The Last Unicorn

By Peter S. Beagle and Patrick Rothfuss

INCLUDES A NEW INTRODUCTION BY PATRICK ROTHFUSS

Experience one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century and the book that The Atlantic has called “one of the best fantasy novels ever.”

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone...

...so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch—and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction....

In The Last Unicorn, renowned and beloved novelist Peter S. Beagle spins a poignant tale of love, loss, and wonder that has resonated with millions of readers around the world.

“Peter S. Beagle illuminates with his own particular magic.”—Ursula K. Le Guin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9780593547342

Peter S. Beagle

Peter Beagle, noted author and screenwriter, is a recipient of the prestigious Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Mythopoeic Awards, and a World Fantasy and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America 2018 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, among other literary achievements. He has given generations of readers the magic of unicorns, haunted cemeteries, lascivious trees, and disgruntled gods. A beloved author, his best-known work is The Last Unicorn.

Book preview

Introduction

I love this book.

That’s the only truly important thing I have to say here. Everything else I write will be secondary to that. Embellishments. Flourishes. Variations on that theme.

So. If you’re standing in a bookshop, reading this introduction, wondering if you should buy this book and give it a try…the answer is yes.

If someone gave you this book as a gift, and you’re looking for a new read, trying to decide if it might be worth your time, the answer is also yes.

If you read this book when you were younger, and loved it, and you’re worried that it won’t be as good as you remember, that it will have faded somehow: Don’t worry, it hasn’t.

If you’re worried that perhaps it’s you who have changed too much, grown weary, had your heart hardened by the world, your palate roughened by less subtle stories, let me reassure you. This story is perfect as a pearl. It is sweet as the kiss you remember most fondly in the quiet corner of your heart.

I’ve given this book to people I love, pushed it on strangers in bookstores, and read it aloud to my children. I keep several copies on hand so I always have one to give away. It is a book I recommend to anyone and everyone, no matter who they are, no matter their age, their genre preferences, or whether or not they’re interested in unicorns.

And I’m recommending it to you, right now. Do yourself a favor. Please read it. Please.

---

—

This is not simply a book I love. It is my favorite book, and it has been my favorite book for the better part of thirty years. It is the book my heart loves best.

For those of you who haven’t read this book, fear not. I’m not going to commit the biggest sin of introductions and spoil it for you by talking about all my favorite bits, or steal all the good jokes and put them here so I look clever, or give away plot points, or make references you can’t understand because, well, you haven’t read it yet.

But two paragraphs from here, I am going to reference a couple characters for the folks who have read the book before. So if you want to avoid even that, you can skip to the next section.

When I was younger, I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And so I spent my childhood wanting nothing more than to stumble into Narnia. I was old enough to know it wasn’t real, but still young enough to hope. And so I looked for hidden doors and secret ways. For years.

Now I am staring fifty in the face. Some folk will say that’s not old, but it is. At the very least, it’s the oldest I’ve ever been. I need glasses now. I don’t laugh as often as I used to. Every day I feel I am becoming less Schmendrick and more Haggard. I’m old enough to know that unicorns aren’t real, but still young enough to hope I might meet one. And when I do, I hope I can rise to the occasion and be better than I am, which is to say less King Haggard, and more Molly Grue.

---

—

I hate introductions.

Yes, I realize this is an odd place to make a statement along these lines. For this to make sense, I should probably give a little background.

Growing up, I lived out in the country. It wasn’t especially rustic, and I’m not trying to imply any hardship. It’s just that I didn’t grow up in a suburb, surrounded by a bunch of other kids to play with or places to go. Instead, I grew up with books.

It’s hard to look back in time and try to calculate exactly how much I read, but it was a lot. I remember rereading my mother’s big red hardcover copy of The Lord of the Rings every summer, laying on my bed.

I remember packing up for school before getting on the long bus ride in the fifth grade. I always made sure I had two paperbacks in my backpack. They weren’t the book I was reading—THAT book was always in my hand or my coat pocket. The books in my backpack were for when I finished that one. That way, I always had a backup…and then a spare after that. I might forget to take my lunch to school, but I never forgot to take books….

Interestingly, I never read The Last Unicorn in all that time. I know this because when I watched the animated movie with my mother and grandmother, it was completely new to me.

This trend continued through high school. I read at lunch. I read when my mom took us to the beach. Did you know that there is a limit to the number of books you can check out from the library? There is. My allowance was mostly spent on books, and I packed a duffle bag of paperbacks for family vacations.

Most of these books were fantasy, and most of them were what my mother would have called popcorn books, which meant they were fun but not really substantial. Delightful, delicious, garbage books full of elves and magic swords. At a rough estimate, I’m guessing I must have read at least two or three thousand novels before I left for college.

(I’ll mention here, so you know where I’m going with this, that I can’t remember a single one of these books ever having an introduction.)

At college I discovered kissing and the humanities. As a result, by the end of my first year I had abandoned my chemical engineering degree and my habit of reading a book or two every day. It was at this time that I stumbled across a copy of The Lord of the Rings that included an introduction written by someone named Peter S. Beagle. It’s the first introduction I remember encountering, let alone reading.

I was filled with an odd indignation. Who the hell does this guy think he is? I wondered with all the arrogance of a twenty-year-old. Why would you need to write an introduction to the best fantasy books of all time?

Despite this, I read the introduction, and it was oddly comforting to me. I’d been taught that fantasy was low-class, a waste of time. But Peter spoke in glowing terms of Tolkien and Middle Earth, saying, We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discoverers—thieves planting flags, murderers carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams.

(Forgive me if I pass lightly by the word colonizers here, which back then didn’t have the well-deserved negative connotation it does today.) The reason I remember this so clearly is that this was one of the first times I’d ever seen anyone defending fantasy as something beautiful and worthwhile. This is when I started to realize that maybe I didn’t need to feel bad about liking fantasy. Maybe it didn’t need to be a guilty pleasure.

I tracked down this Beagle guy’s unicorn book and was impressed by the language and how different it was from a lot of the other stuff I’d read. It wasn’t all about armies fighting and magic swords and quests. How strange. How wondrous strange.

Though I wasn’t reading a book a day anymore, I still read constantly. It was a rare semester where I wasn’t taking at least one class where the focus wasn’t on reading something, something. (Novels. Plays. Poetry. Philosophical and religious texts.) Afterward, I would discuss what I’d read with professors, classmates, and friends. This went on for about ten years. It was an amazing educational experience and one of the happiest times in my life.

Then I made a terrible mistake: I graduated and went to get my master’s in English literature. In graduate school, the focus shifted: We discussed books before reading them. Or instead of reading them.

It took me a disturbingly long time to realize why I was so bothered, so unhappy and unsatisfied. But eventually, it dawned on me. The structure of these classes, the nature of the essays and introductions I was being forced to read, they made one thing abundantly clear: What other people think and feel about a book is more important than what you think and feel.

Personally, I don’t think this is true.

Part of this is probably just that I’m cussed and contrary. We love best what we love first, and I grew up reading books myself and thinking my own thoughts. Later in college, I learned the joy of reading, thinking, then sharing and discussing those thoughts. But you’ll note the order of those: You read and think your own thoughts first….

I’ve read far too many introductions that forget they’re only here to introduce. Do I want you to read this book you’re holding in your hands? Of course. It’s the same way I might want you to meet someone I dearly love. Someone interesting and funny. Someone that I think you might be great friends with. Hence the introduction. Reader? Meet book. Book? Reader.

But in my experience, an introduction rarely stops at that point. More often you get someone desperate to make sure you read the book in the proper way. Which is to say, the way they read it. And before you know it, you’re knee-deep in their hot take about how obviously the whole thing is an attempt to recontextualize Heidegger’s phenomenology through a Marxist lens or something like that.

Personally, I find this as appealing as the thought of someone chewing up my lunch for me before I eat it.

But it’s more than that. It’s worse than that.

A book by itself is nothing. It’s lifeless clay. I once heard someone say a book is like lightning in a bottle, and it needs a reader to work the stopper loose. And while that’s an evocative image, it’s dead wrong. It implies that whatever magic stories have lives entirely inside the book. But that’s simply untrue.

You see, a book isn’t a packet of ramen.

God. I hope they don’t put that on the cover. I sound crazy here. But stick with me. I’m trying to say something I’ve never really taken the time to articulate before.

A book isn’t like ramen. Or a packet of hot chocolate. You interact with those, but they’re still separate from you. External. Independent. Anyone could pour the water and get the same thing.

Books are different: A book is a kiss. A book is a dance.

A story might come from a book, but the story doesn’t live there. The story lives in you. And that version of the story is different than any other version in the world because of what you bring. Because of what you think and feel. That’s unique. It’s rare and wonderful.

So there. Books aren’t ramen. You heard it here first. They’re dances. Or rather, you dance with the book. The two of you work in concert, and the story is the dance. It’s unique because you’re not just adding water, you’re adding yourself.

This is probably true for all types of art, but I think it’s particularly true of books. What’s more, books vary in how wild the shared experience can be. Some books are constantly surprising you with new steps they show you when you come back to dance. Some books help us surprise ourselves.

So. Reader? Meet book. Book? Reader.

As much as I might want to stick around and make sure you two hit it off, I should go. Sure, I have plenty of thoughts and feelings about the story you’re holding here. I’ll talk all day about how much I love the language. The arc of story. Schmendrick the Magician. Molly Grue…

But if you want my hot take on Haggard and the Red Bull, you can read it on my blog. It doesn’t belong here. You have dancing to do.

Patrick Rothfuss

February 2022

I

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.

She did not look anything like a horned horse, as unicorns are often pictured, being smaller and cloven-hoofed, and possessing that oldest, wildest grace that horses have never had, that deer have only in a shy, thin imitation and goats in dancing mockery. Her neck was long and slender, making her head seem smaller than it was, and the mane that fell almost to the middle of her back was as soft as dandelion fluff and as fine as cirrus. She had pointed ears and thin legs, with feathers of white hair at the ankles; and the long horn above her eyes shone and shivered with its own seashell light even in the deepest midnight. She had killed dragons with it, and healed a king whose poisoned wound would not close, and knocked down ripe chestnuts for bear cubs.

Unicorns are immortal. It is their nature to live alone in one place: usually a forest where there is a pool clear enough for them to see themselves—for they are a little vain, knowing themselves to be the most beautiful creatures in all the world, and magic besides. They mate very rarely, and no place is more enchanted than one where a unicorn has been born. The last time she had seen another unicorn the young virgins who still came seeking her now and then had called to her in a different tongue; but then, she had no idea of months and years and centuries, or even of seasons. It was always spring in her forest, because she lived there, and she wandered all day among the great beech trees, keeping watch over the animals that lived in the ground and under bushes, in nests and caves, earths and treetops. Generation after generation, wolves and rabbits alike, they hunted and loved and had children and died, and as the unicorn did none of these things, she never grew tired of watching them.

One day it happened that two men with long bows rode through her forest, hunting for deer. The unicorn followed them, moving so warily that not even the horses knew she was near. The sight of men filled her with an old, slow, strange mixture of tenderness and terror. She never let one see her if she could help it, but she liked to watch them ride by and hear them talking.

I mislike the feel of this forest, the elder of the two hunters grumbled. Creatures that live in a unicorn’s wood learn a little magic of their own in time, mainly concerned with disappearing. We’ll find no game here.

Unicorns are long gone, the second man said. If, indeed, they ever were. This is a forest like any other.

Then why do the leaves never fall here, or the snow? I tell you, there is one unicorn left in the world—good luck to the lonely old thing, I say—and as long as it lives in this forest, there won’t be a hunter who takes so much as a titmouse home at his saddle. Ride on, ride on, you’ll see. I know their ways, unicorns.

From books, answered the other. Only from books and tales and songs. Not in the reign of three kings has there been even a whisper of a unicorn seen in this country or any other. You know no more about unicorns than I do, for I’ve read the same books and heard the same stories, and I’ve never seen one either.

The first hunter was silent for a time, and the second whistled sourly to himself. Then the first said, My great-grandmother saw a unicorn once. She used to tell me about it when I was little.

Oh, indeed? And did she capture it with a golden bridle?

No. She didn’t have one. You don’t have to have a golden bridle to catch a unicorn; that part’s the fairy tale. You need only to be pure of heart.

Yes, yes. The younger man chuckled. Did she ride her unicorn, then? Bareback, under the trees, like a nymph in the early days of the world?

My great-grandmother was afraid of large animals, said the first hunter. She didn’t ride it, but she sat very still, and the unicorn put its head in her lap and fell asleep. My great-grandmother never moved till it woke.

What did it look like? Pliny describes the unicorn as being very ferocious, similar in the rest of its body to a horse, with the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a bear; a deep, bellowing voice; and a single black horn, two cubits in length. And the Chinese—

My great-grandmother said only that the unicorn had a good smell. She never could abide the smell of any beast, even a cat or a cow, let alone a wild thing. But she loved the smell of the unicorn. She began to cry once, telling me about it. Of course, she was a very old woman then, and cried at anything that reminded her of her youth.

Let’s turn around and hunt somewhere else, the second hunter said abruptly. The unicorn stepped softly into a thicket as they turned their horses, and took up the trail only when they were well ahead of her once more. The men rode in silence until they were nearing the edge of the forest, when the second hunter asked quietly, Why did they go away, do you think? If there ever were such things.

Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?

No, but I wonder if any man before us ever thought his time a good time for unicorns. And it seems to me now that I have heard stories—but I was sleepy with wine, or I was thinking of something else. Well, no matter. There’s light enough yet to hunt, if we hurry. Come!

They broke out of the woods, kicked their horses to a gallop, and dashed away. But before they were out of sight, the first hunter looked back over his shoulder and called, just as though he could see the unicorn standing in shadow, Stay where you are, poor beast. This is no world for you. Stay in your forest, and keep your trees green and your friends long-lived. Pay no mind to young girls, for they never become anything more than silly old women. And good luck to you.

The unicorn stood still at the edge of the forest and said aloud, I am the only unicorn there is. They were the first words she had spoken, even to herself, in more than a hundred years.

That can’t be, she thought. She had never minded being alone, never seeing another unicorn, because she had always known that there were others like her in the world, and a unicorn needs no more than that for company. But I would know if all the others were gone. I’d be gone too. Nothing can happen to them that does not happen to me.

Her own voice frightened her and made her want to be running. She moved along the dark paths of her forest, swift and shining, passing through sudden clearings unbearably brilliant with grass or soft with shadow, aware of everything around her, from the weeds that brushed her ankles to insect-quick flickers of blue and silver as the wind lifted the leaves. Oh, I could never leave this, I never could, not if I really were the only unicorn in the world. I know how to live here, I know how everything smells, and tastes, and is. What could I ever search for in the world, except this again?

But when she stopped running at last and stood still, listening to crows and a quarrel of squirrels over her head, she wondered, But suppose they are hiding together, somewhere far away? What if they are hiding and waiting for me?

From that first moment of doubt, there was no peace for her; from the time she first imagined leaving her forest, she could not stand in one place without wanting to be somewhere else. She trotted up and down beside her pool, restless and unhappy. Unicorns are not meant to make choices. She said no, and yes, and no again, day and night, and for the first time she began to feel the minutes crawling over her like worms. I will not go. Because men have seen no unicorns for a while does not mean they have all vanished. Even if it were true, I would not go. I live here.

But at last she woke up in the middle of one warm night and said, Yes, but now.

Reviews for The Last Unicorn

[keebrook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

the movie captivated me when i was young. it caught my son’s attention just recently very hard. when he found out it was based on a book, he badgered me until i got it for him in its two incarnations: graphic novel and novel.

this was surprising to me. a fairy tale proper with even a hint of self-knowledge and chiding to boost it into more mystical realms. immortality was portrayed very well and reminded me of both Tolkien and Gaiman all at once. very clear were the themes and tropes and elegant were the words woven together. like poetry sometimes. i think it is an overlooked bedrock of a book. a beautiful little story that soars through the depths and plumbs the summits of mythopoeic life.

[bibleblaster · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again, a recognized classic takes me off guard by just how...well, strange it is. And I liked that. I appreciate fantasy that takes the reader into dream-like logic. And it was definitely not all "happy ever after" or "we learned a great lesson." More like, well, this is life, even in a fantasy world. I also appreciate that it didn't take seven thousand pages--which seems to be the contemporary norm--to give me a real journey and introduce me to some fascinating characters. May have been a relatively minor scene, but, for me, the conversation with the skull was worth the price of admission. Beagle is a good writer.

[nigellicus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A more perfect, luminous book you could not hope to find or enjoy. A modern fairy tale that sprinkles its casual modernity with wit and restraint, yet which is so deeply and madly in love with fairy tales that it never thinks to undermine or mock them, but celebrates them with a language that combines beautiful, straightforward simplicity with heartfelt, lyrical imagery.

I first read this is my first year of secondary school, when the film came out, which I never saw, and the trailer was on the television, featuring a brief glimpse of a knight fighting a fire-breathing dragon. Now, I was well familiar with the idea of knights fighting fire-breathing dragons, but the fact was for whatever reason I rarely actually encountered them in books and films and stories, and so I was quite keen to see this film which had a knight fighting a fire-breathing dragon as what was surely a major and crucial part of the plot. As it happened, I never saw the film, but someone gave me a book. I read it, and it was great, but my enjoyment was tempered by the absence of a knight fighting fire-breathing dragons, which loomed large in my consciousness, but not on the page. Until near the end, when Prince Lir casually mentions his efforts to woo the transformed unicorn by killing up to five dragons. Just mentions it, and that's it.

It'd be wrong to say I felt cheated, but my enjoyment of the book was thwarted by my own erroneous expectations, as happens from time to time. I am delighted now to correct that experience, and discover that this books is simply incredible. You can tell people like Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, to name but two, almost certainly read and loved this book, and if you have any feeling for fantasy, or for fiction, or for good writing, you will too.

[yggie-606508 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sweet and whimsical, but also longwinded and trying to be poetic and deep. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

[ranjr-562000 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I liked the 1982 film better that is until the characters arrived at the castle. The castle bit of the story was better told in the book but the ending dragged on a little too long after the red bull was defeated and unicorns freed. The core plot of the book is identical to the film but definitely seems to take more time in getting to the climax. Other than that, I thought the book was okay, I was a little underwhelmed but not angry that I read it. Would I recommend this book? Probably not although if someone was a fan of the film I would highly suggest reading the book especially when it comes to the time spent in the castle. However, if you're in the mood for a long fairytale that has a bit more drama and heart than usual then this would probably be your cup-o'-tea.

[wanderlustlover_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I didn't intend to buy this, honestly, but when I was standing there at Dragon*Con, in my Ms. Scarlett costume, having waited in line to see Mr. Beagle and have him sign my Kindle (since I've already had him sign 2 dvds, 4 books and a several art prints in the last few years), I saw this, and that, as they say, was that.

This is a gorgeous rendition, and much larger than your average book/comic book. The pages are 3/4ths the size of the draft/finalized pages for comics so you get to see so much more of the intensely gorgeous art. There's a 30 page art gallery that's been added, and a lovely story about the dedication to the original The Last Unicorn book.

Definitely a wishlist and keeper for any Last Unicorn fan.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good fantasy.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fanciful, fun, and timeless; The Last Unicorn may be over five decades old but it is a classic fantasy novel that remains just as fresh as when it was first written in 1968. When a unicorn ventures out of her forest she realizes she can't remember the last time she saw another unicorn, where have they all gone? She goes on a quest to discover where they are and in the process teams up with a hapless magician and an earnest peasant woman who is just content to go along for the ride. The trio venture to King Haggard's kingdom where rumor has it that a red bull has trapped all the unicorns. Peter S. Beagle is a master wordsmith and the tale is beautifully written; poetic even. Orlagh Cassidy, masterfully narrates the story bringing warmth and expression that help readers lose themselves in the lush fantasy world. This audio edition also includes a new introduction by Patrick Rothfuss, a giant in the fantasy genre, who waxes poetic about "his favorite book ever." The Last Unicorn is perfect for readers who love The Princess Bride, Ella Enchanted, and other whimsical fantasy stories. Filled with heroes, noble quests, magical creatures, curses, and unforgettable characters – this classic is perfect for all ages.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The last unicorn on earth learns that she is such and decids to go searching for other unicorns to prove the statement wrong. She discovers that the key to their fate is with The Red Bull, who is the monstrous servant of King Haggard. So she sets out for Haggard's land, collecting to her in the process a not-very-skilled wizard and a member of a generic Robin Hood's not-so-merry men. They all make choices and sacrifices along the way, and although they all end up more or less with what they wanted in the end, it's not exactly the happy ending they were each hoping for.
All the required bits for a traditional fantasy story are here, and the story itself is frequently very self-aware of that fact. There's the story, and then there's the Story of the story, and I think I would have loved that if it had been handled a bit more subtly. Also, I didn't very much like any of the characters. I didn't outright *hate* them (although the unicorn was most irritating most of the time), but I didn't like them enough to root for them or much care what happened to them in the end. I was in it just to see how it ended, really, but with no emotional attachment to that ending.

[kevn57-163679 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This wasn't my cup of tea, parts of it I liked very much however and would have rated it at 2 and 1/2 stars if I could.

[completely_melanie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I watched the movie of this many times as a child, and I loved it so much and only recently learned that it was actually a book first, so my first instinct was to buy the book right away. All I can say is that they did an amazing job making that movie because it really stayed true to the book. I could see this movie playing out again in my head while reading this even though it has been many years since I watched the movie. I loved it and now want to go and rewatch the movie! It is about the last unicorn in all the world learning that she is the last and she sets out on a journey to find the others like her. On her way she makes unexpected friends and learns things that no other unicorn has ever or will ever learn. It is just such a great story!

[Juul · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was the first book I held in my hands many years ago, and the first time I read it, I couldn't appreciate it due to the great number of metaphors I couldn't understand. However, now that I've read it again, I realized that this prose is what makes it so special. A book full of fantasy and moments that make you reflect on life and its end.

I think what I liked the most were the characters; they undoubtedly fulfill their roles very well and bring so much life to the book, especially those who accompany the protagonist. They have their own charisma and are even more likable than the protagonist herself (but that’s understandable because the problems that trouble the unicorn are something a human cannot fully sympathize with).

It's a good book for entertainment; every time I finished a chapter, I couldn't stop and had to read the next one. (Translated from Spanish)

[schneider_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Strange, bewildering, confusing, clear, concise, poignant, perfect. A unusual description for an unusual book. At times I liked it, at times I did not, in the end, I loved it. Thus it must be with unicorns...great read and highly recommended!

[sara_cat-107388 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is rare for me to like a book and it’s movie adaptation equally, but this is one of those cases; but it may be because the movie is part of my childhood. It was delightful to find that the movie took some direct quotes from the book.

The book was in part a typical fairytale, and in part a play on fairytales. At times unicorns were reality and people were not. The play on what we know and what we think we know felt like a constant theme throughout the story.

I think the greatest magicians make you wonder, not looking for ‘the trick,’ and similarly, I think some of the greatest stories don’t make you wonder, but believe. When spring comes, may you wonder the existence of unicorns.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fantasy tale written by American Author Peter S. Beagle. It is obvious when reading this book that he is a story teller. This story of the last unicorn who is at perfect peace in her woods, but overhears a conversation about no more unicorns. She is haunted by this and is impelled to leave on a quest to seek out her people. On the way, she is joined by a poor excuse for a magician and a woman from a Robin Hood like gang. They seek the Red Bull who is the one who may have gathered up the unicorns. This quest brings them into a wreck of a castle occupied by an old recluse king, his old guards and his adoptive son. It is a twist on the prince who saves the princess story along with the legend of the unicorn. The unicorn is the protagonist in this story. I can see some influence of this book on other stories and perhaps other stories influenced this story.

[jamestomasino · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took too long to finally get around to this book. What fantastic language and imagery. I smiled at so many points!

[EstellaBelleBuil · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was very eager to read this book in this edition, and I found it secondhand. Now it is displayed on my shelf like a jewel among my fantasy books. I watched the animated movie countless times as a child and even as not-so-young; I simply love it. I have been able to verify that the book is quite faithful to the film (in which the author also worked on the script). But in my humble opinion, the movie enhances the beauty of the story, making it more rounded and brilliant. The work tells us about the adventures of a unicorn who will try to find out where her missing companions are, leaving her safe home. Along the way, she will make unique friends who will accompany her, forming strong bonds among them. All the characters will undergo profound changes in their lives and learning, even the beautiful and immortal unicorn. This edition includes the story "Two Hearts," which is a brief continuation written decades later by Peter S. Beagle. ✨ ?✨ (Translated from Spanish)

[fred_mouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This has taken me literally years to finish -- I had in fact listed it as abandoned unfinished as I couldn't motivate myself to pick it up again. This time, I started from the beginning again, and I very much enjoyed it, although I still wouldn't say I loved it. I think the time to have read it was about 30 years ago, when this kind of fantasy had its greatest appeal for me.

[linyarai · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't really remember the movie and had somehow never read this book before, but I really enjoyed it. It was a great original fantasy adventure.

[shahnareads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another book made into a movie I love.
I love unicorns.

[malexmave · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book with the Fantasy Book Club.

I had head a lot of good things about this book. It was said that it had a lyrical writing, that it was beautiful, that it had broken more than one heart.

I can see why people would say that about the book. I am sure that for some, the writing must be beautiful, lyrical, emotionally gripping. I can understand these people. I just can't share their enthusiasm. I was reading the book, seeing all the parts that other people described as lyrical, but I just could not appreciate them. I have actually spent some time thinking about why I absolutely adore the lyrical writing of Patrick Rothfuss (Yes, I will drop this name in just about every review, deal with it), but the writing of Beagle did not move me one bit for the largest part of the book. And I think I have figured it out.

To illustrate, let me just grab a sentence or two from both "The last Unicorn" and "The name of the wind".

This is the first sentence of "The last Unicorn":

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.

And now, the first few sentences from "the name of the wind":

It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.
The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking. If there had been a wind it would have sighed through the trees, set the inn's sign creaking on its hooks, and brushed the silence down the road like trailing autumn leaves. [...] If there had been music... but no, of course there was no music. In fact, there were none of these things, and so the silence remained.

(Damn, it's hard to quote Rothfuss properly without destroying the experience for someone who is reading the book the first time).

If you want to see my point illustrated a bit better, check out the amazon preview of the book. The Prologue is in there, and if you liked the prologue, you will love the book.

Warning: The following sentences may sound like nitpicking.

So, as you may have noticed, both Beagle and Rothfuss are writing very lyrical, but where Beagle is jumping from one setting for a description to the next - "no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night" (He changed from the sea to a moonlit night mid-sentence) -, Rothfuss sticks to his settings, at least until the Sentence is over. It's hard to explain this properly without giving quotes from all over the books, but firstly, I don't want to give spoilers, secondly, this review is about "the last Unicorn", not "the name of the wind", and thirdly I have stuff to do today, and you probably don't want to read an epic review of 20 000 characters.

So, why didn't I enjoy the book as much as I was supposed to? As always, it comes down to personal taste. Maybe I found my personal way of lyrical writing in Rothfuss. Maybe the descriptions were sometimes too far-fetched. Maybe I just could not identify with a unicorn, or could not accept that it could see the thoughts and dreams of others. Maybe I was not in the right mood to appreciate the book. I am not too blind to see that this book has the potential to blow people away with its writing, and in fact I encourage everyone who found the quote from the book beautiful to give it a read. It's not bad, it's just not my personal style. And it get's better in the end. And if you don't like it, it's not too big to finish anyway, and not too expensive to stop reading mid-book.

Like this review? There's more at (Accipe) vel commuta

[dominiquemarie-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my goodness! This is now one of my favorite books! I've been meaning to read it for a while, but I wasn't sure if I would like it. This is one of the rare cases in which I watched the movie before reading the book. I know the movie has a cult following, but I did not like it. The book, on the other hand, is fantastic! The plot of the movie follows the book pretty closely, but the book has so much thematic complexity that is lost in the movie. This is a book that I will definitely read again. I laughed, I cried, and I didn't want it to end.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It’s much more dreamlike than I was expecting, in a similar vein to Patricia A. McKillip’s fantasy. I was emotionally invested only in flickers and bursts, but I appreciated the way it plays with, and comments on, fairytales.

”I am a hero. It is a trade, no more, like weaving or brewing, and like them it has its own tricks and knacks and small arts. There are ways of perceiving witches, and knowing of poison streams; there are certain weak spots that all dragons tend to have, and certain riddles that hooded strangers tend to set you. But the true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch's door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.”

[Hannaly Higuera · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A sea of emotions is present in this story, with a protagonist who is very wise but at the same time has a touch of childish innocence, like vanity; the rest of the characters are authentic, and each description by the narrator about them makes you love each one with varying intensity. Each of the characters fills the puzzle of this story, even the most tertiary has a reason for being in the work that undoubtedly makes it exceptional for the philosophy of this story. (Translated from Spanish)

[grouchygrammarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gorgeous. I love succinct prose - and to do it so gorgeously? Magnificent.

[encephalical · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The path from nihilism to existentialism is paved with unicorn tears... or something.

[befuddledpanda · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a lovely fairy tale. I really enjoyed this one.

[writertomg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! An amazing read. The words and the language that Beagle uses just comes to life and paints pictures on the page. Other than the Red Bull and Momma Fortuna's death early on, this is a great book for both children and adults.

I saw the Rankin/Bass cartoon ages ago. And while my sister's watched it endlessly, I don't remember too much about it. I do know that Peter Beagle wrote the screenplay for it and I do remember it being mostly faithful to the book, except (and this caught me by surprise) Schmendrick the Magician seems much more like a jerk in the book, instead of an aloof, clumsy magician.

A must-read for everyone.

[seliz-879521 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love Peter S. Beagle's descriptions and quality of writing. This is a book that I could probably read again and again and enjoy it every time.

[bness2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Better than I remember it from years ago. There are little spots of humor all over and it is more of a satire that I missed when I was a kid.