Black unicorn (1991)

I liked the main character and her peeve well enough, and the story went by quickky. I didn't always have an easy time following Lee's writing, and I'm still not sure about the world weeks later. I liked the interesting takes on magic and the unicorn, though. It was a fun read. ( )

This was a quick read, without the usual fantastic details that Tanith's books usually contain, but I liked it all the same. There were fantastic elements, but focus was mainly on the journey of Tanaquil, the teenage daughter of a sorceress. She's bored in her mother's palace, ignored, friendless, and a dissapointment to her mother because she's not a sorceress. She does have the power to mend things, however, and when she puts together the beautiful bones of a unicorn, it comes to life and leads her from her mother's palace. From there she journeys to a new city with her pet peeve (a talking pet squirrel-cat-thing).
I felt there could have been more character development, but given the lenght of the story (only about 130 pages), I was happy. The plot was good and the pace moved along nicely. I have the other two books in the series, and will be reading those soon. ( )

(Amy) I've owned this book for years and never got around to reading it - it's a very common story around here, I'm afraid. But I did finally remember it, and lo, it has been read and thoroughly enjoyed.

It's a tidy little fantasy with a peculiarly classic feel for something less than two decades old. The book tells the story of Tanaquil (yikes, what a name), the daughter of a powerful sorceress (about as well-rounded a character as the average shadow puppet, by the way). Tanaquil hates it at her mother's home, and when circumstances take her away, she's not sorry to bid it farewell. The eponymous unicorn is a somewhat menacing character, seen mostly in glimpses. As for the protagonist, she's likeable enough but, despite having actual motivations and even a smidgen of character growth, does not seem particularly real. Oddly enough, the most compelling character in the whole thing is a Gurgi-like animal, a desert critter known as a peeve, whose species has some time back been infected with the ambient magic of the sorceress' home and so acquired the power of speech. If it weren't for him, I think I would class this book as "fun but forgettable fantasy", but the peeve made me laugh out loud to often to relegate its home to such a category. Still, don't expect too much from the story, even by YA standards (but then, I do tend to expect a lot from YA, so take that with the appropriate dose of salt).

Recommended for the 8-14 age range, or anyone who's looking for an unchallenging way to spend an hour or three.
(http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2009/01/black_unicorn_tanith_le...) ( )

Possible spoiler alert:

I don't imagine that I would have found Tanaquil's life boring, since I have so many activities that interest me, but perhaps when nothing is stable enough to really work on anything, escape seems mandatory. The adventure she goes on is interesting, though while I'd like to see the perfect world, I wouldn't want to live there. I am curious to see what will happen in the future. ( )