From the bestselling author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts comes a sublime historical fantasy, as the daughter of the king of Brittany must venture into a dark wood of ancient enchantments to avoid union with the French.
Anne of Brittany was a child when her land was invaded, her castle besieged, and her royal father driven to his death.
Now Brittany is occupied by her enemies, her treasury empty, and only one thing is lacking to complete her realm’s subjugation: she is required, on pain of the sword, to marry the King of France.
But Anne cannot. She has promised her dead father that Brittany would never be conquered.
Defiantly, she betroths herself in secret to France’s greatest enemy. But in a world where courts may spy on each other by magic, there is only one way to solemnize this illicit union.
Under the guise of a hunting party, Anne takes her court deep into a deep forest, a strange place dogged with rumours of ancient enchantments; a place where diviners cannot see. She tells the French that she had gone there to hunt unicorns.
It’s a ruse, a lie, a feint.
But when, against all expectations, a unicorn does appear and a wounded stranger stumbles from the trees and falls at her feet, Anne is plunged into a world of enchantment where a doomed sovereign might find the power to change the destiny of her nation - or be lost in the mist for ever.
Publisher: Cornerstone
ISBN: 9781529952698
Number of pages: 448
Dimensions: 242 x 165 x 40 mm
Weight: 674 g
Language: English
Rich, immersive and wonderfully escapist - Guardian
A fascinating story of political intrigue, folklore and fairytale - SFX
A glittering treasure chest of a novel, The Unicorn Hunters brought back all my childhood love of unicorns while offering a sophisticated, lyrical fantasy about a young woman navigating the impossible politics and gender dynamics of fifteenth-century Brittany. It’s beautifully written and entirely delightful - Heather Fawcett
Katherine Arden writes beautiful, irresistible books—the kind you want to immediately reread, the kind you want to both share and hoard, the kind you carry around in your heart. Her books are full of exquisite prose, wonderful characters, and fantastic stories! - Sarah Beth Durst
Fans of jousts, spells, dark magic, and brave women will find plenty of each here. A clever and inspiring reimagining of a little-remembered time and place - Kirkus, Starred Review
A richly detailed and enthralling tale of political intrigue, folkloric creatures, legendary missing cities, and romance. It’s sure to captivate - Publishers Weekly
In ‘Unicorn Hunters’, Arden beautifully blends history and with fantasy to create a real page turner.
Anne of Brittany is the narrator of this clever book and her life story is told through real historical facts...
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A couple of months ago I was at the Met Cloisters admiring the mysterious tapestries depicting the hunt of the unicorn. We do not know exactly who was behind their creation, but one theory suggests they were... More
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.
Katherine Arden is one of my auto-buy authors and when I heard she was giving an unknown medieval woman her magical...
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