ABANDONED. Boy in a forest where magic is drying up with a wizard and unicorn

[Sneakypie]

I remember reading this book in the early 1980s, there is a boy, possibly a young teen, in a forest where magic is dying out and he has to deal with a wizard and at some point save a unicorn that I believe looked really scraggly and grey due to the loss of magic. There were also some hunters after the unicorn.

[BookWoman]

Sounds a little bit like Simon R. Green's "Blue Moon Rising." Blue Moon Rising

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Except that that wasn't published til 1991 or so. And the OP said they read it in early 80's. Or I'd have suggested the same book. Since that's kind of what I thought of too.

[Sneakypie]

Yeah, unfortunately it's not "Blue Moon Rising". Thank you though!

[Mir]

Could it be Searching for Dragons? That has a young king who is supposed to protect the Enchanted Forest. Wizards try to suck the Forest's magic into their staffs and where they succeed a dead area with no magic is left. I don't remember if there's a unicorn but there are some mythical animals.

I read it in 1991 but it may have been out earlier -- the pub dates listed in goodreads are often inaccurate.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Perhaps Ariel: A Book of the Change?

[Sneakypie]

Darn, it's not Searching for Dragons or Ariel, but I really appreciate your help.

[Holly]

It sounds a little bit like The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I haven't read it though, so I don't know if it's the one you're after. Still, you never know!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Holly I don't think its The Last Unicorn. Mostly, that's about the Unicorn herself, only in her human guise. I did read it, but its been, um, well, decades at least since I read it. But I don't remember anything about the magic drying up.

[D.M.]

The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven came to my mind this morning, reading this. I haven't read the book however, and don't know if it's anything like what you have described.

[rivka]

Dmdutcher wrote: "The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven came to my mind this morning, reading this."

I don't think that's it. I have read it (and its sequel), and I don't recall a boy or a unicorn.

[Shanna_redwind]

Here's one about an odd looking unicorn. Probably not it, but I thought I'd give it a try.

The Particolored Unicorn

[Tess]

probably not it, but it sounds a little like the movie "Legend"

[Krazykiwi]

This is probably a reach, because it's not particularly YA (although it's easily readable by that audience), it's not one book, and it's not a boy, it's a grown man. And it's 1987 which is pushing the "early 80's". On the other hand, I often blend book plots toegether, particularly if they're part of a series so: it immediately made me think of the Landover books.

There's a guy (Ben) fighting to restore magic to a largely forested world, there's a wizard (Meeks) and in the second book The Black Unicorn unicorns, or at least, one black unicorn, because all the others are trapped.

If a talking dog and a tree nymph rings any bells for you at all, then this is your book (and if not, probably not, they're kind of central characters).

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Sneakypie, are you still looking for this?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.