Review: Riding the Unicorn

Riding the Unicorn
by Paul Kearney


Format: Mass Market Paperback, 332 pages

Publisher: Solaris

Cover Art: Pye Parr

Release Date: October 28, 2014 (reprint of 1994)

ISBN-13: 978-1781081914

John Willoby is being pulled between worlds. Or he is going mad, ‘riding the unicorn’ as his prison officer colleagues would say. It’s clear to Willoby it must be the latter. Disappearing in the middle of his prison shift from among convicts, appearing in a makeshift medieval encampment for minutes before tumbling back to the real world, Willoby believes his mind is simply breaking apart.

He finds no solace at home, with a wife who has grown to dislike him and a daughter who can barely hide her disgust. He’s realised he isn’t worth anyone’s time, barely even his own, and falls into drinking and violence guaranteed to bring about his downfall. Except in this other world, in this winter land of first-settlers he is a man with a purpose, a man upon whom others must rely. Persuaded to kill a King so as to save a people, Willoby finds that in another world, with a second chance he may be the kind of man he had always wanted to be after all.

I quite enjoyed this book a lot.  But then that is hardly surprising as I am a big Paul Kearney fan.  Having finished this book, I have now read every book by Kearney except for a tie-in novel.  Kearney’s early novels are a bit hard to find so I’m glad that Solaris decided to reprint them.  These three novels, The Way to Babylon, A Different Kingdom, and Riding the Unicorn are a little different from his later stuff as they are all stand-alones and all contain some element of portal fantasy. 

While the first two novels are pretty typical portal fantasy, the portal element in Riding the Unicorn is a bit more ambiguous.  I’m sure the reader of this review is wondering about the odd title of the book?  As suggested in the synopsis it has nothing to do with unicorns, rather it refers to a term and expression regarding schizophrenia.  Indeed, for most of the book, the main character of Willoby cannot tell if the world he is being pulled to really exists or if it’s just a figment of his imagination, though it does become a little clear at the end.  But the possibility of madness and of dealing with it is a very strong theme in this book. 

There is another interesting thing I want to note about Kearney’s work; it’s how he has a group of people endure an extremely arduous trek over snow-covered and nearly impassable mountains.  It happens in the prologue of this book, in The Way to Babylon, Ships From the West, This Forsaken Earth, and The Ten Thousand.  It seems to be a writing trick he comes back to a lot. 

MINOR SPOILERS for those who have read The Way to Babylon: the alternate fantasy world in this book is the same world of Minginish, albeit set very early in its history around the time of its founding.

Paul Kearney is probably better known for his Monarchies of God series, and to a lesser extent The Sea Beggers and The Macht, but Riding the Unicorn and his other two early novels are definitely worth a look.  Strongly recommended.

Rating: 8/10.

The Mark of Ran

In a world abandoned by its Creator, an ancient race with incredible powers once existed. Some consider them angels while others say they were demons. Rol Cortishane grew up in a small fishing village, unaware of the power of his blood. Accused of witchcraft and driven from his home, he seeks refuge in the home of two enigmatic characters who also share the blood of the ancient race, Psellos and the beautiful but deadly Rowan. Under their tutelage, he learns the diplomatic and assassin’s arts. Soon however, Rol will take to the seas to find his destiny.

The first thing you may notice about The Mark of Ran is that it has one of the most recognized tropes in fantasy: the farm/fisher boy, unaware of his true bloodline and must discover his destiny. It’s not exactly subtle I grant you, and the plot is a little thin, especially in the second half of the book, but for the most part you won’t notice the book’s drawbacks. Kearney’s prose and characters are fantastic as always. His world is also well realized and gives hints to something larger. 

As always, Kearney is surprisingly succinct for an epic fantasy writer. A couple times I felt he skipped too much, yet he has a way of filling the pages so that you don’t really notice.Kearney’s world leans very heavily toward naval tradition and sailing and the story reflects this. A Mark of Ran has sailing and naval battles that equal anything in Master and Commander. There are many nautical and naval terms splashed throughout the book, though personally I didn’t have much trouble with that aspect of the book at all. I thought it gave the book a bit of unique flavor and besides, who can resist a book with a few pirates?

The Mark of Ran is a good book for all epic fantasy fans and a must-read for fans of Kearney. Recommended.

Rating: 8/10.

The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney

Hawkwood’s Voyage.
The Herectic Kings.
The Iron Wars.
The Second Empire.
Ships from the West.

The plot is a little predictable and the conflict between Rasmusians and the Merduks and is a little too similar to the Christianity and Islam for my comfort, yet I really liked this series.  Kearney provides his own twist including a religious schism and injects mages and werewolves to make a volatile mix.

The Monarchies of God has quite a bit political intrigue reminding me of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.              And like Martin, Kearney’s not afraid to make his characters suffer.    They endure a great deal of hardship and he’s also not afraid to kill them off when it’s convenient. Kearney is good at creating complex characters with multiple motivations and opinions.

Another thing I liked about the Monarchies of God is that the books are streamlined, tight and fast moving. Kearney says what he has to say and gets out. He also does not include long-winded descriptions or details that not necessary to the plot so each book is much shorter than you would expect; in a genre where books are typically 600 or pages, his books not much longer than 300. And brevity turns out to be Kearney’s only major downside.     His books are just a little too short. Several times in the series I wondered what happened to particular character or with certain events, but was unable to find out because those scenes were cut or never included at all. The epilogue of book five was way too brief and did not reveal any of the consequences of the series events.  

However, Monarchies of God is good series and definitely worth reading.

Final series rating: 8/10.