Book Review: The Last Unicorn

  

Published in 1968, The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the world and She decides to venture out from the safety of her forest in order to discover what happened to all the others. On her journey she meets a variety of unique and memorable characters who support her in achieving her goal.

   The Last Unicorn was on my to-read list for a long time. I had the book, I picked it up once in a while and tried to read it, but I couldn't make it past the first few pages. So I got the audiobook and finished it in two days.

     Summary - A story at first from the point of view of a unicorn who believes she is the last unicorn. She goes on a journey to find the other unicorns. She gets caught by a witch and meets Schmendrick. Schmendrick frees her and they journey together. The story from here stars Schmendrick and he meets Molly Grue. She joins the party and they meet the Red Bull shortly after. Schmendrick to save the Unicorn from the Red Bull turns her into Lady Amalthea, a human. Having survived the Red Bull, the party gets employed by King Haggard to do servant work. While at his castle Lady Amalthea starts to fall for Prince Lir. They find the unicorns and the castle is destroyed. The unicorn has gone home and Schmendrick walks into the sunset.

The story was too long and too short. The story starts on the last unicorn and then shifts to Schmendrick. The first half is about the unicorn most of it was forgettable. The real story starts with Schmendrick. If you summarize the first half and stay with Schmendrick from beginning to end, the story would be better.

***

A Schmendrick-focused story by major events - 

Schmendrick becomes an apprentice and becomes immortal 

He gets employed by Mommy Fortuna

He meets a unicorn and frees her

then the story goes almost the same as it did in the book

It would allow for a more emotional impact.

The story has problems that distracted me - 

A butterfly that has a short lifespan knows the word unicorn from a dictionary.

The bird couple.

The prince reading a magazine,

Schmendrick telling us the unicorn is more real

Schmendrick says we must follow the story

Schmendrick saying this is a fairytale

Prince Lir tells a wizard he will write him a reference.

***

The writing of the story overall is okay. Some lines were written more like poetry than dialogue, which sometimes seems nonsensical. 

My review is 3 out of 5, worth reading once but too short and unfocused. 

Don’t feel like reading it just yet? Check out the movie first….