Book Review Rampant - by Diana Peterfreund

Monday August 24, 2009

Rampant
by Diana Peterfreund
Available August 25, 2009

The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.

Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.
Or not.

Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods — thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom — Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off 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 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... and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.

What image comes to mind when you think of a unicorn? Rainbows and green meadows? Goodness and purity? Well these my friends, are not the unicorns we discover in the world of Rampant! These unicorns can kill you with their venomous acid breath or rip a hole in you with their poisonous horns. Yeah, not too pleasant...

I was caught up in this book from the first few pages. Astrid's adventure starts in chapter one and the roller coaster continues all the way to the last page. She is a strong willed, head strong character whose only weakness seams to be the will of her mother. For years Astrid's mom has been telling her about vicious unicorns and her families destiny to destroy them.

When a strange course of events leads Astrid to Rome she starts to realize that maybe her mothers stories aren't so crazy after all. There she meets other girls who share a similar legacy as her own and together they train to battle the deadly unicorns. When the motives of a wealthy benefactor come in to question, Astrid must take things into her own hands in order to fulfill her promise to an unlikely co-conspirator.

Lots of action and actually, quite a bit of gore! Diverse characters including the cloisters resident unicorn (because there are many different breeds, some much smaller and with different intentions towards the girls) her name...Bonegrinder, a breed of unicorn called Zhi that worships the hunters. Of course we have the love interests who at one point, are the center of a huge tragedy. The love story is always an essential part of the story :) but the best part of Rampant is the story surrounding the girls and their unicorn hunting legacy...it's captivating!

Wonderful writing and a great story...paranormal action/romance at its best!

Perfectly suited for 7th grade and up!

4.75 points