Title La rencontre Author Lenia Major Cover Art Laurence Ningre Publisher Talents Hauts - 2018 First Printing Talents Hauts - 2011
	Title La poursuite Author Lenia Major Cover Art Elodie Marze Publisher Talents Hauts - 2012 First Printing Talents Hauts - 2012
	Title L'affrontement Author Lenia Major Cover Art Laurence Ningre Publisher Talents Hauts - 2018 First Printing Talents Hauts - 2012
	Category Young Adult Warnings None Main Characters Ascane, Fergall, Erdnael, Météor, Séber, Ouéwy, Nagar Main Elements Unicorns Website ---

La rencontre

La poursuite

L'affrontement

I picked these up on a whim at the library, in fact I picked up what I thought was the first book but turned out to be an omnibus of the trilogy and thought that this was a really, really long series. But not only wasn't it not that long, but I enjoyed reading it so much it was hard to put down.

Ascane is a girl who gets selected to train as a licornier, a word I can't quite translate though it's the equivalent of a chevalier for a horseman/equestrian/knight but a "unitrian" or a "unicornman" just sounds silly. Anyway, she's the only girl to have ever been selected for this honour. It felt a bit cliched as her master immediately wanted her out, but you realize this book is not quite like others when the other two apprentices, both male, immediately accept her and form a tight friendship (except for the requirement to hang up a divider between their sections of the shared room, not be she complained but because one of the guys didn't want her checking out his naked butt).

However, if that didn't make Ascane unique enough, she's also a "uni", in French that doesn't have anything to do with unicorns but rather with "united". She bonds with an injured wild unicorn, in fact they share their souls. Her grandfather was the same but it wasn't well known seeing that after an accident he broke his back and since he couldn't ride he released his unicorn to the woods where the wild unicorns live.

And so you think, this girl and this unicorn will spend the rest of the book together? Nope! Just when you thought things might become cliched again they are turned on their head. The relationship between Meteor and Ascane was unexpected, complex and interesting. And it makes you wonder, it's not that Meteor is the only intelligent unicorn around, but even Ascane can't figure out what the other unicorns are trying to tell her, so what does go on in the minds of the animals around us that we just can't see, that they can't communicate with use since we can't read their body language and we can't hear their thoughts.

I loved the characters, the world building was excellent too and an interesting take on unicorns. The plot moves fast and keeps you interested as things have to be figured out as you go, and even the characters learn more about the world about them through their adventures.

Unfortunately these books are not translated into English but if you can read French, even if you're not advanced (sure there were words and entire sentences I couldn't understand here and there, but in the flow of the book it doesn't distract, it's not a difficult read) I recommend giving them a try, I really enjoyed them and recommend them to other middle grade / young adult readers.