Duncton Wood - William Horwood

[goodreads]

Title: Duncton Wood
Author: William Horwood
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~24hrs
Date read: March, 2019

Enter the magical, colourful, poignant world of Bracken and Rebecca, Mandrake the tyrant, Boswell the scribe, Hulver, Comfrey... and all the other moles of Duncton Wood. Set deep in the English countryside, this enchanting story tells of an ancient community losing its soul - but saved by courage and love.


I first read this in the late 90s sometime and really enjoyed it, but hadn't reread it since then, so figured it was about time. Unfortunately I found myself having to downgrade the rating. It's in no ways a bad book, and I still think it was very well written, but it's just so SLOW!!! Page after page after page where nothing of significance happens. It's well-written, so it never gets boring - it just doesn't seem to serve much purpose either. I understand why I liked it as much as I did back in my late teens - it would have been right up my aisle back then - but I would have liked it even better if it had been condensed somehow.

Granted, part of it might be that it isn't all that appropriate for an audiobook and the slow pace might have been less blatant if I'd read it in a different format.

I didn't dislike it, but it's nicely contained, so I have no desire at all to continue on with the rest of the series.