Book Cover
Title La licorne des neiges
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 1993
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 1993
Book Cover
Title La vallée aux licornes
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2001
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2001
Book Cover
Title Le mal des licornes
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2001
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2001
Book Cover
Title Les fées d'Espezel
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2003
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2003
Book Cover
Title Les licornes noires
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2003
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2003
Book Cover
Title L'odyssée des licornes
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2004
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2004
Book Cover
Title L'appel des fées
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Diane Lacasse & Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2006
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2006
Book Cover
Title Fées en péril
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2009
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2009
Book Cover
Title La tribunal des licornes
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Jocelyne Tiffault
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2009
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2009
Book Cover
Title Les fées d'Otavalo
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Julie Rocheleau
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2013
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2013
Book Cover
Title Les fées amazones
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Julie Rocheleau
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2014
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2014
Book Cover
Title Les fées africaines
Author Claude D'Astous
Cover Art Julie Rocheleau
Publisher Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2018
First Printing Éditions Pierre Tisseyre - 2018
Category Young Adult
Warnings None
Main Characters Isabelle, Dr. Ophessault, Paul, Georgette, Francois, Audrey, Monica, Paola, Gabrielle
Main Elements Unicorns, Fairies
Website ---




Click to read the summaryLa licorne des neiges

Click to read the summaryLa vallée aux licornes

Click to read the summaryLe mal des licornes

Click to read the summaryLes fées d'Espezel

Click to read the summaryLes licornes noires

Click to read the summaryL'odyssée des licornes

Click to read the summaryL'appel des fées

Click to read the summaryFées en péril

Click to read the summaryLe tribunal des licornes

Click to read the summaryLes fées d'Otavalo

Click to read the summaryLes fées amazones

Click to read the summaryLes fées africaines




I loved the first book for a few reasons. One, it takes place in Canada (nice to know we have unicorns too!). Second, while the character that finds the unicorn is a young girl, eventually even all the adults in the family have to admit that the unicorn was real, which led of course to them trying to figure out how to monetize this fact, rather than focusing on helping said unicorn. Also, given I was reading this in December, it is a Christmas themed book.

The second books continued to surprise me, again unicorns are exposed to even more of Isabelle's family, and there are some serious themes (such as a neglected childhood, a divorced family, etc). I mean most kids books have some sort of messed up childhood, or missing/dead parents, to give the kids a reason to be the protagonist and not just run to their parents for help, but these books feel more real somehow, and doesn't come of as the same kind of cliche. In fact, most of the problems don't come with easy answers, there's usually hope but the real solution may be out of reach or will take years.

Another interesting aspect that makes it stand apart from other middle grade or YA literature. One key feature of those genres are the ages of the protagonists, I usually place middle grade as under 13 (where sure there could be some interest in the other sex but usually just friendships) versus YA as older than that (where you can get those incredibly sappy romances and the heroine doing the "I'm not good enough" lament). But while the series starts with a 12 year old, the series covers decades, so we see this character grow, fall in love (in a very pleasant positive manner, no angst though there are choices to be made), have children and basically continue the series as an adult. Young blood keeps coming in but the core characters remain, with an older characters such as Isabelle's grandparents or Dr. Ophessault playing major secondary roles. This isn't one of those stories where kids somehow save the day since the grownups are too dumb to do anything, they need to turn to the adults around them for help. And actions can have serious consequences, even if you had the best of intentions.

I find the author quite down to Earth who has positive views of women's strength and a desire to save the environment, and the belief that love and not aggression is the way to tackle problems. Though there is of course magic, there is also science. On the other hand, you can tell he also really, really, REALLY wants someone from Quebec to win a Nobel prize, since pointing out that his fictional Dr. Ophessault has won it happens at least 3 or 4 times per book to the point where I have to laugh every time it's brought up. And the fact he won it for research into Cystic Fibrosis of all things (which his fictional daughter died off) was particularly close to me, seeing as we have close family friends whose two daughters suffer from the genetic disorder.

After making it to the end of the series, it turns out it isn't the end, it's clear there should be at least one more to come. Given the last book was published in 2018 it might be another year or two before the next one comes out. I think the break will be good for me, since the books have a lot of similarity so with a break it will feel a little less repetitive (not saying it's boringly repetitive, but the pattern is clear when you read a dozen books in six month period, spread out it would feel simply "familiar")




Posted: December 2019

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