Run to the Ark

Run Wild #4

by Tom Mccaughrean

A group of foxes are joined by other animals as they set out on a perilous journey to the Edge of the World in search of a home safe from human predators.

Genres: Animals, Fiction, Childrens

Paperback

First published October 21, 1991

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off in a much more mature way than the previous three did. The plot was of a much more serious matter than before.
Combined with the fact that it has about the same number of pages as the other books, just a much smaller font (thus a longer story), I was hoping that it would hold up this seriousness for the rest of the book (and possibly the series).

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The first half is filled with many, often serious events; I really enjoyed reading that part. But as soon as you come to second half of the book, in about the span of one chapter the serious elements are thrown out of the plot, and in return comes a "they go here and there, but nothing really happens"-plot.

In addition to that, the descriptions about the environment and stuff also become way too vague in the second half. At some point, they reach their destination, and some of them make a few small trips in the area. It's exactly at this point that the book becomes near unfollowable: too many different places (not described in the amount of detail you need to at least imagine their surroundings) in too few chapters.

While you will probably enjoy this book if you really enjoyed the previous three, I do have some comments about another thing of this book, but it contains spoilers:None of the foxes with a name die in this book. In itself, that is not a problem: books can be very good if nobody dies. But in this book, there is one specific fox, appropriately called Old Sage Brush, who is often referred to as 'the old fox'. This is a trend started in the second book I think, but if I got a penny everytime 'old fox' is mentioned in this book, I would be rich by now. What makes it even more annoying, is that when he was first referred to as 'old' in the series, he was at least 1 or 1,5 years younger than he now is. Which makes you wonder: will he ever die???? I can't stand two more books with a very old, bone-aching fox that yet manages to everytime make very long journeys. It's not that I dislike him or anything, but it's almost like the author just couldn't let him die. Which would explain the big contrast between the first and second half of the book.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was actually book four in the Run Wild series. Set in Ireland, a group of foxes, a couple badgers, and an otter go on a journey to the "edge of the world" in search of a safe place to live after Man starts killing huge numbers of their kind to protect his livestock. I'll have to pick up the first one and start the series from the beginning.