The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Mar 08, 2009 El rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult-n-kids, 20th-centurylit-late, permanent-collection

The unicorn is the protagonist of this story who begins to question her place in the world. She overhears a couple hunters in the woods debating whether or not unicorns still exist, sparking in her the desire to venture out in order to try to find others like herself. Along the way she meets an eclectic group of folks who all in some way affect your journey. In the process she comes to terms with what happened to the rest of the unicorns and battles the Red Bull in an effort to save the world.

I ...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Punk rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Fantasy. A unicorn realizes she is the last of her kind and must leave the safety of her forest to discover what happened to the others, but it's been so long since unicorns roamed freely that the people of the realm see her as nothing but a horse. Only a few see her for what she is, and Schmendrick, a hapless magician, and Molly Grue, like Maid Marian, but less glamourous, join her on her journey to confront the evil King Haggard in his castle by the sea.

It took me a really long time to read th Fantasy. A unicorn realizes she is the last of her kind and must leave the safety of her forest to discover what happened to the others, but it's been so long since unicorns roamed freely that the people of the realm see her as nothing but a horse. Only a few see her for what she is, and Schmendrick, a hapless magician, and Molly Grue, like Maid Marian, but less glamourous, join her on her journey to confront the evil King Haggard in his castle by the sea.

It took me a really long time to read this. Not because it's hard to read. It's filled with marvelous language. Beagle can get a mood across with a single well-placed metaphor; his prose is never flashy or awkward, just perfectly crafted to fit the scene. And the story is straightforward enough, your basic hero's quest. But somehow between the deconstruction of heroic epics and the stock characters, everything but the writing (and the Harpy) just rolled right off me.

I appreciated that it's a story that plays with the function and purpose of stories, but neither it nor the characters made me feel invested in it. This can happen when characters are more interested in engaging with their archetypes than being people in their own right. They had their moments of humor or angst, but like characters in a fairy tale, they're meant to serve a purpose and are rarely developed beyond that. I struggled to find a way to describe Molly and ended up stealing the idea of Maid Marian from Molly herself, but it's easy to peg Schmendrick as a useless magician because we're used to that guy. We see him everywhere. Both as actual wizards, such as Pratchett's Rincewind, and metaphorical wizards, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta. Or, the best of both worlds, Arrested Development's GOB. Hapless magicians: They make mistakes and ruin everything! And then make even more mistakes and somehow set everything to rights again! I could go on. But all of those guys have more personality than Schmendrick. Sorry, Schmendrick.

Three stars. Wonderful prose and a story that both challenges and conforms to its genre, but I wish we'd gotten closer to the characters. ...more

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Dec 15, 2009 junia rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Heehee.
So the result of teaching at a middle school and having access to a crazily (un)organized library is you get attracted to random fun reads (you know, like flipping to the Disney channel).

This book had a good story, was humorous and written in that enchanting fantasy language... you know so yummy and reminiscent of the OG fantasy books.

Unfortunately, it is modern, and some of the imagery doesn't make sense and the metaphors, similes, personification is a little over the top.

Opening line:
"T ...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Debbie is on Storygraph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, audio-book, 2013

It's hard to believe I've never read this considering how familiar I am with the story thanks to the animated movie (which I had first seen in college, despite it coming out the same year as I was born). I got through most of the book in audio book format during a long road trip, and then as soon as I got home, picked up the paper book and finished reading it.

This was lovely. Beagle has a wonderful way with words, and a subtle tongue-in-cheek humor where he pokes fun of fairy tales and stories ...more

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Jul 01, 2021 Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2021

Fairy tales are fun. If you like stardust or The Princess Bride -- read this one!

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Jul 04, 2008 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: age-middlegrade, fantasy, 2000

I vaguely remembered seeing the cartoon movie of this when I was very young, but very little of those memories came back to me while I was reading this book. Even now and then, however, some image would pop into my head, like the image of the unicorns trapped in the sea racing toward shore, and the weird freak show where nothing was what it seemed.

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