Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Point Taken

Customer Rating:

Peter Beagle's THE LAST UNICORN is always a discovery for me, however often I encounter it. Only with reluctance would I name the book one of my favourites, for it employs throughout devices I routinely find annoying in modern fantasy writing. Chief among these is an awareness on the part of the characters that they ARE in a kind of faerie tale and, as such, have generally defined roles they are expected to play. I prefer to lose myself in a story rather than be reminded continually that it IS a story. The 1982 animated film adaptation, though following the plot and dialogue of the book with unusual faithfulness, had problems of its own. Too often it tended toward the melodramatic, and some of the line-delivery could only be described as 'shrill'. Yet it was the animated version I discovered first and, whatever the imperfections, I have re-watched it many times over the years. Clearly, something in it touched me as few films ever do. And I must concede that Beagle's novel is even more affecting. Set in a world of vaguely mediaeval elements laced with what has been called 'intentional anachronism' and populated with towns and kingdoms that never were, this is the story of a solitary unicorn who learns that all others of her kind have disappeared from the world. She therefore leaves the security of her enchanted forest in order to discover what became of them. Not unexpectedly, on this quest she encounters various individuals whose destinies will be realized by how they help or hinder her. Yet there is more melancholy than magic in this, for few are pleased with what they gain. A bitter old man is what he is precisely because he has spent his life in a relentless and uncompromising search FOR lasting happiness. A younger man becomes a hero to win the woman he loves, but instead he gains a kingdom for which he had no desire. And then there is Molly, who chased a dream in her youth, only to wind up in used and disillusioned drudgery. The most heart-breaking moment of the entire work may be when she first sees the unicorn and cries out, 'Where have you been? ... What good is it to me that you're here now? Where were you twenty years ago, ten years ago? ... How dare you come to me now, when I am this?' There is humour in the tale as well, albeit most often wry, sardonic, or simply playful. And there is a happy ending overall, if somewhat ambivalent for the individuals themselves. Ultimately, however, UNICORN evades the foreshadowed cynicism and achieves poignance. For me, what makes it work most is the unique 'poetry' of its prose. Beagle's metaphors and similes are particularly compelling, fashioned on unexpected images that really do work. 'One owl-less autumn evening, they ... saw the castle ... thin and twisted, bristling with thorny turrets, dark and jagged as a giant's grin.' A vast monster 'was the color of blood, not the springing blood of the heart but the blood that stirs under an old wound that never really healed.' A young girl's 'skin was the color of snow by moonlight.' Later she 'fell as irrevocably as a flower breaks ....' 'Things happened both swiftly and slowly as they do in dreams, where it is really the same thing.' The genius of such descriptions is that they often evoke a sense, rather than an image. We may not actually KNOW what colour is blood under an old wound, but we FEEL its darkness and grim persistence. THE LAST UNICORN is a story of the bittersweet, of melancholy joy, of wonder mingled with resignation, of oppressive gloom and extraordinary beauty, of wit and of wisdom and of poetry. It does not LOOK like 'great literature', but it teaches throughout that appearances are deceiving -- and goes on to prove the point.

A unique and magical fairy tale

Customer Rating:

I picked up this book after reading the Nebula award-winning novelette "Two Hearts," which is really a sequel to The Last Unicorn. Had I not read "Two Hearts," I would have passed on this book, based on the title alone. Unicorns - along with rainbows and ponies - are for little girls. Right? If not for "Two Hearts," I would have never purchased The Last Unicorn, and I would have missed out on one of the most enchanting and beautifully written books I have ever read. With a little over two hundred pages, this book is not long, but it's not a children's book - not really - and it's not an especially easy read. The writing is thick with metaphor and simile. Where another book might present you with an original figure of speech here or a new turn of phrase there, and you might smile at the cleverness, The Last Unicorn turns up ten on every page. This book will sparkle in your mind long after you set it down. The story is a fairy tale. Not a retelling, not a twist on a story we all know, but a unique and original story. The world and the characters are wonderfully drawn, their dilemmas are real, and the story is by turns both humorous and profound. This book as achieved the status of a fantasy classic, and very deservedly so. If you count yourself a fan of the fantasy genre, and haven't read this book, then you should.

great movie and book	Customer Rating:
this is a really good book but the movie was really good as well and faithfull to the book.

A must for any children's collection!

Customer Rating:

Recently, I had the great fortune to meet the author. HE is wonderful!!!! He signed our books for the many children we love and his reading of this was a thrill. Beagle is a story teller of the best kind and he continues to write wonderful stories for children of all ages ( including grandparents). The video is also a must. Yes, it is different but it is a classic for my children and their little ones!

The Everlasting Love of the Last Unicorn

Customer Rating:

I loved the movie of this novel when I was a child, and in fact I didn't know that the film was based on a book until I was an adult. When I stumbled on Peter S. Beagle's classic in my local library between college and becoming a mother, I read it with a mix of anticipation and trepadation. I was not disappointed. This *is* a classic fantasy novel, and a classic story, woven by a masterful bard of the genre and the English language. This tale focuses on one of the most magical and mysterious of all the myraid of mythological creatures, the unicorn. This particular one believes she is "the last," because there are no others of her kind around at the start of the book. Shortly she is spurred into a perilous quest for the rest of the unicorns, and thus ensues the amazing adventures she has. The humans she encounters are good or evil, or some of both, and have their own flaws and hopes and choices, and help the unicorn to see their world from their views. She is a perfect being, immortal and sees things only from one point of view, and the emotional journey she embarks on later in the novel (not saying in what form, saving spoilers) is truly incredible, heartwrenching and heartwarming. Unwittingly, since as a child I didn't know the film was adapted from a book, I've been tremendously influenced by Mr. Beagle's enduring novel. In my own writing (which, more often than not, has been in the fantasy genre), I've explored so many of the themes he touches on in "The Last Unicorn" -- loss, love, regret, destiny, good versus evil, and what the consequences may be for humans getting mixed up in magic. One thing I don't ever expect to be able to emulate -- Beagle's easy ability to write prose as flowing poetry. This is a fabulous tale for children and adults alike. It makes one believe in magic and miracles, and, of course, unicorns.