For those few who can bear anthropomorphic characters--in this case, seeing through the eyes of canine 'escapees' from an experimental station--this is an excellently crafted book. (As an aside, it's all too easy to dissimulate that animals, to which category we humans belong, run but on instinct, while I'd say anthropomorph is 'closer to the truth' than the prevailing view that animals are couches and kites with legs and mouths.) This is a real page-turner, it involves wild 'animal people' as well as domestic ones, and it's a refreshing read. The reader gets a real sense of the 'lake country' of Scotland. I loved the fox's brogue. A fine read! ( )

A darker book than Watership Down that displays many of the same characteristics: anthropomorphised animals, acute observations of nature, an abhorrence of human cruelty, natural dialogue, and a lack of sentiment about the harshness of animal existence. In part a polemic against human cruelty to animals, the richer elements are the disdainful satire of panic fomented by journalists and politicians. I warmed to the escaping dogs but I never fully engaged with the tale because it seemed to be an oversimplification into "four legs good; two legs bad". ( )

En snyftare som föregångare till dagens djurrättsrörelse, fastän det egentligen är ett inlägg i djurförsöksdebatten. Från "gulliga" kaniner till misskötta hundar är inte steget långt. På något sätt finns orden "i samklang med naturen" i kanten, samtidigt som man undrar vad som händer med den mänskliga aspekten: Är den verkligen så unik?

This book, by the author of Watership Down, is a condemnation of the use of animals for experimental research. Two dogs, who have been very ill used for this purpose, escape from a research station in the Lake District in the north of England. A large black mongrel and a terrier, both of whom had been pets before they were kidnapped, struggle to survive on the rough fells. Aside from the drama of the story, compelling to all those who care about animals, there is a wonderful scene of special interest to Border Collie enthusiasts, when the two dogs come upon two sheepdogs herding sheep. ( )

A rather touching tale of how society views animals. When two dogs escape from a test laboratory, the scientists there will go to any lengths to cover up their incompetance in allowing the escape. In contrast with most people, Richard Adams treats animals as fully aware and worthy to be protagonists of a novel. ( )