Duncton Quest by William Horwood
Duncton quest is an elegant tale of faith, courage and love.
Duncton Quest is the sequel to the worldwide bestseller Duncton Wood. Forming part of The Duncton Chronicles, this 917-page book is followed by Duncton Found, which completes the original trilogy. Duncton Quest was first published in Great Britain by Century in 1988.
When Tryfan, son of Bracken and Rebecca, returns to the sacred Burrows of Uffington, it is to find dreadful signs of death and destruction. For out of the chilly North have swarmed the grikes, a fanatical tribe of warrior moles bent on destroying all believers in the powers of the Stone.
Brave Tryfan’s duty is clear – to muster and protect the few remaining Stone followers from the evil that seems certain to engulf them. With only a frail and timid mole named Spindle for company, he sets off on an epic journey…
Duncton Wood was a wonderful book and so is its sequel. William Horwood does not take the easy path in keeping with the characters that readers would know and love from the first book but presents a whole new cast charged with enthralling the characters as their predecessors did. The animal kingdom is savage and brutal and this is forever the case in Duncton Quest, a far darker and brooding book than the far from light-hearted prequel. Death, disease and the loss of hope and faith are the themes that stand out, any small success or happiness comes at a cost. In Tryfan and Spindle we are given lead characters that are as memorable as Bracken and Boswell, Henbane every bit as menacing as the evil Mandrake.
Spindle got to his paws and backed a little in awe.
’Who art thou?’ he asked, again in the old way. ‘From where hast thou come?’
‘We have come from Duncton, which is one of the Seven Systems,’ replied Boswell. ‘To Uffington have we been bound these many long and troubled years. I am myself of Uffington. I am a scribemole. My name is Boswell and we will do you no harm.’
Then Spindle simply stared at Boswell, all his feigned aggression gone and replaced by a look on his face of pathetic vulnerability as if, after many years of being brave, he had finally admitted that he was much afraid, and much alone. His mouth trembled and his eyes filled with tears, and then he lowered his snout into his front paws and began to sob with such sadness mingled with joyful relief that tears came to the eyes of Tryfan as well. 
I had expected to have closure on the lives of Bracken and Rebecca but this was not forthcoming. Although they are referenced in the story we are not told whether they lived to ripe old age and died peacefully in their sleep, this is left to the reader’s imagination. The writing of William Horwood is once again excellent with his passion and knowledge shining through every chapter. Although written in 1988 the book holds a lot of resonance in 2008. The effects of mankind on the environment, in particularly the effects of cars (or roaring owls as the moles call them) are shown as unnatural and damaging, never has this been so much in the public conscience as today. The moles way of life is as much under threat from man as it is from the invading grikes.
Tryfan’s journey leads him throughout England and Wales, following the mysterious Stones that are worshiped by the moles. His path leads him to London and here Horwood paints a nightmarish vision of how the largest city in England would appear to a non-human. It is portrayed as a place of filth, disease and decay where anything of natural beauty is destroyed to make way for more motorways or bypasses. Tryfan is forced to fight and kill but as his journey reaches its end he realises that fighting will not solve any problems and that only through love and understanding can peace be found. These parts of the book reminded me strongly of Ghandi and the non-aggressive stance he took when asking the English to leave his homeland.
At the same time, as they travelled on, they found evidence that Dunbar, if it had been he, had aged as he made these great lost works. The scribings were no longer as high up the walls as they had been, and the talons were rougher, and the scribings less deep. The style changed as well, becoming freer and without the detail of the earlier chambers. Yet the sounds improved, as if Dunbar was beginning to find the very essence of what he wanted.
The thing that I would have most like to have found in the Duncton books was illustrations. I must admit that I had difficulty in imagining the tunnels and chambers that the moles lived in and would have loved to have seen William Horwood’s mental images brought to life. A sequel should either maintain the standard or ideally improve upon it and Duncton Quest has managed the latter. The character development is strong, the narrative elegant. The main themes running through the book are religion, faith, courage and love. The story is deeply moving and will reduce the average reader to tears at least once.
Duncton quest is an elegant tale of faith, courage and love.
You may also like...
Mary from Perthshire
Duncton Quest is an admirable successor to Duncton Wood. It is an even darker book, beautifully written with a very strong theme of faith running through the narrative. Readers who enjoyed Duncton Wood will very much enjoy this, in fact I thik it is better. A superb fantasy book, truly compelling with ability to move you to tears. This Duncton Chronicles would make a wonderful film.
