The Last Unicorn (1968)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer.   Synopsis All the unicorns but 1 have disappeared and she sets out on a journey to find out what happened to them. Along the way she meets up with various characters and has various adventures. And everything good is ripped away, her dreams crushed, her love destroyed, her hopes dashed.   My Thoughts The ending tries to salve over the horribleness that is the book, but it didn't work for me. So while this technically has a happy ending, it is pretty obvious that Beagle is a product of his generation and is pretty much a sad sack of hopelessness and a person that I wouldn't mind giving a swift kick in the pants to.   While intended or not, while reading this book I felt like Beagle was trying to tear down every hope, dream and wish that makes up fantasy and replace it with his raped, dirty, rat infested vision of reality. I cannot abide those who write to tear down because they cannot have.   This was wonderfully written and almost magically lyrical and I suspect that most who read it will love it. But I am in the minority in that regards. I'll not be reading any more by this author.   Rating: 1 of 5 Stars   Author: Peter Beagle " ( )

A wonderful and enchanting story that reads like a fairy tale that knows how to be a fairy tale. Always switching between deep comments on life in general, to absolutely ridiculous humour so you never know how you'll feel about the next page. And written with absolutely gorgeous descriptive writing with beautiful imagery, it was an easy 5/5 stars for me.

Full review on my blog:
http://bastardreading.blogspot.ie/2016/07/55-stars-to-last-unicorn-by-peter-s.ht... ( )

Okay, here is the short review:

This book is beautiful. Read it.

And here is the longer, SPOILER-filled, review:

Our story begins with the unicorn overhearing a troubling rumour - that there are no unicorns left in the world. But perception versus reality is one of the recurring themes in The Last Unicorn. At various points in the story the unicorn may or may not be a unicorn - or a white mare, or a human girl - the magician may be a bumbling clown, or a true wizard; the outlaws may be villains, or grown men play-acting in the woods; the spider may be weaving webs that hold the world together, or simply a spider.

Upon leaving her enchanted forest the unicorn is shocked to go unrecognized. She is mortified to be mistaken for a white mare by the humans who see her.

”I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns, or if they had changed so that they hated all unicorns now and tried to kill them when they saw them. But not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else - what do they look like to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children?” (p.11)

An old witch named Mama Fortuna runs a night carnival, using her powers to make people see mythical beasts where there are normal animals. But she also uses this ability to make the people see the unicorn for the first time. The human power of self-contradiction - wanting to see the magical, yet refusing to see it - is at work.

”She can’t turn cream into butter, but she can give a lion the semblance of a manticore to eyes that want to see a manticore there - eyes that would take a real manticore for a lion, a dragon for a lizard, and the Midgard Serpent for an earthquake. And a unicorn for a white mare.” (p. 27)

Self-belief also works it’s own powerful magic, as the spider in the witch’s carnival believes sincerely in the witch’s illusion - believes itself to be the mythical Arachne, her web holding the world together. Her reality is shattered eventually with the disillusion of the witch’s spells, and our main characters leave the carnival hearing ”the tiny, dry sound of a spider weeping.” (p.54)

Later, a group of wannabe outlaws are overrun with longing and despair by an illusion of Robin Hood and his merry men parading through the forest. They chase after the vision, wanting to be part of it.

The unicorn, on her quest to discover what has happened to her people, befriends Schmendrick the Magician - a bumbling wizard who can do no real magic, who makes his way using slight of hand tricks and illusions. However, real magic does come to him and it manifests in a way that alters physical reality, transforming the last unicorn into the body of a human girl.

The change in outward reality means the unicorn can no longer perceive herself, she is as blind to her true nature as the humans she encountered were previously. This begins transforming her more and more into the illusion the magician set for her, until she can no longer even remember being a unicorn. As with the spider, our reality seems very much what we make it.

Prince Lir’s actions change depending on whether he perceives himself to be a young man in love, or a hero (or is reminded by Schmendrick to see himself as a hero), or as a new king to his people.

The ending is incredibly bittersweet, and it’s hard to say that anyone is really happier for being reminded what they "really" are.

But I don’t want anyone who reads this review to think The Last Unicorn is all moody philosophical meanderings - the prose is beautiful, descriptive and transportive without ever be plodding or slow. There is a lot of humour and adventure, and a real sense of magic and wonder about this book. It’s one of the most perfect books I’ve ever read. I highly recommend reading it - whether you like fantasy or not, whether you like unicorns or not. There is a lot to unpack from this novel and it has some of the most gorgeous prose I've ever read. ( )

Humble eBook Bundle 2

I have watched the movie of this book a million times. Growing up I would watch The Last Unicorn, Labyrinth, and Princess And The Goblin all the time. As an adult I have read the books furthering my love of them. This book is so good and the movie stays really true to it. I like how the Unicorn goes back to her normal form in the end and doesn't stay human and it's a bittersweet ending. It follows the normal fairy tale guidelines and then ends with everyone alive (everyone important anyways), the unicorns are back in the world free of the Red Bull (right now I'm picturing unicorns being harassed by the energy drink...) and it's not exactly happily ever after but it's good enough. ( )