Duncton Wood

Duncton Chronicles #1

by William Horwood

Bracken was born on an April night in a warm dark burrow deep in the historic system of Duncton Wood, six moleyears after Rebecca. This is the story of their love, and their epic struggle to find it.

The moles of Duncton Wood are a varied lot. There are the aggressive Westsiders, the secretive and sickly Marchenders and the independent Eastsiders. Despite their differences, all are members of the same once proud and famous mole system, and all are now the tyrannised by Mandrake a mole so powerful and senselessly destructive that his name seems a curse on those who utter it.

But the source of the evil that spreads through Duncton lies not only in Mandrake but in the growing disinterest in the rites and traditions that surround the now deserted standing Stone that was once the heart of the system itself.

It is in the shadow of this towering stone that the lonely Bracken by chance meets Rebecca, daughter of Mandrake. They exchange a few words and scurry off in the different directions, never to forget a moment which will change the course of their lives for ever. Only Hulver the Elder, guardian of the old ways, understands that the future happiness of the system depends on their love, and the courage with which they can pursue its suffering and joy.

Accompanied by Boswell, the strange scribemole from Uffington, Bracken sets out to revive the ancient rituals and disperse the evil from Duncton. Together they seek the sacred seventh stillstone.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Animals, Animal Fiction, Classics, Childrens, Adventure

736 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

William Horwood is an English novelist. His first novel, Duncton Wood, an allegorical tale about a community of moles, was published in 1980. It was followed by two sequels, forming The Duncton Chronicles, and also a second trilogy, The Book of Silence. William Horwood has also written two stand-alone novels intertwining the lives of humans and of eagles, The Stonor Eagles and Callanish , and The Wolves of Time duology. Skallagrigg, his 1987 novel about disability, love, and trust, was made into a BBC film in 1994. In addition, he has written a number of sequels to The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

In 2007, he collaborated with historian Helen Rappaport to produce Dark Hearts of Chicago, a historical mystery and thriller set in nineteenth-century Chicago. It was republished in 2008 as City of Dark Hearts with some significant revisions and cuts under the pen name James Conan.

Reviews

[Liam Mulkeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems the world has almost forgot about Duncton wood. The books are hard to find in second hand shops. I would rate the books up there with Lord of the rings, Dune, the dark materials trilogy and watership down. If you like that sort of stuff you will simply be amazed by the moles of Duncton Wood. Amazed it took you so long to read it, for starters. The characters are lovable, you will really care what happens to them and the world they inhabit underground is well developed to the point of fascinating. The religion the moles practice hints to me of pagan celtic nature worship, they revere the standing stones, still standing, left by that civilization in the fringes of western Europe and Ireland millennia ago. When they emerge above ground on a spiritual quest and enter our world they see roads as noisy rivers of death and Owls as lethal killers with terrifying screams and hypnotic eyes. Mesmerizing anthropomorphic fantasy. Seriously, do it.

[Dearbhla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t be put off by the fact that this is a book about moles, because it a great story of love, hate, violence, forgiveness and courage.
A re-read for me, this has always been my favourite of the Duncton books. There are six in all, three in the Duncton Chronicles and three in the other series. But this is the best of them, I felt that the others got a little too bogged down in philosophy and Horwood turned slightly preachy with his pacifist moles.

Despite that, I will be on the lookout for the others in this series as I had forgotten how well written they were. These moles are full of life and personality, yet at the same time they remain moles throughout the book.

In essence this is a love story between Bracken and Rebecca, but it is also the story of how violence and hatred can be overcome.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the tagline on the book suggests, this is "A clash of good and evil in the savage kingdom of moles." It bears comparison to Watership Down, but the moles are more anthropomorphic. As well as speaking, they worship the Stone, they scribe books and they have the capacity to love.

It is this capacity to love that brings us the story of Bracken and Rebecca, two moles who grow up in the Duncton Wood system. At the time of their birth, the system is being overthrown and then led by two evil moles - Mandrake and Rune. We learn over the course of the book that there are reasons for Mandrake's ability to be so cruel - his upbringing on the wild slopes of Siabod bred him that way - but Rune is pure evil.

Rune is perhaps the most interesting character in the book. I find Bracken a bit wishy-washy and whiny to start, and then slightly dense in the middle, and then hard to idenitfy with at the end. Rebecca is a sweet character, but I don't like the way she sighs in her speech.

This novel is all over the place regarding pacing. When Horwood is concentrating on the goings on in the Duncton system, describing the moles and their daily lives, he is at his strongest. These parts of the book fly by and I am never less than interested in what is happening to Mekkins and Rose and the Pasture moles.

At times Horwood goes into a whimsy of describing every tiny thing and there are a couple of occasions in the book that made me almost want to put it down in disgust - when Bracken is first exploring the Ancient System; when Boswell and Bracken journey to Siabod; when Bracken secretly attends the singing of the Song. These parts of the book really drag.

I also disliked greatly the descriptions of mating - these were far too sensual for what is, in essence, a book about animal (however human they may act at times). One instance in particular between Rune and Rebecca is almost obscene and made very, very difficult reading.

And the rape/incest scene that we get is a step too far. These parts of the book made me feel deeply uncomfortable and lead me to believe I would never want to re-read, however entertaining other parts of the book are.

And there are fun parts. The descriptions of the ever-changing woodland, the plants and the animals are superb - Horwood clearly has a great deal of sympathy and appreciation for the English countryside which comes out in his work. A number of his characters are excellent value for the entry fee - Mekkins is great fun; Rose is gentle and loving; Boswell is both mysterious and down-to-earth.

You have to suspend your disbelief massively in order to read this book. As well as the moles writing, they undertake massive journeys - Boswell and Bracken, in particular, travel from Duncton via Uffington to the heart of Wales. This is necessary from a plot point of view, but I just cannot pretend to belief that two little moles could accomplish this.

The worship of the Stone colours every little part of this book, which Horwood declares in his notes at the end is an allegory - probably for pagan worship. I understand that this only increases in the future books of the series, which disappoints me, because I found it a little too preachy.

All in all, a very uneven book, which was entertaining in parts, but couldn't hold my interest over the long haul.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve encountered it at all, you’ve probably heard this book described as a cross between Watership Down, The Wind in the Willows and The Lord of the Rings.

This description, my friends, is a bare-faced lie.

The only thing this book has in common with the first two books is that it features anthropomorphic animals but it contains none of the whimsy or sweetness of ...Willows and if you’re one of those people who can’t help but well up when you hear Bright Eyes then this book will have you reaching for the cheap whiskey and razorblades.

You thought that sweet little bunny popping its clogs was traumatic? Folks, that ain’t nothing on this book! There are multiple rapes, baby-murders and even, as the cherry on the cake, an incestual rape! It was at this point my wife dropped the book like a hot turd and I honestly can’t say as I blame her. I have thicker skin than the missus and even I found it a bit much, to be honest. The worse part about it for me was the way the author seemed to be trying to turn the incestual rapist into a sympathetic figure in the second half of the book. Nope. Not gonna sell that to me, I’m afraid. Raping your daughter is not something you can come back from, mate.

Even the consensual sex scenes I found extremely creepy; I mean, who really wants to read raunchy sex scenes about moles shagging? Bloody weirdos, that’s who.

It’s not all bad, though. It is a genuinely powerful fantasy epic and it’s very well written (although Horwood could do with showing a bit more often and telling a bit less, particularly when it comes to character traits). The world building in particular is very good.

I will be continuing with the series but I’m really hoping all the rapey stuff is behind us. I definitely need a break before I start the next one... I feel a bit... dirty.

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have all the books in this series and all William's other books too. The Duncton Wood books are superb! Fascinating, magical, absorbing, exciting and I couldn't stop reading any of them until I got to the last page. The fact that the characters are moles adds to the quality for me. I ill be reading the whole series all over again.

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret World of the Moles
18 February 2017

There are some books out there that it doesn’t matter how long they are, the story is really engrossing and I really don’t want to put them down. However there are other books that start off good but are so long that by the time I start getting close to the end my eyes start glasing over and I quickly begin to lose interest. Then there are books that are basically crap. Well, this isn’t one of the last type of books, and this certainly isn’t one of the first type of books so I guess it falls into the category of being too long. Actually, one of the major flaws that I did find in this book was not so much that it was too long but rather that it contained two distinct stories and thus it could have worked much better, and been much more interesting, if Horwood has divided it into two books. Mind you, I also have books two, three, and four on my bookshelves which makes me wonder if I am ever going to get around to reading them, or whether they are going to be tossed out at the next Church Fete – we will see.

Another thing about this book is that the author seems to be using the same method that was first used in Watership Downs, though I had no idea that this was going to be the case until I started reading the book. I don’t guess that is generally a problem but it does feel like somebody is simply trying to copy an idea that was originally quite successful. Actually, it does tend to be pretty hard to be original these days, especially when there are so many influences that are going to go into your writing. However, I guess the originality comes out in how you produce your writings, and if you let your own personality and style dictate your work as opposed to simply copying something else. In fact, it does become pretty obvious when a work is forced, particularly where the author isn’t writing for the love of writing, but simply writing because they see it as an easy way of making lots of money (hint: it isn’t).

So, Duncton Wood is a story about moles, though it is more than just a story it is more of an epic. However, as I suggested, it is actually two stories in one. The first half of the book is about this nation (or system as the book calls it) of moles who live in Duncton Wood (which apparently is somewhere around Oxford). It sets up our two main characters – Brachen and Rebecca – and tells us that it is a love story. Then it introduces the antagonist, a mole named Mandrake, who is actually a pretty big mole that came into the system from afar and pretty much took over. However, he didn’t just take over but he also destroyed the religion of the moles as well by preventing them from worshiping at the stone and killing anybody who knew the sacred chants. Except that Brachen was taught these chants and managed to survive and escaped into ancient tunnels to prepare and eventually emerge. So, the two stories are thus: defeating Mandrake and freeing the systems; and then going on a quest to restore the religious beliefs of the moles in Duncton Wood.

Religion actually plays a central role in the book, namely because we have Mandrake coming along and dominating the system by destroying the religion and then ruling through brute force. Then we have Brachen go off on a quest to restore the religious rites that Mandrake had destroyed. Furthermore, to emphasise the religious nature of the story, we even have the protagonists let one of the antagonists go free, namely because they do not see a reason to kill him, but also because the antagonist (who isn’t Mandrake by the way but one of his lieutenants), has become such a pathetic individual that killing him will simply make them no better than him.

The whole thing about Mandrake dominating the system is an interesting one and he does it namely because he can – he has the power and because he has the power he basically uses it. However, he has a weakness and that is that he hates all religion and actually goes out of his way to basically destroy all aspects of it. Okay, since the religion is based around a standing stone that is located in the middle of the forest, and even Mandrake isn’t that powerful to destroy the stone, there is always going to be a reminder of the religion to the moles, but since Mandrake has ordered the death of all the priests then memories of the specifics start to fade. Mind you, Mandrake also forbids moles from traveling outside, which means that even the sight of the stone becomes a myth.

This is another key theme of the story – how time creates myths. By destroying all semblance of the religion means that everybody (or everymole as it is written) forgets the tenants of the religion, which means that in the end Mandrake is the one that they all look up to – he is the biggest and the strongest. However, there must be some sort of issue with his self-esteem if he has to do all of this. Despite being the biggest, and the strongest, he has to destroy any rivals, and religion is a big rival to any dictator, and put himself to replace this. The other aspect of time creating myth is when Bracken goes off on his journey, and he is gone for so long that people begin to forget about him, not so much that they don’t believe he existed, but rather that he takes on some form of mythological aspect.

Mind you, we are looking at a fairly primitive society here where even the ability to write and record the past generally doesn’t exist (though we are told about scribe moles, and yes, while they are moles they are also written as if they were sentient beings). In such societies mythologies develop much more often than does one in a society like ours where pretty much everything is recorded. Even then, as time starts to intervene, the past does become more and more of a distant memory, though we are much more able to record those memories than the past. However, to me, a memory is much stronger, and more valuable, than a photograph ever will be because there are just things that a photograph simply cannot catch.

[Denise Kruse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an epic about generations of moles told with a Celtic voice. It is a lovely story for one who enjoys traditional tales of good versus evil and lush, poetic narrative. It fell short for me because the ancient religious story line seems forced, as if the author is thrusting our human thinking on the moles. At one point, Rebecca, the main "fe-mole" character asks Bracken, one of the main mole characters, "Do you believe in the stone?" Unfortunately, I never did. This was recommended to me because I loved Watership Down but the books are very different aside from the obvious small animals. The rabbits seem like rabbits with perils and personalities that are well-explained and understood. The moles are more like little serfs and monks and healers whose personalities are often generalities in my opinion. I like Duncton Wood for its tale(s) of love and redemption. It is not for children because of rather explicit sex and gory battles and stereotypical male/female roles.

[hawk]

(review and rating to come)

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if moles were readers and writers, and had a religion?

This book.

Seriously, read it if you enjoyed Watership Down.

[Kari Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a bad book, but it's not as good a book as it could and should have been. There are certainly good parts to this book, but overall it's just not as good as the host of positive reviews I've seen may lead you to believe.

The plotting was tedious at times. The goal of finding the seventh book isn't mentioned till several chapters in, then it is forgotten while the moles go and do other things. Then at the end, it almost feels like he said "Oh, yeah. The book. Better get back to that." There were several parts where the characters seemed to be just hanging about waiting for something interesting to happen. The length could have been cut by a third and the novel probably would have been better.

Duncton Wood is a first novel, and it shows.

For example, 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? It got distracting to the point of annoyance. Some people, I am sure, found this quite endearing. I did not.

The writing frequently demonstrates Horwood's lack of faith in his narrative abilities. For example, he frequently switches in a future omniscient voice to emphasize the importance of some even he is about to describe or just has described. We are told, for example, the Bracken's navigation of the Ancient System is an astounding feat still remembered by moles in the future. Apparently, he believed his writing didn't convey the importance and drama sufficiently, so he had to stop and tell us "this was really important!" It's sort of like telling someone "That was a really funny joke" after you've finished telling it. The person laughed or they didn't, insisting it's funny won't change that. Similarly, either the writing is strong to convey the drama, suspense, and emotional impact or it isn't. Don't tell me an event is important, show it. Don't tell me Rebecca is wonderful, show her being wonderful. Don't tell me Boswell is wise, show him being wise. Instead, Horwood falls back on explaining how you're supposed to feel about events and how we're supposed to think about characters. This is a serious flaw.

The characters are too often mere stereotypes. Hulver is the wise older mentor. Rose is the selfless healer. Medlar is an eastern martial arts master. It's okay to have some stereotypes in a strongly plot driven book, but this one isn't strong enough to keep you from noticing that so many characters have little to no depth.

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 story they are engaged in is one which a group of talking rabbits could plausibly undertake. 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. (yes, I am aware that rabbits don't talk. Still, the point stands that Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, and Dandelion felt like rabbits and Bracken, Rebecca, Mandrake, Boswell, and Mekkins feel like human beings).

Yet, in spite of my complaints, I repeat, this isn't a bad book. It's okay, if a little too slow in parts. It's just that it felt that with more confident handling and sharper editing, it could have been so much better.

Obviously, a lot of people loved this book. I'm pleased for them and for Horwood. I just feel this book is not nearly as good as the positive reviews make it out to be.

[Jered · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mole passion, rape, and incest.
Yeah... That wasn't in the synopsis.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit I am facing quite a struggle in trying to write this review. Where to begin? My response to Duncton Wood seems to have almost as many layers as the novel has pages, which is a bold claim. I'll try to tackle it accordingly.

To briefly sum up a 582 page novel, it is an allegory of the cycle of decay, destruction, and rebuilding of a civilization, tied up in grand adventure and a spiritual journey into the soul. Oh, and it's about moles. If Richard Adams (Watership Down) and Tolkien wrote a book together (however unlikely that sounds) it might look something like Duncton Wood.

First of all, even if Horwood does not consider this his magnum opus, certainly he put his heart and soul into it. It is really more of an epic than a novel, spanning many generations and more than a mole's lifetime, which, apparently, is about five human years. Thoroughly researched, exhaustively detailed and described, and diving into the depths of life, death, worship, love and the meaning of joy. Mole characters vividly imagined and clearly known intimately by the author, and in the end by the determined reader. It is the pinnacle of what he could make it, and his dedication and passion shines in every page. He has a rare gift for bringing you down to a moles-eye view of the world, although time was difficult for me to follow. I also admired his ability to give them character without un-animalizing them.

And there were parts of it that were beautiful: Cairn and Rebecca's story; the loving descriptions of Duncton Wood, which is near where the author lives; the first journey through the Chamber of Roots. There were parts that were horrible, horrible: Rune, Rebecca's litter, Mandrake's birth, the marsh, Skeat, the plague. Descriptions that awed with their imagination, power,and ability to paint the picture in the mind: The Ancient System and the Chamber of Dark Sound, and particularly Siabod--part of it may have been our very effective central air conditioning, but Siabod was truly chilling and I saw and felt its unforgiving heights very vividly.

As for the actual reading: it was slow going. It took me a month and a half to finish it and I read several other books in the meantime. I would read it in fits and starts, lose interest and come back to it later. Some books of greater length (Harry Potter, for instance) I have read in no time at all, but this was dense reading. (I realize Harry Potter is not in the least a fair comparison.
Gone with the Wind would be a more fitting one, and that probably took me at least as long to read the first time.) And the woodland descriptions, beautiful or no, became quite exhausting at times.

My verdict: Very well-written, and full of gems, but not recommended for any but the dedicated reader. My rating is once again based on personal enjoyment and not literary merit. And my last word on the matter: it would not hurt Horwood to develop his sense of humor. I suppose perhaps if it were more highly developed he could never have written the book he did, but his sense of the dramatic is a little strong for my taste.

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

On reading this for the first time, it seemed to have been inspired by the popularity of Watership Down by Richard Adams. What Adams did for rabbits, Horwood does for moles.

The system of mole tunnels under Duncton Wood is large, and moles in one part hardly know those from other parts of the system. There also some parts of the system that are almost forgotten, and there are also some customs that have been forgotten as well, so that the moles are using their centre, the silence of the Stone at the centre of the system. This enables a cruel tyrant, Mandrake, to take over the system.

Two young mioles, Bracken and Rebecca, the latter Mandrake's daughter, meet, and eventually embark on a liberation struggle.

The moles are given a philosophy and a mythology that is very human, and yet it somehow does not seem to diminish their moleness.

[Stuart Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Duncton Wood' is a book I well remember coming out and about which I was a little scathing at the time. Just another Watership Down rip-off, I believe I said - and there's some truth in that accusation, but only in the sense that any novel with anthropomorphic animals set in the English countryside and in which humanity plays only a tangential role is published in the long shadow of Richard Adam's masterpiece. But Duncton Wood is more than just a re-tread of old ground, and its influences are wider too. Fittingly for the author of several splendid sequels to 'Wind in the Willows', this book - like them - is tinged throughout by a form of mystical, pagan religion as well as being a love story, an action adventure novel and treatise on the common mole.

The writing is a pleasure to read and the author is not afraid to face the 'realities' of life for a small country mammal like a mole, with beloved characters being killed off with little emotion but a great deal of effectiveness. If certain elements of the ending seem a little contrived and designed more to provide a false sense of completeness than anything else, well I can forgive the author those small mis-steps.

I sort of wish I had read this when I was 11 - I think I would have liked it a lot.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up with the intention of reading all six Duncton books, since it's been so long since I've read them, but once I was nearing the end of this I found I wasn't really in the mood for the rest. Maybe they're not as good as I remember or perhaps I just wasn't quite ready to settle down for an six-book epic series about moles and religion! I used to love this book, and it is still good, don't get me wrong, but I guess it takes a level of commitment I wasn't quite up for. But if you're the kind of person who fancies six thousand-odd pages of religion, genocide, warfare, mysticism, romance and...er, moles then this series is for you. I used to be one of those people. Perhaps I'm not anymore.

[Nigel Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading this for the second time. Very well written tale. Loved the descriptions of the English countryside, peopled (or should i say moled!) by some wonderful characters. Mandrake is a character never to be forgotten. Bracken and Rebecca and their trials and hardships and two moles you really care about - a poignant story of love and commitment. Having said this the book is certainly not for children as there is quite a lot of violence and adult themes. As an adult fairy tale though, it is outstanding and memorable.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started this book I was thinking "This is great! Why didn't it become a beloved classic?". As I got further, however, I began to understand: graphic mole sex. If you write a novel about cute talking animals that you can't read to kids then you are really shooting your book in the foot and cutting out a huge demographic for this kind of story.

Mole humping aside, this really is a fantastic book that fans of Watership Down and The Wind in the Willows will love.

[Austen to Zafón · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not many people in the US know of this book (or even it's fairly prolific author), but it's well known and loved in Britain. Horwood writes beautifully. As with Watership Down, this story is on the surface about animals (moles in this case) but is really about a complex society, complete with moral, political, emotional, and religious aspects. I remember how moved I was by this story when I read it. There's a sacredness about it and you really care about the main characters. It's not for young kids, as there is some violence and the themes would probably go over their heads anyway. This book is the first of nine, although I believe only the first trilogy is available in the US. It's popular enough in the UK though that I found all the rest in paperback at the WH Smith at Heathrow airport! That was in the long ago days before you could just order stuff from amazon UK.

[Ben Frey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly one of the best fictional books ever written. More powerful than it has any right to be. If you read it from the wrong mindset or point of view, I can see how it might not work as well, but for anyone who still holds out hope for a whimsical, powerful, unquenchable love, this book connects to your inner-most longings and brings them powerfully to life. Also, everybody in the book is a mole. Yeah.

[Gemma Halliday · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful. If the inconsistency between the measurement of time wasn't bad enough (measured in "Mole months" or months which presumably refers to actual months) the promotion of rape culture and the trite characterisation just makes this about one of the worst books I have ever attempted to read. I got half way and just gave up.

[Vanessa Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not anywhere near as good as 'Watership Down' do not read this with THAT expectation

What can I say about this book that will sufficiently warn people that they're about to experience a grown man imagining the feelings of a female mole in heat? Maybe just that.

No, its not a significant portion of the book, but repeatedly revisiting Rebecca's need to breed gets creepy. Most of the text is just lazy writing, Horwood evidently went to the school of "tell don't show" instead of "show, don't tell" because the reader is repeatedly exposed to characters who are, "just feeling stuff" to an extent you aren't sure if they suffer from bi-polar disorder. If you're a fan of "Last Airbender" its a lot like the Ember Island Players

MY EMOTIONS!!!

The tunnels of the moles create a perfect metaphor for this winding long winded text. Moles wander in and out of the plot, characters shift personality with no reason other than, literally, magic.

Magic mole rocks would be a great band name, but as a plot device it serves no decernable purpose. If the book ended at chapter 32 it might be an okay read, but that's only half the book. This stinker is right up there with that terrible Erin Hunter series about dogs, and its going right into my recycling bin.

[R. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duncton Wood is an Adventure-Love story like no other. It's the story of two Moles, Bracken and Rebecca, and the adventures they have as they try to protect Duncton Wood from Mandrake an outsider and oddly enough, Rebecca's father. They must face the problems of mole life head on, while maintaining faith in the stone. It's unfortunate that this novel is being compared with Watership Down, due to the fact that Watership Down, a great novel on it's own, falls short when compared against Duncton Wood. The animal kingdom as shown in Duncton Wood is savage and the survival of the fittest is a fact of life and death. This book is classified as a childrens book, but in truth it is for adults. It is at times as dark as it is uplifting. I recently purchased the other five books in the Duncton series.

[Allen Garvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend of mine loaned this to me in college in the 80s, having picked it up in England (it wasn't published or available in the US until several years later). It's a top-rate anthropomorphic fantasy about moles--it's quite a bit like Watership Down, though the mole community is perhaps a bit more complex philosophically, but ultimately they're really moles, unlike some animal fantasies where the characters are essentially people in animal form. A strong story of love.

I never finished the entire series... they eventually get very bogged down in religious philosophy and stuff (or perhaps it was the 1000+ page length of each of of the later volumes). But the first book remains worth reading.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a struggle!

A story which could have been condensed by two thirds. So much pointless description of vegetation! The reason it got 2 stars was that by the end of it the pointless ‘descriptions’ were so easy to skip through, if not it would have only got 1 star. The characters are a rip off of Watership Down except it’s moles instead of rabbits. The author would love this to be a ‘meaningful’ novel full of subtle comparisons with human society but the made up languages and poor poems are trite and meaningless. I think I deserve 5 stars for showing the stamina to finish it.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a very large chunk of this novel(significantly over two hundred pages), but just lost interest, and skimmed through to the end. Life's too short, and there are far too many more interesting books out there, and I wish that I had bailed sooner. Years ago I read WIND IN THE WILLOWS and WATERSHIP DOWN, so I can see why someone might actually 'love' this book, but as Bob Dylan once said, "No,No,No, It Ain't Me Babe".

[Roz Bennetts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Next to Gone with the Wind this is my second favourite book of all time.

Even though the characters are moles they are every bit as well drawn as human characters and I could get quite carried away by adjectives and superlatives in describing this book. And for the record I didn't get on with Watership Down.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar to Watership Down, but with moles, this book demonstrates an excellently-crafted world populated by moles (not cutesy anthropomorphic ones but real ones that live and die among nature's often brutal indifference. The author has crafted a believable and interesting mythology to go with the characters, and it is definitely worth reading.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish that other reviewers could see past the fact that this was a story with anthropomorphized animals and not immediately compare it to Watership Down. They are not terribly similar in my mind. I found Duncton Wood a bit of a jumbled mess, and rather dull. I am surprised at the number of 5 star reviews.

[Rattyfleef · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fuck a doughnut did I hate this book. Read the whole thing though. Could have done without the mole!sex.

[Nosemonkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even when I was 12 I found the mole rape scene both laughably bad and totally inappropriate. If a 12-year-old can't be bothered with a book about talking animals, then Christ...