The Shadow Unicorn

Susannah D. Ketchum, a former teacher-librarian at the Bishop Strachan
School in Toronto, serves on the Southern Ontario Library Services
Board.

When Arica dreams three times in succession of a strange and angry gray
stallion, she realizes that she is being summoned back to Bundelag, a
parallel universe peopled by fairies, elves, trolls, ogres, and
unicorns. After several hair-raising adventures, she makes her way to
her Uncle Raden’s mine. Here she finds that her evil uncle, with the
aid of an embittered unicorn named Shadow, has immobilized all the other
unicorns and tricked many of the elves into working in the gold mine.
Raden’s plan is to rule all of North Bundelag, and he wants Arica to
help him, using her unique ability to communicate with the unicorns.
Arica knows she must fight this plan with all her might, no matter what
the cost.

The Shadow Unicorn, a sequel to Wish Upon a Unicorn (1999), shares many
of the latter’s strengths—an appealing and determined heroine, a
fully realized alternate world, lots of humor, imaginative description
(“this elf was old, short and round like a barrel, with hair the
colour of dead grass”), and a fast-paced narrative. The two books also
share a number of weaknesses. Other than Arica herself, few of the
characters come alive. The action often appears contrived. As well,
although The Shadow Unicorn stands on its own successfully, readers
already familiar with Wish Upon a Unicorn may find a little too much
repetition. The perils of the second book, and their resolution, are too
similar to those of the first. Nevertheless, the books’ merits
outweigh their weaknesses and both will please young fantasy fans.
Recommended.