Shardik

by Richard Adams

1965 · 592 pages

fiction in english
bears
prehistoric peoples
fantasy
beklan empire (imaginary place)
epic

Keep track of it on your own bookshelf.

About this book

In a bitterly divided world, a giant bear becomes an object of worship in "the extraordinary fantasy novel by the author of Watership Down" (The Guardian, UK).

In a burning forest, Kelderek the hunter encounters a gigantic bear unlike any he's seen before. Surely this is the reincarnation of Lord Shardik, the messenger of god whose return has been anticipated by the primitive Ortelgan people. In service to Shardik, Kelderek becomes a prophet, then a soldier, and finally an emperor-priest. Swept up by fate and his impassioned faith, Klederek will come to discover ever-deeper layers of meaning implicit in the bear's divinity.

Written after his bestselling debut novel Watership Down, Richard Adams's Shardik is an epic fantasy of tragic character. A fascinating depiction of the power of belief, it explores themes of faith, slavery, and war.

Quotes by Richard Adams

From Wikiquote

Look! ... That's the place for us, Hazel. High, lonely hills, where the wind and the sound carry, and the ground's as dry as straw in a barn. That's where we ought to be. That's where we have to get to.
To come to the end of a time of anxiety and fear! To feel the cloud that hung over us lift and disperse—the cloud that dulled the heart and made happiness no more than a memory! This at least is one joy that must have been known by almost every living creature.
You know how you let yourself think that everything will be all right if you can only get to a certain place or do a certain thing. But when you get there you find it's not that simple.