The Last Unicorn

Author: Peter S. Beagle

The unicorn lived all alone in the lilac wood, outside of time and quite content to remain there forever. That is, until she heard the rumor that all the rest of her people had disappeared, that some unknown menace was stealing them away, and that she was the last of her kind in the world. Unable to rest with this knowledge, the unicorn set out to discover what had happened to the other unicorns. Along with the human companions who join her in her journey, the unicorn gets swept up in the story, in time. And only time will tell whether she will be able to save her kin or will herself disappear.

Okay, so I know The Last Unicorn is totally a classic fantasy novel; I just discovered it. Sorry. It’s really incredible, and I wish I had found it ages ago. It’s definitely a book I will read multiple times over in the future. The story is beautiful, artful, poignant, and bittersweet, with nice notes of irony and satire. The characters are the same–well crafted, not exactly the heroic norm, but with something magic about them nonetheless. The descriptive language used in this story is particularly nice; it is lush and vivid but not overdone. The Last Unicorn is definitely a book I highly recommend, right alongside works like The Princess Bride and Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. If you haven’t read it, you need to.