Shardik
June 19th 2006 08:19
'Shardik' is an epic fantasy novel by Richard Adams, the author otherwise known for his famous book 'Watership Down'. 'Shardik' is somewhat more adult than 'Watership Down', if only in terms of it's size and level of detail.
Shardik is a magnificent and massive bear considered by the Ortelgans (a feudal and backward island-dwelling people on the outskirts of the slave-trading Beklan empire) to be their God. The novel takes place over a timespan of fifteen years or so and follows an Ortelgan hunter (a naive and simple man named Kelderek) who first spots the holy bear and later becomes it's keeper/priest. The Ortelgans take the bear's appearance as a sign that they should take back the Empire that Bekla once stole from them, and this signals the start of a long and brutal journey for Shardik as his followers use and misuse him for their gains.
It's interesting to note that this isn't a fantasy novel per se... besides Shardik being a bit bigger than your average bear and the fact that these events take place in a fictional semi-medieval realm, there aren't actually any fantastic elements. There is no magic, no monsters, and no forces of good and evil to be seen. Shardik may indeed be the God that the Ortelgans believe him to be, but we are never shown any direct evidence that this may be the case outside of the Ortelgans' history, religion and interpretation of Shardik's actions. It may also be interesting to note that we aren't told for sure that Shardik ISN'T their God... it's left fairly open-ended. What's important is the way that he comes to represent the hopes of his people and how he is misused towards these ends, it's fairly indicative of how religion is used everywhere in our own world as a tool of power, and it's quite harrowing the number of barbaric things that come to pass in this novel in the name of this poor, abused bear.
There's a lot more to this novel then just religion though. It also follows the story of Kelderek, and the jumps the book makes between events can be quite surprising and the directions it goes in are beyond the normal fantasy cliches. This book altogether is beyond your stereotypical fantasy novel and it deals with bigger themes than the genre normally looks at.
'Shardik' can be found quite easily in any number of second-hand bookstores, it was first published in the 1970s. It was also followed by a lengthy prequel called 'Maia'.
Shardik
Shardik is a magnificent and massive bear considered by the Ortelgans (a feudal and backward island-dwelling people on the outskirts of the slave-trading Beklan empire) to be their God. The novel takes place over a timespan of fifteen years or so and follows an Ortelgan hunter (a naive and simple man named Kelderek) who first spots the holy bear and later becomes it's keeper/priest. The Ortelgans take the bear's appearance as a sign that they should take back the Empire that Bekla once stole from them, and this signals the start of a long and brutal journey for Shardik as his followers use and misuse him for their gains.
Shardik
It's interesting to note that this isn't a fantasy novel per se... besides Shardik being a bit bigger than your average bear and the fact that these events take place in a fictional semi-medieval realm, there aren't actually any fantastic elements. There is no magic, no monsters, and no forces of good and evil to be seen. Shardik may indeed be the God that the Ortelgans believe him to be, but we are never shown any direct evidence that this may be the case outside of the Ortelgans' history, religion and interpretation of Shardik's actions. It may also be interesting to note that we aren't told for sure that Shardik ISN'T their God... it's left fairly open-ended. What's important is the way that he comes to represent the hopes of his people and how he is misused towards these ends, it's fairly indicative of how religion is used everywhere in our own world as a tool of power, and it's quite harrowing the number of barbaric things that come to pass in this novel in the name of this poor, abused bear.
There's a lot more to this novel then just religion though. It also follows the story of Kelderek, and the jumps the book makes between events can be quite surprising and the directions it goes in are beyond the normal fantasy cliches. This book altogether is beyond your stereotypical fantasy novel and it deals with bigger themes than the genre normally looks at.
'Shardik' can be found quite easily in any number of second-hand bookstores, it was first published in the 1970s. It was also followed by a lengthy prequel called 'Maia'.
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