Cover of The Black Unicorn

The Black Unicorn

core novel 1987 Magic Kingdom of Landover

Record

First published1987
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.80 (19,520 ratings, collected 2026-09-12)
Page count307
First-edition ISBN9780345335289
Internal chronology2

Synopsis

In the second Landover novel, King Ben Holiday is still working to earn the loyalty of his fractious new kingdom when the powerful witch Nightshade sets in motion a plan built around the black unicorn, a corrupted, malevolent creature bound up with old magic that Nightshade intends to use against him. As strange omens and dangerous encounters mount across Landover, Ben's court wizard Questor Thews and the scribe Abernathy, still adjusting to his half-transformed existence between dog and man, struggle to protect their king from forces that seem to be closing in from every direction. Ben must also contend with growing feelings for the sylph Willow, even as the black unicorn's influence threatens to unravel the fragile order he has only just begun to build in his adopted realm.

Where it sits

Notes

  • From the series record (Magic Kingdom of Landover): Distinct continuity from Terry Brooks's Shannara -- a lawyer buys a fictional magic kingdom advertised for sale and becomes its king.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

Sources

← Magic Kingdom of Landover dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.