Title Unicorn Mountain Series --- Author Michael Bishop Cover Art --- Publisher Spectra - 1989 First Printing 1988 Category Urban Fantasy Warnings Homosexual topics Main Characters Libby Quarrels, Bo Gavin, Sam Coldpony Main Elements Unicorns

Unicorns roam the uplands of Libby Quarrels' mountain ranch. When Libby takes the AIDS-afflicted Bo Gavin out of exile in Atlanta to live with her in Colorado, she sees no connection between his disease and the fantastic secret she guards. But it so happens the unicorns suffer from a plague of their own, and the alternate world that touches the high country has unleashed magic sinister as well as marvelous. While Libby's Indian ranch hand Sam is stalked by his wife's headless ghost, his estranged daughter has visions that propel her toward the grueling Sun Dance ritual, where an encounter with the spirit world may decide the fate of both the unicorns and the people whose lives they've touched.

I'd hesistated to read this book. Even though it has unicorns in it (and there are literal unicorns, not just symoblic ones), the fact that the core of the story was around Bo dying from AIDS, it didn't sound like it would be filled with joy. But I found it on OpenLibrary so gave it a chance.

Now a warning about OpenLibrary books, the epub versions were converted to text from scans so typos abound, and given that not all the words are English ones, it made it hard to figure out if it was a mispelling or just an unfamiliar word. And every now and then there is a laugh out loud mistake (the best one, to paraphrase since the book has expired and I can't look it up now, went something like - "And God wrote across the top of the mountain and proclaimed to all - 1 AM". Sure, it was easy to figure out it should be "I AM" and not 1 in the morning but, hey, that was funny. It's a bit like the answer to all things being 42...)

This book is a bit of a tough read. It's got homophobia of course. But also racism against the native americans that also feature prominently in this story. Of course Bishop is neither a homophobe nor racist, he puts both those characters into...well I wouldn't say favorable lights, since they are faulty to an extreme, but he still treats them as human, no more nor less faulty than all those around them. And, well, you know the story is going to end with one of the three main characters dying. Oh, did I mention the unicorns are dying too?

It is however and interesting blend of fantasy and harsh reality. The unicorns appear to come from another world, disappearing back there every now and then, only to return the next year. And there are symbolic unicorns too, such as the pewter one Libby steals from a store for no particular reason (even Libby isn't exactly "normal") and that reappears throughout the novel at key moments. Her TV can channel shows from the world the unicorns come from with bizarre results. And of course there are the Native American scenes, particularly with Coldpony's daughter Paisley (yep, she was born in the 60's) that can become surreal. And the characters at times can get downright philosophical.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book. The characters are hard to like. The topic is depressing. It even irked me that for some reason the Native American name for unicorns is Kar'tajan which makes no sense, and I'm reading Odell Shepard's book right now and don't think I noted that spelling. The typos didn't help. But there was something, reading about these faulty humans who seem to get pissed at each other for incomprehensible reasons (I think people would say they were all PMS'ing but that's sexist and I've never been that irational, even during that time of the month) which after a while got annoying. I mean I know Bo is dying so he kind of has a right to be irritable but still, four hundred pages of snarky remarks can drag a bit.

However as unicorn books go, it is definitely unique, and if you're like me, trying to read a wide range of authors and their differing takes on the legendary creature, it might be worth adding to your list.