Customer Reviews

Black Unicorn (Dragonflight Books)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first read this book in junior high, and now I'm a freshman in college and I'm still re-reading it. This was the first Tanith Lee book I ever read, and it's probably the best one I've ever read (no easy feat).

The Black Unicorn is the subtle, humorous story of Tanaquil, the bored, cranky daughter of a powerful sorceress. She lives in her mother's fortress in the middle of a desert where no one ever comes, and is terribly, terribly tired of being there. One day Tanaquil "accidently" brings a unicorn to life, and Tanaquil finds herself on quite an adventure, together with a talking peeve whom she met in the fortress along for the ride.

Tanaquil is a wonderful character, one of my favorites of all time. She is smart, subtle, creative, strong, and realistic. Her little "sidekick", the desert peeve, is just as wonderful, and the book wouldn't be the same without it. The book is filled with all kinds of people and creatures and places and things, all of which are amusing and fully fleshed-out. Tanith Lee writes this story beautifully, with rich images, a sense of humor, and a real knack for the fantastic and the oddly magical mundane.

I'm really sorry to hear that this book is unavailable. If you like fantasies or fairy-tales, you should definitely try to find this book and its two sequels in a good library.

Tanaquil, the 15-year-old protagonist in "Black Unicorn," lives in a desert fortress with her inept sorceress mother, Jaive. Here Tanaquil collects fossils that she finds in the sand. Then one day she discovers the skeleton of a unicorn, and by putting the pieces together, the unicorn somehow comes back to life, leading her and her pet peeve (yes, it's actually called a peeve--a small, catlike creature that's somewhat akin to the beasts in "Biting the Sun") on one adventure after another, ultimately reuniting her with her unknown father and sister in a faraway city.

The title is somewhat misleading, in that "Black Unicorn" isn't predominantly about unicorns, but more of a young woman's quest. I really loved Tanaquil's little "sidekick," the peeve, who creates a lighthearted touch to the story, almost stealing every scene with its high-strung antics and broken English. This is an appropriate book for all ages, though ideal for young girls interested in fantasies/adventures. Plus it's short (188 pages) and easy to read. If you liked this one, then you'll probably like the following two in this series: "Gold Unicorn" and "Red Unicorn."

If one thing can be said of Tanith Lee, it's that she's versatile! From tales of darkness and vampires, to the most beautiful fantasies, she writes with flair. In the BLACK UNICORN, she focuses on Tanaquil, Daughter of a mighty sorceress. With no apparent magic of her own, the monotony of Tanaquil's life is only relieved by her interest and talent for mending things. Until, one day she finds mysterious fragments of beautiful bone in the desert, and puts them together to form a Unicorn, and her life changes forever.

This book probably contains one of the most delightful and enchanting charecters ever. The Peeve. A furry sand creature with the ability to talk in the vocabulary of a 2-year child, it's antics fill the book with gentle humour. A wonderful book, to be read again and again.

I first read this book when I was in third grade, having found it in my elementary school's library. Now, ten years later, I am enrolled in the local University's English Education program and I still love it dearly.

The primary complaint that I seem to be seeing from many reviewers on this book is that the plot seems flat, and conflicts are resolved too quickly to really put the reader on the edge of his or her seat. However, consider that this is a book written for young readers, new to the world of the novel, whose sense of plot drive and character development are not yet as keen as seasoned readers'. This does not detract from Black Unicorn's excellence, by any means, in my opinion. However, I think that sometimes people pick up a book written for young readers and expect it to be just like Harry Potter, whose author has dedicated her professional life to developing plots, characters, subplots, secondary characters, guidelines for magic, and all other sorts of background material for her books. This dedication is admirable, to be certain, but not every author is afforded this kind of luxury when writing. As to the comparative shortness of this novel, consider, again, that it was written for young readers who may not know how to "stick it out" for a five hundred-page book.

The plot of Black Unicorn is somewhat removed from what one might come to expect from the traditional story about a girl and a unicorn--there are no enchanted forests, or knights in shining armor; only a lonely girl, her pet peeve (literally, a little cat-like creature called a peeve), and a unicorn whose coat is not white as the pure-driven snow, but black as midnight instead. It was refreshing, in a way, to read something that took a traditional legend out of context and used it to tell a different story in a completely different setting.

I highly recommend this book for anyone, but especially for young girls who love unicorns. I know that I can blame the inspiration for many of my own early forays into the world of fantasy writing on this book, as it is so good at cultivating the imagination and creativity of the reader.

Black Unicorn is about Tanaquil who lives in her mother's desert fortress. Tanaquil is great at mending things and feels trapped in her mother's magical fortress. She yearns to leave and see the world, and is given that oppurtunity when she mends unicorn bones. The unicorn comes to life and Tanaquil finds herself on a journey.

Although it kept my attention for the most part, I didn't feel as though I really cared about the fate of any characters. The story felt as though it had very little depth. Every problem was resolved so quickly that you never had time to really care or understand what the stakes were. I really thought that it would have been more interesting based on the plot, but the brevity of the story took much of the fun out of it for me.

This book was MARVALOUS! Although there was one fault, it was that the introduction on the front flap gave the ending away; soo, DON'T READ THE FRONT FLAP IF YOU LIKE SUSPENCE! Once again I must say this was a MARVALOUS, EXELLENT, EXTRAORDINARY, GRAND, GREAT book!

I love reading fantasy books especially Unicorns. I have read all three the;Black, Red and Gold Unicorns. They are so cool! I am thirteen and if you need the perfect gift for an eigth grader here is the "Book". I think that this is the bomb. It is very intriguing, suspenseful, and it really keeps you hanging on to the edge of your seat 'till the very end!

This is a really terrific book--beautifully written, with a great plot and characters. It's a kind of bohemian science fiction. You can read this a million times without getting tired of it (I know).

This is my alltime favorite book! It starts out kind of slow in the beginning but once you get into it the story is amazing. If you love unicorns and a good fantasy book read this one, you wont regret it.

This book was pure genius from beginning to end,it started good it ended good.I never lost interest in the story once.This is deffinetly one of my favorites and I doubt that any other will ever replace this one.I believe that the characters are very realistic in a sense and that the leading lady ,Tanaquil is a great role model for young ladies.Although it's not on sale now I recommend looking in your library so can read this wonderful book.