Unicorn Mountain
#6013.53 adjusted 3.89 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1988 Reading commitment Low Michael Bishop Last reviewed 2026-10-26
Overview
Michael Bishop's Unicorn Mountain (Arbor House, 1988) is a fantasy for adults set in 1986 in the small town of Snowy Falls, Colorado, where unicorns roam the uplands of a cattle ranch and join a dying man, the ranch owner, and a Ute man and his daughter in a test of courage and humanity. It won the 1989 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award; a revised author's preferred text appeared from Fairwood Press in 2020.
Urban fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Unicorn Mountain Michael Bishop
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Unicorn Mountain | 1988 | 1 | core | 3.53 (203 ratings) |
Michael Bishop's standalone.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Unicorn Mountain? Unicorn Mountain's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Unicorn Mountain finished? Complete (1988).
- How much reading does Unicorn Mountain take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is Unicorn Mountain ranked? #601 in this site's official ranking, based on 203 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #601?
Ranked #601 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.53 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (203 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.35 behind #600, The Shadow.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 203 ratings · Ranks #601 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Mythopoeic Award, 1989: won: Unicorn Mountain
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Suggestions computed from what Unicorn Mountain and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps Mythic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.65
- Rusalka Historical fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.60
- The Buried Giant Historical fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.59
- The Charlatan Duology Dark fantasy / Urban fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.59
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.53 across 203 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: Unicorn Mountain (Michael Bishop) accepted 2026-10-26
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Blackwell's: Unicorn Mountain (Arbor House, 1988, 1st edition; publisher's synopsis) Tier 2
- Michael Bishop bibliography: Unicorn Mountain editions Tier 2
- Mythopoeic Society (final ballots) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-26
Rule: Core Canon = Unicorn Mountain (1988), a standalone novel. The revised 2020 text is an edition of the same work.