Rampant

by Diana Peterfreund

“Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . . Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years. Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries. However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.” (from the publisher)

I admit to being mildly curious about this title whenever anybody mentioned ‘killer unicorns’ but I never gave it any serious consideration until I started reading the first couple chapters that were available online. After that, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the book. Luckily, I got a copy through my library and started reading it again. I got it on Thursday, which also happened to be the night Bones and Fringe premiered, so I didn’t read the book until afterwards. And then I had to go to work the next day, so I didn’t have much time to read it then either. And this past weekend, I had a friend come down and visit, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the book until Sunday night. Instead, after my friend fell asleep at 1:30am Friday night, I stayed up to read Rampant. I read until 3:30am- and I finished the book. I cannot even begin to say how much I enjoyed Rampant. It was fun, serious, a little scary, dramatic and had a few twists that I didn’t see coming. All of which makes a book good and I really enjoyed the main character, Astrid.

Some of my favorite scenes were when Astrid was either in the most danger or reacting to a battle scene. Like the scene between Astrid and Bucephalus when Astrid is suffering from the alicorn poisoning in the park or when Astrid brings the thunder down on the other girls in the unicorn-bone-decorated ‘trophy room’. I was wholeheartedly satisfied with the battle-oriented, warrior-training plot of this novel. I like female protagonists to be skilled, strong, powerful and still feminine- and Astrid was all of these things. I only wish that we would have seen more of her in the dominant warrior role, rather than seeing her adjusting to her powers and learning to control them. But hey, hopefully this is only the first book in a forthcoming series.

I’m extremely curious to see if there are going to be any more books- some things weren’t fully explained or were forgotten about that I hope will be addressed in another volume. Plus, I just really want to read more about the Order of the Lioness and Astrid and Phil.