Katherine Arden
Del Rey
2 June 2026
368
eBook - PDF
Historical Fantasy
ARC via NetGalley
Anne of Brittany was a child when her realm was invaded, her home besieged, and her royal father driven to his death.
Now her treasury is empty, her land occupied by her enemies, and she is ordered, under threat of renewed war, to become queen of her conquerors and marry the King of France.
This marriage means her country’s annexation. But Anne promised her 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.
Anne takes her court deep into a legendary forest, where the court diviners’ skill cannot reach. The world thinks they are only a hunting party, coursing after unicorns. But that is a lie, a trick, a feint. No one in living memory has seen a unicorn. All Anne wants is this secret wedding, which is her only hope of salvation.
But when against all hope a unicorn appears and a stranger out of legend 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 her own and her country’s destiny—or be lost in the shadows forever.
The Unicorn Hunters was a book I enjoyed but which also proved a slight disappointment at the same time. On the plus side, I loved the idea of an alternate, fantastical take on medieval history, and Anne was a strong, engaging character I was happy to get behind. However, I would have liked a bit more from the fantasy elements, the pacing was a little slow at times, and I found the romance a bit forced/sudden. Obviously the two characters share some history, but we don't learn enough about it for that to balance their sudden attachment once reunited. It probably doesn't help that I came into this expecting it to be closer to the Winternight Trilogy, following the author's departure from that style with The Warm Hands of Ghosts. I think that's a difficulty for any author who has a hit with an early work: readers can't help but compare each subsequent book to that first, five-star read. And I certainly do adore the Winternight Trilogy, so in comparison, while The Unicorn Hunters was by no means a bad book and I generally found it an enjoyable read, it was still not on par for me with Arden's earlier trilogy. If you go into this book prepared for an alternate-history tale with a hint of the magical woven through it, though, you will likely find something to enjoy. I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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