Short Story:
Jael lives in a land where all magical Beasts are deemed dangerous. By the King’s orders, magical Beasts, human or aught, are to be hunted down. They should be caught and if they resist, killed.
Jael is one of those with magic. She is a Whisperer, with the ability to talk to animals.
But to save her best friend’s mother, Jael will risk it all, her secret, her life and even a unicorn.
Free on 30th Mar 24 - 3rd Apr 24
Reviews:
"A young woman torn between her betrothed and a unicorn"
Reviewer: Angel for Bookangel.
Jael is a Whisperer, someone who can speak to animals with their mind. But in that realm, magic creatures are hunted down and killed while the people who can speak to them are taken away to the king. She spends her days helping out with horses that always seem to respond well to, aware that she has the gift, but terrified of anyone else finding out. She is betrothed to Fane and is best friends with his sister Naamah. Their mother is unwell, with no sign of getting better and Jael knows that the only way she is likely to recover is with the magic of a unicorn in the area that is being chased. When confronted by Fane and Naamah about her gift, Jael finds herself looking for the unicorn to ask it's help, only to find Fael following her. When the unicorn appears, Fane attacks Jael knocking her to the ground. When she comes to Fale is gone and the unicorn's horn has been cut from it's head. Knowing that Fane did it to heal his mother, the unicorn sadly points out that a horm removed like this will only cause death. Despite what has happened, Jael has to try and stop him before it is too late.
A YA fantasy with a young woman and her unicorn, although it does do plenty to keep it from the obvious tropes that follow such a story. The story jumps around a little as it introduces Jael, and her initial encounter with the unicorn and then jumps to her friends giving a slightly disjointed sense of time when first reading it and this does continue through the story. That aside, it was consistent when I finally was able to understand how it fitted together and the actions and effects of characters is clearly understandable, even if you might not agree with them. The characters are only given a brief background, so there is little to go on. As the story is from Jael's point of view, you find out most about her, but even then, there is little to understand what drives her or how she feels. It's a shame because the story is well written and does an excellent job of giving a feel for the world and the things happening around her.
The formatting could do with some work. It is very easier to go from paragraph to paragraph and not realise the scene has changed. The front cover is not the best and there is no detail of the book making this feel as if it is a self published piece of work, that someone inexperienced has put their heart and soul into.
Overall, this should appeal to fans of the genre, and may be worth looking at for a fresh take on the idea.
Rating: 3
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2016-03-23
