I waited a long time for this book. It seems from the moment Diana said ‘killer unicorns’ on her blog, time slowed down. Then, the gorgeous cover. It was all too much. I pre-ordered it (I never do that except with, say, Joss Jackson’s latest) so I could gobble it up as soon as I got home from Kentucky.
I didn’t gobble. I took a couple bites, rolled them around, and then ate the rest at my leisure. Don’t get my wrong, I enjoyed the book. But it had some hurdles.
First, the opening of the book. I don’t know why, and I’m sure it’s just me, but the first chunk of the book almost felt like a parody of itself. I have no good reason to think this. I just had that feeling as I read it. It wasn’t tongue-in-cheek. I think it’s because the character is smarmy about the unicorns herself and disbelieving and blech about it, and I think I was just sort of channeling Astrid’s feelings about it. I’m not sure; I just know I was a bit dismayed by it. (The cutesy chapter titles did not help this. They were vaguely amusing but to me just contributed to my sense of mocking, which I know wasn’t Diana’s intent.)
Also, it was slow. Till the girls assemble at the cloisters, you’re a good ways into the book. Diana writes well so it’s not too bothersome, and most people probably wouldn’t care, but I was thinking, can we get on with it?
I had trouble telling the other hunters apart. When we first meet them, we get enough of a sketch, but then things happen and I’m left thinking, wait, which one was that? I had NO CLUE unless it was Astrid, Cory, or Phil. (BTW, I LOVED Cory. Loved her, I tell you.)
Once we got moving, the story was great. I liked the plot, the action and the intrigue (if you can call it that) were dispersed nicely. I don’t know about you, but when I see a middle-aged, trim, dour WASPy man who runs a big ole company, my first thought, thank you entertainment media, is BAD GUY. Diana didn’t have a lot hiding on that reveal, but how she exploits it is really fun.
As Astrid comes to terms with the unicorns and her scientist-fighter dichotomy, the teasing quality went away. We had theme going on; it’s hard to be mocky at that point. So, was my not-taking-this-seriously feeling imagined, or should I give major props to Diana for immersing me in Astrid’s feelings? She is apparently very good at that, and works hard on it, so I’m fairly sure that it’s the latter, even if it worked against her a bit.