The Last Unicorn
core novel 1968 The Last Unicorn
Record
| First published | 1968 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.16 (127,692 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 294 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780451450524 |
Synopsis
A unicorn has lived alone in her lilac wood for longer than she can remember, content and untroubled until she overhears two hunters remark that unicorns have vanished from the world and she may be the very last one left. Unsettled, she leaves her forest for the first time to learn what became of the others. On her journey she discovers that ordinary people can no longer perceive her true nature, seeing only a white mare, and a talking butterfly drops a cryptic clue pointing to a creature called the Red Bull. She is soon captured by the witch Mommy Fortuna and put on display in a traveling carnival of fraudulent "mythical" beasts, where she is the only genuine wonder besides a caged harpy. There she meets Schmendrick, an inept but sincere magician, who recognizes what she truly is and frees her.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Last Unicorn
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Peter S. Beagle
Notes
- The single continuous 1968 novel -- this project's 7th single-work universe (after The Once and Future King, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Uprooted, Spinning Silver, Piranesi, and Babel).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within The Last Unicorn (standalone work): position 1 of 3: next Two Hearts (2005)
Sources
← The Last Unicorn dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.