The Last Unicorn
Notes
This is well-known a as classic of fantasy(?) literature, but it's new to me. I remember I read the first bit back in college, but didn't get an accurate sense of its flavor, and gave it up.
But man: I see now. It's an incredibly deft combination of myth and old stories, combined with a sensitivity that allows him to take ancient, mythic elements (manticores, the binding of Fenris, etc) add new and particularly modern elements - like the Robin-hood wannabe who writes his own epic ballads, and waits to be discovered by an ethnographer field recordist. It's such a unique and well-done approach, my initial thought on reading it was "nobody can ever write a book like this again."
But man: I see now. It's an incredibly deft combination of myth and old stories, combined with a sensitivity that allows him to take ancient, mythic elements (manticores, the binding of Fenris, etc) add new and particularly modern elements - like the Robin-hood wannabe who writes his own epic ballads, and waits to be discovered by an ethnographer field recordist. It's such a unique and well-done approach, my initial thought on reading it was "nobody can ever write a book like this again."
Noted on April 30, 2017