The Last Unicorn

Told from the perspective of the unicorn herself, this novel is as much satire as it is fairytale. The journey begins when she overhears a conversation insinuating that the unicorns are probably gone out of the world, and maybe they were only ever fantasy. Her journey is full of wonderfully imperfect characters; even the unicorn is vain and at times proud to a fault. King Haggard is clearly depressed and harms out of selfishness rather than because he is some embodiment of evil like in so many stories of the genre. It is a delightful, relaxing read, but that doesn't mean it's insubstantial. Beagle's descriptions are vibrant and tangible. Undercurrents of social commentary thread the humor woven throughout, and the ending isn't a neat and tidy Disney finale. While it can't tout a long list of literary awards won, it has made numerous readers' choice lists, including being proclaimed as #5 on the Locus list of "All Time Fantasy Novels."