This action will show the true cost of going for power. Kelderek decides to follow young baron Ta-Kominion in bringing Shardik by force to Bekla, once their home but since taken by their enemies. Unfortunately, the bear brings both unwanted feelings in some and a lust for power in others. Once Kelderek shares his news with her, she is sure like he is that the bear is in fact the reincarnation of their god Shardik and that her and his purpose are now tied with him. Kelderek refuses to share this news, which brings him the unwanted attention of the chief Bel-ka-Trazet, but fate has both of them summoned by a religious order run by women, their head being The Tuginda. However, a recent forest fire away from his island home has drawn a bear of great power and size to the place where he hunts, unwittingly saving him from a leopard. Set in an imaginary land, it focuses mostly on forest hunter Kelderek: a quiet man thought of as a simpleton and plays with the children of his home Ortelga often. Shardik is more akin to The Plague Dogs than Watership Down having some deep, mature themes. I know he is a masterful story teller, so there was also hope mixed with scepticism. However, this is a story by Richard Adams, writer of The Plague Dogs and Watership Down, the latter I hope to review in the future. The sheer chunk that is this book suggested I was in for a long haul. When I discovered that this book had been listed as one of the 100 bestsellers of the last 40 years by the Sunday Times, I was a bit worried.

Shardik author