Review: Watership Down by Richard Adams

Watership Down is not your average fairy tale about rabbits. By using talking animals in a way never before seen, Richard Adams created a suspense thriller that surpassed my expectations. Each rabbit is unique in his own way, with personalities and characteristics that work together perfectly. This is a story of heroism, adventure, and survival, which brings the reader into a whole new world of rabbit folklore and mythology.

“’You know, there’s something queer about the warren this evening, although I can’t tell exactly what it is’” (Adams 5). This statement, made by a young, awkward creature named Fiver, starts the journey of a lifetime, from a rabbit point-of-view. Along with his brother, Hazel, and a few other believers, Fiver leads the way to a new home that is free of danger. Eventually, men, of course, destroy their warren, and most of the rabbits that stay behind die, including the chief rabbit. Fiver’s small group, led by Hazel, treks in unknown territory and encounter things of terror, amazement, and incomprehensibility.

They first stumble upon a rabbit named Cowslip, whose warren has something extremely strange about it. The warren builds stone idols, stores food inside the tunnel to eat, and never ask, or answer, questions that begin with “Where…?” Bigwig, one of Hazel’s bunch, is caught in a rabbit trap, and the other rabbits at the warren refuse to help. It is finally revealed that there is a man keeping these rabbits alive with food, but in turn kills a couple every once in a while, for food. What was first heaven turns out to be the worst hell of all, ignorance.