Blog Tour: Review + Q & A; The Unicorn Thief by R. R. Russell (Children's, 9 years +, 10(E)/10E)

April 2014, Sourcebooks, 288 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Themes: a thief, unicorns, night wanderings, friendships, doing the right thing, pride, unexpected revelations

 

Content: Lots of suspense, scary moments, tissues needed

Summary from Sourcebooks

A bold thief runs rampant in the land of unicorns and now no one is safe
Twig and Ben are hard at work taming the last free unicorn herd on Lonehorn Island when Ben’s loyal unicorn, Indy, disappears. When their search leads them to the island’s secret passageway of Terracornus, the land of unicorns, they discover a bold thief at work. There Twig learns the tangled truth about Ben and the evil queen who’s enslaved all of the unicorns. Now all of the captive unicorns are in danger and only Ben and Twig, the last unicorn riders, can save them.
- See more at: http://www.sourcebooks.com/store/unicorn-thief.html#sthash.8d3eSPq3.dpuf

A bold thief runs rampant in the land of unicorns and now no one is safe

Twig and Ben are hard at work taming the last free unicorn herd on Lonehorn Island when Ben’s loyal unicorn, Indy, disappears. When their search leads them to the island’s secret passageway of Terracornus, the land of unicorns, they discover a bold thief at work. There Twig learns the tangled truth about Ben and the evil queen who’s enslaved all of the unicorns. Now all of the captive unicorns are in danger and only Ben and Twig, the last unicorn riders, can save them.

A bold thief runs rampant in the land of unicorns and now no one is safe
Twig and Ben are hard at work taming the last free unicorn herd on Lonehorn Island when Ben’s loyal unicorn, Indy, disappears. When their search leads them to the island’s secret passageway of Terracornus, the land of unicorns, they discover a bold thief at work. There Twig learns the tangled truth about Ben and the evil queen who’s enslaved all of the unicorns. Now all of the captive unicorns are in danger and only Ben and Twig, the last unicorn riders, can save them.
- See more at: http://www.sourcebooks.com/store/unicorn-thief.html#sthash.8d3eSPq3.dpuf

A bold thief runs rampant in the land of unicorns and now no one is safe
Twig and Ben are hard at work taming the last free unicorn herd on Lonehorn Island when Ben’s loyal unicorn, Indy, disappears. When their search leads them to the island’s secret passageway of Terracornus, the land of unicorns, they discover a bold thief at work. There Twig learns the tangled truth about Ben and the evil queen who’s enslaved all of the unicorns. Now all of the captive unicorns are in danger and only Ben and Twig, the last unicorn riders, can save them.
- See more at: http://www.sourcebooks.com/store/unicorn-thief.html#sthash.8d3eSPq3.dpuf

Nayuleska's thoughts

I probably should be talking about how much I admire Twig's spunk, how although the rest of the girls didn't feature as much as in book 1 they made me laugh with their antics and smile at their courage. I could talk about how brave Twig is when it looks like she will never go home, how I stifled a giggle when she got put into clothes which were the opposite of who she is, how I wanted to save her from heartache but someone else does that in a way that made me cry. I probably should also talk how although I guessed part of the plot, other parts were a blissful surprise, and how scary a trip through a swamp can be...oh, I've told you all that.

I probably shouldn't be focusing on a tiny part of the story but I am. The reason why the E is in brackets for the rating is majorly important. I sat through book 1 loving the hot chocolate which appeared at several points. It took 211 pages (of my proof copy) for the hot chocolate to appear!!!! Not good enough! The kinder part of me feels this is a tad stupid to penalise a book on lack of hot chocolate, but the chocolate addict in me is truly annoyed that less page time was devoted to the best drink in the world so my compromise is the brackets.

Suggested read

Reading book one, Wonder Light (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E) is a must!

Questions & Answers with R. R. Russell

It's been a total privilege being able to hold another Q&A with R. R, just as I did with the first book. Here's some more insight into the series! 

Nayu: 1) The girls who Twig lives with are highly entertaining, yet in my view didn't get enough page time. I understand a little why this was the case, but can you elaborate a little on having more time with other characters? 
R R: The Unicorn Thief focuses on Twig and Ben, along with the world of Terracornus and its characters. The girls of Island Ranch will get lots of attention in Book 3!

Nayu: 2) This second installment of the series is a bit darker, yet there's usually always some humour to lighten the mood, especially when Twig ends up wearing clothes she hates - what was your reasoning for making her suffer with the clothes?
R R: I actually felt this book was lighter than the first! As for the clothes, they were required for the occasion. Poor Twig.

Nayu: I am far from fond of large areas of water, which made the swamp rather freaky for me.
3) The swamp was a pretty cool feature. How did it come to being such a pivotal part of the book?
R R: As I was picturing some of the intense, final scenes—the important personal confrontations—I imagined them taking place in a putrid swamp. That sort of setting just seemed right, and it grew from there. It was also a bit of a tribute to one of my favorite books, The Princess Bride.

Nayu: 4) Important question: why did hot chocolate barely feature in The Unicorn Thief compared to Wonder Light? It took a good 200 pages of my proof copy until I saw it - I waited a long time!
R R: The characters spend a lot of time in Terracornus. Unfortunately, there is no chocolate in Terracornus! A world without chocolate! No wonder they have so many problems.

Nayu 5) Will Twig's girls plus hot chocolate feature more in book 3? 
R R: Yes!

Thank you R R, that is certainly good news to hear!