I won The Unicorn in a Goodreads giveaway. All opinions are my own. The Unicorn by Miguel Lopez de Leon is a story of teenage twin boys that have a wonderful family life only to find that their lives are drastically changed when their parents separate. This story is quite a challenge for me to review. When I first started reading this book I was enjoying the magical and whimsical story, then all of a sudden it became all too serious. I had never read a book as extreme of mystery and magic as this book was. I honestly don't know what the purpose of the magic was for. It had no bearing on the story, for me personally. I do like Miguel's writing, though. He pulled me in and kept me interested. The characters were well fleshed out and believable. I didn't, however, enjoy the ending. I felt that I had been cheated out of closure with this story. ( )

I'm sorry to say it, but this is not a good book.

The twins Alex and Jason are supposed to be 17. However they come across more like pre-teen boys, or maybe very young 13 year olds. They have a 'gift', of sorts, with Alex being able to make animals talk and Jason sharing a similar rapport with inanimate objects. Or so I assume. Talking birds, tea cups and sea sprites show up for a fraction of a scene and vanish into thin air, with no more notice taken of them by the characters than a stop sign.

This is the only part of the book I almost liked. If this had been the focus of the story, two boys - and their family - treating these magical events like commonplace things and using them as an ordinary person might use a phone or a door, it could have lent an interesting angle to any story.

But it was a thought that was never fully explored. In fact, nothing in this novella is fully explored. When the twins and some fellow students beat another student bloody - after he's bullied the twins - it's shrugged off in a 'boys will be boys' excuse. There are no consequences, and no character growth. It's just a scene there to prove to us these boys are, what, not afraid to stand up to bullies?

Unfortunately, it's handled so poorly and briefly that it adds nothing to the story.

What little story there is revolves around their father's affair - abruptly tossed into the story a third of the way in - and their mother's falling apart when he leaves her. This part of the book could have been - and perhaps was meant to be - the focus of the story. Unfortunately her breakdown is handled clumsily, cartoonishly, and almost insultingly.

Because this is more a short story than a full length novel not everything could be gone into in any detail, but I think it could have been done better than this. I do not recommend this book to anyone.

* I received a free copy of this book through Good Reads First Reads program in exchange for an honest review. ( )