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Title | Wonder Light
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Author | R.R.Russell
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Cover Art | Ian Schoenherr
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Publisher | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky - 2013
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First Printing | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky - 2013
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Title | The Unicorn Thief
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Author | R.R.Russell
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky - 2014
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First Printing | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky - 2014
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Category | Middle Grade
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Twig, Ben, Wonder Light, Griffin, Merill
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Main Elements | Unicorns
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Website | ---
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 Wonder Light
Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered.
Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible — someone who needs her. Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn.
A baby unicorn.
Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them...
The Unicorn Thief
Twig and Ben are unicorn riders--guardians whose job it is to keep the last free unicorn herd safe. But a new danger is threatening the beautiful, mysterious creatures of Lonehorn Island. A thief from Terracornus has snuck onto the misty island and stolen Ben's loyal unicorn, Indy. There's only one path for Ben and Twig--straight into the secret, shadowy heart of the island and through the passage to Terracornus.
But their rescue mission is unexpectedly complicated by a secret Ben has been hiding. A secret about the Queen of Terracornus who has enslaved all the unicorns of Ben's homeland. A secret that could save them all--or start a war.
Twig is a girl with secrets that wants to do nothing more but hide inside her "shell", the new red jacket her stepmother gave her as she ships her off to a haunted island to live on a pony ranch for troubled girls. But the haunting isn't what it appears at first, instead of ghostly boys and spirit horses Twig discovers unicorns are real. They aren't the magical creatures of myth but that doesn't change their wild beauty, and the ferocious danger, for you see unicorns are omnivores and like to have a little meat from time to time and will kill ponies and horses to get it. They are also incredibly territorial, using their horns and hooves to defend the herd, and this herd is led by a stallion gone bad.
When Twig becomes the guardian of a unicorn filly, it is her job to ensure that she grows up into a tame and gentle mare...but this is Twig we're talking about, she isn't any good at anything, is she? Can she really learn to train this wild creature, to ride her, and to defend her from the stallion that wants her dead?
I found it took a while for me to get into the story, grumpy Twig wasn't all that fun to read about, but once the filly was born and the mysteries of the island started unfolding I found myself engrossed in the book. I hope I can find a copy of the sequel, I'd like to know more about these mysterious unicorns living among us.
I enjoyed the second book much more as Twig had mostly gotten over her angst, and of course we get to learn more about the unicorns and Terracornus. There was also a lot more action right from the start, with the theft of a unicorn, the search for him, meeting with people from Terracornus and secrets exposed, and a duel in the Death Swamp.
There is room for more books in the series, it doesn't have a completely solid ending, but also it doesn't require more. While the first book left too many loose ends, this one basically finishes the storyline, even if the reader maybe wants to know more, about Twig learning to be a unicorn herder, about what happens in Terracornus, and yet those things will take years, maybe decades to unfold so it's a proper place to end, leaving the rest up to the reader's imagination.
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