Title The Unicorn Quest Author John Lee Cover Art --- Publisher Tor - 1986 First Printing Tor - 1986
	Title The Unicorn Dilema Author John Lee Cover Art Maren Publisher Tor - 1988 First Printing Tor - 1988
	Title The Unicorn Solution Author John Lee Cover Art Sanjulian Publisher Tor - 1991 First Printing Tor - 1991
	Title The Unicorn Peace Author John Lee Cover Art Maren Publisher Tor - 1993 First Printing Tor - 1992
	Title The Unicorn War Author John Lee Cover Art --- Publisher Tor - 1996 First Printing Tor - 1995
	Category High Fantasy Warnings None Main Characters Jarrod, Marianna, Nastrus, Beldin, Ragnor, Greylock, Darius Main Elements Unicorns, Wizards Website ---

The Unicorn Quest

The Unicorn Dilema

The Unicorn Solution

The Unicorn Peace

The Unicorn War

I'd been wanting to read these books for years and one of the main reasons I decided to do a unicorn themed reading year. So I was going in with high expectations, I don't think those expectations where met, but I did get some unexpected surprises

The world building is quite good, you have the Outlanders that live in this kind of brown miasma atmosphere that disolves human flesh. We cannot live on their side of the wall, they cannot live on ours, their bodies vanishing when they are slain, making it that much harder to figure out how to fight them, never knowing their true physical nature. In fact, this choice of enemy was one of the most interesting aspects of this series. As Jarrod and the others fight them we come to find some interesting things about them:

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They do not live in the thick atmosphere...they are the atmosphere, incorporeal gaseous beings. Also, as in any war that goes on for centuries, even millenia, one forgets how it starts, and the one side that feels they are being invaded may find out that they were the initial invaders. And we also get hints that humans are not native to Strand, that this is another planet colonized by Earth and then forgotten, in fact The Place of Power seems to actually be a technological, not magical, artifact. Which could mean that the magic itself is some technology that some people are able to just tap into without really understanding it. This fantasy is starting to lean quite a bit towards science fiction, how interesting! In fact is the third book where we learn some powerful "guardians" have rescued unicorns from an Earth that was hunting them to extinction. But then Lee disappointed me, instead of us learning even more about the past of Strand, how it came to be settled, and the nature of their enemy, maybe even making peace with them, Jarrod goes and nearly wipes them out of existence in one impressive spell. And that's only the third book. I got the feeling that he maybe intended a trilogy and decided to just wrap it up really fast? Then later tacked on two more books when he saw there was still some interest?

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The next two books are more mundane than the first two. Unicorn Peace was exactly that, a story that takes place in peace time, mostly dealing with how to divide up conquered lands. More diplomatic discussion, less action. The final one wraps up with a decent war though. And Jarrod builds a really cool castle.

Now, I was less than impressed about the series on the whole, and for some reason I had to struggle each time to really get into each book, but once I got a decent amount in I was sucked in and didn't want to stop. I really liked the characters, Jarrod especially. And the world was otherwise complex, with different countries with each their distinct cultures (you have the Isphardi that are merchants, the Umbrians that are scientists and the Magical Kingdoms that of course employ wizards), and the magic system was well thought out and consistent. They could do really big magics, but at a huge physical costs, and also give the impression of not only being difficult to use, but dangerous. The unicorns are world travellers, able to move through a kind of "hyperspace" that connects not just points on Strand, but other worlds as well. The series also covers 20-30 years, allowing us to watch Jarrod and the others grow up, and others grow old, and to really see how the world changes after a major event, and how quickly we forget who accomplished what, and what was worthy of praise and statues and adoration is forgotten. The main romance of the theory is far from standard and what seems like an obvious pairing doesn't work out the way one expects.

And one mustn't forget the character of the Guardian, I wish again that we could have learnt more about him. Was he human originally? That's the sense I got. His was obviously a world of advanced technology, again touching upon science fiction rather than fantasy. Such interesting hints of there being so much more to this world that never gets followed up on.

And the unicorns, while not strictly necessary to the story, in fact these are not stories about unicorns, but rather a story about a period in Strand's history that happened to have unicorns in it, I really enjoyed them too. These aren't sweet, sparkle ponies. On the contrary, they can be snarky and have attitude like Nastrus. They don't really understand humans (like why make such a big deal about finding a female, just mate and be done with it), and we don't really understand them (especially their communal Memory), but it is fun to watch the unicorns and Jarrod try to figure each other out, while still building a powerful bond between their very different natures. If humans and unicorns can figure out how to live together could we humans not figure out how to live with each other?

So while these books were not as good, cohesive and complete as I would have wished them to be, I truly enjoyed them and glad I finally got around to reading them after all the years I spent collecting them!