unicorns

Warped Maurissa Guibord Book Review

by April (Books&Wine)

You ever read a book at totally the wrong time, hoping desperately to like it, but end up rather blase towards the book? Friends, this happened to me while reading Warped by Maurissa Guibord. I had high hopes because my friend Jen at Makeshift Bookmark loved it and recommended it. BUT THEN, I ended up reading it while I had this weird summer illness that made concentration hard and I merely liked it, rather than had those torrid love affair feelings.

Warped Maurissa Guibord Book Cover

Warped

Warped by Mauriss Guibord has all the elements of what should be an awesome story — there’s a bookish girl, medieval times, magic and unicorns. OH AND KISSING. Tessa lives in Portland (Maine, I think) with her dad who owns a bookstore. Their home is an apartment above the store. So cool right? Anyways, they attend this auction and buy a ridiculously old book and a tapestry. When Tessa pulls a thread, a young man falls out. His name is William de Chaucy and he is from the middle ages. As you can infer, a romance happens BUT it is not instant, thank goodness. Oh! And the Sisters Of Fate, those weavers, totally make cameo appearances.

Despite all the cool elements and the fact that this book is a textile based fantasy, I did not click with Warped. I think when you are feeling ill and reading, you need either a comfort read or a book that grabs you and won’t let go. Warped was neither. I could not find it in me to care about Tessa beyond what happens next in the plot. I was not at all invested in the characters or the romance, although I will say I did like the plotting.

I know I should give Warped another chance now that I am feeling hale. Yet, with a scarily towering TBR pile, I am unwilling to do so. Perhaps you will enjoy and connect with Warped by Maurissa Guibord, but I personally find myself unable to steadfastly recommend or advise against reading this book. Take that as you will.

Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Other reviews of Warped by Maurissa Guilbord:

The Allure Of Books – “It just seemed like the plot was a little too much”

Books Complete Me – “It has everything: mystery, danger, a sexy boy and a likeable main character”

Muggle Born – “a great, quick, and delightful read that will have you swooning at the charms of Will de Chaucy.”

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle Graphic Novel Review

by April (Books&Wine)

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle illustrated by Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon is a beautiful rendered adaptation of the original fantasy classic. This graphic novel uses Beagle’s words, however, in an abridged format, so the original text isn’t presented in entirety, but if it was then I guess this would be the illustrated edition and not graphic novel which is a whole new awesome medium for the story. Yet the original meaning of The Last Unicorn is retained.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle graphic novel cover

The Last Unicorn Graphic Novel

[click to continue…]

What’s The SHORT Story Morning Glory: A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan

by April (Books&Wine)
Zombies Vs. Unicorns anthology Book Cover

Zombies Vs. Unicorns

For now, I am going to stick with the title What’s The SHORT Story Morning Glory as I like it even though it is kind of long.

This weekend’s short story, as per the last few weeks, comes from the anthology Zombies Vs. Unicorns. A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan seems to be universally unloved because of the ‘inter-species erotica’. Of course, I had to put my disdain aside and gear up for the donkey show. (I have seen Clerks II one too many times).

So the story begins with this guy named Manny wandering drunkenly through the woods looking for a place to pee. In his state he is adamant about not pissing on any of the flowers, he doesn’t quite know why. Anyways, he is led by a unicorn to this half naked lady in the forest. With good intentions, he stuffs her boobs back into her dress. Unfortunately, some guards come across him and, well, given the circumstantial evidence, they arrest him for defiling the lady. The story proceeds from there, with two other narrators taking up the helm.

Well, I can see why people would avoid this story. Reading about Unicorn-Human relations is not all that fun. Even a team unicorn girl finds that hard to take. However, you don’t actually see/read graphic details of the sex, this is a YA short story anthology. I mean, I think it is gross that anyone would want to bone a unicorn, but who am I to judge.

Anyways, on the plus side, I like Lanagan’s writing style. I find her words are quite eloquent and lend an old-world feel to the story.

So, my thoughts? If you truly can’t look past the parts that allude to inter-species lovemaking, skip this story. If you’ve seen Clerks II and laughed the whole way through, read this story, it’s not so bad as all that.

Disclosure: Book Received From Publisher.

Review: Into The Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville

by April (Books&Wine)
Into The Land Of The Unicorns, Bruce Coville, Book Cover

Into The Land Of The Unicorns

If you know me at all as a person/blogger you know that I am firmly rooted in the Team Unicorn camp. What kind of a fan would I be if I didn’t read what is out there about unicorns? So, of course when I had the chance to obtain Into The Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville, I took it. I read this middle grade novel back in April 2010 for the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon, so forgive me if I am a bit sketchy with details and such.

Into The Land Of Unicorns starts off with action.You see, Cara is on the run from a scary dangerous dude. SO she runs into a church, wearing a magical amulet, and jumps out of said church at the 12th chime and INTO THE LAND OF UNICORNS aka Luster. She then becomes BFF with a unicorn named Lightfoot, and what I consider to be a yeti-type thing named Dimblethum.

Adventures ARE had. Essential to these adventures are getting to the unicorn queen in time before the unicorns are destroyed. Oh, and there are unicorn hunters, but they hunt because they are douches, not because the unicorns are of the Peterfreund variety.

Unfortunately, I never fully engaged with Coville’s story of unicorns, but there’s a good reason. You see, I was dog sitting during the readathon. Me, being me, thought oh hey I can totes let the German shepherds run loose in the backyard AND read my book. Then, of course, a person walked by the front yard, so the pups ran away. They run fast and we don’t have a fence. And, of course, I had to catch the dogs which FYI really takes your concentration away.

German Shepherds, Christmas Tree

Also, this book does border on cheesy, as almost everything works out for the heroine and cast of characters, but I guess 7 year olds or fourth graders don’t care much about that.

Disclosure: I purchased my copy.

Other Reviews:

The Book On The Hill

Amazon/ Barnes & Noble/ Better World Books/ The Book Depository/ Indiebound

Short Story Screamers: Purity Test by Naomi Novik

by April (Books&Wine)
Zombies Vs. Unicorns anthology Book Cover

Zombies Vs. Unicorns

H’okay, so I still have no clue what kind of a name to use for the weekend short story reviews that I shall be posting, as I have seen Short Story Sunday/Saturday on other blogs and I’m not about to be a name stealer. Hellz to the no. So, bear with me as you will probably see some awkward names floating around until I come up with something not so awkward.

Right-o chaps, right-o. It’s been a few months since my last short story review. As this is 2011 I am turning a new leaf and not being so lazy. And since it takes so much effort to blog about short stories, I have decided to read and review one short story per week. SO, for the next 9 weeks, you’ll see reviews of Short Stories from Unicorns vs. Zombies on Good Books And Good Wine. After that, here are the short story anthologies that I own:
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
The Living Dead edited by John Joseph Adams
Believing Is Seeing: Seven Stories by Diana Wynne Jones
Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King
The Matisse Stories by A.S. Byatt
Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver
Night Shift by Stephen King
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl
Firebirds edited by Sharyn November
Firebirds Soaring edited by Sharyn November
Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
…and a few more

ANYWAYS onto Purity Test by Naomi Novik

Purity Test opens with a girl, Alison, who is clearly drunk in central park. She sees a unicorn, who keeps asking her if she is a virgin, which Alison denies. The unicorn, named Belcazar, drags Alison with him to save baby unicorns from an evil wizard named Otto. Otto is convinced baby unicorns hold the key to immortality. Did I mention this all takes place in New York City?

Well, the 16 pages of this short story are clearly made of win. (FYI the 15 pages refers to my ARC.) I mean, there is SARCASM and funny. And now I want to read more things by Naomi Novick. Pretty much the majority of things which come out of Belcazar’s mouth are hilarious. You see, Belcazar makes many references to unicorn tropes, like the whole virgin thing, and fairy land, etc, and turns them on it’s head. Yes, yes, I know, totally awesome.

There is also a Craig’s List reference, which again, I find funny, as I am bizarre like that.

Oh, and here is just a taste for you:

“The unicorn turned its head and gave her a blue-eyed glare. ‘Yes. Fairyland,’ it said, dripping sarcasm. ‘Fairlyland, where the fairies and the unicorns play, and never is heard a discouraging—’” pg. 55

Disclosure: Review Copy

Review of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

by April (Books&Wine)
The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle Book Cover

The Last Unicorn

In prepping for Unicorns Vs. Zombies Week, which was a long time in the making, I had taken it upon myself to make a list of books to read featuring unicorns. Of course, The Last Unicorn topped the list. Seriously, I cannot think about unicorns without thinking about this book. And no, the unicorn in this book is not bloodthirsty. Although I had made up my mind earlier to be Team Unicorn, I think had I been on the fence, this book would definitely have pushed me onto Team Unicorn.

The Last Unicorn is a truly beautiful, breathtaking book. It is very short, but quite a bit is packed into those pages. We open with a unicorn walking through the forest she protects. She overhears some hunters talking about how they can never kill anything in the forest, because it is protected by the unicorn. The hunters go on to state how there are no other unicorns left in the world. The unicorn then takes it upon herself to discover just what happened to the other unicorns. Along the way adventures are had, friends are made, evil is faced, yet good is also discovered.

You know that feeling you get when reading a fairy tale and you have the perfect narrator? I got while reading The Last Unicorn. I felt like magic could be real. Of course, my emotions ran the gamut. At times I felt melancholy. I was not really sure what I wanted for the unicorn, as she had to make this hard decision, but if you read the book or have seen the movie, you’ll know what I mean.

The Last Unicorn is a simple tale. I am sure that there is a deeper meaning, however, I haven’t really figured it out. That’s okay though, we can’t all be brilliant at uncovering the underlying message. What I did enjoy was how imaginative the book was. I could picture everything as I was reading it. However, maybe that is due to seeing the movie in childhood. Or maybe I could attribute it to Beagle’s writing. His prose is gorgeous. It is never too flowery, but still retains beauty.

The Last Unicorn is definitely a fantasy classic. It absolutely had me craving more fantasy, and I could see why the brilliant Patrick Rothfuss said it was one of his favorite books.

Here are a few quotes which made my spirit sing:

“I know exactly how you feel,” Schmendrick said eagerly. The unicorn looked at him out of dark, endless eyes, and he smiled nervously and looked at his hands. “It’s a rare man who is taken for what he truly is,” he said. “There is much misjudgement in the world….we are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream.” pg. 29-30

“Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as that need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl.” pg. 64

Disclosure: I Purchased This Book.


Other Reviews:
Only The Best Sci-Fi — this review blows mine out of the water and compelled me to read The Last Unicorn sooner
Bookworm Wannabe

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Better World Books / The Book Depository / Indiebound

Why Unicorns Are Superior To Zombies: A Guest Post by Mariah

by April (Books&Wine)
A Reader's Adventure
Mariah’s Blog
Mariah at A Reader’s Adventure is a super cool girl! She is an actual young adult who reads YA. I think she has fantastic taste in books and clearly has great taste in choosing a team for this epic battle. When I put out the call for unicorn fans, she answered! Without further ado:
Why Unicorns Are Superior To Zombies:

1. They are unpredictable, they may pretend to love you and then go in for the kill, or they may just go through you. Or they might even not try to kill you at all.

2. There is much more diversity in unicorn books. In some they are horrible killers, and in others they are sweet helpful creatures. Zombies are for the most part evil.

3. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund is a unicorn book and it rocks!

4. Unicorns are better looking by a long shot. I mean ripped clothing and pieces of flesh was so last year. Zombie lovers would you even ever like to see a zombie? I mean gross.

5. Unicorns can symbolize so many different things like eternal life ect. but zombies only represent death and destruction.

6. Zombies are so overdone. There are so many zombie books that it is hard to find a new idea.

7. Unicorns are just plain better.
BAMF Unicorns!

A Little White Horse: Guest Post by Allison at The Allure of Books

by April (Books&Wine)

Allison at the Allure of Books might as well be my reading soulmate. She has pushed several books on me which wound up being favorites. I knew her for over a year on goodreads, and now she has recently started blogging. She’s awesome and I totally think you should check out her blog. Oh and in non-Unicorn related news, she’s holding a preorder contest for Paranormalcy… Without further ado:

The Little White Horse
Before coming across it while on a search of a unicorn book to review for Zombies vs. Unicorns week, I had never heard of A Little White Horse. I’m surprised by that now, because not only was it made into a TV mini-series in 1994 called Moonacre and a movie in 2008 called The Secret of Moonacre, but J.K. Rowling praises it as one of her favorite childhood books.

I can easily understand why Rowling considers this a childhood favorite. If I had read it as a younger girl, I no doubt would have been head over heels in love with it. As it is, even though I thought it was charming, I also thought that a great deal of it was boring. It moved very slowly and there was never much action. There were a lot of positive things about it, however. The language is so lush and descriptive that it makes the story inviting. Everything down to the food is described in beautiful detail: in fact, if the book doesn’t make you hungry several times I will be surprised.

When the book opens, the recently orphaned Maria Merryweather is traveling with her governess Miss Heliotrope to live with a relation she has never met at her ancestral home. Also on the journey with them is her dog Wiggins. Wiggins might actually be my favorite character. So much humor was infused into the descriptions of his thoughts and actions; you can’t help but become rather attached to him throughout the story. He is a very beautiful and self-centered dog, who only loves Maria because he knows it is in his best interests to do so (she is the source of food, you see).

As Maria arrives at Moonacre manor and gets to know all the people that are now a part of her life, she realizes that she feels like she has finally come home. Unfortunately, she also discovers that there is a curse hanging over the Merryweathers as well as Moonacre, and as the book progresses, she learns more about the curse and how she can be the one to break it. With a whole lot of resolve and a smidgen of magic, Maria is able to save the manor, bring harmony to the valley, and right some love stories gone wrong (she also manages quite the happy ending for herself, of course).

While an important part of the story, the unicorn is not meant to be a physical part of the story as much as a figurative one. The “little white horse” is more of a background figure threaded heavily in the legends surrounding Moonacre Manor. The book opens with a verse that ends:


The raised hoof, the proud poised head, the flowing mane?

The supreme moment of stillness before the flight, the moment of


farewell, of wordless pleading for remembrance of things lost to


earthly sight.


Then the half-turn under the trees, a motion fluid as the movement of


light on water…


Stay, oh stay in the forest, little white horse!


He is lost and gone and now I do not know if it was a little white


horse that I saw, or only a moonbeam astray in the silver night.


So, even though the unicorn is far more symbolic than literal, he adds a lot of meaning to the narrative. Maria sees him as a source of hope and power. I think he also represents both the happier times before the curse and the resolution of the curse.

Overall, this book definitely celebrates some of the awesomeness that is the unicorn, although I was a little disappointed that there was not a real unicorn frolicking through the fields with Maria throughout the book.

Reppin’ Your Team Giveaway

by April (Books&Wine)

Have you read Shanyn’s awesome guest post yet? No, I really think you should!

Today’s contest is US only (because shipping international is obscene through the website I am getting the prize from). Ends 6/27.

Shanyn is super creative and has designed a couple of Team Zombie and Team Unicorn t-shirts.

The winner of this contest gets either a Team Unicorn t-shirt or totebag. Winner’s choice of course.
Here is the unicorn design:

To enter go to this link, browse around, and tell me what you like most in the comments.

I will announce the winner on 6/28. If you win this contest , I ask that you email me with in 48 hours of winning.

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