Customer Reviews

The Romance of the Unicorn

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Romance of the Unicorn is a marvelous ride on a flying carpet through a magical world of wise women, gallant men, and magical creatures. It carried me away from my humdrum world with its suspenseful quest and gentle humor. I loved the strength of the women in this world and the balanced relationships between the genders. It is a fairy tale for our time.

Cynthia Joyce Clay's The Romance of the Unicorn is a wonderful fantasy. When Elayne's cat is turned into a troll, she buys it clothes and tries to get a diaper on it. This was very funny. When Elayne is shown suffering, she instantly agrees to help. Elayne is not given to falling into emotional fits. She reacts practically to extreme situations--a funny switch on the New Age ditz characters. I also enjoyed Clay's sense of what technologies could have been developed in other histories. For instance, a toilet is very simple; there is no reason an iron age culture could not have invented them and used them like we do. After all, the ancient Greeks had "vomitoriums" .
Further, many fantasy stories do not mention beliefs of the afterlife,, Clay does this well. The characters believe in reincarnation, this belief is acted upon for problem solving in the story. Finally the story is romantic. Although Elayne was dumped by her boyfriend. Yet, a villain in the magical world echoes him, giving Elayne reason to get over him. Riding a unicorn, the hero rescues Elayne, starting a love affair. This is a very funny, intriguing, at times sad, and exciting story.