Let's start with this bit of advice for aspiring authors - if you're going to borrow several concepts without much change from someone else's story, don't namedrop that other book unless you're doing a parody of some sort.There's a couple reasons for that. First being it just looks sort of lazy once a reader realizes it. And second being, it ruins some of the impact of your story for people who've already read the other one. And if you're already lifting elements from elsewhere without much change, the last thing you want to do is also sap tension and make plot points obvious.Case in point - this book. It quotes Peter Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" before we get page 1 into Brooks' story. And to be fair, it's not a wholesale ripoff. (view spoiler)[But the enigmatic talking cat who never gives a straight answer? Yeah. The idea of a unicorn sort of "capturing" those who get too close? Ohh yeah. How about all the unicorns in the world except for one being restrained somewhere? Or the great flaming beast protecting the guy who controls them? How about themes of identity vs appearance running central?But Liss, you might say, everyone borrows! And it's pretty generally true, they do. But the problem is, here it borrows to the detriment of "The Black Unicorn." If you put me in mind of "The Last Unicorn" and then present a magic book with a lot of unicorn pictures in it, I'm going to say "Okay, so the unicorns have been trapped in the book and they need to let them out." and then I'm going to start hating the main character, who takes another 200 pages to reach that conclusion.If you put me in mind of "The Last Unicorn" and then have a character look different to most other people but the same to himself - especially if you've already shown he's protected by magics - I'm going to question whether the change is actual or illusion. And if I don't figure out it's a delusion of the self immediately, I'll probably get it the moment the first of many characters tells our main character he's doing it to himself. That being said, would this book have been more enjoyable to me if I hadn't already read "The Last Unicorn?" Certainly, though still not a *good* read. It's a very quick read, even though not a lot actually happens and it feels like we spend most of our time in the least-interesting character in the book. A lot of the secondary characters interested me, and I regretted we didn't get to see more of them. The central magic that sent Ben Holiday on his journey could have been really fascinating if handled in a more subtle manner. In fact, a lot of this could have been fascinating if handled better. But in the end it felt like when someone has a great idea for a book, and instead of writing the book, they just tell you about it. You can see the promise of the ideas, but you can't let them swallow you up and carry you off. You're always aware someone's telling you a story. And thus it was with this. The lack of real action, the lack of actual proactive stuff from our lead and the obviousness of much of what happened completely prevented my immersion in this book. (hide spoiler)]
I first read this book at the age of 14 in the mid-90s. I remember liking it, but I couldn't remember anything about the story. So I re-read it over the past few days. Now I know why I forgot everything about this story. It's not stellar, and so I've decided to drop my rating down to three stars (from four). The book follows the saga of a Chicago-born lawyer who bought a magical kingdom from a high-brow department store Christmas wishlist in order to escape the weariness of his life as a recent widower. While the first book deals with Ben Holiday's quest for allegiance from the people and magical entities of Landover, this second book is about a plot by the wizard Meeks -- the former court wizard responsible for the sale of the kingdom to Holiday in the first place -- to capture the Black Unicorn and harness its magical powers.While the plot is intriguing enough, the story is difficult to get through. It is often rambling and uninteresting without breaking much through the surface. Certain elements seem pastiche and unoriginal. It also seems like the author didn't think through some of the situations that far in advance, often coming up with convenient ways to excuse why one plot device may work now, when it previously had not. The story mostly follows the characters of king Ben Holiday (the main protagonist) and Willow (a fairy woman and friend of the king) on their separate quests. That said, there is very little development of Willow's character. She has very few lines, and is often innocent, or troubled, or emotional, or simply breathtakingly beautiful. The author tries to get us to believe that there is this deep bond forming between the two characters, but they spend very little time together throughout the book. Coupled with her lack of depth, it seems like Ben is just hard up for the only (good) female character in the series.Another complaint I have with this book is the constant explaining. For me, a good book will unfold rather evenly as it progresses. Characters should reach an epiphany moments after the reader has, and denouement should just wrap up what we've learned -- not a bullet list of all of the events which transpired during the course of the book. If you have to clarify what just happened in the story, then you haven't done a great job of telling it. One conflict where the resolution was obvious from the very beginning lasted until the second to the last chapter, and it was played up to make it appear as though this was a huge breakthrough for the character.I'm currently rereading the rest of series, as I've forgotten the other books. I really hope that they improve because, overall, the idea is great. Who hasn't wanted to abandon their humdrum life in favor of ruling a fantasy world? Unfortunately, the Black Unicorn just didn't do it for me. (07/23/13)EDIT: I've decided to drop my rating once again. This time to a flat one-star. I considered just dropping down to two stars, but sadly, I just can't seem to get over how terrible this book was. I'm still trudging through the series, and it doesn't get a whole lot better. (10/28/13)
What do You think about The Black Unicorn (1999)?
So this is a good sequel to the first Landover book in that it further expands the characters and, being a fantasy, the world. The missed opportunity is that we didn't see a common conflict introduced or developed. Sure, we met some common enemies, but common conflict would have tied this book to the previous one (and any that are to follow) nicely. Also, I don't think that the magic in this series is explained well. I guess I don't see the theory of how it works, and for an adult fantasy I think that is important. Stuff can't just poof out of nowhere. Ironically, I was taught this fact by Terry Brooks` autobiography called Sometimes the Magic Works. I guess he figured that little tidbit out after he wrote this one.Another thought that came to me in this book... Terry Brooks` names don't strike me as hugely creative (Ben, Willow, Quester) but they don't matter. They aren't bad names, they are just very .... English sounding. At the end of the day, I don't care. The characters are who they are, and have the problems that they have, and the story would be successful no matter what the names were, and that is my key take away.A good, but decidedly average 3 stars.
—Parcoast
Da quando ha comprato il regno di Landover dal mago Meeks è passato un anno e, dopo tanti problemi, Ben Holiday spera di godersi un po' di pace insieme con i suoi bizzarri e fedeli amici: un mago maldestro, una bella fanciulla capace di trasformarsi in albero e un cane parlante. Invece dei sogni terrificanti cominciano a disturbare il loro sonno. Non è una coincidenza, ma una nuova minaccia di Meeks, che può essere sventata solo dal mitico Paladino. Per Ben e i suoi compagni è l'inizio dell'ennesima, audace avventura. Ancora un capitolo dell'eccitante saga di Landover. Un altro, fantastico viaggio nell'incantevole mondo creato da Terry Brooks.
—Matteo Pellegrini
Even better than the first one!See? I TOLD you we hadn't seen the last of Nightshade! And I knew there would be more with Strabo and Meeks! I knew it! It might be a bit premature to say this, but it's good to know that Ben Holiday is still on a character arc. Even after all the lessons he learned in his efforts to secure his throne in the original, he still has that much more to discover about Landover and especially himself. The fairies might have sent him Edgewood Dirk, the prism cat, to help him out a bit, but Dirk's not about to just give him the answers. That was the best part for me, for Ben, once-lawyer and now exiled king, to have to work out the truth of the magic Meeks had used on him.Was it just me, or did there seem to be even more magic in this one? Missing unicorns, spells of deception, dancing wood nymphs and a strange cat from the fairy mists? I liked it! Right up my alley! All that's missing are a few mermaids, but I think the River Master and his ilk still fill that void.Well shucks, what else is there I can say? It was just as much fun as the first one, and again, I liked it even more. Now onto the next one!
—Gemma
