Rampant
Diana Peterfreund
Harper
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
DESCRIPTION: Every girl secretly dreams of meeting a unicorn... except Astrid. She grew up listening to her mother Lilith's tales of the beasts - not the
sparkly, gentle denizens of children's tales, but bloodthirsty, carnivorous monsters that rampaged across the ancient world. Only the unicorn hunters, virgin
females of gifted bloodlines with supernatural skills and inborn immunity to the beasts' venomous horns, could bring them down - and they did, running them to
extinction, with Astrid's own ancestor Clothilde dealing the final death blow. Now a high school sophomore, she struggles to overcome a social life hampered by
association with Lilith and her crackpot theories. They have to be crackpot; after all, everyone knows unicorns don't exist.
One night, sneaking out with her boyfriend Brandt (who just might take Astrid to the prom if she lets his hands get far enough under her clothes), she has a too-close
encounter with a nonexistent unicorn. Needless to say, it isn't the least bit sparkly or remotely gentle. Brandt barely survives, and Astrid's world is changed forever.
Apparently, unicorns aren't extinct after all, and they're making their presence known through increasingly bold attacks on wildlife, pets, and even humans. Those few
who still know the old lore scramble to assemble a team of hunters descended from the old bloodlines. Astrid finds herself shipped off to Rome to train with them.
Suddenly, all of her mother's terrible stories are coming true... but none of them can prepare her for the realities of life of a unicorn hunter, a life full of blood,
violence, secrets - and sacrifices.
REVIEW: Killer unicorns? Any book with that premise is worth a look. Peterfreund based her unicorns on worldwide legends, many of which depict a far wilder
creature than modern storybooks show us. Like faeries, unicorns have been softened through the ages as belief in them, and in the forces embodied by them, waned. The
animals represented here blend old myths with a touch of cryptozoology, creating original fantasy creatures (or beings, perhaps, as Astrid learns that there's more to
the unicorn mind than many hunters believe.) As the main characters struggle to understand the re-emerging unicorn population, some treat them as a wonderful scientific
opportunity while some greet them with all the warmth of a resurgence in smallpox or black plague. Astrid herself has mixed feelings; while she abhors the violence and
viciousness, she can't help trying to apply her modern scientific mindset to the situation, trying to figure out the source of the hunters' gifts and how such repulsive
animals with such toxic venom can also be the source of the legendary panacea known as the Remedy. The story starts fairly quickly, but it bogs down several times with
sidetracks into rivalries between the hunters and other distractions. In particular, the link between the hunters and their virginity is discussed in exhaustive detail,
plus related issues of peer pressure, women's rights, and teen sex in general. Some plot twists are obvious (hands up, those who believe that a pharmaceutical company
sponsoring a unicorn hunting institute doesn't have an ulterior motive), but others play out more convincingly. It took me several chapters to decide whether or not I
liked Astrid enough to follow her through the entire book, though she was at least preferable to some of the other girls she meets in Rome. By the midpoint, the story
had picked up decently, and it led to a nicely cataclysmic conclusion... which, as is typical these days, mostly serves to set up a sequel (Ascendant.)
Overall, while some of the characters grew irksome and the plot occasionally drug, Rampant promises some fresh perspectives on unicorn lore, and - for the most
part - delivers on them.
You might also enjoy:
The Alexander Cold trilogy (Isabel Allende, YA Fiction - A jaded American teenager discovers unknown wonders and metaphysical secrets in the forgotten corners of the modern world)
Dragons Wild (Robert Asprin, Fiction - A college slacker learns that he and his sister are really dragons, about to come into their potent "secondary gifts")
I Was a Teenage Fairy (Francesca Lia Block, YA Fiction - A girl's diminutive fairy friend helps her deal with emotional and sexual abuse in the modeling industry)
A Glory of Unicorns (Bruce Coville, editor, YA Fiction - An anthology of stories about non-sappy unicorns)
Bedlam's Bard (Mercedes Lackey with Ellen Guon, Fiction - Elves and magic hide in plain sight in California)
The Fablehaven series (Brandon Mull, YA Fiction - Two kids discover a threatened magical sanctuary)
The Book of Fabulous Beasts (Joseph Nigg, Nonfiction - The classical origins and evolution of popular fantasy animals, including unicorns)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A boy learns that the monsters of Greek myth are alive and well in the modern world, as are the Olympic gods and their ancient enemies)
Voices of Dragons (Carrie Vaughn, YA Fiction - A teen girl befriends a young dragon while their races prepare for war)
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, YA Fiction - A brother and sister learn that their great-uncle's farm has some very strange livestock... and very powerful enemies)
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