5 Stars

Publisher:

Date of publication: March 2nd, 2017

Genre: Fantasy, Children

Where you can find The Blue Unicorn’s Journey To OSM: Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

“The metal horned unicorns are doomed!” That’s what Lauda Lead Horn wailed when she first saw the tribe’s new savior. OK, so his horn was not metal… .and he did not have a magic power… .and he was really a puny little runt. But doomed? Were things really that bad? 

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, “Only the blue unicorn can join with the Moon-Star. Until then, no new unicorns will be born.” 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 didn’t 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 Blue’s 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 Blue’s 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 Blue’s tribe is forced to follow another route due to Nix Nickle Horn’s 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 chapter book is a collector’s dream containing page after page of lavish artwork. It contains nearly 100 pages of story text by Sybrina Durant and the same number of pages of magnificent water-color illustrations by Dasguptarts. This book, written by Sybrina Durant and illustrated by Dasguptarts, offers readers a visual feast of over forty beautiful water-color pictures that each span two pages. Forty-two – easy to digest two-page chapters are chock full of adventurous and entertaining morsels. This illustrated book will become a favorite of teen and older fantasy readers.  A companion coloring/ character description book is also available at any online bookstore. 

My review:

I didn’t know that The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM was a children’s fantasy book. Don’t give me that look. I know that it is pretty obvious from looking at the cover that it is. Here’s the deal. I am used to reading and reviewing adult fantasy (among other things). When I was approached to review The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM, I assumed that it was a children’s fantasy. I also based that on the blurb, which I didn’t read all the way. I was excited because I haven’t read a good adult fantasy with unicorn’s…ever. Saying that I was surprised when I started reading was an understatement. But, the more I read the book, the more I started to enjoy it. By the end of the book, I loved the book and was glad that I read the book.

There are three plotlines to The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM. The first storyline is about Blue and the prophecy that he is fated to fulfill (even if he didn’t have a metal horn). The second storyline follows the tribe of metal horns as they race to the Muzika Woods to meet up with Blue. The third storyline is about the evil wizard, Magh and his obsession with wiping out the unicorns. All the storylines were very well written. I got invested in each one. I will admit, it did take me longer to warm up to the metal horns (except for Ghel) because of the way they treated Blue.

I felt bad for Blue during the first half of the book. He didn’t feel that he belongs to the tribe because his horn was made of leather instead of metal. He wasn’t treated badly but he was made to feel that he wasn’t as good as the rest of the tribe. I understood why he took off after Alumina explained exactly what his prophecy was and what he needed to do. He wanted to be accepted.

The tribe’s journey to Musika Woods was more danger-filled than Blue’s. They also realized, with the help of Ghel, that Blue was more important to the tribe than any of them would admit.

While Magh was a very bad and evil person, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He didn’t ask to be bad and evil. When it was revealed what happened to him, my heart broke. For both Magh and the unicorns.

I am not going to go into the last half of the book or what Alumina told Blue in the beginning. I will say this. The end of the book was fantastic. The author was able to bring all the storylines together and merge them flawlessly. It was also action-packed. Now onto what Alumina told Blue. It factors hugely into the ending. HUGELY. The end of the book made my heart happy.

I am not going to do a What I Liked/What I Disliked. If I did, I would be giving away the ending and some major spoilers. My suggestion, go read the book. It won’t disappoint.

I would give The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM a Child rating. There is violence but it is very mild. There is no sex or sexual situations. There is no language. I will say that I would use discretion if you are going to read this book to a younger (under 5) child. There are some frightening scenes that could scare a younger child.

There are no trigger warnings in The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM.

I would recommend The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM to family and friends. This is a book that I would read and I would feel comfortable reading to my children.

I would like to thank the publishers for allowing me to read and review The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM.

All opinions stated in this review of The Blue Unicorn’s Journey to OSM are mine

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**