Buy The Unicorn Hunters
FORMAT/INFO: The Unicorn Hunters will be published on June 2nd, 2026 by Del Rey. It is 368 pages and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Duchess Anne of Brittany knows that she will never marry for love. As the ruler of a small duchy, she understands that any marriage she enters will be purely for political reasons. So when faced with marriage to the king of France, her resistance is purely political: marrying the king will end the independence of Brittany. Anne needs to find another marriage option without the king knowing, a task made all the harder due to the fact that the king's diviners can spy on a person at any time. But Anne knows of a nearby forest where the magics interfere with a diviner's gifts. In a desperate gambit, Anne announces a grand unicorn hunt in the forest, an event that will hide her real intent: to secretly marry a different king, one who won't require her to give up her duchy's independence. But the forest in question borders a fantastical realm known as the Lost Lands, and it isn't long before Anne realizes her actions have caused the Lost Lands to bleed into the mortal realms, threatening everyone she loves.
The Unicorn Hunters is a historical fantasy that has a wonderful blend of court politics and fairytale adventure. Loosely based on the real Anne of Brittany, much of the story has to deal with real world intrigue. Anne must deftly navigate advisors in her own court as well as envoys from two different royal courts as she tries to stall one marriage long enough to secretly arrange for the second. Through multiple POVs, we see the political chess moves of different characters, each trying to trap the other with clever words and polite decorum.
But woven throughout all the mortal intrigue is a fairytale adventure. Anne accidentally unleashes entities from what is essentially a fae realm known as the Lost Lands. It is a realm that operates by its own rules and logic. As the borders of the Lost Lands expand, the more fantastical things start to occur in the mortal world. The result is a story where Anne has to survive a political dinner in one scene, and figure out how to navigate a hall of endless doors in another. The two sides of the story blend together well and kept me thoroughly engaged in the story.
The one thing I bumped against in this story is that it often felt like problems were resolved too easily. A character could be kidnapped and rescued in a mere few pages, while a seemingly brutal political loss was turned into a victory in a mere blink. I'm all for competent characters, but I felt like some of these dangers needed to last longer to have their weight fully felt. Instead, we race from one problem to the next, which keeps the story moving, but also makes the dangers feel somewhat less threatening.
But overall, I loved the tone and writing of The Unicorn Hunters. It leans into the medieval, fairytale feeling of the story, feeling both real and surreal in equal measure. It was a wonderful adventure and another excellent release from Katherine Arden.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Duchess Anne of Brittany knows that she will never marry for love. As the ruler of a small duchy, she understands that any marriage she enters will be purely for political reasons. So when faced with marriage to the king of France, her resistance is purely political: marrying the king will end the independence of Brittany. Anne needs to find another marriage option without the king knowing, a task made all the harder due to the fact that the king's diviners can spy on a person at any time. But Anne knows of a nearby forest where the magics interfere with a diviner's gifts. In a desperate gambit, Anne announces a grand unicorn hunt in the forest, an event that will hide her real intent: to secretly marry a different king, one who won't require her to give up her duchy's independence. But the forest in question borders a fantastical realm known as the Lost Lands, and it isn't long before Anne realizes her actions have caused the Lost Lands to bleed into the mortal realms, threatening everyone she loves.
The Unicorn Hunters is a historical fantasy that has a wonderful blend of court politics and fairytale adventure. Loosely based on the real Anne of Brittany, much of the story has to deal with real world intrigue. Anne must deftly navigate advisors in her own court as well as envoys from two different royal courts as she tries to stall one marriage long enough to secretly arrange for the second. Through multiple POVs, we see the political chess moves of different characters, each trying to trap the other with clever words and polite decorum.
But woven throughout all the mortal intrigue is a fairytale adventure. Anne accidentally unleashes entities from what is essentially a fae realm known as the Lost Lands. It is a realm that operates by its own rules and logic. As the borders of the Lost Lands expand, the more fantastical things start to occur in the mortal world. The result is a story where Anne has to survive a political dinner in one scene, and figure out how to navigate a hall of endless doors in another. The two sides of the story blend together well and kept me thoroughly engaged in the story.
The one thing I bumped against in this story is that it often felt like problems were resolved too easily. A character could be kidnapped and rescued in a mere few pages, while a seemingly brutal political loss was turned into a victory in a mere blink. I'm all for competent characters, but I felt like some of these dangers needed to last longer to have their weight fully felt. Instead, we race from one problem to the next, which keeps the story moving, but also makes the dangers feel somewhat less threatening.
But overall, I loved the tone and writing of The Unicorn Hunters. It leans into the medieval, fairytale feeling of the story, feeling both real and surreal in equal measure. It was a wonderful adventure and another excellent release from Katherine Arden.
3:00 AM | 
Posted by
Caitlin G. |
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