''The Unicorn Series'' is a young-adult
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
novel series by
Tanith Lee. The trilogy revolves around Tanaquil, a young woman who is better at tinkering than magic, much to the dismay of her sorceress mother.
''Black Unicorn''
''Black Unicorn'' (1991) is the first novel of The Unicorn Series.
Plot summary
It was big and beautiful and so black that it was like a hole in space, and it was completely impossible. Unicorns didn't belong in this world except in legends. But there it stood, radiating magical power, in the shattered wreck of the party.
Nobody knew where it had come from, or what it wanted. Not even Jaive, the sorceress, could fathom the mystery of the fabled beast. But Tanaquil, Jaive's completely unmagical daughter, understood it at once. She knew why the unicorn was there: It had come for her. It needed her.
Yet she was the girl with no talent for magic. She could only fiddle with broken bits of machinery and make them work again. What could she do for a unicorn?
This unicorn, which once was of radiant mother of pearl hue, became of this world through majestic being and wondrous magnificence.
''Gold Unicorn''
''Gold Unicorn'' (1994) is the second novel of The Unicorn Series.
Plot summary
After traveling the world, young
sorceress Tanaquil begins her return home. On the way she discovers a vast army led by an
empress
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
- Lizra, Tanaquil's half-sister.
Tanaquil's magical power of mending is exactly what Lizra needs. Lizra makes Tanaquil use her talent on her giant mechanical gold
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
, which Tanaquil learns is a war-machine that her sister is planning on using to perfect a world she sees as flawed. Tanaquil is repelled by Lizra's acts of destruction, but her attraction to Lizra's betrothed, a young man named Honj, keeps her from leaving, so she follows the unicorn, even when it leads into a terrifying alternate world.
''Red Unicorn''
''Red Unicorn'' (1997) is the third and final novel of The Unicorn Series.
Plot summary
Tanaquil finally returns to her mother's fortress in the desert, but only disappointment and heart-ache await her. As she contemplates leaving once again when a red
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
appears, and she follows it into a mirror where she finds a world that exact opposite of her own, complete with a version of herself named Tanakil. As Tanaquil grapples with her twin, she faces not only the darkness of this new world, but the darkness within herself.
Characters
* Tanaquil- The young daughter of a powerful sorceress. Though born to a witch mother, Tanaquil has no skills for spells and such, she instead, is a 'mender' who can fix anything and it will never break again.
* Jaive- Tanaquil's sorceress mother.
*The Peeve- Tanaquil's familiar, a desert creature similar to a mongoose or a weasel who can speak thanks to Jaive's magic.
*Lizra- A beautiful princess and Tanaquil's half-sister.
*Honj- Lizra's betrothed and Tanaquil's love interest in the story.
External links
The Black Unicorn at FantasticFiction.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorn Series, The
Series by Tanith Lee
Fantasy novel series