Everyone talks about Watership down....

[shadow9d9]

But no one talks about Richard Adams' other stuff... I just finished Watership Down and it was very good.. so I searched the forum for opinions of his next book, Shardik and came up with nothing... why do we hear nothing about Adams' other books?

 

[BookStop]

I've heard that Traveller is pretty good. Not sure why Watership Down is considered classic literature taught in shcools and his other books are almost never mentioned. Maybe WD is just his best.

 

[ravenus]

In a similar way I have seldom heard talk of any Anthony Burgess other than Clockwork Orange and William Golding other than Lord of the Flies.

 

[Thadlerian]

I started to read The Plague Dogs, but it didn't quite appeal to me. Perhaps I expected it to bee too much like Watership Down (my favourite book ever). But after reading Tales from Watership Down I've started doubting whether Adams' skills are absolute, or that WD perhaps might have been just a lucky shot Tales is bad.

 

[shadow9d9]

I started to read The Plague Dogs, but it didn't quite appeal to me. Perhaps I expected it to bee too much like Watership Down (my favourite book ever). But after reading Tales from Watership Down I've started doubting whether Adams' skills are absolute, or that WD perhaps might have been just a lucky shot Tales is bad.

One look at amazon.com shows that tales was not well received... however, Shardik does seem well received... Shardik was the next published book by him. I ordered it today.. will give it a shot.

 

[Dave]

I like Watership Down because all the places mentioned in the book really exist. I have a friend born in Whitchurch, Hampshire where Adams lived. If you start in Overton and walk up to Watership Down you pass the source of the River Test and the place where the rabbits had to cross the river, and also the railway bridge that carries the line from Basingstoke to Andover where they are cornered by the dog.

I didn't like Plague Dogs and haven't read anything else. I think Watership Down is one of those books that are on school reading lists, which probably explains why so many people have read it.

 

[Nesacat]

I read Shardik and Girl In A Swing before I read Watership Down. I like Girl In A Swing best of all, although for some reason Watership Down is not only the most popular but also the most easily available.

It's probably part of this universal popularity of books of a similar nature. Take for instance Wind In The Willows or the Redwall books, which by and large seem to be a great deal more popular than books like Shardik or Stephen Baxter's Mammoth books or David Clement-Davies' Fire Bringer and The Sight and I thought these were very good books and extremely well written and very much true to life.

 

[Foxbat]

I've only read Watership Down, The Plague Dogs and Girl In A Swing and I agree with Nesacat - the latter is definitely the best of the bunch.

 

[beenorthern]

In addition to *Watership Down*, I quite like *Maia*, which is very like Tanith Lee's *A Heroine of the World*. Each of Richard Adams' books seems to be quite different from the others, so no-one is going to like them all.

 

[McMurphy]

Hazel Jumped the Shark

I have read nothing but bad things about the follow up book to Watership Down. It was so badly received that, until this day, some refuse to believe that Richard Adams actually wrote the book. Some say (you know, the same some that source all rumors) that a ghost writer was involved, and his name was used to merely sell copies.

I highly doubt there is any truth to that rumor, but none of the passages I have read from it demonstrated any of the nobility in storytelling that Watership Down possessed.

 

[jackokent]

In addition to *Watership Down*, I quite like *Maia*, which is very like Tanith Lee's *A Heroine of the World*. Each of Richard Adams' books seems to be quite different from the others, so no-one is going to like them all.

I thought Maia was very good. As you say each of the books were very different. For someone so famous you don't seem to see his other book cropping up much and I certianly think Maia should be more publicised.