I have heard for years how lovely Katherine Arden’s The Winternight Trilogy is, and despite it sitting on my shelves, I hate to admit that I have not read it yet. So it feels weird to be here today, reviewing Arden’s newest release, The Unicorn Hunters. But I had to start somewhere, and I’m very pleased to share that I was enchanted by this story.
The duchess, Anne of Brittany, promised her late father that she would not give in to France, but if she does not marry King Charles, Anne can expect his armies to take her country by force. In defiance of being conquered, Anne plans to marry a foreign king in secret under the guise of a unicorn hunt in Broceliande forest. Yet as they travel into the mysterious forest, Anne is not prepared to deal with the magic found within. A unicorn does appear, and with it, a confused man stumbling out of a realm only known to the mysterious, fae-like people known as the korrigan. As more and more magic continues to seep into Brittany, the young duchess must rely on her ingenuity to navigate the unknown sorceries and increasing pressure from France.
The real Anne of Brittany was married off to the king of France at fifteen. But in The Unicorn Hunters, we get to see a slightly older version of Anne, who is trying to maintain her autonomy and carve her own future. Much of this story centers on the limited power and choices that Anne has as a woman of nobility. This world values a woman who can produce heirs, and they don’t care that there is a compassionate and smart woman fully capable of ruling her own country. As Anne is caught between being overrun by France or seeking slightly better options with another foreign kingdom, we see her adapt, lead, and inspire the people around her. Throughout the story, Arden draws the lines of the box the world keeps trying to shove Anne in, but Anne refuses to be packaged away. What I love most about this story is that Anne stays true to the women of the time period and demonstrates her ability to lead within the constraints of a proper “lady”. She is not some beefed-up warrior version of the duchess; she is a slight young woman who commands a room and earns the love and respect of her people.
The magical elements of The Unicorn Hunters highlighted how important Britanny’s culture is to both Anne and her people. Everyone is so adamantly against the French alliance because their country would be absorbed and lost to their enemies. Brittany has its own language, Breton, that is already starting to fade away as more people adopt French, and it has a rich, haunted history with the korrigan that is both feared and respected by its people. Brittany would lose itself and an entire magical realm to a new power that has no care for their beliefs or reverence of the land and its people, magical or otherwise.
The unicorn is especially symbolic of Brittany and what’s at stake. Brittany is viewed as a desirable verdant country, just as the unicorn is seen as beautiful and majestic. The French are obsessed with hunting the unicorn, killing it, and displaying its horn as a conquest trophy. This mirrors their attitudes toward Anne, too, as they want nothing more than to secure her hand in marriage, control her, and add another piece to their growing empire. And much like the unicorn is the ultimate sacrifice of a violent hunt, Anne must also decide if she will be the sacrificial woman in this political game, and determine just how much she is willing to lose.
I truly love how Katherine Arden changed up Anne of Brittany’s tale to be a little more magical and full of opportunity. The Unicorn Hunters was proof that I have been missing out on Arden’s work, and I plan to remedy that immediately.
Rating: The Unicorn Hunters – 9.5/10
-Brandee
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own.
