Read the full review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

Hmm… Although I’ve read this book in one go, it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. My main problem was the writing style. It felt a bit too poetic and outdated to me. Like one of those historical romance, with well spoken heiresses and such. Totally not my style. I had a hard time at first with getting into the story because of this, but I managed to get used to it, before the book ended.

And now onto the story. I’ve never read a book where so many minor characters die. In such a short amount of time that you’re unable to build a connection, which means no single teardrop from me when they die. And therefore their death and even existence felt needless. It also happened so often that it came predictable and I didn’t feel the need anymore to even build a connection. I even started getting surprised with characters who stayed alive. Not some feeling I’m keen on having while reading a book…

The blurb mentions something about love and destiny with an exiled ranger. Okay I found the destiny and the exiled ranger, but what happened to the love? The emphasis in the book is too much on the whole adventure that there are almost no words of love. Although I understand that at times saving the world is more important, but still… want my romance time!

Last but not least I can’t finish my review without telling something about the heroine, Alorie. There was nothing that made her stand out from all the other heroines I’ve read about. She has the standard problems: act first, think and show remorse waaaay later. Which of course made me annoyed at times. She falls in love and tries to save the world. Been there, done that. Too much standards for me to really consider her a person worth writing about.

What I did like in this book were the unicorns, the good and the bad ones. This time unicorns are not just pretty horses who can only be tamed by maidens. Nope. This time they are more, much more. They are wild creatures who above all value their freedom. And they are able do defend and even kill anyone who stands in their way! I loved all of it! It made reading this story so much better! The prophecy was also very well executed. Everything, or at least what I’ve read until now, fit exactly. Pity, though, that there wasn’t a map available. There are many places and cities mentioned and since remembering places isn’t one of my strong points, it would have made this a lot easier ;)

Conclusion

2 HEARTS. There were just too many things that bothered or annoyed me to really enjoy this book. Although it’s a great world with an interesting prophecy and a whole new look on unicorns, it wasn’t enough to make the rest less annoying. Would I be able to recommend this book to other persons? I don’t have a clue. This is a story everyone has to read by themselves, so they’ll know if they like it or not ;) Not very helpful, I know, but with this books it really depends on what you want ;) ( )