The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
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Book Reviews of The Last Unicorn
Book Review: The quest of the unicorn
Summary: 5 Stars
Peter Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" is one of the ultimate modern fairy tales -- the magical, bittersweet story of a little unicorn's search for others of her kind. Beagle spun a story of amazing simplicity and beauty, and it's only enhanced by the exquisitely lovely prose and the bittersweetness of the romance. What other unicorn story can evoke tat?
A unicorn has lived happily in her idyllic little forest, until the day she hears a man say that "unicorns are long gone. If indeed they ever were." To find if she is indeed the last unicorn, she sets out on a journey across the land, and soon discovers that the people have forgotten what a unicorn even looks like.
But she hears a butterfly speak of the Red Bull, and how he has captured all the unicorns of the world except her. So she sets out to find the others like her.
Along her journey, she is captured by a traveling circus, and rescued by a bumbling young wizard with illusion powers. Along with the wizard and a bandit's girlfriend, she makes her way to the malignant castle of King Haggard -- and is transformed into a mortal girl, who experiences love, uncertainty, and finally sorrow.
"The Last Unicorn" is honestly one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time, especially since Peter Beagle managed to write such a simple, haunting little fairy tale. There's romance, tragedy, fantastical creatures, and a mythical creature setting out on a seemingly hopeless quest -- and it's all so beautifully simple and powerfully real.
And Beagle's prose only enhances the beauty of his story -- he fills it with luminous imagery ("Your eyes are full of green leaves, crowded with trees and streams and small animals"), haunting scenes and a plot both simple and entrancing. And there are many bittersweet moments, such as a woman lamenting that a unicorn has only come to her when she's no longer a bright, innocent young girl.
The unicorn/Amalthea herself is a pretty unique character. She's incredibly ancient and wise, but she's also somewhat arrogant and very naive about the evils of the world -- and about human emotions. Schmendrick and Molly make solid supporting characters who help the Unicorn along her journey, particularly during her time as a human girl.
"The Last Unicorn" is a beautiful, bittersweet little tale spun out of magical prose and powerful characters. A lovely, entrancing story.
Book Review: A Beautiful, Moving Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a junior in high school, and while I have been avidly reading all sorts of fantasy novels for years, I have never read a more deeply moving, wonderful book than this one. I first read this novel because I enjoyed the movie so much as a child. Before I began reading, I thought it would be exactly like the movie, beautiful but simple and lighthearted. However, once I started reading, I soon realized that the book is much, much more. Now, I have nothing against simple, straightforward writing, but the symbiosis between humor and poignancy is what really makes this book so priceless. It is such a deep, multi-level novel. One moment the slightly wacky unconventionalism of parts of the story have me laughing out loud, but in the next moment, I read a line of beautiful, deeply-moving prose so wonderful that it makes me cry. Call me weird, but diction stirring enough to make me cry is one of the most gorgeous things on earth. Though a theme is never expressly stated (and the novel is the richer for it), the entire story is deeply thematic. In his mesmerising, poetic style, Beagle expresses the timeless themes of love and sacrifice, and the loss of innocence in order to save the world. The characters are heroes in the truest sense of the word, though unconventional and with a fair share of faults. In the face of sadness and fear, they all struggle to save the world from corruption. However, after they have succeeded, they realize they have grown too much and lived through too much to ever completely fit into their world again. However, they realize the worth of what they have accomplished, and have hope for the furure. The novel doesn't end exactly happily, but it ends with such a feeling of beautiful poignancy, it's better than any completely happy ending ever could be. I am not nearly doing this wonderful book justice. Now that I have actually tried to express my feelings, I realize I don't have the ability to put them into words. Any book that contains lines so stirring and beautiful that they echo in my soul for weeks afterward is well worth your time to read. It is not a child's tale (though it is by NO MEANS "dirty"), for it takes an emotionally mature person to fully experience the many layers of meaning in this work. But if you like novels that cut you to the soul so deeply the impression never fades, read this book. It's an experience you'll never forget.Book Review: Another impatient reader -
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, for heaven's sake. "Not as good as the movie?" I want to hit my head against the wall. Almost as brain-numbing as the same phrase applied to The Princess Bride. If I weren't so dang verbal, I'd be speechless. I will admit I have not been as engaged with Beagle's other stories. But this book is one of a very few I've come across in my long history of reading-odd, moving, entertaining on the surface, but provoking in the most philosophical sense-lyrical, controlled, well-played, witty and haunting. You don't get to write this kind of book often in your life. In the play of the language there are shadings and suggestions of truth that could NEVER come out in a visual presentation of the "story." When you strip the plot of its verbal constructs, you lose the essential joy, the possibility of discovery, the amazing chance to see a little more deeply into what your life may mean.
This story is romantic. But in the most classic sense. The unicorn's journey is away from a world that has grown too sure of its own reality, fascinated with the work of its own hands-blind, limited, short teathered and terrified of losing what it thinks it owns. Beagle is right about us. You could think he is talking about something as simple as growing up; certainly, growing up has hobbled my senses. But stopping at that would be stopping short.
The sacrifice offered is archetypal, and I believe that is the source of the story's depth. For this book is more parable than fable, and magic in a true way.
And there is this: why would the unicorn have made the journey, unless it was hope driving her? And that, I think, is what I was left with when I finally finished the book. I could feel hope. And I could feel wonder. This alone is worth the price of admission.
But I make the book sound too serious and heavy. The language flows beautifully. The book is a joy to read. Best to read it in springtime, though. About the time the lilacs blow -
I've never met Mr. Beagle and probably never will. But there is something about the writing in this book that makes me curious about what kind of person could have done it. And that, I must say, is part of the pleasure-
Book Review: A story of wit and charm, immeasurable beauty and emotion.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Last Unicorn is one of most astounding books I have ever read. Not only because of the story, which is a fairytale in every sense of the word, but also because of Beagle's flawless writing, which weaves a spell of words and images that I find myself willingly ensnared in every time I open its pages. I find myself lingering over each sentence, each word, and I am astounded by the care with which he tells this tale.Once upon a time, there was a unicorn. A beautiful unicorn... who was all alone. She sets out on a journey to seek others of her kind and is joined on her travels by a bumbling magician and an old spinster, neither of who are what they first appear to be. Encountering magical monsters, outlaws and suspicious townspeople, the three travelers find themselves at the gate of a forbidding castle wherein lives a cruel king and a gentle prince. It is in the walls of this castle that the truth lies. But can they accept what the truth will bring?
Beagle tells an amazing tale, of love and loss, of heartache and hope. Each of the characters in his work has such life and depth, and I see myself in each and every one of them. From an inept magician who desperately seeks to be more than what he is to the outlaws who cry out with loss of that which they have never known, there is so much life in these few short pages that I find myself reading and rereading each page, afraid lest I miss something. When Schmendrick cries, "I'll make you into a bad poet with dreams!" I want to laugh, but at the same time I want to cry with pity, with unexplainable sorrow for something I can't quite understand and am not sure I want to.
The Last Unicorn is about more than just a quest for unicorns. It is also a story about the things that we love and what we will do - or not do - for that love. It is about what really defines a hero, and what constitutes a happy ending. But most of all, it is about magic. Joy. Sadness. Beauty. It is about all the things we are and all the things we long to be. It is a breathtakingly beautiful story by a wonderful writer, and I recommend it as one of the best books I have ever read.
Book Review: How to catch a falling star ...
Summary: 5 Stars
"The unicorn lived in a lilac wood and she lived all alone ..." So starts this enchanting tale, a line like poetry. The book and the film have sort of the same feel about it; only in the book, the mood is broken sometimes with a quirky jar of humour - like, did you know that the romantic Byronic figure of Prince Lear in the beautifully illustrated film used to be fat? Yes, I didn't really want to know that, or that he lost weight slaying dragons!Great imaginative ensemble of characters - people who role-play might recognise a touch of it in that aspect. The characters though are possibly embodiments of philosophical points of view. Some speculation on my part: Is the butterfly a satire of the educated man? "Butterflies only know songs and poetry and anything else they hear ..." He knows much, but cannot answer the Unicorn's question. And what of Schmenderick, the misfit magician? His unspoken wish which the unicorn cannot fulfil "I cannot make you a true magician" reminds us that there is no unicorn or magic strong enough to make us into what we are not - only we can fulfil our own dreams. And who hasn't been side tracked from a dream, eliciting the unicorn's scorn "He is no magician now, but the King's court clown." Then there is the greedy witch's "Illusions, deceptions, mirages. Your Mommy Fortuna cannot truly change things." And what of King Haggard who only gets happiness by keeping happiness from the world. What is Beagle thinking about our society? Or how about the burly robber baron with his band of merry men, who declares, "Robin Hood is a myth. We are the reality." This, from a story book character! And of course the big question is "What is the Red Bull?" - everyone has a personal Red Bull, even a Unicorn. And what of love and immortality; why "I will not love you when I am a unicorn."
It seems simplistic when it is written out like that, but those themes and so many others are so intricately woven into the story, to engage us in our own wonderings. Like all best stories it is part myth and fantastic narrative.