Two Hearts

Wow do I love stories by Peter S. Beagle.

"Two Hearts" is a story that takes place many, many years after The Last Unicorn. A griffin has made its home near Sooz's village. It's a minor annoyance until it starts taking children. A few knights are dispatched, but they all die. After the griffin takes Sooz's best friend, she sets off to find the king. She meets Schmendrick and Molly Grue on her way; the pair of them take her to King Lir's castle. But Lir is an old man now who gets confused. Although he agrees to rid Sooz's village of the griffin, everyone fears that the king will not return, especially since he has to strike both of its hearts to kill it.

I apologize that I'm half asleep as I write this, and not feeling at all articulate. I really liked reading about the further adventures of Schmendrick, Molly, and Lir. And Sooz was a fun character as well. "Two Hearts" was an interesting yet satisfying epilogue to The Last Unicorn. I'm super glad to have read it.

The Unicorn Sonata

So apparently continuing my Peter S. Beagle kick, I read The Unicorn Sonata.  This is the story of Joey, a girl who follows some hauntingly beautiful music into another land (called Shei'rah).  While full of many dangers, like the swarms of ravenous perytons, it is also a land of satyrs, water nymphs (called jallas), and the Eldest - the Unicorns. Joey discovers that it is from the unicorns that the music comes.  But all is not well with them - for an unknown reason, the Eldest are going blind. 

The Eldest were very interesting in this book.  There were three "tribes" of them: one described as solid and earthy, one sea-like, and the other was like the sky.  They came in a myriad of colours, sizes and shapes, while all remaining unicorns.  Their blindness was also interesting, as they could still "see" physical objects in their minds, but they were lessened because they were not whole.

The Unicorn Sonata was an interesting story about a girl torn between two worlds: the magic that is Shei'rah, and the mundane world where her family (particularly her beloved grandmother, Abuelita) is.  It is also the story of a talented musician struggling to write Shei'rah's soul into musical notation.  While I didn't like The Unicorn Sonata as much as The Last Unicorn, it was still a very interesting and fun read.

A Dance for Emilia

I've been wanting to read more books by Peter S. Beagle ever since finishing (and falling in love with) The Last Unicorn.  So the other day, I went looking for what my local library had.  A Dance for Emilia was short (being novella length), so I decided to read it first.

A Dance for Emilia is about losing friends and loved ones.  Jacob and Sam were best friends from forever ago.  Their planned escapades in old age are cut short when Sam passes away unexpectedly.  Sam's girlfriend, Emilia, is also left behind.  She quickly bonds with Jacob as they share their memories of Sam over the course of two years.  But unbeknownst to them, their sharing has been calling Sam back from the dead.  He inhabits the body of Millamant, his old Abyssinian cat.  While they are happy to have him back (even in this strange form), Sam isn't able to stay.  And so he performs one last beautiful dance for Emilia before leaving her and Jacob forever.

A Dance for Emilia is based off of Beagle's real life struggle to cope with losing a friend.  I didn't know that at the time I started reading it, but it was the perfect thing for me to read right now.  As I mentioned in my last post, my cat recently passed away; I found myself feeling like Emilia does in the book, wanting Sam to come back (and not wanting to let him go once he does come back).  While I didn't think it was as good as The Last Unicorn, I really enjoyed reading A Dance for Emilia and am looking forward to reading more of Beagle's work.

The Last Unicorn

I found out that the movie The Last Unicorn is being screened in my city in a few weeks time.  The author of the book (and screenplay of the movie), Peter S. Beagle, is touring along with the movie.  So in preparation for that event, I wanted to finally read the novel.  I've been wanting to read it for awhile now, but The Last Unicorn Screening Tour gave me that little extra push to finally sit down and do so.

The Last Unicorn is the story of a unicorn who overhears two humans speaking.  They say she is the last, and so she goes on a quest trying to find whether or not that is true.  On her way she encounters a diverse cast of characters, including the humans who cannot see her for what she is, the butterfly who gives her her first clue as to where the other unicorns have gone, the Magician Schmendrick who struggles to find his magic, the cook Molly Grue, the heroic Prince Lir, and the unhappy King Haggard.  Along the way she will discover not only what happened to the other unicorns, but what it means to love.

I want to say, it was really weird reading this book.  I've seen the movie many, many times, plus I read the graphic novel two years ago, so I know this story.  I knew what would happen and when it would happen, especially thanks to the graphic novel, which follows the novel even more than the movie.  So even though I've never read this book before, it was a really weird experience reading it.

That being said, I absolutely loved it!  Beagle's writing is beautiful; his descriptions were absolute magic!  I honestly wish I had read The Last Unicorn before I had seen the movie, but since that didn't happen, I am still very glad to have read the book.  This is the type of book that I most definitely plan on reading again one day.

Library Book: The Last Unicorn

I don't really want to say a whole lot about The Last Unicorn. I've never read the actual novel by Peter S. Beagle, but I was a big fan of the movie when I was younger. I found the graphic novel in Chapters a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love with the art. The library has it, so I took it out a little while ago and finally got around to reading it. The graphic novel is relatively similar to the movie (which makes sense - Peter S. Beagle wrote the screenplay, and was involved with the graphic novel so they should be similar). But I just can't get over that artwork!!! (If you're curious, I found a sample of the art here).

If you're unfamiliar with the tale, it is the story of a unicorn who believes she is the last of her kind. So she sets out on an adventure to find out what happened to the others. The Last Unicorn is full of wonderful characters like Schmendrick the magician, who has power but isn't very good at casting spells, Molly Grue, the first woman to actually see the unicorn for who she is, and King Haggard, the cruel man who commands the Red Bull. The Last Unicorn is a wonderful tale that has captivated people around the world.