The Cold Moons

by Aeron Clement

Book Overview

A tale of the badgers of Cilgwyn who are faced with a choice of staying in the valley they have inhabited for a generations or embarking on a journey that will bring them either freedom or extinction.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385296940
• ISBN13: 9780385296946
• Release Date: March 1989
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 333 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Great Journey

This is one book that should never have gone out of print, while there are bad books which are still on the shelves of bookstores. This book is a classic! It is like Richard Adams' Watership Down, only better. It has the classic theme of the Great Pilgrimage that has been in many other books since Pilgrim's Progress. The badgers, after receiving a warning of impending disaster from one who has survived the slaughter of his own sett, set out to find their Elysia. On the way, a young badger named Beaufort is thrust into the role of leadership despite his reluctance. This gives the story of courage, determination against almost impossible odds, betrayal, and hope. The goal is to find a place beyond the reach of man, who is not a natural enemy, but one who has gone astray. This is one of the best books I have ever read, and it is well worth reading again and again!

Forget the bunnies; bring on the badgers!

I cannot recommend this book enough to fans of non-Redwall-style anthropomorphism. In theory, it's the same concept as "Watership Down." In practice, it's considerably better. I can't say exactly what it is about the characters, but they and their problems seem so much more *real*. Perhaps it's the inclusion of various "newspaper articles" about the badgers' plight, or perhaps it's the corruption within members of the group, but "The Cold Moons" is ultimately the more satisfying adventure, and I'm quite sad to see that it's out of print.

Tempered by Reality.

As I work my way through the books which have deeply affected my views, there is the "Watership Down phenomenon", and I like it a lot. This is the very real (imagined) tale of a group of Badgers under the threat of tuberculosis, and therefore, human beings and their extinctive methods. Their fern hill is far more real than any Dylan Thomas poetry, and above all the senses of hope are ressurected in this lovely novel.

This is a classic

Wow. This book is one of the best books that have resulted from what I call "The Watership Down phenomenon" (e-mail for more info on this). In The Cold Moons, a group of badgers learns that men are coming soon to their setts to exterminate them. They then go on a long journey to escape the men. (I know, this sounds like Watership Down, but it's not) One of the book's strong points is that there is not one phrase of dialogue. Rather than having Buckwheat (a badger) say, "Come with me", the book would say something like, "Buckwheat told them to come with him". In spite of this, the book is incredibly easy to read. The drawings, too, by Aeron Clement's wife, Jill, fit near perfectly. This is a great book. You have got to get it.