The Last Unicorn
Peter S. Beagle
When I tell people that The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite works of fantasy, sometimes I get odd looks. Dude in his 20's? Unicorns?
The truth is, this book has a much wider appeal than people would tend to grant it, and it is more than a children's book. It has many of the qualities of The Once and Futur
e King by T.H. White: it is full of wit, anachronism, mythology, and magic, and it's a fairy tale of a different sort. The Last Unicorn follows the quest of a band of misfits, as they adventure through a troubled land, in order to find where all the other unicorns have gone. It's really a classic, but I think it was rather overshadowed by the success and craze of The Lord of the Rings, my other favorite work of fantasy.
e King by T.H. White: it is full of wit, anachronism, mythology, and magic, and it's a fairy tale of a different sort. The Last Unicorn follows the quest of a band of misfits, as they adventure through a troubled land, in order to find where all the other unicorns have gone. It's really a classic, but I think it was rather overshadowed by the success and craze of The Lord of the Rings, my other favorite work of fantasy.I would recommend it to kids, as young as 10-12, but anyone who appreciates mythology and fantasy will get a kick out of this book.
Someone said that The Once and Future King is a book that should be read in three different periods of life, because it will possess new meaning, when seen from a different perspective. . I feel that this is also very true of this 'modern fairy tale.' It's bizarre, quirky, and it possesses that bittersweet quality which tempers the otherwise frivolous aftertaste of Fantasy. There is a lot to this book.
- Jack
