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A review by michaeldrakich
Unicorns! by Frank Owen, Harlan Ellison, Beverly Evans, Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodore Sturgeon, Vonda N. McIntyre, L. Sprague de Camp, Gene Wolfe, Eric Norden, Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, Stephen R. Donaldson, Avram Davidson, T.H. White, Roger Zelazny, Thomas Burnett Swann, Larry Niven
2.0
When I picked this up my expectations were through the roof. Reading the list of authors who had contributed short stories to this collection it was a veritable "Who's who" of fantasy writers. What could go wrong?
Where do I begin? Let's start with the far too often the same applications to unicorns seen in the vast majority of the stories. All white, flowing manes, spiral horns, cloven feet, lion's tail, shy, magical healing, and always laying their heads in a maiden's lap. Yesh! A little variety, please.
Then there are the actual stories themselves. Bland, bland, bland! Yes, there were exceptions. My favorites were UNICORN VARIATION by Roger Zelazny and THE FLIGHT OF THE HORSE by Larry Niven. Good stories both, but 5 stars? Nope. They were 4's.
That means everything else in the book I would rate at 3 stars or less. Normally, when I review a collection of short stories I go to the effort of rating each story separately, but in this case, due to the all too familiar storylines in so many, I can't be bothered.
When a collection cannot provide, in my mind, a single short worthy of a 5-star review then the whole thing gets downgraded despite a 3-star average. Hence, my rating of 2 stars.
Where do I begin? Let's start with the far too often the same applications to unicorns seen in the vast majority of the stories. All white, flowing manes, spiral horns, cloven feet, lion's tail, shy, magical healing, and always laying their heads in a maiden's lap. Yesh! A little variety, please.
Then there are the actual stories themselves. Bland, bland, bland! Yes, there were exceptions. My favorites were UNICORN VARIATION by Roger Zelazny and THE FLIGHT OF THE HORSE by Larry Niven. Good stories both, but 5 stars? Nope. They were 4's.
That means everything else in the book I would rate at 3 stars or less. Normally, when I review a collection of short stories I go to the effort of rating each story separately, but in this case, due to the all too familiar storylines in so many, I can't be bothered.
When a collection cannot provide, in my mind, a single short worthy of a 5-star review then the whole thing gets downgraded despite a 3-star average. Hence, my rating of 2 stars.