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The story of Watership Down is intense and gripping. It stirs the emotions and works the mind. For a moment, we will focus on the enchanting story about rabbits. Here you will find a general plot summary. If you are a student who is looking for individual chapter summaries and analysis to get out of actually reading the book...SORRY! You gotta read it. You can't trust anything you read on the internet anyway. Besides, anyone who doesn't like this book is an idiot (JMHO)!
There is no possible way to do justice to the story. As mentioned earlier, it is a story in which the main characters are rabbits. I think the text on the back cover of the 1972 paperback version puts it the best....."Watership Down is a remarkable tale of exile and survival, of heroism and leadership...the epic novel of a group of adventurers who desert their doomed city, and venture forth against all odds on a quest for a new home, a sturdier future."
Another back cover puts it this way: "They lived, comfortable and secure, in the best of worlds. Until one of them had a vision; he saw the hillside that was their home covered with blood. Prophesying imminent destruction to all who remained there, he and his brother appealed to their chief. They were dismissed routinely. Obedience - and death - faced them. Or rebellion - and survival, maybe."
The plot is instantly engaging and intriging. This is by far the most gripping novel I have ever read. I especially loved the character developement, which, like everything else, was geat. Though the characters are rabbits, they teach us more about human-kind than any book about humans does! This story is one of survival--survival against nature, their own kind, and "other" kinds (humans, elil). Within the book, Richard Adams has created several major events with climaxes of extreme caliber and intensity.