The Last Unicorn

Fantasy · Fable

First published: 1900
Print length: 212 pagesPenguin Books, 1991

Description

A unicorn leaves the safety of her forest after hearing that she may be the last of her kind. Humans can no longer recognize what she is, yet rumors point toward the Red Bull, a terrifying creature said to have driven the other unicorns away. Her search leads through a fraudulent traveling carnival, where the inept but perceptive magician Schmendrick recognizes and frees her. Joined by Molly Grue, they travel toward the desolate castle of King Haggard. When the Red Bull threatens them, Schmendrick transforms the unicorn into the human Lady Amalthea, forcing her to continue the quest in an unfamiliar body. Beagle blends fairy-tale adventure, melancholy, and wit in a story about wonder, mortality, and what can be lost through becoming human.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Lyrical · Poetic · Witty

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Atmospheric · Humorous · Melancholic · Wistful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Atmosphere · Character · Plot

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

FreedomIdentityIsolationLoveMortalityTransformation

About Peter S. Beagle

Peter S. Beagle is an American novelist and screenwriter whose career in fantasy has spanned more than six decades and includes novels, short fiction, memoir, and screen adaptation. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, at nineteen. Set among the living and the dead in a cemetery, the book combines supernatural circumstances with comedy and an interest in loneliness, love, memory, and mortality. His best-known novel, The Last Unicorn, draws on the figures and structure of fable while giving its enchanted quest lyrical description and an emphasis on feeling and perception. Beagle also adapted The Last Unicorn for the 1982 animated film, writing the screenplay himself. In 2005 he returned to its world with the novelette “Two Hearts,” extending a body of work that has moved between long and short fiction and the screen.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ISBN: 9780451450524

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