What a better way to kick-off this year (and blog) by reviewing a fantasy classic!
Title: The Last Unicorn
Genre: Fantasy, Classics
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 294
The unicorn wants to find other unicorns. Mage Schmendrick, whose magic seldom works, never as he intends, rescues unicorn from Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival. Only some mythical beasts displayed are illusions. Molly Grue believes in legends despite Robin Hood wannabe and his unmerry men. King Haggard and his Bull banish unicorns into sea. (More from Goodreads)
Let me start off by saying this is my first time reading this book, even though it's a certified classic in the fantasy genre.
The story is starts out in a magical forest, the domain of our unicorn. We would never know her actual name, or her age- what we DO know is that this is her forest, and she has been taking care of the flora and fauna since her existence, giving it a characteristic magical air that can be sensed by any living being and protecting its inhabitants as long as she is present. One day, she comes across a conversation between two hunters. which convinces her that she may be the last of her kind. Reluctantly, she ventures out of the familiarity of her forest to seek them out, and discovers that the world holds many unexpected surprises yet.
Without going much into the story, for I know many have yet to read this classic, I would have to say the writing is beautiful, but also quite confusing. Perhaps I am rather inept in reading classical writing but I found myself going over several paragraphs repeatedly to try and fathom the course of events, particularly when some actions scenes are going on between the different characters. The author describes things as they happen, and at times the viewpoints from one character switches to the next in the span of a few sentences. As such, I found it hard to determine at which exact point in the story that the characters' relationships progress, and this happened a lot (i.e. is the unicorn scared of the harpy after all, or does she sympathize with her plight? When did Molly stop despising Schmendrick?)
There were also phrases that made no sense to me ('Ah, turn blue!') and required some googling, which was really detracting from the story.
And the songs. There were many songs! It's really up to the individual as to whether this is good or bad, but it can be rather overwhelming.
It is not a story with an especially intriguing plot. In that sense it is rather straightforward and you can see the ending from miles away. What it is, however, is quite the metaphorical journey for our unlikely characters, who evolve in the presence of each other. You wouldn't expect anything different with a unicorn present in the story. Magic, bravery and love abound! I feel like there was a hidden message in the story that I was not getting, which makes me think of a re-read immediately.
Do I recommend it? If you're an avid fantasy reader, you would have read it, or put it in your to-read list. If you're one of the latter, just do it. Read it, if only to compare it to the more elaborate fantasy works of more present times. Only now do I truly appreciate the brevity of modern writing. It's not a hefty tome, so it shouldn't take long to finish. It feels like a children's book too, if not for the elaborate writing- so it's suitable for pretty much all ages of readers.
Also, discovery! Apparently there is an animated movie based on the book. I would definitely check that out!
~My Rating~
4 out of 5 unicorn sparkles!
★★★★☆
No comments:
Post a Comment