Evenstarlight

When I first came across this book by a friend’s recommendation, I thought it would be something warm and fuzzy and, well, cute. To my surprise, I found myself alternately fascinated, overjoyed, frightened, sad, and a lot of other things that I never expected to be. This book, while it does have unlikely heroes in the form of rabbits as its main characters, is no children’s bedtime story. It is, in fact, a fast-paced, gripping adventure filled with profound insight, raw emotions, heartstopping suspense and stunning originality.

“Look!” said Fiver suddenly. “That’s the place for us, Hazel. High, lonely hills where the wind and the sound carry and the ground’s as dry as straw in a barn. That’s where we ought to be. That’s where we have to get to.”

Hazel looked at the dim, far-off hills. Obviously the idea of trying to reach them was out of the question.

“No, I think that’s altogether too far, Fiver,” he said. “Think of the miles of danger. Everyone’s frightened and tired as it is.”

Fiver gave no sign of having heard him. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. When he spoke again, it was as though he were talking to himself. “There’s a thick mist between the hills and us. I can’t see through it, but through it we shall have to go. Or into it, anyway.”

“A mist?” said Hazel. “What do you mean?”

“We’re in for some mysterious trouble,” whispered Fiver, “and it’s not elil (enemy). It feels more like – like mist. Like being deceived and losing our way.”

There was no mist around them.

- from the chapter The Road and the Common.

As you travel with Hazel (the resourceful, unassuming leader), Fiver (his younger brother with the mysterious gift of foresight), and their other companions in search of a new warren, you will experience the world though the senses of a real animal living in the wild. The descriptions of their society, their instincts, their habits are true to nature and as far removed from cuddly, cartoon bunnies as you could get. And even though at first glance one would think that human beings could not possibly have anything in common with rabbits, a deeper look would reveal the reason why the book is loved by so many people – their struggles, their hopes, their fears, their longing for a home all resonate with the innermost stirrings of the human heart. Watership Down, after all, is not just a story about rabbits. It is an unforgettable portrayal of courage, loyalty, hope, life, death, and leadership – all of which are as familiar to the human soul as rabbits are to the English countryside.