Another new teen novel about a seemingly-normal young woman who turns out to be more than she seems. In the post-Buffy era there is a whole bevy of powerful girls battling, dating, and/or becoming supernatural creatures. We've seen it with vampires (House of Night, etc), fairies (Tithe, Wicked Lovely), demons (Demon's Lexicon), werewolves (Shiver), angels (Blue Bloods), and all-of-the-above (City of Bones). I love strong women, but I'm growing a little tired of the same old thing. I probably wouldn't have picked this up if a free copy hadn't fallen into my lap.
These unicorns are as far from innocent and gentle as you can get. They're bloodthirsty man-eaters with fangs and venomous horns. Only virgins from particular bloodlines are capable of defeating them in battle, which is where our heroine comes in.
The book set off a few of my pet peeves as a reader. Details of the premise are not always consistent with history or character behaviour, and it's unclear what can be explained by science and what is simply "magic". Certain conflicts are wrapped up too easily, and loose ends are ignored at the conclusion. I hope that some of these will be addressed in the upcoming sequel, Ascendant. Less demanding readers will simply enjoy the adventure and the love story.
* Not coined by me.
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