This is a hard book to review because it is so painful to read. Overall it was well-written, though some of the middle sections could have used tighter editing, and the tagged-on ending, welcome as it was, just felt weird and a little too tongue-in-cheek for the tone of the rest of the book (though in an England where the bad guys are named things like Boycott and they run a research lab called ARSE, I suppose it fit better than it might have otherwise). But the fact is that a book that starts with descriptions of animal abuse, and proceeds with animal suffering for a few hundred pages, can be important and well-executed, but will never be the ideal for comforting evening reading by the fire. ( )

An allegorical tale of love and the struggle of good against evil. Two dogs escape from a laboratory using animals in their experiments. I know I read it when it first came out and I know I enjoyed it, but I don't really remember much about it, so can't give it more than 3*. ( )

What a disappointment compared to Watership Down! 2 stars is generous. There is an extensive review on my shelf, but this book commits the cardinal sin of being boring . . .and 480 pages of boring is not good! ( )

Adams writes a book about two dogs who escape from an animal experimentation station. They are physically and mentally traumatized by the torture done to them, but they have no idea what is in store for them, trying to live as wild animals in the Scotland Highlands in winter.

This is a lovely tale and it's written with lovely language, and worth every one of its five stars. ( )

What do I begin with reviewing this book? It is more than just a book about two dogs who escape their cages in an animal research facility. It is about humanity, and the bond between domesticated dogs and humanity, and thoughtlessness and politics, and really just everything.

**Trigger Warning - animal experimentation**

The book begins with the larger of the two dogs, a large black Lab mix named Rowf, almost ready to finish his time in the tank. This is an experiment that documents how long he is able to maintain consciousness in a large metal tank full of water, until he finally sinks from exhaustion. When he is revived, he returns to his pen where his neighbor, Snitter, is finding a possible way out. And Snitter has undergone brain surgery to test who knows what. While humans can't see it, he has now a gift of the Sight without fully understanding how or why.

The two dogs make their way through the animal experimentation building till they are able to escape into the Lake District fells and thence away. Snitter, a fox terrier who had been a good man's pet until a horrible traffic accident, can't understand where all the houses and roads and men are. Rowf, who has never known anything but trouble from humans, is a little less confused but equally savvy that they have to learn to hunt. They are helped in this endeavor by a canny tod (fox for us Yanks) who teaches them how to kill sheep and raid a chicken coop. Naturally, these activities don't make them popular with the inhabitants of Coniston and Dunnerdale.

The storyline moves simultaneously between the dogs and tod, the sheep farmers, the men who run the animal research station (acronym A.R.S.E.), newspaperman Digby Driver, and various supporting characters. Richard Adams makes it clear in his preface that all the good people are real (though not necessarily alive at the same time) and all the bad people are made up. As an added bonus, this edition has marvelous drawings and maps of the extraordinary Lake District, and the local dialects are written as they would have been spoken.

Not an easy book to get through (see "Triggers" above), but definitely worth the effort. ( )