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Start giftingShardik
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Learn moreA gripping tale of war, adventure, horror, and romance, Shardik is a remarkable exploration of mankind’s universal desire for divine incarnation.
Richard Adams’ Watership Down was a #1 New York Times bestseller, a stunning work of the imagination, and an acknowledged modern classic. In Shardik, Adams sets a different yet equally compelling tale in a far-off fantasy world. Shardik is a fantasy of tragic character, centered on the long-awaited reincarnation of the gigantic bear Shardik and his appearance among the half-barbaric Ortelgan people. Mighty, ferocious, and unpredictable, Shardik changes the life of every person in the story. His advent commences a momentous chain of events.
Kelderek the hunter, who loves and trusts the great bear, is swept up by destiny to become first devotee and then prophet, then victorious soldier, then ruler of an empire and priest-king of Lord Shardik―Messenger of God―only to discover ever-deeper layers of meaning implicit in his passionate belief in the bear’s divinity.
Richard Adams grew up in Berkshire, England, the son of a country doctor. After an education at Oxford, he spent six years in the army and then went into the civil service. He has written many novels and short stories, including Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.
John Lee has read more than 100 audiobooks. His work has garnered multiple Earphones Awards and won AudioFile's Best Voice in Fiction & Classics in both 2008 and 2009. Lee narrated the audiobook for A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin, volume four of A Song of Ice and Fire. He has also read for Jack London, John Banville, Charles Dickens, and Barbara Taylor Bradford. In addition, Lee narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is also an accomplished stage actor and has written and co-produced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.
Reviews
“Grips with suspense, haunts with mystery…A memorable work.”
“A marvelous novel of epic dimension more ambitious, deeper, darker, and more richly textured than Watership Down.”
“Shardik is a powerful work, dipping deep into old forms—allegory, epic, myth—resonating in the caverns of the readers’ unconscious…It is an exciting story, the adventures compelling.”
“Recalls the imaginative scale of Lord of the Rings.”
“Striking enough to confirm Richard Adams as one of the most talented descriptive writers to emerge in this country for years.”
“On the surface, the book works as a fantasy adventure; on a deeper level, it explores our relationship with the divine. No matter what you want to see in it, Shardik is a good read.”
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