Duncton Wood (Duncton Wood - William Horwood)

Member Name: aefra

Product:	Duncton Wood - William Horwood
Date:	13/05/03 (1358 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: As Review

Disadvantages: I hated interruption whilst reading this

The once proud soul of Duncton Wood was in decline. From the West Side to Marsh End and even within the comfortable living of Barrow Vale, the inhabitants lived out their lives bereft of spiritual direction. The ancient system lay far above them, its great tunnels and chambers empty, silent and forgotten. Even the Stone which crowned it no longer received the prayers of Midsummer Ritual - since to approach its mystery was forbidden on pain of instant and bloody death. For the malevolent tyrant Mandrake had taken control of the council aided by his evil henchman, the blackhearted Rune.

Into these times is born Bracken, who learns as he grows towards adulthood that in order to avoid death from his powerful brothers he must appear even more weak and ineffectual than he is. Rather than face the conflict of searching for his own territory within West Side he moves ever further towards the forbidden Ancient System and thus takes his first steps into legend.

Rebecca, proud, beautiful, always full of irrepressible laughter and infinitely compassionate, must meet Bracken for this epic tale to come to fruition. Meanwhile, one more is needed and this is the Blessed Boswell, the old and crippled Uffington scribe without whom our story could not be told.

Here I must tell you that all the characters in Duncton Wood are moles. Please don't switch off yet, because this is the first book in the trilogy which became the Duncton Chronicles and began a cult from which resulted the Duncton books which were to follow. This is not Watership Down, but the beginning of a saga which contains as much adventure, passion, savagery, suspense and ultimate triumph of good over evil as any tale of human endeavour that I have read. Add to this the soul-stirring writing of William Horwood and we find ourselves deeply involved in what I hope you will find an unforgettable story. I have the entire chronicles and would not part with them for anyth
ing.

William Horwood has the gift of painting his characters with such clarity that we know them well and love, fear, despise or admire as did their companions in prose. Mandrake's nature was twisted by his fearful birth on the barren, icy slopes of Siabod and just a touch of pity is possible. However, Rune his closest and most trusted henchmole is pure dark and sadistic evil. His ability to hide his ambition and treacherous scheming, while seducing the other henchmoles who control with iron talons the system for Mandrake, is leading inexorably towards disaster for all. Rune's hatred, combined with desire for Rebecca, was only to fuel his fearful anger. Beneath this autocracy are led the lives of others whose stories weave throughout our tale. Beside them are the mysterious Pasture moles who are believed to be feared enemies and in turn have learned to hate the moles of Duncton Wood. Yet the powerful Pasture brothers Cairn and Stonecroft alongside Rose the Healer enter our story through Rebecca and have a powerful effect on the destiny of Duncton Wood and the Pastures.

In order for Bracken and Rebecca to meet they must separately undergo great trials. As Bracken endures lonely exile, his courageous defiance of Mandrake sends him far into the hallowed depths of the Ancient system to the very edge of its secret core. Rebecca, daughter of the obsessively jealous Mandrake is to suffer at his command an act of such atrocity that she is driven to almost fatal despair. So it is that the lives of our hero and heroine touch for the first time and the fate of Duncton Wood is determined.

The first half of our story seems complete in itself as we travel with Bracken to Nuneham in search of the mole who can teach him to fight and on which journey he meets and rescues the Uffington Scribe Boswell; who recognises in Bracken much that he has been searching for in his quest for the Seventh Stillstone - and more - the Seventh Book.
We join them in adventure and learning before they return to Duncton for a final conflict which had me on the edge of my seat and turning pages as seldom before. As battle raged on Midsummer night I stood beside the Stone and saw and heard beneath the light of the full moon a conflict the like of which leaves ghostly echoes in its aftermath, as must have Colloden.

We live with Bracken and Rebecca through a quiet time of renewal, before two successive disasters devastate the entire systems of Duncton and the Pastures, turning their inhabitants back towards the Ancient Burrows. Bracken's promise to the Stone that he will make the dangerous pilgrimage to the Holy Burrows of Uffington in exchange for Rebecca's life must be honoured and our story continues as he parts from his beloved for what is to become many moleyears.

It is during his stay, with Boswell alongside him, in the mysterious and sanctified heart of Moledom, that Bracken unwittingly commits an act of such awful moment that he may make penance only by undertaking his most dangerous journey yet. For he vows to travel to Siabod, birthplace of Mandrake, to confirm or not that the Siabod Stone is being honoured where it stands close by Castell y Gwynt.

Of the hazardous trek we are told little, but begin to fear for Bracken and Boswell as they approach the dark, icy and barren slopes of fearful Moel Siabod. As Bracken and Boswell journey westwards we are taken back to the Ducton slopes and witness events which are to send Rebecca also to Siabod in pursuit of her beloved. Are they intended to ever meet again and will any of them ever return to Duncton? This I shall not tell you. For each has their own quest within the saga. I can tell you that nothing that any of these heroic and steadfast moles have endured or braved before comes anywhere near the trials on Siabod, as they meet the great hound Gelert and suffer all that the dreadful mountain can throw at
them. We are beside Rebecca as, oppressed by memory of Mandrake, she is drawn to repeat dark history and suffer fearful travails; while Bracken, alone and having lost her, follows his mystical need to find the great stone of Tryfan and thus bring Mandrake's story to full circle as he does.

William Horwood, although giving us much to read about leads us smoothly throughout. Whatever the task, or tragedy or adventures or happenings, sometimes in different settings at the same time, they tie together for cause and effect or to demonstrate the emotional and mystical ties of his main characters. Since this is the story of Duncton Wood, it is here that we eventually return to a denouement which is filled with a dramatic finality of great beauty. William Horwood is not about to let things drift comfortably away, rather leaves us in awe but accepting and satisfied.

At over 700 pages in length I have left out a great deal, which is as it should be. This tale has been likened in admiration to a cross between Watership Down and Lord of the Rings. Although I can understand the analogy, I disagree. Richard Adams' Watership Down is a lovely story, but cannot begin to approach the sheer depth of Duncton Wood. Here we have tender and enduring love with heart-lifting moments of wonder, mysticism, heroism, disaster faced with stoicism and epic events. William Horwood gives us a mating of such tender and expressive love that I defy the most cynical not to be moved. Rebecca's anguish as she psychically experiences Bracken's distant agony tore at my heart. I still don't know what made me buy this book, particularly as the cover gives the impression of an animal fairy story. Perhaps it was because I had learned to trust William Horwood. This is a book which I found needed quiet and no possible interruptions to read. Rather than break my involvement, I waited until I knew that I would be alone. Thus it was that my first readin
g took longer than usual. The Duncton Chronicles are completed with Duncton Quest and Duncton Found which sit proudly beside my copy of Duncton Wood.

While writing my review I felt it necessary for my readers as well as my own satisfaction to research the places which are of such import to our story.........and they do have significant existence. Uffington is in Shropshire and a site of many sacred henges and ancient places of the dead. Moel Siabod stands alone in awesome and eerie isolation from the other mountains of Snowdonia As for Duncton........ this is on the Sussex. Downs. If you wonder how moles can scribe, William Horwood tells us in his author's note. The great libraries within the Holy Burrows of Uffington are in molebraille of course.

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