just read this bok last week. it's easily one of my favorite books now. even though it's a classic, i don't find many people that have read it, so i'll explain the story.

the book follows rabbits. they talk and have personalities, but this is not a disney cartoon. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain, and their lifes are extremely scary, with the prospect of an infinite number of possible violent deaths constantly looming over them. the book treats this completely seriously, and characters fight and die in brutally realistic ways.

The story starts out following Hazel and his brother fiver. they are sort of outcasts of the main rabbit warren (or city) Fiver is a seer, and one day he starts having horrific visions of the destruction of the warren and the death of all who live there. He and hazel try to warn the rabbit leader, but are ignored. after deciding that they did all they could to warn the rest of the rabbits, they gather a small group and set out on their own. Their group includes Bigwig (their wariior) Dandelion (the fastest runner and best story teller) Blackberry (the smartest rabbit) Hazel (who ends up being the leader) and fiver.

The rest of the story chronicles them trying to find a new warren to call home. along the way they battle or escape many Elil (a rabbit word for any predator) fall in with hostile or deceptive warrens, ally with other animals, and pick up other rabbits. Their journey culminates in a war against a militant warren who's leader is ruthless(and fascist)

The book's strength comes from it's portrayal of it's characters. they each have something to contribute to the group, and you begin to care about them. the action scenes are also surprisingly effective, especially when the warrior rabbits square off. i laughed out loud at some of the tricks the characters pull on their enemies. The ending is extremely satisfying, and I would heartily recommend this book to anyone.