Back Cover of The Last Unicorn

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone…

…so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of the despondent monarch—and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction.

Three Quick Points About The Last Unicorn

• Point 1: Nature plays a large role. The textures, the aromas, and the sounds all center around the things that grow and thrive in nature; shifting from air to sea to fire to earth to metal, and sometimes intermingling.
• Point 2: The unicorn is rather vain, but in such a way that her vanity seems justified. Throughout the text we’re reminded that the unicorn is the most beautiful creature, much of which is her own musing, and when she’s turned human, she’s incredibly distraught because she’s mortal and dying, and therefore no longer beautiful.
• Point 3: This book is a musical without the sheet music. If anyone had any doubts that Mr. Beagle enjoys writing lyrics, hand them this book. Just about everyone sings something at some point, ranging from the silly and nonsensical to the melancholy.

Full Review of The Last Unicorn

Before reading the full review, please note that there may be some spoilers. I tried to keep it vague enough not to spoil the entire story, but be warned. If you’d rather not take any chances, skip the synopsis and go straight to the final thoughts.

The Last Unicorn Synopsis

A unicorn residing in a lilac wood overhears two huntsmen one day discussing the existence of unicorns. When the unicorn learns that she’s the last of her kind, she decides to find out for herself and embarks on a journey to find her kin.

She travels for many days and nights without any sight of other unicorns. When she comes in contact with humans, they all look at her and see a horse. In other words, men have forgotten unicorns and that gives her hope—maybe the unicorns do still exist, but since the men can no longer see them, they assume they are no more.

After meeting a dizzy butterfly, she learns that her hopes were mislaid. In a roundabout way, the butterfly tells her about the Red Bull which drove all the unicorns away. But where? And are they still alive?

Then one night, the unicorn is captured and placed in Mama Fortuna’s traveling sideshow of mystical creatures. However, the animals in the carnival are not what they appear to be, except one (not including the unicorn). While in captivity, the unicorn learns from Mommy Fortuna that King Haggard controls the Red Bull. The unicorn also meets a magician named Schmendrick who later helps set her free. As repayment, he asks to come with her and reluctantly she agrees.

Along the way, Schmendrick is captured by a bungling group of thieves and it’s where he meets Molly Grue. Molly, having seen the unicorn (who helped rescue Schmendrick), basically invites herself on the quest and they continue the journey to find the Red Bull and find out what truly happened to the other unicorns.

After some travel, they come across King Haggard’s domain. It’s fruitless and desolate, but one town is prosperous. In that town, called Hagsgate, they learn the legend and prophecy of King Haggard’s castle.

When they set out from Hagsgate toward the castle, that’s when the Red Bull strikes for the first time. In a fit of panic, Schmendrick summons up his magic and begs it to do as it will and its will was to turn the unicorn into a human girl. The new form allowed the unicorn to continue on to the castle without being further bothered by the bull, since it was only seeking out unicorns.

At the castle, the unicorn is introduced as Lady Amalthea and she quickly steals Prince Lir’s heart. Over time, she begins to forget who she once was and her mission altogether, so when the king confronts her about being a unicorn, and tells her where they are, she truly has no idea what he’s talking about—in fact, she’s trying to avoid it altogether. With time running out, Schmendrick and Molly turn up the heat on their mission.

This all leads to the lair of the Red Bull where Prince Lir and Lady Almathea must fulfill their individual destinies, though heartbreaking.

Final Thoughts On The Last Unicorn

If you have no patience for florid language and sometimes overly abstract descriptions, then this is not the book for you. Mr. Beagle loves his similes and adjectives and adverbs; nearly every sentence is rife with them. In any other story, I’d probably admonish the author, but for The Last Unicorn, it works. It brightened up the narration, even in the dreariest of passages (and there were some dreary passages).

From the very first page, I was sucked into the fairytale, into a completely different world possibly long ago or existing parallel to this one. Who truly knows? What I do know is that I felt as though I were standing right next to the unicorn throughout her entire journey and meeting the same creatures and people that she did and escaping from the same dangers. In other words, the story felt real. Intellectually I knew the story was fiction, but deep inside, in a place that’s usually lost to age, it was completely believable.

Each character was built with a perfect balance of strength and weakness. For instance, the unicorn is vain. In the beginning, the vanity seems justified to an extent, but when she’s transformed into the Lady Amalthea who now has human emotions and desires, that justifiable vanity becomes arrogance, mainly to disguise her fear. Schmendrick was a good-natured bungling wizard who occasionally had an off day. It was the off days that made his character incredibly relatable. And the indomitable Molly Grue, the voice of cool reason and support. Together the characters all complimented each other well.

The story had a nice flow, though I will admit some parts tended to slow down, but it wasn’t so bad that I could put the book down and never want to pick it up again. The opposite, actually. Those sections gave me a breather so I could put the book down for the night get some rest and come back to it another day. Frankly, I was glad that the book took a little longer than usual to read because I wanted to prolong the story. Even when it ended I felt a little sad because I wanted to continue on with each character on their journeys.

Rating: Worth Every Penny (?)

Get The Last Unicorn at Amazon

* I watched the DVD after I finished the book and was surprised at how much was taken out. Despite removing some scenes and changing a few of the characters slightly, the movie still worked and was still as captivating as the first time I watched it.

I know that there was another book on the TBR list ahead of this, but I couldn’t resist Duma Key any longer.

Plus, I’m not quite in the mood for another historical right at this moment; it seems my internal gearshift is stuck in fantasy, horror, thriller mode and won’t easily come out.

As a result, my eye-sockets are firmly glued to Mr. King’s words. It’s a nice change of pace from the fantasy, fairytale style reading I’ve been consuming lately—not that it hasn’t been wonderful. (See the ‘in need of review’ section for more details.)

That said, I’ve already read the first few pages of The Reluctant Widow and based on that, something tells me I’ll enjoy the experience. (Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t sink somewhere in the middle, but that’s doubtful.)

Completed and In Need of Reviews

The reading of The Last Unicorn took me a bit longer than expected, not because I wasn’t enthralled by the book, but because of time constraints. Luckily I was able to finish it this week and upon closing the book, I felt a sadness plucking at my heart. Although I know that all fairytales must eventually come to an end, I didn’t want this one to.

One thing I loved about this fairytale was that each of the characters were flawed in some way, including the unicorn (and she is flawed in a somewhat unexpected way).

I even felt compelled to watch the DVD (which recently arrived) and, being the absolute softy that I am, found myself tearing up. It’s amazing how true to story the animation is—with only a few noticeable changes.

Definitely a story that will live with me forever and one I will be happy to share with my future children and hopefully they will see fit to share it with their children. Full review to come.

Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville was not a planned title. It arrived a few days ago, just as I was finishing up The Last Unicorn and was still reeling from the loss. When I held up the book, it was slimmer than I expected with a large font and only 160 pages.

On a whim, I decided I wasn’t quite ready to let go of the unicorns just yet and I started reading it. A few hours of leisurely reading later, I was closing yet another book I didn’t want to end. In fact, the story floated by so quickly, I consider it more of an interlude between books. *sigh*

At the end of the day, let’s just say that I absolutely must get the second (and third) book in the Unicorn Chronicles. A full review to come.

A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young was the final interlude before Duma Key.

It was an even quicker read coming in at roughly 45 pages, with large print. Though some cursed it for its length, it was the selling point for me.

A nice pithy guide on the process of preparing yourself to mine your mind for ideas. I’ll also review this with time permitting.

Next on the Reading List

Once I finish Duma Key, I will be starting on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

I’ve been hearing so many wonderful things about this book, and after my reading of Coraline, I’m hooked on Gaiman. Plus, the book was also recommended to me in the comments.

And with a description like this, how could I possibly go wrong?

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .

Plus, I’ve always found the retelling of classic fairytales and stories from a different or modern perspective rather interesting.

Assuming that my macabre trend continues, I’ll start on A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb next.

I remember hearing about it, but can’t recollect where. At first, it didn’t call to me. The cover seemed relatively creepy, but I had no idea what the story was about and even less desire to find out.

Then, after finishing up with a recent purchase, I saw it recommended by Amazon and thought why not? so I clicked over and read the description.

Helen died 130 years ago as a young woman. Unable to enter heaven because of a sense of guilt she carried at death, she has been silent and invisible but conscious and sociable across the generations.

Her spirit has been sustained by its attachment to one living human host after another, including a poet and, most recently, a high-school English teacher.

While she sits through his class one day, she becomes aware of James and he–unlike the mortals all around them–is aware of her as well. James, who also died years earlier, inhabits the body of a contemporary teen, Billy.

James and Helen fall in love, he shows her how to inhabit the body of a person whose spirit has died but who still lives and breathes, and the two begin to unfold the mysteries of their own pasts and those of their adolescent hosts.

Enough said. Hooked.

(If my macabre trend does not continue, it will be The Reluctant Widow as originally scheduled. )