moon cycle. In this book, it took the form attaching the word "mole" to everything. Moledays, moleyears, molemonths, molefeet, molemiles, molethises, molethats, whatchamamoles, and whoozitmoles. It all got a bit silly. Were henchmoles and guardmoles really necessary?
The plotting felt tedious at times. There were periods where you really felt like all the characters were just hanging about waiting for something interesting to happen. No, check that. The characters literally were sitting around waiting for something interesting to happen. The book even said so. The length could have been cut by a third and the novel probably would have been better.
If you are fond of Watership Down and hoping for a similar experience, you won't find it here. The rabbits in WD were rabbits, not humans in rabbit guise. The moles here are humans. Sure, they have poor eyesight and eat worms and beetles, but they are simply small furry humans. This isn't necessarily a criticism, just an observation.
Yet, in spite of my complaints, it isn't a bad book. It's okay, if a little too slow in parts. Not a great read, but at worst a harmless one.
Helpful Score: 1
It's amazing to me how well the author has created a whole world and religion in this book. This is the first of a series about a group of moles struggling to survive in a hostile world. It's easy to forget that they're moles and to start thinking of them as people.
If you've read Watership Down, then this is a book that you'll really enjoy. The first book was the best, but I've read the first 3.
If you've read Watership Down, then this is a book that you'll really enjoy. The first book was the best, but I've read the first 3.
