Conquest

Unicorn and Dragon #2

by Lynn Abbey

The fate of eleventh-century England depends on two sisters--the compulsive Alison and the crafty Wildecent--as the dark forces of the outside world invade Malfwynder Manor

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

262 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

Lynn Abbey began publishing in 1979 with the novel Daughter of the Bright Moon and the short story "The Face of Chaos," part of a Thieves World shared world anthology. She received early encouragement from Gordon R. Dickson.

In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.

Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.

Reviews

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with the first volume, it is slow to get going though eventually there is a lot of violence and gore, a lot of it centred around a new villain who is introduced in this book but should at least have been mentioned in the first volume since he is such a threat to Stephen, the romantic lead of this series.

Some of the violence is in a fantasy context as magic figures far more strongly in the second half of this book than previously. Also, Wildecent finally discovers who her parents are (at least, we think she does - the revelation is made while she is sent out of the room, but hopefully Ambrose tells her 'off stage') but it doesn't lead to anything significant as, when he offers to escort her to France to try to track them down, she refuses. Possibly this was meant to be followed up in the planned extra 3 volumes which were never published, but as it is, this comes across as a damp squib after the build up over the previous volume as well.

I'm not sure how this story would spin out to five in all, although the pacing is always very slow until a violent episode occurs at the end of each book, so maybe that's how it would've been handled (that is, dragged out very slowly). As it is, we are left with an unresolved question at the end because Wildecent goes off thinking Ambrose betrayed her and Alison. I don't find it convincing that Wildecent believes that Ambrose sent men to drag off her and Alison to be raped - a fate Wildecent manages to escape - and that Alison has been murdered (she is rescued by Stephen and Ambrose) all on the basis that the kitchen woman heard the two men go past in the night, as even Wildecent realises this was some time after the abduction. Especially since the new villain, the illegitmate son of Stephen's uncle, has already attempted to rape Alison not long before. At the very least, the new villain is a far more likely culprit for what has gone on and the misunderstanding seems very artificial.

As with the first book, I think it would've benefited with taking out all the fantasy and making it a straight historical about the clash between Saxon and Norman cultures, and the effect on women in particular. There is more than enough material for that, and it would have been more convincing, plus I think such a judicious rewrite could have condensed the whole thing into one novel and we could have had a resolution for the characters.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well lowkey mad that this was intended to be a 5 book series but was never finished 💔

Very brutal ending to book 2 that I feel could’ve been avoided entirely as it felt detrimental to the plot… then I read a post from Lynn Abbey in 2003 regarding book 2 where she stated: “I turned it in and heard back that “the powers that be” wanted an additional 15,000 words and, specifically, they wanted those 15,000 words to include all the violence and cruelty I’d left out of the YA/PG-13 version, because they’d decided that if we put in R-rated material, then we’d surely get Mists of Avalon numbers. Of course we didn’t. And the whole project was abandoned after two volumes.”

Cover art is still glorious though! 🔥

[Jessica]

Reading this sequel in the Unicorn and Dragon series (which, again, features no actual unicorns or dragons), I really understood why I was so caught up in these books when I was a teenager. This one is a cut above the first book in terms of writing and pacing, and since I couldn't remember any of the plot from so many decades ago, I found myself truly curious about how everything was going to play out. The book culminates in a surprisingly frightening and agressive scene, and it ends on something of a cliffhanger, which is why I spent years on the lookout for a sequel to this sequel (there isn't one). I enjoyed this more than the first book, and I'm glad I revisted this part of my adolescence.

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed the continuation of the themes from the first book, this one felt kind of unsatisfying. The women were pretty much swept up with no recourse (reasonable I suppose given the time period) and the events didn't pull me in. And the twist at the end seemed wholly unlikely given the rest of the interaction with the characters. And it felt like it was just starting to go somewhere.

...AND there's no third book, while this ends on a cliffhanger.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure wish there had been a third book in this series.

[scott pounder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the first book

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atmospheric, 11th century clash between old magic and new.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book, and it's prequel unicorn and dragon, were amazing reads when I was a teenager. I remember them vividly and hope to read them again. (I have always thought there should have been 3rd book)