Rating: 
Summary: It's a classic, how can you not love a classic?
Review: Well, I loved this book well enough in grade school, and junior high, but by the end of High School the re-readability was just about nil.While the story itself is grand, the barely hidden commentary on human societies gets a little annoying (once you realize what you are reading). Much like Narnia, this book started to loose interest as soon as I realised what the Author was tying to do. Ah, to be young again... ^_~
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Book.
Review: This book is the story of a party of young travelers who flee their doomed homeland, seeking to establish a new home for themselves. The characters, are, as you've probabally heard by now, wild rabbits, but unlike most novels about animals, this one avoids the traps of sentimentality and anthropomorphism. The rabbits are taken seriously as characters - they have a well-developed culture and mythology and a distinctly lapine psychology. Mr. Adams did his homework for this one, and the result is a very interesting blend of rabbit lore and human athropology - some of the best parts of the book are the stories the rabbits tell of their culture hero El-ahrairah. No twee, Redwall-esque bunnies here, no sir. This book is one of my favorites; I read it once every couple of years, and it never looses it's charm. Highly reccomended.
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Summary: My Favorite Book.
Review: I finished reading this book today. I simply loved it! It is a book for all ages. A rabbit named Fiver predicts the downfall of his warren, and he and his brother gather followers and try to make their way to the downs so they may start a new warren. It was a wonderful fanasty-adventure story,a real page-turner. One of the things I liked about this story was that there was no hero; all the rabbits had an ability and helped the warren. My favorite parts had to do with another warren called Efrafa. The Lapine (the rabbit language) glossary and the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were special bonuses!
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Summary: Beauty in Unexpected Places
Review: As my brother had said (see below) I had never planned on reading this book. He had just finished it and said it was great so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have a good attitude towards it at first, but I got really into it after about page 20. Although the book is about a group of rabbits and they're quest, its very hard to differentiate between the rabbits and humans. Recomended for everyone
Rating:
Summary: A classic tale of adventure
Review: I had never planned to read this book, but I needed a book to read for school and I found this on my shelf. I flat-out loved it. It is the story of a groups of rabbits, one of whom predicts danger for the warren. With his brother and everyone they can get to come, they trek across the english countryside looking for a new home, encountering many problems and trouble along the way. Some have called it a political allegory, and although the author Richard Adams has denied this, allusions can definetly be made to fascism and communism. A well developed book, with a structered plot leading up to a brilliant climax, I would reccomend this book to anyone.
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Summary: A Killer Rabbit to make Monty Python proud
Review: Richard Adams's quirky masterpiece is what you might have gotten if J.R.R. Tolkien had written _Wind in the Willows_. It's a book that would have made C.S. Lewis weep tears of joy, if he had lived long enough to read it. This is the epic story of a group of rabbits who wander across the English countryside looking for a place to found a new warren, after their old home has been destroyed by developers. For once, the word "epic" really is warranted. _Watership Down_ has many echoes of classical literature. The basic story line resembles Virgil's _Aeneid_--the apocalyptic destruction of an established society and the flight of a group of exiles to establish a new home, guided by prophecy and beset by dangers. As with the _Aeneid_, the second half of _Watership Down_ is taken up with the rabbits' attempts to establish their new home, and their struggles with their neighbors, both human and animal. Like the early Romans (though this story comes not from Virgil but from Livy) the rabbits are all male and have to abduct females from elsewhere, and this brings them into conflict with the viciously formidable General Woundwort, a rabbit dictator of great personal valour combined with utter ruthlessness (who could easily have been the model for the Killer Rabbit of Monty Python fame). General Woundwort's totalitarian warren is one of the two obvious pieces of allegorical satire in the book. The other concerns a society of fat, decadent rabbits who have forgotten the ancient myths of their people and live a life of ease tinged with a fear that they don't dare to name--a chilling portrait of our own society, surely. But most of the book can be enjoyed without thinking of such things. Adams has created a world with meticulous detail--the only greater achievement along this line in modern literature is the _Lord of the Rings_. The rabbit myths, customs, and language seem utterly real. Like all the best animal fantasies, _Watership Down_ gives you rabbits who are both extremely human and extremely rabbitlike. Adams's character portrayal is impeccable, and his style has exactly the range and power needed--grandiloquent at one moment and tenderly mock-heroic at another. For anyone who loves imaginative literature, this is a book that must be read.
Rating:
Summary: My all time favorite
Review: What an imaginitive mind Richard Adams posesses! I first saw the film of this as a child and while viewing it I remember being surprised that my mother let me watch it, considering I was a HUGE animal lover and for an animated film about wild rabbits there was a good amount of gore and she wouldnt let me see Bambi or Dumbo because she knew how upset I would be over it. But years later when I was in my teens and I read the book "watership down" I realize she let me see it because it was true to nature, with a fictional aspect. The animated film was so memorable to me. The book is even more memorible. This is one of those books that you have on a book shelf and you read it again and again over the years because it is so well written. In the years to follow after seeing the film I have had numerous rabbits and they have all been named after the characters from Watership down. Basically this story is what Mr. Adams would percieve the life of a wild rabbit, threated by other animals, commercial building, traffic etc. bringing life and realism to the hares. It is a wonderful read.
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Summary: An Action-Packed, Thrilling Adventure Story
Review: Watership Down is an amazing, action packed book about a group of rabbits that leave their warren and go on a rigorous journey to settle in a new peaceful warren. The rabbits travel from their own warren because one of he rabbits named Fiver has a feeling that something bad is going to happen. The rabbit's brother, Hazel believes Fiver because Fiver has been known o predict things that have come true. A band of rabbits joins Fiver and Hazel to go on the journey. Some join because they are friends and others join because they don't like life in the warren. The story describes how this group of rabbits handle working together to stay alive, and dangerous situations. The rabbits travel alone over the open English countryside trying to avoid predators and unfriendly rabbits both trying to kill anything that crosses their paths. I liked the suspense and all the tragic events that occurred over the course of the story. The parts when the rabbits are hiding from predators and when they barely out run enemy rabbits. And when the rabbits hear news that their old warren has been destroyed and everyone died. Most chapter books will be long and have no interesting parts but this book is the opposite. The Author holds your attention through out the whole book and never leaves you bored. I gave this a five on the reading list because of action, sadness, and yet happiness. It has many sad parts like when one of the rabbits dies or get hurt. Yet all of a sudden the mood changes when they realize the rabbit is not dead, just badly hurt. They all jump for joy and there is a happy mood restored to the story. I advise this book to anyone who likes action and survival stories. And, oh yeah this book is told from the rabbits' point of view, so there are words you have never heard of. But there is a dictionary in the back of the book that tells you what the words mean.
Rating:
Summary: One of my most favorite books.
Review: this book has been a staple of my collection since i first read it as a child. i am now nineteen and i still try to read it at least once a year. fiver, hazel, pipkin, bigwig...i love every page of this book...i would righly reccommend it to anyone, anywhere, anytime...it will not disappoint! :)
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic journey
Review: Nothing short of a masterpiece, "Watership Down" does for the English countryside what "The Jungle Books" did for the Indian jungles - and, like "The Jungle Books", should first be read in pre-adolescence but becomes even more profound upon rereading as an adult. We are immediately introduced to two of the three major characters of the novel. Fiver, a small rabbit prone to visions of the future, receives a mixed blessing - a horrendous vision of the destruction of his warren, as well as another of a promised land - a land of safety and security. Insistant that the whole warren must be evacuated post haste, he is assisted by his self-assured brother Hazel, who agrees partly because he has lived his whole life watching Fiver's visions come true and partly because he is becoming weary of the warren's inequality and wants a better life for Fiver - and by extension all the other rabbits who will never become members of the elite Owsla and face a rather bleak future. Their mutual admiration and devotion are the emotional center of the story. We are introduced to the handful of rabbits that they are able to convince to defect, most because of Hazel's influence or because they were discontented anyway rather than that they have faith in Fiver's visions at this point. Chief among them is Bigwig, a commanding Owsla member whose support is an unexpected surprise. As the story goes on, they face many natural and man-made perils, reach Fiver's Down, learn the fate of their original warren, attempt to create a just government and attempt to ensure the survival of their new warren by attracting does to immigrate (the original immigrants are all bucks) It all ends in a nailbiting climax in which Bigwig faces the evil fascist General Woundwort, who vows to personally kill him for spearheading a rescue of oppressed does and a buck from his warren; Fiver faces a quieter but no less gripping battle for his spirit when the realm from whence his visions come threatens to overwhelm him; and Hazel makes a desperate bargain with their god Frith, the personification of the sun. It's actually their more subtle traits that make the rabbits - and the book - so fascinating. We admire Bigwig for his bravery, but love him for refusing to attempt to become a dictator and - after a few hard-earned lessons in humility - acknowledging the merits of those superficially weaker than him. We admire Fiver for his courageous stands when he knows he's right - even when at one point it threatens his relationship with Hazel - but love him for his constant struggle just to remain sane in the face of an ability that might be a public treasure but is also an appalling personal tragedy. We admire Hazel for his heroism at Nuthanger Farm but love him for his integrity and political vision. There are moments of humor - particularly involving Bigwig's unusual friendship with a friendly, flamboyant seagull named Kehaar who's a favorite of fans among the supporting characters, but it's the vivid descriptions of the horrors of rabbit life that will haunt you once the novel is done; like the visceral description of the inevitable holocaust that Fiver predicted as well as more subtle terrors such as when Fiver tries to explain to Hazel that he isn't at all sure that the realm from whence his visions come is particularly friendly. An exciting, deep tale that everyone should read at least once.
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