Review: Fun middle grade fantasy with an important underlying message about human greed
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 2, 2013
The Shadow of the Unicorn is a magical and fantastical adventure where the worlds of unicorns, dinosaurs, and humans collide.  The story, as told through the eyes of the young unicorn Azaria, provides an engaging (albeit fictional) portrayal of what transpired after the asteroid thought to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs strikes Earth.  We first meet Azaria as a young foal when he and his father, Polaris the stallion of the unicorn herd, go to visit a nearby herd of dinosaurs.  They meet Darius, a young dinosaur who foresees the devastation of Earth and the coming of an evil man, Ishmael, who will reign terror among the unicorns and will force them to go into hiding.The unicorns witness the giant fireball streaming across the sky and landing with a thunderous crash.  This signals the beginning of the end for the unicorns’ way of life as well as the extinction of all dinosaurs, except one who survives the ensuing devastation, Darius. Darius is taken in by the unicorns and raised among the herd until the humans arrive to settle into the valley alongside the unicorns.  As predicted, Ishmael is motivated by greed and captures the unicorns.  When the plague spreads amongst the villagers, Ishmael uses the unicorns’ magical healing powers and becomes a very wealthy man.  But this comes at a great cost to the unicorn because their magic resides in their beautiful, spiraling horns and can only be harvested by killing them.Suzanne de Montigny has done an outstanding job of creating a heinous villain in Ishmael who comes off as completely heartless (even in relation to his dying daughter).  You can see the escalation of Ishmael’s bad behaviour from capturing the unicorns to mistreating them to killing them.  We are privy to his thoughts as some chapters were written from his perspective and I just grew to despise him.  I thought that balancing out his character with those of his wife Adiva and his daughter Ali was very well done.  They provided the humanity and compassion by acting as Ishmael’s conscience.  The author did a great job of exploring the consequences of human greed.The overall pace of the story is very quick and the action is non-stop.  There are so many great elements to the story including the living conditions and mass deaths of the unicorns after the asteroid strikes, the mentorship of Azaria by Darius in learning to “become one with his shadow”, the obsession of Ishmael with the unicorns, and the coming of age of the young unicorn who must lead the unicorn herd to safety.  There is a whole lot of story packed into this one book!  One warning though … there are some events that are quite brutal.  The unicorns are killed by the humans and their horns are sawed off.  Some sensitive children may be quite disturbed to read through those passages.This last comment has to do with my inability as an adult to completely suspend disbelief (I’m just saying).  While I am aware that some people may dispute this, it is my understanding that scientific evidence suggests that dinosaurs and humans did not even come close to co-existing.  To be clear, in this story, there is overlap.  I don’t have an issue with the author creating a fictional setting where unicorns, dinosaurs, and humans roamed the Earth at the same time.  There is a disclaimer at the start of the book saying that this is a work of fiction; but, what I think is necessary for this particular book is a note stating some facts.  This could be done with a statement such as “scientists believe that the dinosaurs last roamed the Earth 65 million years ago while the earliest Homo sapiens date back a mere 200,000 years”.  Or perhaps, to show respect for those who may believe something different, to say that there is a debate about whether they co-existed.  Regardless, I thought that the merging of these different creatures (i.e., unicorns, dinosaurs, and humans) was very creative and interesting.My Bottom Line:The Shadow of the Unicorn provides an innovative and interesting plotline exploring how the fictional unicorns, the extinct dinosaurs, and early humans may have interacted if they co-existed in a post-apocalyptic world.  Suzanne de Montigny does an excellent job of exploring the themes of natural disasters and environmental change, human greed, compassion, and courage.  At the end of the day, The Shadow of the Unicorn is an entertaining read that I think will be enjoyed by children who love the fantasy genre and are keen on reading about unicorns.  Ages 9+4.5 Stars* I was given this book free-of-charge by the author in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.