This was such a wonderful ending to a series that I love. I couldn't find a hard copy of this book anywhere so I ordered the full cast audio . . . It kept me entertained and made the story seem so much more alive. Now I would like (because we who grew up with this) an adult fantasy romance between Silverhoof (Cara) and Lightfoot story :) Lol, I mean any new book in this series would be a delight to read. ( )

This... was too much crammed into a series finale yet did not follow viewpoints which had hooked me earlier. But series are hard - still appreciative of the lend of this limited-print adventure. ( )

Finally, the last book of this series! I grew up reading Bruce Coville, and even though unicorns aren't my favourite mythical creature (they're too close to horses, which I am totally not into) I couldn't help but fall in love with this series. It started off as a simple fantasy story of a magical world and a girl who discovers unicorns, but Coville deepened the narrative as the story progressed to its ultimate culmination in the final book. Here we see the finale of the unicorn's struggle against Beloved that has gone on for centuries; it is a simple conflict (as far as fantasyh epics are concerned), but it is a perfect start for young readers in this genre. It has all the classic elements - multiple interweaving plot lines, fantastic creatures, shifting alliances, a world at stake, and a bevy of characters - so they'll make the transition to series like the Lord of the Rings in no time! ( )

How do you review a book you've been waiting all your life to finally read? I began the Unicorn Chronicles as a Second Grader, and finished them eighteen years later. So much changed with these last two books. A very strange but amazing thing happened as I dove into the final two installments. Cara remained basically the same age, lending an air of timelessness to this tale. It brought me back to my childhood, but the world of Luster expanded so much I felt like this series grew up with me. It is larger than life and I'm convinced no one can write epic Unicorn novels like Bruce Coville. There really are no words to do it justice. You'll just have to read it and discover the mystery behind the magic for yourselves. I finished this book with a hint of sorrow and a sweet satisfaction in knowing our beloved characters will continue to have more adventures. If only we could break into Grimwold's cave and read them ourselves! ( )

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

Okay, wow. Just wow. When I started the Unicorn Chronicles, I had no idea what I was in for. It grows (literally almost doubles!) with every book, so that the first book was a cool 180 pages, and the fourth, final, book is a whopping 600. I'm still trying to figure out what happened. I mean, I can see this series being seriously awesome for kids who read the books as they came out: the books would grow in length at the same pace your reading ability did, so you could read a single series stretched out over your entire childhood, and you'd never feel like you were outgrowing it.

Reading it over the course of a few months, though, I'm hard pressed to find any other advantage. Except maybe tricking kids into reading long books by gradually weaning them with a series they're hooked on? I can see that as a great selling point for the series, actually: "Get your kids to no longer be afraid of big books! Give them short little Into the Land of the Unicorns hook them onto the series, and then slowly reel them in with longer and longer books until they're reading the MG version of Lord of the Rings!" It's like hooking your kids on drugs, except reading is legal - and, you know, actually good for your brain.

But then again, I'm not sure I'd want my kid transitioning from Into the Land of the Unicorns to The Last Hunt. The books don't just get physically heavier as the series goes on - they start featuring heavier material. Sure, there's no romance or walking dead or other topics that scream "YA," but there sure is a lot of violence in The Last Hunt. And I mean blood-gushing, head-crushing, unicorns-dying, really-gross violence. Violence that I had a hard time reading about. So I think the Unicorn Chronicles are dangerous, because they promise one thing in the beginning, but wind up offering something very, very different.

And that's not even going into any of the weird religious undertones that were scattered throughout The Last Hunt. I'd try to analyze them, but I'm still befuddled by the whole bureaucracy-of-creators thing.

But really, it's not like I hated the book. I spent a few happy hours reading it, and I really was invested in all of the different storylines. I cared about Rocky, and Cara, and Cara's mom, and the queen, and the centaurs, and the geomancer, and the dragon - and, um, all the other semi-random characters who got page-time. Whoever's point-of-view I was reading, I genuinely cared about (except maybe Cara's dad - I still don't like him). And in the end, I was satisfied that I had just read an epic-type book, full of adventure and quests and grand battles between good and evil. Did I question the way everyone assumed all Hunters were incurable monsters, after Cara's own father had converted from being one only a few months before? Did I get supremely frustrated at Cara's grandmother, the queen who spends literally two whole books not communicating with her own ex-husband about whether Cara was his grandkid or not? Did I question whether the entire centaur side-story was even necessary for the plot? Why, yes I did. But that doesn't change the fact that I did enjoy it well enough, and that fans of this sort of epic would probably like it much more than I did.

But let's be honest, if you've read the first three books in the series you're not about to stop now no matter what I say. Go on, track down a copy - it's like fifty dollars on Amazon, but if you hunt around long enough you can probably find a library system that has it. ( )