Killer unicorns. They're supposed to be extinct, the last one killed by Astrid Llewelyn's great-great-great-great-great-aunt Clothilde, but when one gores her boyfriend in their Seattle suburb, the 16-year-old is sent by her unicorn-obsessed mother to a cloister in Rome. Along with a gaggle of other girls, all virgins, descendants of Alexander the Great and immune to unicorn venom, Astrid trains to be a unicorn hunter and learns more about the mythology-or truth?-of these man-eating creatures, the antithesis of pink and sparkly. Funding the venture and looking for a modern-day antivenin is Marten Jaeger of Gordian Pharmaceuticals. Although it raises ethical and feminist issues, this story line, as well as others, never fully develops. Astrid's first-person narration reveals her initial skepticism and budding heroism, but leaves most of the other characters flat and stereotyped. The author's slow-paced YA debut raises many unanswered questions (e.g., how can a 2,300-year-old unicorn the size of an elephant hide in Rome?), but if readers can suspend belief, they will find a fresh folklore twist amid the wave of vampires and zombies. (Fantasy. YA)
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns. The fluffy, sparkly, friendly “horses” so popular the world over don't exist. Real unicorns are killers.
Beasts the size of elephants, with cloven hooves that shake the earth, hides impervious to bullets, and horns that contain a deadly poison, unicorns can outrun a sports car and smell a human from a mile away.
And they can only be killed by virgin warriors descended from Alexander the Great.
Sixteen-year-old Astrid Llewelyn has grown up with her mom Lilith's tall tales about unicorns and their exalted family heritage, but figures her mom's crazy. But the scary stories her mom told her about the monsters in her formative years left her with a firm phobia about unicorns, even the cutesy kind popular with young girls.
But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods-thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom-Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter.
“As swift and sure-footed as a killer unicorn, Rampant weaves a vibrant new mythology from venerable threads.”-Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of the Uglies series
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns. The fluffy, sparkly, friendly “horses” so popular the world over don't exist. Real unicorns are killers.
Beasts the size of elephants, with cloven hooves that shake the earth, hides impervious to bullets, and horns that contain a deadly poison, unicorns can outrun a sports car and smell a human from a mile away.
And they can only be killed by virgin warriors descended from Alexander the Great.
Sixteen-year-old Astrid Llewelyn has grown up with her mom Lilith's tall tales about unicorns and their exalted family heritage, but figures her mom's crazy. But the scary stories her mom told her about the monsters in her formative years left her with a firm phobia about unicorns, even the cutesy kind popular with young girls.
But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods-thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom-Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter.
“As swift and sure-footed as a killer unicorn, Rampant weaves a vibrant new mythology from venerable threads.”-Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of the Uglies series
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169979329 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 02/27/2012 |
| Series: | Killer Unicorns , #1 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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