It's life, nature, faith, courage, fear, weakness, greed, power, everything to do with being human, I could not recommend it highly enough, read it now. For example, he frequently switches in a future omniscient voice to emphasize the importance of some even he is about to describe or just has described.

The worse part about it for me was the way the author seemed to be trying to turn the incestual rapist into a sympathetic figure in the second half of the book. The Duncton chronicles therefore for me stands not just as a fine work of animal literature in a very small subgenre, but also as a truly amazing series in its own right, and this, it's first chapter, while not perhaps it's finest entry is still absolutely worth reading, rereading, and in fact as I myself have done, reading yet again!However, he didn’t just take over but he also destroyed the religion of the moles as well by preventing them from worshiping at the stone and killing anybody who knew the sacred chants.

My heart went out to each and everyone of them as I was there with them at their passing into the silence. The plot evolves and characters grow learn and die while a supporting cast are kept interesting enough to add to the story without drowning the main plot. A number of his characters are excellent value for the entry fee - Mekkins is great fun; Rose is gentle and loving; Boswell is both mysterious and down-to-earth. Those who have a sense of what it is to experience the divine will certainly find something to recognize in Horwood's work, neither however does he ram this down everyone's throat, (I have purely agnostic friends who read such things as simply the experiences of moles in nature and elements of the story).The moles are given a philosophy and a mythology that is very human, and yet it somehow does not seem to diminish their moleness. I am also a fan of the television series Star Trek: the Second Generation, although is it disturbing that Star trek has no place for Godde eh. Only in the shadow of the Stone, the inspiring half-forgotten symbol of a better past, can the strength to resist oppression be found and led by Bracken.