Aha, killer unicorns, what?

[darkelf105]

So in between trying really, really hard not to speed through Michelle Sagara's Cast in Secret, I've been reading Diana Peterfreund's Rampant. It's a little story about a social outcast who arrives in Rome and has a fling with a gorgeous boy and she just so happens to be training to be a unicorn hunter, cuz in this world unicorns are mostrous, unstoppable killers and it's the virgin ladies' job to make 'em extinct. Have to say, despite knowing very little about traditional unicorn lore (or cross-cultural "unicorn" lore for that matter), I find Peterfreund's creations to be scary, compelling and believable. And despite being YA in the first person, which tends to turn me off, I really, really enjoy Astrid's voice*. Although, I gotta say, even though her mum was right and there really are killer unicorns out there and Astrid really can fight them, she's till kinda a loony tune and pretty selfish. But Astrid's reaction to her is spot on and I like her for it quite a bit, because really, can't help who your mum is, even if she's crazy, you still love her.



*(and her continued insistence that just because there isn't an explanation for the unicorns, doesn't make them magic. Also she consistently points out that the other girls' theory about Alexander the Great and the goddess Diana make no LOGICAL sense, even if one DID believe in Roman goddesses and that Alexander the Great rode a unicorn. I just soooooo hope Peterfreund doesn't cop out and make Astrid wrong and everything's all magic, because let me tell you, Astrid is a refreshing protaganist what with being a proponent of science and all.)