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Quest for the Faradawn
Brought up by Brock the badger after being abandoned by his human parents, Nab undertakes the quest for the Faradawn, the three magical grains guarded by the Elflords of the Mountains, Forests, and Seas
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
7 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Richard Ford
4 books5 followersRichard Ford lives and writes in the remote wilds of the English Peak District with his wife Claire and their dog Gyp. His first novel, Quest for the Faradawn was published in 1982, became an international best seller and rapidly acquired the status of a cult classic. The other two books in the Faradawn trilogy, Melvaig’s Vision and Children of Ashgaroth were also best sellers. After leaving his day job as a lawyer in 1999 he immersed himself in writing and in playing, writing and performing music and has released three critically acclaimed albums of his own songs, Smoke and Mirrors, Still & Voices. Currently Richard (or Rick when he is a musician!) is working on his fourth album Across the Border, to be released in 2017 and a new novel.
To find out more about Richard Ford’s books and to listen to Rick’s music and songs please visit www.rickfordsongwriter.com
To find out more about Richard Ford’s books and to listen to Rick’s music and songs please visit www.rickfordsongwriter.com
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 14, 2022
This is a book that I have been lucky enough to find during one of my sneaky 🧐 used bookstores hunts.
The moment I picked it up from the shelve, and leafed through its pages (full of illustrations made by the amazing Owain Bell) I knew I had just found a special treasure.
This novel encases into the fable epic fantasy genre where a group of animals (a badger, an owl, a dog and a hare 🦡🦉🐕🐇 in this case), a human boy Nab and his partner Beth 👩🏼🤝👨🏽embark on a journey to protect their precious silver wood🌳; but the more the story progress the more it deepens, until finally Nab will realise that his journey has transformed into an epic fight between the forces of evil and good.
The story share similarities with the splendid 🌲 ‘Watership down’ (by Richard Adams) although it detaches from it in many aspects, for example choosing two human characters as protagonists together with animals (and not just animals like in a typical Fable).
In the story there are some scenes of violence against animals because, to my understanding, the author aimed to show dryly what hunting really means for animals: suffering and pain. In doing this he tries to sensitise the reader on this topic, and eventually decrease 🥀 the chain of violence against animals, and nature in general.
Personally I consider this book ⭐️ beautiful, Ford storytelling is elegant and precise, with powerful evocations at times nostalgic and at other times bright and cheerful.
Nowadays it’s not super easy to find a copy but if you are lucky enough to find this gem 💎 please grab it instantly, you won’t regret.
The moment I picked it up from the shelve, and leafed through its pages (full of illustrations made by the amazing Owain Bell) I knew I had just found a special treasure.
This novel encases into the fable epic fantasy genre where a group of animals (a badger, an owl, a dog and a hare 🦡🦉🐕🐇 in this case), a human boy Nab and his partner Beth 👩🏼🤝👨🏽embark on a journey to protect their precious silver wood🌳; but the more the story progress the more it deepens, until finally Nab will realise that his journey has transformed into an epic fight between the forces of evil and good.
The story share similarities with the splendid 🌲 ‘Watership down’ (by Richard Adams) although it detaches from it in many aspects, for example choosing two human characters as protagonists together with animals (and not just animals like in a typical Fable).
In the story there are some scenes of violence against animals because, to my understanding, the author aimed to show dryly what hunting really means for animals: suffering and pain. In doing this he tries to sensitise the reader on this topic, and eventually decrease 🥀 the chain of violence against animals, and nature in general.
Personally I consider this book ⭐️ beautiful, Ford storytelling is elegant and precise, with powerful evocations at times nostalgic and at other times bright and cheerful.
Nowadays it’s not super easy to find a copy but if you are lucky enough to find this gem 💎 please grab it instantly, you won’t regret.
December 26, 2014
You might like it if Lord of the Rings had never been written...
I had mixed feelings while I was reading this book. The first couple of chapters into the story introduces a boy named Nab whose progressing story initially follows a "Jungle Book" theme. He's raised by animals, first viewed as their enemy and later regarded as the "the one from the prophecy who would save them all." Rather typical, but I could buy into it for the sake of the story. The first third of the book resembles Watership Down in style and the relationship the animals share with mankind (except Nab...).
Then things get worse. Half way through the story, you are involved in this modern-day England-like world where almost all the humans despise animals and commit random acts of cruelty just because they feel like it. After a particularly violent scene with the animals being hunted, BAM! Here comes the elves!
This "quest for the faradawn" (which you don't even learn of until the middle of the story) begins at a random point. Nab and his ragtag band of misfit animals visit the first of three elflords to hear him dump out the entire history of the world which VERY closely mirrors Tolkien's Silmarillion (without even stopping for breath).
Which brings me to my main point: the similarities between Tolkien's history of Middle Earth and the Quest for the Faradawn are too close to be considered a coincidence! Take the "Eldron," or humans who are friends to the animals...I was explaining this to my sister and she said, "What about Elrond?" And there is another term in the book called the "Elrondin" which I don't need to point out is awfully close to Elrond, one of the chief elf characters in The Lord of the Rings.
Then there's Saurelon, which sounds a lot like Saruman and Sauron. Not to mention, that the "urkku" (or evil humans constantly chasing Nab and co.) sound like the evil "uruk-hai" of Middle Earth. What really had me in stitches was Nab's confrontation with the "Dark Lord" inside the mountain where he relied on a trusty companion named Sam to help him battle the darkness. Hmm...why does that sound so familiar? Where have I heard the name Sam before?
There are countless other examples that I have recorded while reading, but I don't have the time to post them all here. Now, when it comes to the characters, they leave much to be desired. Not only is Nab flawlessly beautiful, but he never does anything wrong or acts out of those "sudden rages" that overcome him when he witnesses an injustice.
And Beth, his "girlfriend" who was filled with love at first sight, is a very shallow companion. It is boring to read about characters with no flaws or difficulties except suppressing their outrage at some wrongdoing and never doing anything about it. Beth is called a "pretty, studious, diligent, polite, cheerful little girl." Isn't that overdoing it a bit? Not to mention completely narrative. The whole story lacks of present action, besides some brutal slaughters that occur all-too-frequently.
Yes...and returning to the Tolkien-issue. Why does Nab give Beth a "precious golden ring?" I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I know I've heard that line somewhere.
Now for the literal problems. Beth is wearing five or so coats when they travel in the snow and is still freezing. And Nab walks along beside her, completely comfortable in his birch-bark loincloth and his bare toes. And he conveniently locates sufficient stashes of berries and mushrooms in the dead of winter. I thought this was meant to be a realistic, naturalistic story where at least the environmental factors are accurate. The animals, which appear to be very natural in the beginning, follow illogical behavior. Example: Mr. Fox or whatever he was named would eat the rabbit. The dog would eat the rabbit and attack the badger. The owl would eat the rabbit....and so on.
Another similarity to Richard Adams (author of Watership Down) is the rumor of a plague that the animals supposedly were responsible for. Hence, The Plague Dogs.
I could literally go on forever. Even if I were to ignore the examples I already listed and just "accept" the story for what it is in the name of fantasy, it was still unstructured. The "quest" began too late and shifted the whole theme of the book. The definition of "faradawn" is lengthy and lost in the long-winded information dump that the first elflord relays to Nab. Also, the characters were personality-less and contradictory.
For instance, Nab was kidnapped by the ururk-hai--I mean urkku! He was taken to their house and locked in a room, and four square walls totally freaked him out. But when Nab, Beth, and the animals come to a convenient cottage inhabited by friendly elderly people more than eager to give up their lives to assist a boy in underwear and his strange companions, Nab is not only excited to enter the house but completely entranced by everything that he previously could not tolerate.
And if anyone has read the author's note at the end of the story, they will find a very interesting anecdote relating how the author met up spontaneously with an old man who told him this story bit by bit over a stretch of time....
...and he thought it was true. He thought the world literally opened up, all the animals went inside, and the elves helped reshape everything and destroy all the urkku while Nab and the others were "frozen in time." Wow.
...and the old man told him that he himself was Nab....oh boy.
So, in conclusion, I found "Quest for the Faradawn" to be redundant and unoriginal. Any story where the fate of the universe is tied into the success of the mission is cliche, but many stories are still able to run with it. However, there is no balance to be found to smooth over the abrupt shift between reality and fantasy. I found the story to be difficult to read, even when I tried to receive it in spite of the flaws.
Someone who has never heard of Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, and anything to do with Tolkien would probably like it, but I would not recommend it to anyone.
I had mixed feelings while I was reading this book. The first couple of chapters into the story introduces a boy named Nab whose progressing story initially follows a "Jungle Book" theme. He's raised by animals, first viewed as their enemy and later regarded as the "the one from the prophecy who would save them all." Rather typical, but I could buy into it for the sake of the story. The first third of the book resembles Watership Down in style and the relationship the animals share with mankind (except Nab...).
Then things get worse. Half way through the story, you are involved in this modern-day England-like world where almost all the humans despise animals and commit random acts of cruelty just because they feel like it. After a particularly violent scene with the animals being hunted, BAM! Here comes the elves!
This "quest for the faradawn" (which you don't even learn of until the middle of the story) begins at a random point. Nab and his ragtag band of misfit animals visit the first of three elflords to hear him dump out the entire history of the world which VERY closely mirrors Tolkien's Silmarillion (without even stopping for breath).
Which brings me to my main point: the similarities between Tolkien's history of Middle Earth and the Quest for the Faradawn are too close to be considered a coincidence! Take the "Eldron," or humans who are friends to the animals...I was explaining this to my sister and she said, "What about Elrond?" And there is another term in the book called the "Elrondin" which I don't need to point out is awfully close to Elrond, one of the chief elf characters in The Lord of the Rings.
Then there's Saurelon, which sounds a lot like Saruman and Sauron. Not to mention, that the "urkku" (or evil humans constantly chasing Nab and co.) sound like the evil "uruk-hai" of Middle Earth. What really had me in stitches was Nab's confrontation with the "Dark Lord" inside the mountain where he relied on a trusty companion named Sam to help him battle the darkness. Hmm...why does that sound so familiar? Where have I heard the name Sam before?
There are countless other examples that I have recorded while reading, but I don't have the time to post them all here. Now, when it comes to the characters, they leave much to be desired. Not only is Nab flawlessly beautiful, but he never does anything wrong or acts out of those "sudden rages" that overcome him when he witnesses an injustice.
And Beth, his "girlfriend" who was filled with love at first sight, is a very shallow companion. It is boring to read about characters with no flaws or difficulties except suppressing their outrage at some wrongdoing and never doing anything about it. Beth is called a "pretty, studious, diligent, polite, cheerful little girl." Isn't that overdoing it a bit? Not to mention completely narrative. The whole story lacks of present action, besides some brutal slaughters that occur all-too-frequently.
Yes...and returning to the Tolkien-issue. Why does Nab give Beth a "precious golden ring?" I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I know I've heard that line somewhere.
Now for the literal problems. Beth is wearing five or so coats when they travel in the snow and is still freezing. And Nab walks along beside her, completely comfortable in his birch-bark loincloth and his bare toes. And he conveniently locates sufficient stashes of berries and mushrooms in the dead of winter. I thought this was meant to be a realistic, naturalistic story where at least the environmental factors are accurate. The animals, which appear to be very natural in the beginning, follow illogical behavior. Example: Mr. Fox or whatever he was named would eat the rabbit. The dog would eat the rabbit and attack the badger. The owl would eat the rabbit....and so on.
Another similarity to Richard Adams (author of Watership Down) is the rumor of a plague that the animals supposedly were responsible for. Hence, The Plague Dogs.
I could literally go on forever. Even if I were to ignore the examples I already listed and just "accept" the story for what it is in the name of fantasy, it was still unstructured. The "quest" began too late and shifted the whole theme of the book. The definition of "faradawn" is lengthy and lost in the long-winded information dump that the first elflord relays to Nab. Also, the characters were personality-less and contradictory.
For instance, Nab was kidnapped by the ururk-hai--I mean urkku! He was taken to their house and locked in a room, and four square walls totally freaked him out. But when Nab, Beth, and the animals come to a convenient cottage inhabited by friendly elderly people more than eager to give up their lives to assist a boy in underwear and his strange companions, Nab is not only excited to enter the house but completely entranced by everything that he previously could not tolerate.
And if anyone has read the author's note at the end of the story, they will find a very interesting anecdote relating how the author met up spontaneously with an old man who told him this story bit by bit over a stretch of time....
...and he thought it was true. He thought the world literally opened up, all the animals went inside, and the elves helped reshape everything and destroy all the urkku while Nab and the others were "frozen in time." Wow.
...and the old man told him that he himself was Nab....oh boy.
So, in conclusion, I found "Quest for the Faradawn" to be redundant and unoriginal. Any story where the fate of the universe is tied into the success of the mission is cliche, but many stories are still able to run with it. However, there is no balance to be found to smooth over the abrupt shift between reality and fantasy. I found the story to be difficult to read, even when I tried to receive it in spite of the flaws.
Someone who has never heard of Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, and anything to do with Tolkien would probably like it, but I would not recommend it to anyone.
July 25, 2012
Read this years ago and again recently. One of my all time favourite books, and that of my daughter's. Enthralling to the end.
May 30, 2018
I liked this novel a lot. It was simply charming but also very dismal at points. I think that it was the perfect book to kick off my summer reads. I am very nature oriented and love forests and the animals in them and so this book was right up my alley. I had the chance to read it in the woods to which definitely brought out the mood. Ford's imagery was captivating I loved all of the detail he put into describing the forest and the beach scenes. Nab, Sam, Perryfoot, and all of the characters were just wonderful and I adored following them on their journey. Especially with the magical elements tossed in there.
June 23, 2022
The cast of secundary characters is undoubtedly fantastic, very good.
November 26, 2014
I read this in the early 1980's and found a copy in the library now over 30 years later and couldn't resist reading it again. The animals of the forest and fields have an enemy- humans. They come into the animals' world gleefully murdering fox, deer, rabbits, partridges and other birds, badgers and more. The animals have created a system with an owl Warrigal and a badger Brock who warn the animals when the humans are coming with their killing sticks (guns) as does a dog Sam who lives with humans in the village but once lived with the animals when small.The humans even send poison down rabbit holes and badger holes just to kill them for fun.
One freezing winter night, Brock sees something odd. A sad couple leaves a wrapped up newborn baby buried by a tree. When they leave, he checks it out and finds a live baby boy and struggles to carry him home to his wife Tara who is expecting twins. She is able to nurse and care for the boy. Brock is forced to tell Warrigal and there is a council meeting to discuss it. The elflord sends his approval for the child to stay with Brock and Tara and the animal council agrees he might be part of a legend of a human helper who will come to save the animals.
Soon little Nab grows up more and more and when he is 11, he is horrified when he is finally allowed to see the brutality of the killings by the humans. He hates humans until one day he encounters a sweet little girl out on a picnic with her mom and he shyly approaches her. Not long after, he gets captured by hunters, beaten, and taken to their parents who call the police,
Read and find out the legacy of Nab and what happens with the animals. Will he become one of the brutal humans and show them to the animal homes or will he turn out to actually be that helper/savior that they were waiting for?
One freezing winter night, Brock sees something odd. A sad couple leaves a wrapped up newborn baby buried by a tree. When they leave, he checks it out and finds a live baby boy and struggles to carry him home to his wife Tara who is expecting twins. She is able to nurse and care for the boy. Brock is forced to tell Warrigal and there is a council meeting to discuss it. The elflord sends his approval for the child to stay with Brock and Tara and the animal council agrees he might be part of a legend of a human helper who will come to save the animals.
Soon little Nab grows up more and more and when he is 11, he is horrified when he is finally allowed to see the brutality of the killings by the humans. He hates humans until one day he encounters a sweet little girl out on a picnic with her mom and he shyly approaches her. Not long after, he gets captured by hunters, beaten, and taken to their parents who call the police,
Read and find out the legacy of Nab and what happens with the animals. Will he become one of the brutal humans and show them to the animal homes or will he turn out to actually be that helper/savior that they were waiting for?
April 7, 2021
IF YOU ARE VERY SENSITIVE TO ANIMALS BEING KILLED, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
I read a variety of things, a lot of them dark, but I put this book down twice because the scenes where animals were killed were too sad to keep reading. But I did eventually finish the book. It's written in the same vein as "Watership Down."
Issues:
1. Not sure who his audience is supposed to be. At times, it feels like its meant for young adults (main characters are young), but then there will be a disturbing scene where a human is killing an animal. Meant for kids or for adults? Don't know.
2. Gratuitous killing! It's obvious that this is meant to teach the reader that cruelty to animals is wrong, but these scenes didn't necessarily move the story forward.
3. The fantasy element is not very original and, at times, boring.
BUT
Richard Ford has a very poetic and lyrical writing style. You can tell he spends a lot of time outdoors watching the world around him. His love of animals and nature is apparent. And his writing has a very sensitive quality to it. I loved the illustrations that accompanied the story.
I read a variety of things, a lot of them dark, but I put this book down twice because the scenes where animals were killed were too sad to keep reading. But I did eventually finish the book. It's written in the same vein as "Watership Down."
Issues:
1. Not sure who his audience is supposed to be. At times, it feels like its meant for young adults (main characters are young), but then there will be a disturbing scene where a human is killing an animal. Meant for kids or for adults? Don't know.
2. Gratuitous killing! It's obvious that this is meant to teach the reader that cruelty to animals is wrong, but these scenes didn't necessarily move the story forward.
3. The fantasy element is not very original and, at times, boring.
BUT
Richard Ford has a very poetic and lyrical writing style. You can tell he spends a lot of time outdoors watching the world around him. His love of animals and nature is apparent. And his writing has a very sensitive quality to it. I loved the illustrations that accompanied the story.
August 15, 2020
A mashup of The Jungle Book, Watership Down and Lord of the Rings - well, actually that gives it too much credit: a mashup of bad knockoffs of those.
Especially stupid for the ending:
Especially stupid for the ending:
September 9, 2017
I have read and reread this one more times than I can count, and it always seems fresh and new each time. Definitely one of my all-time favorites! Just make sure you read the author's note at the end for this one to be the truly great one that it is.
August 18, 2008
I read this years ago, but it is one of my favorites! Fantasy with animal characters that anyone could relate to. Made a big impact on me and the way I feel about all of God's creations.
July 28, 2009
I don't agree with the philosophy of this book (being a hunter), but I still liked the story.
September 30, 2010
One on my Read Again shelf. A heroic quest with animal companions rather than human, with the fate of the world in their hands and paws. I never expected the end.
August 13, 2013
Well, I loved it when I read it about 35 years ago. I don't know if I'd give it four stars now, but I'll go with what I thought at the time.
May 13, 2018
Unoriginal mesh of jungle book, lord of the rings and watership down. As well as the boring and childish writing style, this travesty of a book, and all of its copies, should be destroyed.
May 11, 2018
Quest for the Faradawn is a book that starts off with the typical "raised by wolves" story and ends in what I can only describe as absurdity. Until the end, it was an average book that bordered on being just bad.
What I like in the book is that it doesn't pull punches when it describes the horrible ways animals die by the hands of hunters, making the reader feel bad for... existing, basically. I also like how the characters react to traumatic experiences, as they will often contemplate on who has died and all the happy memories they had, without lashing out like they would've if the book was like any Hollywood production. Lastly, the illustrations in my edition was absolutely beautiful. I don't usually point out illustrations in my reviews, but I figured I should because everything else is either average or bad.
The characters aren't characters as much as, "These are good guys because they are being treated badly," the author manages to divide humanity into one part that is good and one that is lesser (The lesser being the group that disagrees with his points,) the sorry excuse for lore is spat out at you only when it's necessary, it keeps adding things without setting them up once the plot starts, the main character does absolutely nothing other than being rescued, mysteries are obvious, and the things that are supposed to make sense mostly does not.
Then the ending happened. Without giving anything away, it made the entire book feel like an overly long, unintentional joke that had me laughing for minutes because it was so stupid. I've decided that I have to share this with my friends, just so we can discuss how terrible and hilarious the ending is.
I could only recommend the book to people because of that ending. If you're willing to sit though an entire book that borders on being bad just for the most out of nowhere ending ever, this is the book for you.
What I like in the book is that it doesn't pull punches when it describes the horrible ways animals die by the hands of hunters, making the reader feel bad for... existing, basically. I also like how the characters react to traumatic experiences, as they will often contemplate on who has died and all the happy memories they had, without lashing out like they would've if the book was like any Hollywood production. Lastly, the illustrations in my edition was absolutely beautiful. I don't usually point out illustrations in my reviews, but I figured I should because everything else is either average or bad.
The characters aren't characters as much as, "These are good guys because they are being treated badly," the author manages to divide humanity into one part that is good and one that is lesser (The lesser being the group that disagrees with his points,) the sorry excuse for lore is spat out at you only when it's necessary, it keeps adding things without setting them up once the plot starts, the main character does absolutely nothing other than being rescued, mysteries are obvious, and the things that are supposed to make sense mostly does not.
Then the ending happened. Without giving anything away, it made the entire book feel like an overly long, unintentional joke that had me laughing for minutes because it was so stupid. I've decided that I have to share this with my friends, just so we can discuss how terrible and hilarious the ending is.
I could only recommend the book to people because of that ending. If you're willing to sit though an entire book that borders on being bad just for the most out of nowhere ending ever, this is the book for you.
March 27, 2020
This book took me about 26 years to read! I bought it when it was new, and back then my reading speed was not what it is now. The book is 310 pages long in my edition, with fairly small print - which would not be so much if it were more engaging.
Back when it was new, I got fed up with the silly premise - a world of vegetarian animals where the only cold blooded killers are the vicious humans (usually, but not consistently, called Urkuu). The hero is an Urkuu child brought up by badgers and living in a bush in a woodland.
The premise is not really so terrible. I see it now. Child brought up by animals - that is an old story retold. The only killers are humans? well thats a bit silly, but you can run with it - it is fiction after all. But what lets this book down is that it is really rather slow. The boy, Nab, must go on a quest to collect the three Faradawn that must be brought together to save the animals from destruction. During the quest the world very suddenly and for no apparent reason falls apart, in a manner that would be more believable if it did not suddenly happen towards the end of the book.
I guess as a boy I just got bored of this book. I found it in the attic the other day and read it again from start to finish, but my life would have been no worse off had it remained in the attic.
So this is a reasonably good quest story with elves and badgers and foxes, dogs, owls, chickens - and nukes. Put it all together and its original enough to consider, but I cannot bring myself to recommend it.
Back when it was new, I got fed up with the silly premise - a world of vegetarian animals where the only cold blooded killers are the vicious humans (usually, but not consistently, called Urkuu). The hero is an Urkuu child brought up by badgers and living in a bush in a woodland.
The premise is not really so terrible. I see it now. Child brought up by animals - that is an old story retold. The only killers are humans? well thats a bit silly, but you can run with it - it is fiction after all. But what lets this book down is that it is really rather slow. The boy, Nab, must go on a quest to collect the three Faradawn that must be brought together to save the animals from destruction. During the quest the world very suddenly and for no apparent reason falls apart, in a manner that would be more believable if it did not suddenly happen towards the end of the book.
I guess as a boy I just got bored of this book. I found it in the attic the other day and read it again from start to finish, but my life would have been no worse off had it remained in the attic.
So this is a reasonably good quest story with elves and badgers and foxes, dogs, owls, chickens - and nukes. Put it all together and its original enough to consider, but I cannot bring myself to recommend it.
January 3, 2019
This is book sat on my shelf for decades. At one time I must have really liked it. What was I thinking! The first half is pretty good. A badger finds a baby abandoned in the winter woods and takes it home. Boy is raised by animals. Stuff about how animals are abused and hunted by man. The second half is a hot mess. The introduction of the eleven world and the quest to find the Faradawn that will free the animals from human tyranny is really poor. His message of animal cruelty is WAY heavy handed. The animals are seriously anthropomorphized and he never deals with animals preying on each other.
May 28, 2020
Ever had one of those books that you read as a child that just stuck in your brain and you could never really remember exactly what it was about, but you remember loving it dearly? And over the years you keep trying to recall the exact name of the book, but Google was being very unhelpful (well, first you had to wait for it to be invented, but, whatever...).
Well, I finally found it. The title, that is, not the physical book. So this review is based on nothing more than a fond remembering some 35 years after the reading. I'm a little scared to look for an actual physical copy for fear that my shining memory will be destroyed.
Well, I finally found it. The title, that is, not the physical book. So this review is based on nothing more than a fond remembering some 35 years after the reading. I'm a little scared to look for an actual physical copy for fear that my shining memory will be destroyed.
January 31, 2023
Although this book isn't terrible, I could only give it 2 and 1/2 stars. I read most of it but it was too slow moving for me and I dreaded reading it, I skipped to the last chapter to see how it ends. Interesting plot, but drags on, at least for me. Not a keeper.
January 23, 2022
Enjoyed the story itself, but felt it got bogged down a couple of times.
March 14, 2015
Much of this book is beautifully written by an author whose love and respect for the natural world shines through again and again. Reading it I was reminded of the neighbor who told me how her husband gave up small game hunting after he went to retrieve a squirrel he had shot and found the animal trying to wipe the blood from its eyes with its paw. If the quest of the title had been as well told as the rest of the tale this would have been a very good book. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The heroes never did much more than walk. The whole plot seemed just a bit too obviously contrived. If only the quest itself had been as easy to believe in as the rescue of an abandoned baby and his adoption by a badger.
June 30, 2015
I read this book a long time ago, so only have hazy recollections of what actually happened in the plot, but I do remember that there was one thing about it that really bothered me. The main character - the boy that was raised by animals, was journeying across the country being followed by some nasty monsters. And, if I recall correctly, everyone who helped the boy was murdered by the nasty beings. It was terribly distressing and that fact has haunted me over the years that it has been since I read it. Thus, when my own novel looked to be taking a similar turn, I controlled the murderous tendencies of my villains.
October 31, 2008
This book isn't typical of what I expect and love about Ford's writing. Even as a vegetarian, aspects of the novel struck me as propaganda, or close enough to it. The characters don't have much depth, and the attention to scenery was so detailed it bored me. Imagine the Redwall series, only with humans and goblins as enemies, and none of the cuteness. Only its graphic and violent nature spares it from complete mediocrity. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but what it comes down to is that if not for writing a short review of this book, I would easily forget that I had read it at all.
August 16, 2009
This is an unusual and memorable novel with an interesting juxtaposition between the violent world of the 'Urkku' (humans) and the peaceful, hidden world of the elves and animals. There are some beautiful descriptions of Nature and a powerful and timely warning that man's disregard and destruction of the natural world will end in disaster.
January 17, 2008
My son is starting to get into some bigger chapter type books. This was a good one with wordy chapter, followed by a comic book style chapter
September 11, 2010
Although intended as a children's book, there is an underlying adult theme with humans as evil headed for self-destruction. Told from the animals perspective, one can feel their fear of humans.
June 8, 2015
I couldn't get into it.
Read
August 2, 2025rescued Beth P 251 meeting the sea Lord now near to the mountain elves P 252 P 262 spent the night with an Elrond couple P 294 interesting story
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