Conflicted feelings here. Peter B. Gillis' graphic novel adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's classic fantasy novel turns out to be, in my opinion, a very abstracted and broken narrative that is hard to follow, especially if you know nothing of the novel. I have indeed read the novel, and very much liked it, so I feel a bit let down that I didn't enjoy this as well. Characterization was flimsy, and don't even get me started on the Red Bull. What is the Red Bull? Why is the Red Bull? I wasn't looking for an explicit answer to what the Red Bull stood for, as in Beagle's book it is indeed open for interpretation, but here it seems to be quite hastily thrown into the narrative and may be confusing for one with no prior reading of Beagle's book. However, the artwork by Renae De Liz is outstanding, and really carried my interest in turning pages. Overall, I'd say to be sure to read Beagle's book first and simply skip this, unless you are an avid fan or just want to look at the very pretty pages. So this is going to sound strange I suppose. I read the novel when I was in 5th grade or so, and saw the Rankin Bass animated film sometime that same year. I have since seen the film several times, to the point where I had forgotten how it differed from the source material in several ways.The graphic novel brought those differences to the fore, and took me back to scenes from the book I had forgotten over the years. The artwork in the graphic novel is very much inspired by the film (and improves upon it), and is a thing of beauty.As for the story, this is a timeless tale that is beautifully told, and to this day... brings a tear to my eye in more than one place (both the beginning AND the end of the book are especially heart wrenching for some reason). Anyhoo... if you have not yet read this fantasy classic, please do so if you are a fan of the genre. The Last Unicorn is part of that pantheon that includes Tolkien, Lewis, Howard, etc, and deservedly so.
What do You think about The Last Unicorn (1968)?
The illustrations in this were fantastic! Definitely one for my personal bookshelf!
—Lemonsown
Beautifully illustrated. An excellent companion to the classic animated film.
—Anju
Beautiful and stunning adaptation of an incredible work.
—Thegusta11
Great story, great art - what more does one need?
—Bam01
