Ascendant (Killer Unicorns, #2)

Ascendant (Killer Unicorns #2)

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3.69 of 5 stars 3.69  ·  rating details  ·  1,347 ratings  ·  244 reviews
Astrid Llewelyn is now a fully trained unicorn hunter, but she can't solve all her problems with just a bow and arrow. Her boyfriend, Giovanni, has decided to leave Rome, the Cloisters is in dire financial straits, her best friend's powers seem to be mysteriously disintegrating, and Astrid can't help but feel that school, home, and her hopes of becoming a scientist are not...more
Hardcover, 392 pages
Published September 28th 2010 by HarperTeen
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Reeva
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
April
As much as I would love to write a full-review of Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund, there's still a lot of months until it is out, so I think it's more prudent to give a quick and dirty mini-review, and NO, not that kind of dirty.

Ascendant is a direct sequel to the super-awesome Rampant, which I actually really enjoyed. With Ascendant, the intros and exposition is pretty much out of the way so the book gets right on down to business. There is absolutely more sexual tension, more unicorns, more act...more
Jennifer Wardrip
Reviewed by Joan Stradling for TeensReadToo.com

In RAMPANT, Diana Peterfreund introduced us to the darker side of unicorns and Astrid, the unicorn hunter. In ASCENDANT, Astrid's adventures continue. Now a fully trained unicorn hunter, Astrid is given the opportunity to leave the Cloisters and go to France to help in discovering the Remedy.

Unfortunately, leaving Rome doesn't solve Astrid's problems.

She is put in charge of a herd of Einhorns and discovers there's more to the unicorns than she thoug...more
Paradoxical
I had mixed feelings when I read Rampant, where I teeter between loving the premise and disliking the execution. Ascendant turned out much the same way for me. It's difficult to articulate why I don't like this book more--there are unicorns! There are killer unicorns, which is something that never fails to make me happy (shush, this makes perfect sense to me). There are also a bunch of virgin girls running around killing unicorns, which sort of just made me shrug. There's also the push and pull...more
Megan
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Monica&spikey
What, I ask you, is the point of a two-book series?
Torture, I tell you. That’s the point. Torture.
Yes, authors hate us, the readers, so they offer us these two-book contraptions, more than a novel, yes, but less than a full-fledged series. A tantalizing taste, but not a full meal.
Teasing us. much like Brandt did with the einhorns.
Speaking of Brandt and Einhorns, I’ll get to reviewing the book.
Loved it. there. as if I’ll ever read a book I don’t love.
I will tell you, there are some things in th...more
Snickerdoodle
Two stars.

Mainly to make up for my intense confusion.

This is my thought process:
Wait...

Astrid is going to England? No, France. No, Germany. BRANDT? THAT JERK-FACE? Why is Astrid talking to him? ARGH I NO WANT LOVE TRIANGLE! *goes into corner* *comes back* Okay, no big love triangle. Wait...she's going with him to Gordian? Did she forget that the CEO of this company paid someone to rape her cousin and try to rape her? That he kidnapped her friend and experimented on her?

Lesbian people! I love les...more
Wealhtheow
Astrid Llewellyn was raised by a mother obsessed with unicorns. But to hear her tell it, unicorns aren't the fluffy, innocent creatures of myth, but savage, blood-thirsty monsters. And to everyone's surprise, it turns out Astrid's mother was right. The unicorns' last hidden preserve has been lost, and now they're out into the world again. And they're hungry for fresh meat.

Luckily, it turns out that Astrid really has inherited unicorn hunting abilities. She and a small group of other young women...more
Sarah
I really enjoyed Peterfreund's first Killer Unicorn book so I was looking forward to this title. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one as much. I can't really explain why exactly because when I break it down into its pieces, I don't find anything to complain about. Peterfreund's writing is nothing fancy but it's the right balance of descriptive and economical. Her dialogue is witty and enjoyable. Astrid really develops as a character throughout this one and I like the journey that she sets on....more
BookChic Club
Usually sequels can be a letdown because they just aren't as good as the original. This wasn't the case with Ascendant. It felt like such a natural continuation of the storyline and of Astrid's emotional journey of being a unicorn hunter and what it really means to be one.

There are so many twists and turns with this book, just like with Rampant, but unlike Rampant, there aren't that many action scenes going on. Now that all the hunters are trained, and because of other circumstances happening, t...more
Rachael Sherwood
I didn’t write much for Rampant, but after finishing Ascendant I think this series deserves more than a one sentence review. I am so glad that when I first picked up Rampant that I had no idea it was about killer unicorns. I am sure I would have skipped it, and I’d be missing out if I had.
The series follows Astrid Llewellyn, a unicorn hunter descended from one of the most famous hunters of all time. In this world, unicorns are not friendly glorified ponies. They are intelligent predators that hu...more
qingling
This book was the second book of the Killer Unicorns series by Diana Peterfreund. I read the first book in eighth grade, I guessed, and totally loved the book. I didn't know that there was a second book until I accidentally found it in the library. I was eager to get started reading. but the book turned out pretty disappointing to me. Astrid's boyfriend (Giovanni) had moved back to New York, leaving Astrid behind. They wanted to have a long-distance relationship, but it turned out not going so w...more
Chibineko
After finishing this book I'm more convinced than ever that HarperTeen needs to put out another book in this series. (As of this review there's technically no other books under contract, but hopefully that will change!)

There's a lot to love in this book. Not only do we have the wonderful idea of killer unicorns but we're beginning to see that all is not hunky dory in Astrid's world. She's just now beginning to discover the true drawbacks of the profession of unicorn hunting. She can have a boyfr...more
Whatchyareading
I LOVED Rampant, so very, very much. It had kick ass girls, awesome killer unicorns, and didn’t stray away from hard subjects. The main characters would talk both about the right time to have sex and the morality of killing an endangered species. Even if said species was eating a couple of humans.

So, needless to say, I was very excited for this book. And, while I was in no way disappointed with it, the book as a whole was a little melancholy. I guess the first book was too, but as it ended with...more
Kim
There is good news and bad news about Ascendant, the second in Peterfreund's YA series about unicorn hunters. The bad news is that this appears to be the second book in a trilogy, but as of yet, the third book has not been picked up for publication. This is a sad thing because I've really been enjoying this series, and there are definitely questions raised in Ascendant that need a third book to answer. The good news is that, while Ascendant was clearly written and succeeds much better as the sec...more
Doug
This sequel to Rampant is not the sort of book to make a lot of concessions. The opening scene, in which narrator/hereditary-unicorn-slayer Astrid Llewellyn matter-of-factly harvests her dead prey, serves as a litmus test for Peterfreund's dark, historically informed take on unicorn legends. I imagine that more than a few gentle souls will decide to read no further.

If you have little patience for books that spend a lot of pages recapitulating introductions to characters and plot points of previo...more
JoLee
One of the major outcomes of reading Zombies vs. Unicorns was that it made me wonder why I still hadn't read Diana Peterfreund's sequel to Rampant , Ascendant . So, I got right on it. I enjoyed this second book even better than the first. Granted Rampant wasn't what I was expecting (whatever that was) and now I had a better idea of what this killer unicorn world was like.

In this second novel Astrid is really struggling to balance the opposing forces in her life--the magic and the mundane, guys...more
Elizabeth
Astrid Llewelyn is a reluctant unicorn hunter. There aren't very many due to the fact that only descendants of Alexander the Great that are virgins are eligible for the task. Recruitment has been slow since many potential hunters make themselves ineligible for the job to avoid the danger that is being advertised in the news, mostly by Astrid's attention seeking mother. Astrid lives in a nunnery in Italy with her fellow hunters. She would rather be in a lab, trying to find a way to replicate the...more
Phoebe
Ascendant is a rare breed even among unicorns--a sequel that improves on the first volume's vision.

Everything that worked well in Rampant is present here: a small army of well-developed characters, a strong voice that's never grating, an absolutely fearless heroine who is nevertheless absolutely human, a fascinating mythology. But rather than defaulting to formula, as many sequels do (Catching Fire and Pretties come most immediately to mind), Ascendant spins an entirely new story. And, while som...more
Ashley - Book Labyrinth
There's so much good about this book, but I feel like it was ultimately disappointing. I really liked the 1st book, and I liked this one too, but it was just so depressing. I realize it can't be all sunshiney rainbows when dealing with such huge issues, but I still wish there could have been more happiness for Astrid despite all the things she has to struggle with. I also feel like so much of this book is rushed, with characters being thrown out and never heard from again, and other situations s...more
Katie
If allowed, I'd probably give this book a 3.5.

I really love this series (and oh, do I hope it becomes a proper series and gets more books). I love the idea of killer unicorns. I love Astrid. I love lots of the little details, and I love many of the secondary characters. But I couldn't help being a little disappointed with Ascendant. ~*~spoilers below~*~ ~*~ridiculously long book review~*~

Basically, I like all the elements in this book, but almost none of them quite worked. It felt like there wer...more
Bianca Duarte
Before I start with this review I just want to thank Waste Paper Prose (Susan) for letting me participate in this Mini Blog Tour.

Ascendant really took me by surprise. As in I loved it very much. I was hesitant at first to continue reading it. I mean, it's a novel about unicorn hunters who hunt down vicious unicorns. That really brought my spirits down but I loved it at the same time.

If you want a novel that will suck you in with action, adventure and a little unicorn killing then Ascendant is t...more
Tzippy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Alexis
Peterfreund surpassed my previous expectation for this series. Her writing is absolutely phenomenal, the text is clear and the romance sizzles. After twenty pages I was hooked. Astrid is exceptional, but not perfect which is one of the many reasons why I found this book to be so amazing. In Rampant and Ascendant real injuries occur, unlike most YA fiction texts. The characters exhibit what it’s like to be human… with a slight twist.

It is clear that Peterfreund has done much research in, not only...more
Raven
Really more of a 3.5. I didn't enjoy this as much as Rampant, but it was still a fun read. Didn't really get into it until about halfway through. It lacked action and read more as a drama than action adventure fantasy. I could have just read the first one and been perfectly happy with how it ended, this sequel really wasn't needed, but I must say I'm not sad I read it.

The whole idea of killer unicorns is quite amusing, yet Peterfreund pulled it off very, very well. This original idea was execut...more
Aurora Celeste
The sequel to Rampant. It's a great read about a girl who is tapped to kill Unicorns. Yeah, that's right, kill Unicorns, because they're cold-blooded human predators who menace populations and threaten humanity. A great premise, and it's carried out so well, with a voice that's unique and enjoyable, and examines all the angles of the benefits and drawbacks of having a human-killing population that can only be hunted by virgins (which, due to society, are mostly teenage girls) and all the mind-be...more
P.M.
After surviving her own death, Astrid has had enough of killing unicorns. She accepts a cushy job from Isabeau, Marten's widow, which allows her to get an education, get paid to do it, and watch over a herd of captive einhorns. She makes a mistake when she begins to name the imprisoned unicorns: Stretch, Jumps, Fats, Blotchy, Breaker, and the newborn Angel. She must also solve the puzzle of Brandt and his position with Gordian Enterprises. When you add in Cory's mysterious illness, Giovanni's se...more
AH
Oct 05, 2010 AH rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Killer Unicorn lovers everywhere
Beware of the Killer Unicorns! 4.5 stars!

There I was, dancing with glee. I won a book about killer unicorns! Killer Unicorns, of all things, in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

When you think of unicorns, what do you think of? Do you think of majestic beasts, full of magic, sparkles, and rainbows? Or do you think of blood-thirsty, fanged, poisonous creatures that enjoy killing? If you chose the latter, well, those are the unicorns you’ll find in Ascendant.

Ascendant takes place in our world, exc...more
Cristy
Wow, not what I was expecting.. really great read, but very different then the first book. First off Ascendant has a much heavier, more serious vibe then the "lighter" depth of Rampant, book one.
We really get a taste of the woman and warrior that Astrid is becoming, as she grows and matures in Ascendant. She is faced with some big ethical issues and decisions of morality, right and wrong and her place in it all. Once again, Diana Peterfreund's writing is captivating and fluid, as she continues...more
Kelly
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Ascendant (ebook)
Ascendant (Killer Unicorns, #2)
Ascendant (Killer Unicorns, #2)
Ascendant (Hardcover)
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Diana Peterfreund has been a costume designer, a cover model, and a food critic. Her travels have taken her from the cloud forests of Costa Rica to the underground caverns of New Zealand (and as far as she’s concerned, she’s just getting started). Diana graduated from Yale University in 2001 with dual degrees in Literature and Geology, which her family claimed would only come in handy if she wrote...more
More about Diana Peterfreund...
For Darkness Shows the Stars (For Darkness Shows the Stars, #1) Rampant (Killer Unicorns, #1) Secret Society Girl (Secret Society Girl, #1) Under the Rose (Secret Society Girl, #2) Rites of Spring (Break) (Secret Society Girl, #3)

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“Gordian pays you to sleep with unicorn hunters. That's the definition of a whore.” 3 people liked it
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