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hidodey's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
slichto3's review against another edition
2.0
Shardik tells an interesting story, but it is dragged down by some bloated writing. That made it… difficult for me to enjoy.
The story centers around a more or less honest and straightforward man named Kelderek. He's a hunter in a fictional land called Ortelga. One day while hunting he stumbles upon a gigantic bear. Apparently, in the religion of Ortelga, this bear is the embodiment of their god, Shardik, and Kelderek reports this to his fellows. What follows is the rise of Kelderek as an Ortelgan prophet, the rise of Ortelga, then the fall of both Kelderek and Ortelga. The story is mostly interesting and unconventional, and brought to light some intriguing ideas related to religion as an idea and religion as a practice among men. But the good aspects of this book are very much obscured by the writing, which really could have used some pruning. The author spends a lot of time expounding upon metaphors on situations occurring within the story, rather than just telling the story. It's really a pretty aggravating practice, and sapped a lot of my enjoyment. That, combined with some strange aspects of the story that didn't really make very much sense, makes me hesitant to recommend this book to others. Read Watership Down, another book by Richard Adams, but you should probably walk past Shardik.
The story centers around a more or less honest and straightforward man named Kelderek. He's a hunter in a fictional land called Ortelga. One day while hunting he stumbles upon a gigantic bear. Apparently, in the religion of Ortelga, this bear is the embodiment of their god, Shardik, and Kelderek reports this to his fellows. What follows is the rise of Kelderek as an Ortelgan prophet, the rise of Ortelga, then the fall of both Kelderek and Ortelga. The story is mostly interesting and unconventional, and brought to light some intriguing ideas related to religion as an idea and religion as a practice among men. But the good aspects of this book are very much obscured by the writing, which really could have used some pruning. The author spends a lot of time expounding upon metaphors on situations occurring within the story, rather than just telling the story. It's really a pretty aggravating practice, and sapped a lot of my enjoyment. That, combined with some strange aspects of the story that didn't really make very much sense, makes me hesitant to recommend this book to others. Read Watership Down, another book by Richard Adams, but you should probably walk past Shardik.
ocurtsinger's review against another edition
2.0
I was excited when I first heard about this book (as a side note Robert Michael Pyle's writing about the forest ecosystem of the Olympic Peninsula). I have read Watership Down and Plague Dogs and enjoyed both very much, so I expected great things from this book that sounded like it was more developed than either of those two. While quite thick, the novel never presents a richness of detail that you would expect. The descriptions in Adams' prose rely on preconceived notions from other examples of fantasy novels, and never ignite any really uniqueness or creativity. Cool concept, long and thoughtful but lackluster delivery. I don't know why I stuck with it until the end.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
I often struggle with fantasy and don't end up enjoying them or even finishing them, and the fact that I finished this and enjoyed this as much as I did is to me shocking. Richard Adams loved to write as much descriptions and flowery laungage mix in made up fantasy names and such, you get a book that I had some slight troubles following along with. Normally I have no issues with reading books in english but this took both time and patience but I feel like it was worth it in the end. Didn't know this was part of the series but I saw on good reads that it was nr 2 so I might look for the first one
read247_instyle_inca's review against another edition
5.0
Maia is probably my favorite Richard Adams' book, which makes finally reading this a joy. I enjoyed learning more of the history of the Beklan Empire, as well as a few moral lessons along the way.
marty_law's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
bagelman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Explores the idea of religion and the flaws of humanity. A bit long and gets quite dark towards the end.