Mirrenwood: A Tale of the Unicorn
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A forbidden forest, hiding mysterious ruins and ancient sorceries.
A royal family, torn apart by jealousy and betrayal.
A legendary creature, whose appearance may save them all—or destroy the world.
Welcome to the Mirrenwood…
The royal physician Zimenes is in a bind: his most important patient—and his best friend—King Adalmund is gravely ill and wasting away. A cure exists, but the medicine requires the powdered horn of a unicorn. But the king has sealed off the Mirrenwood forest, and refuses to allow the unicorn to be hunted, despite his friend’s urgent pleas.
Everything changes when Adalmund’s daughter Vialle returns to the kingdom. Zimenes taught the young princess to read and write and cast the cards, but he hasn’t seen her since she left to continue her schooling. Vialle is determined to take charge of her father’s cure: she has hired hunters, horses, and hounds, and she persuades her father to open the Mirrenwood. She will be the lure, the “maiden of noble blood” required to draw the unicorn from hiding.
Will the hunters find the creature they seek? Will they heal their king, and repair the fractured kingdom? Or does the maze-like Mirrenwood have its own twisted desires? Join Zimenes, Vialle, and their companions on an epic quest that will take them into the dark heart of the Mirrenwood—and beyond.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hallman debuts with a promising but half-baked mythic fantasy. King Adalmund of Averonne succumbs to a mysterious illness, and the only way to cure him is to capture the fabled unicorn from the Mirrenwood wilderness and use the powder from its horn to make an antidote. The king commands his friend and royal physician, Zimenes, and his daughter, Princess Vialle, to lead this mission. As the two plunge into the heart of Mirrenwood, Zimenes develops a strong sexual attraction to the princess, despite also romancing the king's wife, Tesse, who is Vialle's mother. Hallman devotes much of the story to Zimenes's identity search and romantic frustration as he juggles his inner turmoil and the critical task at hand, which leaves the magic system murky and many questions unanswered as plot plays second fiddle to character study. For readers not invested in Zimenes's vaguely incestuous love triangle, the intrigue doesn't pick up until the climax, when the palpable tension between the leads comes to its head and a truly clever twist is revealed. Fantasy readers will need to put in some work to enjoy this.
