Remind Me

Unicorns do not exist. And if they ever did, they've been extinct for the last 150 years. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop one from attacking Astrid's boyfriend. Now Astrid is forced to accept what her mother has believed for years - that unicorns a) exist and b) are not your friendly neighbourhood mythical creatures, but fanged, deadly, man-eating monsters. She also learns that as a virgin descendant of Alexander the Great, she is one of the few people in existence who is able to fight them. Despite her protests, her mother ships her off to the Cloisters of Ctesias in Rome to learn the art of unicorn-killing. Astrid would much rather learn how to heal than learn how to kill, and the drama that comes from living with other female virgin descendants of Alexander the Great is a pain. Meeting a guy makes living in the cloisters more bearable - and he could be the means of her escape.

I've been looking forward to this book ever since I started seeing it mentioned on book blogs, and I am happy to say that I was not disappointed in any way. The world building is superb, the unicorns more deadly than cheesy, and the girls can wield knives better than any non-unicorn-killing hunter ever could. But aside from being a fun and fast read, Rampant is about choices. Not only the lack of choice when Astrid is sent to the cloisters, but also the choice of when, how and why she might consider losing her ability to hunt unicorns, which Peterfreund pulls off without sounding at all preachy. I also love the way the author has taken traditional unicorn lore and given it her own twist. I would recommend this to anybody who loves strong female heroines, especially fans of Tamora Pierce and Graceling.