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Title: Challenging but worthwhile
Review: "Shardik" must have seemed something of a shock to readers who had adored Adams' "Watership Down." The author's first book was thoroughly enjoyable and accessible, a modern fable that read like a magical adventure. "Shardik," by contrast, was epic fantasy, steeped deeply in philosophical questions, especially those concerning the nature of religion and the apparent need in the human soul for spirituality.I confess I have not read this novel as many times as I have read other books by Adams, especially "The Plague Dogs," which I would rank as my favorite. Yet there are tremendous rewards here for the patient reader. First of all, Adams' gift for language is as deft as ever. Second, the story itself is absolutely compelling.But in the end, "Shardik" emerges as a canny exploration of myth and an examination of our hunger for sacred meaning in life. This is not, in my view, the author's best book, but it is one of his most ambitious.
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