Friday, December 20, 2013

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

The Last Unicorn is one of the true classics of fantasy, ranking with Tolkien's The Hobbit, Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy, and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Beagle writes a shimmering prose-poetry, the voice of fairy tales and childhood:
The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.
The unicorn discovers that she is the last unicorn in the world, and sets off to find the others. She meets Schmendrick the Magician--whose magic seldom works, and never as he intended--when he rescues her from Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival, where only some of the mythical beasts displayed are illusions. They are joined by Molly Grue, who believes in legends despite her experiences with a Robin Hood wannabe and his unmerry men. Ahead wait King Haggard and his Red Bull, who banished unicorns from the land. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book, it has what every fantasy book needs: A mythical being, a quest, love and of course good wins over evil in the end. I will definitely read Coda to The Last Unicorn – a novelette, available for free on the author's website.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (unicorn)
2013 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
CCC-Read your age

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jane,

    You are the December winner for the Paranormal Reading Challenge. I can't find your email, so please email me at meganlikesbooksblog(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete