published 1996; hardback 1996, Knopf

Watership Down was not a book that left me hungry for a sequel. I wouldn't say that I thought its follow-up, Tales from Watership Down, had no redeeming value, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.

Watership Down is a classic story about a band of rabbits who escape the destruction of their home warren and brave many dangers and hardships to find a place to live where they can be safe and prosper. Tales from Watership Down tells a little more about what happened after the battles were over, when the new warren came into a period of peacefulness and cooperation with other warrens. It also features more stories about El-ahrairah, the legendary rabbit hero who bears a striking resemblance to Brer Rabbit of Uncle Remus fame. Adams fills out some El-ahrairah stories that were only mentioned in passing before, including "The Hole in the Sky," "The Fox in the Water," and "El-ahrairah and the Lendri."

What bothered me about the new El-ahrairah stories is that compared to the old ones, El-ahrairah seemed to have lost his edge. In several of the new stories, he just wanders along, things happen to him, and then it's over. When he gains something, as in "The Sense of Smell," it isn't by trickery, but by simply asking for it or being given it. Where is the swindling, scheming El-ahrairah of such stories as "The King's Lettuce" or "Rowsby Woof and the Fairy Wogdog"?

The stories about the Watership Down warren and the characters from the first book are a bit more satisfying, but I would have liked a single story with a beginning, middle, and end, rather than a series of vignettes. Interesting ideas and characters, such as the warren Thinial, which is headed by a female chief rabbit named Flyairth, are taken up and discarded. Strangely, as a result of this small storyline Hazel names Hyzenthlay the Watership warren's first female Chief Rabbit and an equal co-ruler with himself. While it's refreshing to see a female rabbit gain a high position in a story that has been almost without exception focused on male characters, the switch seemed groundless. Other stories, such as the ones about the rabbits Sandwort and Stonecrop, were mildly interesting but not gripping.

That description could apply to the entire book, actually. A diehard fan who absolutely can't get enough of the original story and who wants to read every scrap ever written about Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the gang might find a few things to enjoy in Tales from Watership Down. I tried very, very hard not to expect wonders, because the original is a hard act to follow, but this seemed like too much icing on the cake.

Review by Sara Lipowitz
Reviewed January 27, 1997

ISBN 0-679-45125-0

See other reviews of Tales from Watership Down at Amazon.com