Well, things were pretty bad in the land of MarBryn. Magh, an evil sorcerer utilized unicorn horns and hooves to create his magical potions and spells. Those he used, to increase his power and to conquer everyone in his path. All of the unicorns from the Tribe of the Metal Horn were now gone . . . except for twelve survivors.
Before the blue unicorn was born, Numen told Alumna, the aluminum-horned oracle, that he had a plan to bring the tribe back home to Unimaise. His prophecy was, âOnly the blue unicorn can join with the Moon-Star. Until then, no new unicorns will be born.â Blue was the last unicorn born. Twenty years later, his horn was still covered with a plain blue colored hide. There was not a glint of metal to be seen on it or his hooves. And he still didnât have any magic. But he was no longer scrawny and he had his wits. Though no one else in the tribe thought he had a chance, Blue felt ready to make Magh pay for his evil deeds. And he went off to do it alone. That was Blueâs first mistake. If the entire tribe was not standing horn-tip to horn-tip at the proper time and the exact place to help usher the Moon-Star Spirit into Blueâs horn, he would die. Then, the rest of the tribe would really be doomed.
Readers will follow along two journey paths in this book. Blue is joined in his travels by his mentor Gaiso, the Stag and his friend, Girasol the Firebird as they try to find their way across a danger-filled MarBryn to Muzika Woods. The rest of Blueâs tribe is forced to follow another route due to Nix Nickle Hornâs unfortunate incident with a Manticore. Nix, the great unicorn defender must safely lead the way for Ghel, the Golden-Horned unicorn; Silubhra Silver Horn; Cornum the Brass-Horned unicorn; Steel Horned Style; Cuprum the Copper-Horned unicorn; Tin-Horned Tinam; Dr. Zinko; Iown the Iron-Horned unicorn and the others in an action packed adventure to their destination in Muzika Woods. Both journey paths converge there in the Nebulium Circle.
This was quite good! The characters were fun and well written, though I felt they got a bit numerous at times. The flow and pacing was excellent; there was no lolly gagging to bore the reader, nor did it move so fast that you felt like you missed something or got reader's whip lash lol. The story was very interesting and engaging. Well written, too.
It did feel a bit involved and complicated at times, which is fine in and of itself, I had no problems with it, but I wonder if it might be a bit much for the lower part of the recommended reading age. I could be wrong, of course,and just worrying about nothing! Either way, I'm going to have my kids read this when they get a bit older. I think they'll enjoy it.
Bob says: 4 Stars