The Last Unicorn

Not my cup of the tea. To me, this leans a lot more toward a child's fairy tale than fantasy. I got drawn in because people called it a fantasy classic. Perhaps it didn't age well for me.

The writing was fine. I liked the way it flowed and read. It's actually pretty good writing, except for the singing bits, which were kinda awkward. The Lord of the Rings had singing bits too, so I guess it's a “thing” of that era.

But the rest of it was lacklustre to me. The supposedly mystical unicorn felt all too human to me, even at the beginning. The bumbling Schmendrick was pathetic; I don't even feel sympathetic towards him. Molly... felt redundant, like a sideline player who didn't really seem to matter, except maybe as a catalyst for Lir. People will disagree with me, but like I said, not my cup of tea. These characters were rather one-dimensional to me, and not very likeable.

I enjoyed reading only the first few chapters, then I kept waiting for something to happen. The events were all of a mild sort, even the finale felt lacking. There were nice quotes scattered throughout, but it doesn't redeem the plot. Halfway through, I was somewhat bored already. So when they found their goal, I was glad it's going to be over soon. But there's actually a bit more to go... I just don't really care about the characters anymore by that point.

The follow-up story is more of the same. While Sooz is a cute and likeable character, the returning cast felt the same. Maybe they'll give better nostalgic feeling if I hadn't read them one after the other.