THE DRAGON AND THE UNICORN

by A.A. Attanasio ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1996

In another outlandish fantasy (The Moon's Wife, 1993, etc.), Attanasio attempts to blend cosmology with Tolkien-esque creationism, Christianity, and Celtic and Norse myth. Planet Earth is a Dragon--literally--that voraciously absorbs life energy to feed the dreamsong by which it asserts its oneness with the universe's other planet-dragons. Occasionally the Dragon is tormented by Fire Lords, pure energy angels who entered the universe along with the Big Bang. The Earth's magnetic field forms an energy tree where dwell all manner of godlike beings, chief among them the one-eyed Furor, an ally of the Dragon's. The Fire Lords capture one of Furor's demons, but, in order to restrain its terrible power and force it to serve them, they need the help of a sun-stallion; this, taking up residence on Earth as a unicorn, will have the task of mediating the energy flows to and from the Dragon. The demon, compressed, constrained, and reborn of woman, is called Lailoken, a.k.a, the wizard Merlinus. Amazingly enough, all this razzle-dazzle is mere preamble to the bulk of the story, which concerns Queen Ygrane, Uther Pendragon, and their son Arthor. Awesome, sure, but desperately strained and set forth in an excruciating present tense. What signally fails to come across is why any of it should matter.

Pub Date: June 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 512

Publisher: HarperPrism

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION