Killer Unicorns

I have (perhaps stupidly) committed myself to another blog, in which my roommate and I will document our progress as we train for the 2011 marathon. Last night Psychic Roommate and I completed our first run around the Reservoir in Central Park.

New post at Running Roommates!

Read about it here! It’s a good thing we’ve started training. There are 5lbs of post-holiday pudge I need to get rid of, 10lbs altogether I’d like to lose. Tonight I will do a nice, restorative yoga practice to recover. Running is really hard on the body! Doesn’t help I have one flat foot, loose ligaments in my shoulders, and one bum knee. I’m a young and decrepit, how sad.

But you know who isn’t young and decrepit and is instead young and awesome? Astrid Llewellyn from Diana Peterfreund‘s RAMPANT. I read this novel months ago, but never got around to giving it a proper review. Hopefully White-Harp will be chiming in with her thoughts as well via vlog. (We are ambitious, White-Harp and me.) Review follows beneath the cut.

Review of RAMPANT by Diana Peterfreund

RAMPANT by Diana Peterfreund

All Astrid Llewellyn wants to do is survive high school and become a doctor. Unfortunately, her mother (who may or may not be crazy) has different plans for her only daughter. Astrid had grown up listening to her mother’s eccentric tales of rabid, rampaging unicorns but it isn’t until her boyfriend is attacked by one that Astrid becomes convinced.

Soon she is off to Rome to train at a convent with other female virgin descendants of Alexander the Great, otherwise known as the only people in the world who can save you from killer unicorns. But Astrid isn’t sure being a unicorn hunter is something she wants–especially that pesky virginity thing–but when a very real conspiracy hurts someone she loves, she will do anything (including unicorn hunting) to settle the score.

Two words. Philippa. Llewellyn. I loved Astrid’s older cousin/sister-surrogate to pieces. I loved that she was intelligent, pretty, popular, in college, and virginal. Phil seemed real to me–like a girl I would know, or a girl like whom I wish to be. Her reasons for not having sex are as realistic and, well, reasonable as any I’ve ever read. I loved that she was a role model for Astrid and that she wasn’t perfect either (convincing your underage cousin to sneak out in a foreign country probably isn’t the smartest idea). Also, her name is Philippa. My favourite character in the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES series by Lucy Maud Montgomery was Philippa Gordon (also called Phil). I was predisposed to like her.

The rest of the novel was enjoyable. I was amused at the inclusion of the kirin, which in the Korean and Japanese languages means “giraffe”. In fact, it’s actually a mystical Chinese beast called the Qilin that someone decided best resembled a giraffe. Go figure. I thought Peterfreund’s reinvention of the unicorn myth was interesting, although I will admit that even I had a hard time wrapping my mind around these things as bloodthirsty creatures. My one issue was actually the romance; while I liked Giovanni, he seemed almost too good to be true. I like my romantic leads to be less polished and more prickly. Also less hot. But that is a personal preference.

Recommended. Now, can anyone let me know when the next book in this series will be released?