The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle is classic fantasy reading on par with The Once and Future King. Here, Beagle tells the tale of a unicorn who lives in the safety of her lilac forest. Death and age cannot touch her and so she has lived a peaceful life since before memory began. But now, she hears whispers that she is the last of her kind. And so she ventures of the safety of her home to find others. Along the way she meets those who would do her harm and two who vow to aid her: the ridiculously inept magician Schmendrick and the unyielding and stalwart Molly Grue. Will the trio be enough to confront the creature that seeks to drive her kind to extinction?

I struggled for the first few chapters of The Last Unicorn. This is most likely because I have become accustomed to the fast pace and immediate action of current YA writing. However, even a measly three chapters into the story and you will know the most important aspects of the tale. More importantly, you will have met the delightful Schmendrick. Soon, Molly Grue joins the journey and, truthfully, I loved the book because I adored these two supporting characters. The unicorn struck me as insipid, but necessary, while Molly and Schmendrick were akin to Inigo and Fezek.

There is an often quoted saying regarding friendship, “Sometimes people come into your life for a moment, a day, or a lifetime. It matters not the time they spent with you but how they impacted your life in that time.” Peter S. Beagle captured the essence of this saying in this wonderful classic story.

Tell me, please!

Have you read this story?

Am I the only person that erroneously thought this was the basis for the Tom Cruise movie Legend?