Author: Lou Anders
Illustrator: Brian Miller
© Date: 2020
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 271
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Not really, just a few that are used repeatedly at the start of the chapter
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: Have you ever heard of a unicorn who is more interested in science experiments than magic?
Or a flaming horse who’s a walking fire hazard?
But with the pumpkin-headed terror known as Jack o’ the Hunt on the loose, and monsters untold threatening their home, this unlikely pair must team up to save all of the Whisperwood-and themselves!
Award-winner Lou Anders delivers a fantasy adventure about friendship, fearlessness, and finding your true herd.
Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this awhile ago.
Page Pig Thoughts: This book was darker than I would usually read. While the fairy queen is Queen Titania, she is not for the Rainbow Magic Fairy sort, this fairy queen winds up wearing a crown of severed unicorn horns. That being said, it was rather humorous. The informal narration style was unique and I like how it worked with the story. For those that dip their toes in the scarier, darker waters, it might be a good book.
Family Unit:
- Unicorns live together in a herd called a Blessing.
- Night Mares live together in a herd called a Curse.
- Sabledusk found Midnight when she appeared in the meadow (night mares pop into existence without warning, with no knowledge of where they came from). Sabledusk felt a bond with Midnight and declared herself Midnight’s mother.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Unicorns and night mares hate one another because of who they are.
- The powerful fairy queen that was supposedly protecting the unicorns was actually imprisoning them, although they didn’t know that.
Positive Items:
- Curious and Midnight discover that they have common goals and become friends despite coming from different sides of the Glistening Isles.
- Most of the night mares choose to stay night mares because they are content with who they are, they do not need to be “healed” back into unicorns.
- Through the adventures of Wartle, the puckle, we can see that all creatures can bring good things, but no one is perfect.
- We see the value of looking below the surface of how things seem to be.
- We see that purely basing all of one’s choices in science can have its flaws.
- In the end, the Whisperwood is not made all beautiful and “good” by the fairy queen, nor is it filled with all wicked and “bad” things by Jack o’ the Hunt. The Whisperwood is no longer just dark, some green grows and some new, mysteriously wicked creatures move in; but everyone is content with the mystery.
Items of Interest:
- People hunted unicorns for the magical healing power of their horns, but the somewhat frivolous reasons for hunting them meant that they hunted unicorns until no more could be found. The unicorns went to hide in the Glistening Isles in the Court of Flowers with the fairy queen. On the other side of the Glistening Isles is the Whisperwood, which is home to the Court of Thistles and the Wicked Fairy Creatures, including Jack o’ the Hunt. Night Mares live in the Whisperwood. Unicorns and night mares do not get along. Nightmares believe that unicorns are snooty and full of themselves, believe they are better than everyone else, and take the best spots in the Isles. Unicorns believe that they are good, pure creatures and night mares are Creatures of Wickedness; which is why unicorns live in the Willowood and night mares live in the Whisperwood.
- Midnight, a young night mare, goes searching for a wispy wood wink to help control her fire. Curious, a young unicorn, goes searching for a wispy wood wink for a science experiement. The two cross paths and try to beat the other to catch the wispy wood wink.
- Curious travels with Wartle, a puckle, because he has hands and they are ever so useful. Everyone else finds puckles to be a nuisance.
- Midnight saves Curious from some kelpies that were trying to drown him. Her motivation was proving that night mares are better than unicorns.
- Jack o’ the Hunt finds Midnight and Curious and tries to catch them in his pumpkin vines. He speaks in riddles. Midnight again saves Curious.
- Midnight save Curious from a festerling attack, which was causing oozing sores and sickness for Curious.
- Midnight returns to the Curse of night mares to impress them with her controlled fire. However, her plan of controlling her fire with the wispy wood wink goes wrong and the night mares are now without their nighttime protection from the wicked fairies. Oh, and Curious comes out of hiding. So the night mares want to stomp Midnight and Curious.
- Jack o’ the Hunt appears. Sabledusk, the mother figure of Midnight, sacrifices herself to give Midnight a chance to run away. Midnight runs as she sees Sabledusk trapped in the pumpkin vines.
- Poor Mad Tom guides a raft along the river. He is a young human. As a child, he wandered too far into the woods and the fairy queen abducted him. She took him to be a servant, jester, pet, and toy. She cast him out when she got bored with him.
- Queen Titania, the fairy queen, captures Midnight and Curious on her boat. She and her fellow fairies are kinda creepy. She returns Curious to his herd and takes Midnight to her castle. Queen Titania then puts Midnight into the dungeon.
- Curious leaves the unicorn herd to rescue Midnight.
- An enchanted mirror brings Jack o’ the Hunt to Queen Titania. Jack has been bringing severed unicorn horns to Queen Titania, who has been using them to make a crown. She uses the crown to create powerful healing magic. The magic is powerful enough to turn Midnight into a unicorn. Which is when we learn that night mares are unicorns that had their horns severed, so the crown horn “heals” Midnight. The queen rides off on the unicorn version of Midnight, who is not happy how things are going.
- Curious figures out that iron wards off fairies, so he has Tom put an iron horseshoe on his hoof to save Midnight.
- Midnight arrives in the night mare glen with the fairy queen on her back. Now that she is a unicorn, Midnight’s mother does not recognize her.
- Queen Titania, the fairy queen, magics all of the night mares out of the glen and starts making all of the wicked fairies leave.
- Curious burns the fairy queen with his new horseshoe.
- Jack attempts to use the night mares to open a portal to bring in bigger, more terrible wicked fairies.
- Midnight breaks off her own unicorn horn to become a night mare again with her wild night mare fire magic again. Somehow she maintains her sense of self and keeps her bearings [maybe because she broke off her own horn?]. Midnight manages to stomp around to stop Jack’s portal. Curious stomps Jack’s pumpkin head with the horseshoe foot, the burnt pumpkin shell flies off the body and the body fled into the forest.
- The fairy queen tries to coax all of the night mares into being healed by the crown because surely they want to be unicorns. She is chased off by the Slumbering Cindersloth that suddenly wakes up.
- The crown is used to heal the night mares that want to be unicorns again. Once the crown magic is used and all of the night mares are content with their choices, Midnight stomps on the crown and destroys it. Yes, Midnight is still a night mare. Most of the night mares chose to stay as they were and live where they lived.
- Curious and Midnight are best friends, even if they are a unicorn and a night mare. Now all of the unicorns and night mares visit one another and are on more friendly terms.