It's popular enough in the UK though that I found all the rest in paperback at the WH Smith at Heathrow airport! For the strong of heart and emotion, Horwood takes a look at the human world, the world of online gaming, of programming and cerebal palsy. Despite these issues though I'd still say Duncton wood is a must read for anyone who loves characterization, natural description and a sense of spirituality. This is the greatest book I have ever read, you start having a huge compassion for all the moles, the emotions you go through are unbelievable, I laughed with them and cried with them ended up believing that this is actually how moles are (I know and I am no kid) Please if you get the opportunity to read Duncton Wood do so you won't want to put it down. Rebecca loves life and brings joy to all she encounters but her father is Mandrake, the most feared mole in Duncton, a leader whose control is marked with blood.

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. Two young mioles, Bracken and Rebecca, the latter Mandrake's daughter, meet, and eventually embark on a liberation struggle. The Duncton chronicles therefore for me stands not just as a fine work of animal literature in a very small subgenre, but also as a truly amazing series in its own right, and this, it's first chapter, while not perhaps it's finest entry is still absolutely worth reading, rereading, and in fact as I myself have done, reading yet again! Myron Daniel Steinman from CA I found the first book Duncton Wood by Lawrence Horworth book of hope; I might rate it a 9, although I did not like how "persons" with disabilities are portrayed. This is particularly of note since political power play by the manipulative Rune, and the decline of religious ritual are two major themes of the novel, yet neither feels as real here as later in the series.Whenever this awful situation has subsided and if we ever get back to some semblance of normal and travel is once again allowed, I know exactly where I want to re-visit. This is in fact where Duncton wood always scores over watership down for me, since where watership down has a somewhat impersonal style which often emphasized the animalistic nature of the characters, (I don't want a long explanation of how rabbits can't count up to four when I'm just introduced to a new character), duncton marries the natural and the anthropomorphic flawlessly, where fights for food, territory and mates go hand in hand with very human relationships, despite the fact that the characters are moles. To make it worse it also doubles as Parental Incest, since her rapist is her own father Mandrake, who's so obsessed with his daughter that prior to the rape, he killed her first husband/mate in one-on-one combat and massacred her children/his grandchildren by said husband/mate. Tom from UK Guys, this is honestly just one of the best, most underrated and under-read fantasy novels ever written.

Duncton Wood' is a book I well remember coming out and about which I was a little scathing at the time.

Heroic BSoD: Rebbecca briefly falls into one in the first book after Mandrake kills her first newborn litter. Another favourite is the Brothers Karamazou, also translated as The Karamazov Brothers written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Further down the hill, where the beech trees give way to oak and ash trees and thick fern banks, is the main system of Duncton. It is unfortunate that this work must be compared to Watership Down but that is the only book with which I can really compare it to in terms of story-line and excellence. the fact that Duncton Wood was published in 1980 does not date this or the others that followed they could have been written yesterday.

The moles revere and worship monoliths and standing stones, and, as such, many mole communities are founded around them. Beware the Nice Ones: Boswell has no qualms about using the Dark Sound to snap Bracken out of a fit of angst and remind him to respect the secrets of the stone. 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.

Sharon from Fylde coast, Lancs Something drew me to the first Duncton book many years ago and I have never regretted stumbling upon them despite the darkness one is asked to traverse amongst the many adventures in all six volumes! Yeah I think part of the problem with Horwood’s novels being little known, is that they are thought of as kids or at the very best, YA novels, due to the fact that the characters are moles.