Peter S. Beagle‘s The Last Unicorn was one of my favorite film’s as a child. I remember going with my friend Beth to see the movie when it came out and being swept up, not just in the story, but also in the artwork which was so different from other animation I was used to up to that point. I just read the book for the first time, or rather, I listed to the audio version, performed by Mr. Beagle, and, while I still love the story and was again swept up in the magic of the world he created, I was left feeling somewhat disappointed. Mr. Beagle is a fine author, but as a performer he left me wanting more theatricality and that may mean returning to the physical book on my own in the near future. Obviously, it isn’t that Mr. Beagle doesn’t know the work or that he cannot embrace the passion and mythology of it, because he certainly can. But there was an amateur quality to it, including the intrusion of other voices piping in here and there (“Standby!”) and Mr. Beagle’s own slight errors that took me out of the story as he corrected himself. All of these could have been fixed in the editing, but they were left in place.
Now, I still encourage you to read it. READ it. I chose the audio version because it was more accessible to me as I was busily running to and fro, but in hindsight I should have taken the time to sit and read it. That’s not to say that other audiobooks are not worth their value. On the contrary, I am a HUGE fan of audiobooks and have enjoyed MANY over the last several years. It is unfortunate that this one, one that I so looked forward to, fell short of my expectations.
But the story of the unicorn who goes in search of her kind, refusing to believe the stories that she is the last, is one of romance, mystery, magic, and loving nods to other literary sources. It is a gem that should be cherished and I look forward to reading it to my child one day, over many nights, as his or her imagination takes flight with me and we travel with the unicorn to unravel the truth and, possibly, return beauty to the world.
You can purchase the audio version on Amazon/Audible here or you can buy the novel and read it yourself here.
And for those that have not yet enjoyed the film, I leave you with the trailer.
Visit my GoodReads.com page for more books!
Tommy Karr 