The Sword of Shannara vs Watership Down: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Quests, Fantasy fiction, Fantasy, Fiction
The Sword of Shannara
A young man and his brother set out on a journey to find the magical "Sword of Shannara". Only the mystical sword can defeat the evil overlord and his minions.
vs
Watership Down
Watership Down is the compelling tale of a group of wild rabbits struggling to hold onto their place in the world—soon to be a BBC and Netflix animated miniseries starring James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Oscar and…
The verdict
- Readers rate Watership Down highest: Watership Down 4.1 · The Sword of Shannara 3.8.
- Watership Down is the quickest read — about 8 hours vs 13 for The Sword of Shannara.
- The Sword of Shannara has the widest readership — 103067 ratings behind its score.
- The Sword of Shannara runs the darker storyline; Watership Down stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Want a one-evening read?
Watership Down
≈ 8h vs 13h for The Sword of Shannara
Want the crowd-tested pick?
The Sword of Shannara
103067 ratings vs 21228 for Watership Down
Just want the better-reviewed one?
Watership Down
4.1 vs 3.8 from readers
New to the genre?
Watership Down
Light vs Moderate for The Sword of Shannara
In the mood for something dark?
The Sword of Shannara
a darker storyline than Watership Down
Scores by source
| The Sword of Shannara | Watership Down | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.8 (103067) | 4.1 (21228) |
| Hardcover | 3.4 (353) | 4.1 (762) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (4) | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (247) | 4.5 (633) |
Reception
| The Sword of Shannara | Watership Down | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 103067 | 21228 |
| Editions | 39 | 108 |
| Citations | 9 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 76713 | 349730 |
| Reading it now | 5934 | 580 |
| Written reviews | 5362 | 21228 |
| Wikipedia attention | 6501 | 36869 |
| Pages | 726 | 443 |