The Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle

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Book Reviews of The Last Unicorn

Book Review: Post-Modern Fantasy of the Highest Order
Summary: 5 Stars

To a large extent, Peter Beagle's book is considered an interesting work of fantasy because it was one of the first post-modern science fiction novels. The most salient feature of post-modern science fiction is a rebellion against the classical fantasy/science fiction novel that creates a world that is completely separate from our own. In this traditional science fiction/fantasy world the characters say and do things that are completely in line with the small universe the author has created in his novel. The author strives to draw the reader completely into the story. Beagle rebels against this by creating a novel that constantly pulls the reader out of the novel, back in to the real world, only to slide back into the plot. The Last Unicorn is the novel written in this post-modern style, of which many examples can be found.

Beagle does not immediately strike you with his departure from traditional fantasy. The unicorn lives in a lilac wood all by herself, in what is seemingly a medieval world. There are kings and wizards and peasants. But just when the reader is being drawn into this "other" world, Beagle introduces a character to disrupt it in the form of a talking butterfly. The thing that pulls the reader out of Beagle's world, back into his own, is not the butterfly's ability to talk (that, after all, is not too bizarre in a fantasy novel), but what he has to say. Among the many things that do not belong in a traditional fantasy novel, but work well in a post-modern one, are the butterflies references to Shakespeare "you're a fishmonger," children's singalongs "you are my sunshine," and songs from America's pop culture "Won't you come home, Bill Bailey, won't you come home."

Now, a veteran of fantasy could probably come up with a list of science fiction cliches that could explain this odd knowledge. Perhaps the butterfly learned these phrases by falling into a wormhole and spending time in our world. Maybe the butterfly is in fact a traveler from our world, secretly disguised. Or, perhaps this is really some bizarre post-apocalyptic world where after many millions of years and genetic mutation, the new inhabitants of our planet are uncovering our twentieth-century pop culture. But this, like other details in Beagle's novel that clearly do not fit in with the rest of the story, and are not easily explained away.

Evidence of Beagle's unorthodox style can be seen later when Schmendrick and Molly are taken captive by Captain Cully. Schmendrick tries to flatter the outlaw by pretending that he has heard of many of the outlaw's exploits. As Cully begins to fall for this, he becomes much more friendly with Schmendrick, offering the wizard a place by his fire, an invitation to talk of what people supposedly say about Cully in other countries, and a unique twist, a taco. An odd foodstuff for outlaws seemingly modeled after Robin Hood! Later, Schmendrick spends a good part of the night making up stories about the glories of Captain Cully. The reader learns later on that most of tales came from his "good grounding in Anglo-Saxon folklore."

Beagle uses many other small descriptions to rip the reader out of his fantasy world. At one point a prince is described "reading a magazine." At another point, Prince Lir is described as having armor that is partially made of bottlecaps.

A more subtle example of post-modern fantasy is the birth of Prince Lir. The Prince was found on butcher's block, warm despite the fact that it was snowing, surrounded by stray cats. As Drinn, the villager that found him said "it purred prophecy." But it is at this point that Beagle breaks the spell. If this were a traditional fantasy, Drill would have become the foster parent for the boy and raised him. But this is not traditional fantasy. Drill instead scares away the cats and leaves the baby to what he expects will be death; he fears that the child that seems to have an aura of destiny around him might grow to be the one that brings down the prophecy of doom that had been cursed upon his town by a witch.

These are just a few of the many examples that make The Last Unicorn a very different, but very beautiful, kind of fantasy. The post-modern style of fantasy, or the fantastic, has had a hard time being accepted by many hard core fantasy fans. Many critics do not like novels that try to constantly toss the reader back and forth between the world of fantasy in the book, and the real world we inhabit day-to-day. These people find it very hard to take the story seriously. Others, however, are able to enjoy the beauty of a book such as this. They see The Last Unicorn and books like it as a fantasy novel that does not take itself too seriously, and can use references from real life as a form of humor and another form of expression in the novel. Imagination isn't a bad thing to have, after all, especially in a fantasy world.

The Last Unicorn is a beautiful book, one that is filled with holes and spaces that draw you into its beauty and let you become a part of its creation.

Summary of The Last Unicorn

The fantasy classic, now in beautiful new deluxe trade paperback edition.

From 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..."

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.

The unicorn discovers that she is the last unicorn in the world, and sets off to find the others. She meets Schmendrick the Magician--whose magic seldom works, and never as he intended--when he rescues her from Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival, where only some of the mythical beasts displayed are illusions. They are joined by Molly Grue, who believes in legends despite her experiences with a Robin Hood wannabe and his unmerry men. Ahead wait King Haggard and his Red Bull, who banished unicorns from the land.

This is a book no fantasy reader should miss; Beagle argues brilliantly the need for magic in our lives and the folly of forgetting to dream. --Nona Vero

Classics Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• World Literature > Mythology
• Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy