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The Unicorn Sonata
A tomboy misfit and born musician, thirteen-year-old Josephine "Joey" Rivera encounters a mysterious young man named Indigo who changes her life, playing ghostly, haunting music that she follows down an ordinary street into the magical world of Shei'rah.
154 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Peter S. Beagle
215 books4,094 followersPeter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place , when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of his other books (A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit) are considered modern classics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
September 3, 2014
I agree with Madeleine L'Engle: I'm grateful that Peter S.Beagle "continues to be one of my favorite authors." This is the third book I've read by him, and I love it as much as the other two (The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place). I love his deceptively simple writing style, his character development, and the development of theme.
Josephine Rivera is a great thirteen-year-old girl with all the problems and quirks of adolescence masking a deeper part of her that longs to connect and find something to which she can belong. She discovers music, the music of Shei'rah, which we all have inside of us if we take the time to listen. Shei'rah is a separate world, one with unicorns and satyrs that sharply contrasts with Joey's world of shopping malls and freeways. However, Beagle makes the point that both worlds have good and bad things to offer--nothing is perfect, but one can always find a sense of belonging in the world that makes the most sense for who they are, no matter what. Beauty is everywhere, like in a homeless man buying pizza for his girlfriend and telling her it's all for her or in a sonata composed by a young girl to match the music of her other world. It's in friendships and connections, meaningful communion with others.
I've read two "adult" books by Beagle and now this, and I've found them all to have the same quality of other wordliness, the same beauty, and the same depth. I love his writing, no matter whom he writes for. I highly recommend this book!
Josephine Rivera is a great thirteen-year-old girl with all the problems and quirks of adolescence masking a deeper part of her that longs to connect and find something to which she can belong. She discovers music, the music of Shei'rah, which we all have inside of us if we take the time to listen. Shei'rah is a separate world, one with unicorns and satyrs that sharply contrasts with Joey's world of shopping malls and freeways. However, Beagle makes the point that both worlds have good and bad things to offer--nothing is perfect, but one can always find a sense of belonging in the world that makes the most sense for who they are, no matter what. Beauty is everywhere, like in a homeless man buying pizza for his girlfriend and telling her it's all for her or in a sonata composed by a young girl to match the music of her other world. It's in friendships and connections, meaningful communion with others.
I've read two "adult" books by Beagle and now this, and I've found them all to have the same quality of other wordliness, the same beauty, and the same depth. I love his writing, no matter whom he writes for. I highly recommend this book!
February 24, 2019
I‘m going to love everything this man writes forever and ever.
February 23, 2018
A somewhat dated and fairly typical 1990s portal fantasy.
It's decent, but IMO, not really worth going way out of your way to find.
It's decent, but IMO, not really worth going way out of your way to find.
May 28, 2017
“The music I hear in my head, always, all my life, the music I can never name...”
Joey, not all that content with her family and school, finds herself spending most of her spare time at an old music shop. One evening, a strange music draws her through the city streets to the border of Shei'rah: a country of vivid colours, magical creatures and the flow of beautiful music. Joey soon finds that the music belongs to the Eldest - Unicorns. But however peaceful Shei'rah may seem, the Unicorns are all plagued by a condition resulting in blindness, of which none know the cause.
The Unicorn Sonata is one of those books I knew very little of prior to reading it - perhaps because it seems moderately unknown! I have had mixed experiences with Peter S. Beagle in the past: I adore The Last Unicorn but could not warm up to his more contemporary works. One thing remains the same for all the works I've read by him, though: The writing. He has such a beautiful way with words - it's almost as though they are magical.
I believe that magical writing style was one of the reasons I loved The Last Unicorn so much. Now with The Unicorn Sonata, as the title already suggests, it is another story filled with magical creatures. It is certainly different and not at all what I expected it to be. But it was a very nice book either way.
How do you put music into words? I don't think I am musical enough to answer such, but I found it worked wonderfully well in this novel. The music itself was the magic and you could feel it just by reading. The emotion the characters shared for the music felt so real and believable, and yet most of the time this story read like a dream.
The world of Shei'rah is not untypical, it's a fantasy world - very colourful - filled with satyrs, small dragons, nymphs and unicorns. Perhaps not the most unique setting, but a beautiful one nonetheless. I felt there was a lack of conflict, and yet the story carried itself without needing much. There was a certain sense of mystery about Shei'rah that was enough to keep my interest - why are the unicorn becoming blind? Why can Joey cross the border? Why are the worlds connected in the first place? And perhaps more importantly: why would unicorn be fascinated with 'our' world?
Although most things were clear in the end, I felt some answers were a little unsatisfactory and could have done with a little more. The magical writing being its strongest point, I find this book perfect if you want a peaceful read with vivid imagery - but perhaps it lacks a little in direction.
August 29, 2011
I love Peter S. Beagle, but this is definitely a weak work of his- possibly because it was intended for a young adult audience. I would also venture to say- young girls, in particular. There are a couple of shining moments where Peter's unique style and prose show up- not to mention his particular brand of humor (namely the unicorn Indigo's love of coffee drinks) but mostly this is unicorns in a meadow being pretty while nymphs and fauns play. It sort of reminds one of the pastoral sequence in FANTASIA... or worse, My Little Pony. This is not helped by the presence of a twee, arbitrarily latina heroine in her early teens, saddled with the requisit dying grandmother who can only be saved by unicorn magic. All in all, kind of a cliche and really only recommended for the Beagle completeist or the target pre-teen audience. Nice illustrations in the hardover version, however.
December 9, 2011
I wasn't super impressed by this book, which was too bad, because I loved The Last Unicorn (probably because I grew up on the movie...)
I found the characters here to be lackluster, the storyline to be flat, and the world created to be pretty standard. There is really nothing new here, so real sense of magic that I found, and very little intrigue. I suppose this book is meant for younger readers, but, quite honestly, I think the best young adult books should appeal to older readers as well, and simply be accessible to kids. The language here is so simplistic, and the character's voice is just a little too fake sounding, like it's written by an adult trying to make her sound like a kid, but not quite getting it. Overall, it's not a completely terrible book, but I didn't find much to recommend it.
I found the characters here to be lackluster, the storyline to be flat, and the world created to be pretty standard. There is really nothing new here, so real sense of magic that I found, and very little intrigue. I suppose this book is meant for younger readers, but, quite honestly, I think the best young adult books should appeal to older readers as well, and simply be accessible to kids. The language here is so simplistic, and the character's voice is just a little too fake sounding, like it's written by an adult trying to make her sound like a kid, but not quite getting it. Overall, it's not a completely terrible book, but I didn't find much to recommend it.
December 26, 2017
The Unicorn Sonata is about a girl who finds a fantasy land bordering Los Angeles. The book follows the events that happen after she finds it. And what happens, is nothing. There is no clear plot to the book. I found myself reading descriptions about Shei'rah, the fantasy world, that I didn't care about nor understood properly. I couldn't grasp the fantasy aspect at all and couldn't really keep up with everything. Because of all this, I never really got into the book and was forcing myself to read it sometimes. The only reason I'm not giving one star is the characters. I liked most of them with a few exceptions, like Mr Papas and Indigo. They were the only redeeming qualities. Would not recommend.
December 18, 2020
I very much wish I'd read this when I was 11 or 12. This lovely and thoughtful little novella rests on the classic trope of a young person who doesn't feel at home in her world finding her way to another where she finds friends and problem only she can solve. That, plus unicorns, would have checked all my boxes at that age, and I can still appreciate it now. And the edition I read came with some beautiful illustrations.
April 4, 2024
What an absolutely lovely story!! I grew up loving The Last Unicorn movie, but I've never read any of Mr. Beagle's books before this one. Sure enough, I pulled the title from my TBR jar and dove in.
The version I had was gorgeously illustrated, which only added to the whimsy of the overall story. It's a grand adventure without some crazy over-arching morality conflict, and honestly, I really loved it for that. It's emotional in all of the good ways, and while I wish I'd found it when I was younger, I'm happy to have read it!
The version I had was gorgeously illustrated, which only added to the whimsy of the overall story. It's a grand adventure without some crazy over-arching morality conflict, and honestly, I really loved it for that. It's emotional in all of the good ways, and while I wish I'd found it when I was younger, I'm happy to have read it!
August 26, 2011
I started reading this a week or weeks ago. (What meaning, Time?) I stopped because, while it had some elements I was excited to find (like the music elements), it had one thing that just drained me. And that was that when Joey crossed the border between ours and Shei’rah, what does she meet but a satyr. And I was just so mad that it wasn’t something better, something far from Narnia.
But when I was able to get over that, I was able to realize the differences, and then it seemed...well, an element after my own heart. That thing, doing that thing you’ve read done so many times, but making it different.
And the homeless lady reminded me of something, something I can’t quite remember. A few things, mushed together, and so obscuring themselves. It’s nice and sad and comfortable.
Then there are the lines.
“ ‘This world, that world, doesn’t matter. You never make people to see what you see, hear, feel what you feel. Notes don’t do it, words don’t do it, paints, bronze, marble, nothing. All you can do, you maybe get it a little close, a little closer. But right, like you’re talking? No. No.’ ”
And, “ ‘The worth is in the reason, not the gift.’ ”
Putting them together. And there I’ve shared the lines to say what the book is to me, and proved them at the same time. But I left out an important essence, too. How can I do anything but love Peter S. Beagle?
And it’s probably not fair that I give it four stars. Rating systems are whack. Sometimes I rate like I’m thinking of Writing.com where 3 is average and all that. Sometimes, I take it literally the way it’s laid out on Goodreads. Sometimes---lots of other things, like the last book I read and how the one I just read relates and all that. This time, it’s comparing it to The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place. When people do it to me, I'm told it's a compliment, and so.
But when I was able to get over that, I was able to realize the differences, and then it seemed...well, an element after my own heart. That thing, doing that thing you’ve read done so many times, but making it different.
And the homeless lady reminded me of something, something I can’t quite remember. A few things, mushed together, and so obscuring themselves. It’s nice and sad and comfortable.
Then there are the lines.
“ ‘This world, that world, doesn’t matter. You never make people to see what you see, hear, feel what you feel. Notes don’t do it, words don’t do it, paints, bronze, marble, nothing. All you can do, you maybe get it a little close, a little closer. But right, like you’re talking? No. No.’ ”
And, “ ‘The worth is in the reason, not the gift.’ ”
Putting them together. And there I’ve shared the lines to say what the book is to me, and proved them at the same time. But I left out an important essence, too. How can I do anything but love Peter S. Beagle?
And it’s probably not fair that I give it four stars. Rating systems are whack. Sometimes I rate like I’m thinking of Writing.com where 3 is average and all that. Sometimes, I take it literally the way it’s laid out on Goodreads. Sometimes---lots of other things, like the last book I read and how the one I just read relates and all that. This time, it’s comparing it to The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place. When people do it to me, I'm told it's a compliment, and so.
June 23, 2014
This is a beautiful book full of wonderful moments. Overall, though, it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. Beagle spends a lot of time contrasting the real world with the magic world by listing things like rent-to-own stores, broken gas stations, etc., compared to blue trees and tiny dragons. Wonderful, but he does it three or four times throughout the book without any sort of progression or development of meaning. They're almost just lists. In fact, his world of magic is lovely, but it doesn't seem to have any intrinsic meaning like the worlds of Tolkien, Rowling, Lewis, Barrie, MacDonald, Andersen and other great fairy tale writers.
As in all good fairy tales a great sacrifice is made, but, for me, it wasn't handled well, and came across as anticlimactic rather than the ideal "eucatastrophe" that Tolkien believed was the essence of a proper fairy tale.
As in all good fairy tales a great sacrifice is made, but, for me, it wasn't handled well, and came across as anticlimactic rather than the ideal "eucatastrophe" that Tolkien believed was the essence of a proper fairy tale.
December 4, 2009
I don't think this is one of Beagle's best (which is why it is, I think, the only one of his books I don't own). Nicely written, as always, but the plot moved slowly, and I found the ending rather unconvincing.
August 7, 2018
Bleghhhh nothing like The Last Unicorn, which is so good. Felt like I was stuck in a bad 90’s fantasy movie. There was some soul to it, and I liked the disparaging and founded comments about So Cal, but otherwise, not great at all.
July 3, 2016
I loved this book. The story which I read years ago remains with me. Peter S Beagle is by far one of my favorite fantasy writers.
August 6, 2017
In case you weren't sure after reading the synopsis, this book is not connected to Beagle's masterpiece The Last Unicorn in any discernible fashion. (You *might* be able to argue a tangential connection, but it's mostly Beagle coming back to similar imagery rather than drawing a line between the two works.)
That being said, this is still an enjoyable book from a deft fantasist. Beagle's characters are starkly real, just as they are in his other books. In many ways, though, this book feels like an homage to Narnia -- with its here-again gone-again border between worlds, friendly satyrs, and differing time passage for both worlds. But though it feels reminiscent of Narnia, The Unicorn Sonata lacks much of the power of those books or even of The Last Unicorn. Most of the reason for this falls to two aspects: Lord Sinti being built up as some sort of Aslan-like figure early on, only to be undercut in the later chapters; and Indigo's being responsible for the unicorns' blindness as well as the agent of its cure. While these may add some measure of reality to the book, they also undercut the wonder of Shei'rah and the potentially powerful choices of the main characters in the final act.
Still, it's worth reading for Joey's grandmother and her wonderful old person view of the world.
That being said, this is still an enjoyable book from a deft fantasist. Beagle's characters are starkly real, just as they are in his other books. In many ways, though, this book feels like an homage to Narnia -- with its here-again gone-again border between worlds, friendly satyrs, and differing time passage for both worlds. But though it feels reminiscent of Narnia, The Unicorn Sonata lacks much of the power of those books or even of The Last Unicorn. Most of the reason for this falls to two aspects: Lord Sinti being built up as some sort of Aslan-like figure early on, only to be undercut in the later chapters; and Indigo's being responsible for the unicorns' blindness as well as the agent of its cure. While these may add some measure of reality to the book, they also undercut the wonder of Shei'rah and the potentially powerful choices of the main characters in the final act.
Still, it's worth reading for Joey's grandmother and her wonderful old person view of the world.
March 15, 2023
The Unicorn Sonata is a young adult oriented portal fantasy in which a young girl finds herself lured into a magical other-world populated by creatures of myth. At surface level the tale feels a bit shallow and even undeveloped as Beagle intentionally leaves great heaps of unexplained mysteries and concepts laying about for a reader to dig through and wonder at. A deeper examination reveals a bit more at play here.
The book is an exercise in being as concise as humanly possible with an incredibly short page count. Easily an afternoon read for many. Much of the material bounces in hunks between one world and the next. The young protagonist caught between exploring the majestic beauty of this strange wonderous place only to then be thrown into the drudgery of the dull and often painful world she hails from(our own). This is actually the heart of the book's theme.
It's a story about finding the music, the beauty in life, even as it moves from one place to another. How difficult it can be to find that music, especially as we cross that line from childhood into the more challenging and constrained life of adulthood.
Short and sweet. Perhaps a little underdeveloped for some readers' tastes. Whimsy coupled with a bit of mystery. A nice afternoon or weekend adventure for someone who wants something a little more light-hearted with less gravity to it.
The book is an exercise in being as concise as humanly possible with an incredibly short page count. Easily an afternoon read for many. Much of the material bounces in hunks between one world and the next. The young protagonist caught between exploring the majestic beauty of this strange wonderous place only to then be thrown into the drudgery of the dull and often painful world she hails from(our own). This is actually the heart of the book's theme.
It's a story about finding the music, the beauty in life, even as it moves from one place to another. How difficult it can be to find that music, especially as we cross that line from childhood into the more challenging and constrained life of adulthood.
Short and sweet. Perhaps a little underdeveloped for some readers' tastes. Whimsy coupled with a bit of mystery. A nice afternoon or weekend adventure for someone who wants something a little more light-hearted with less gravity to it.
May 3, 2022
This is as close to a YA as any by Beagle I have read, because of the protagonist's age and the excellent full color plate illustrations, but this isn't important. It is about a girl crossing over into faerie, and the time lapse when she comes back is Narnian rather than the more conventional three hundred years. She brings the music of faerie, the unicorn sonata, back with her. The unicorns she meets when she crosses over are blind, and their cure is a central theme of the story. So is her close relationship with her grandmother, her abuela. I guess another central theme is self-sacrifice, which is how the blindness is healed. Some of the unicorns seem to simply prefer, for their own reasons, to cross over to our world and take human shape, while retaining their horns as something separate. Only one young man tries to sell his horn, for an amount of gold which is never enough, and it is this covetousness which brings about the unicorns' blindness.
August 31, 2026
I went into this book knowing nothing other than I like the author, and was not disappointed.
Here we have your what seems like your typical plot: Kid from our world is called upon to solve a problem in a fantasy world. It's been done a thousand times over. But this story felt unique. It wasn't your typical Quest for an Answer, but touches on concept of choosing your own path over living a life that's expected of you...even if that chosen life is infinitely more difficult. The writing is lyrical, the world-building intricate, and the characters layered and relatable. This story is beautiful, and I loved it so much!
If you can get your hands on this one, I definitely recommend it!
September 10, 2019
The style is a bit flowerish but not so extremely; like many people complained about.
The change of the worlds is my favourite subject. But the question, 'Is the fantastic world a better world?' is a new and very refreshing idea.
The unicorn may have more pleasure in doing things on the streets. That's like in The last unicorn. Maybe the unicorn had more fun as a human?
Both stories have inconsequential answers to those situations. But I don't mind that. I like the ending like it is. Joey and her abuelita are very likable characters. You want them being successfull.
The change of the worlds is my favourite subject. But the question, 'Is the fantastic world a better world?' is a new and very refreshing idea.
The unicorn may have more pleasure in doing things on the streets. That's like in The last unicorn. Maybe the unicorn had more fun as a human?
Both stories have inconsequential answers to those situations. But I don't mind that. I like the ending like it is. Joey and her abuelita are very likable characters. You want them being successfull.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2017
Going in I found a fair amount to like. All the characters are likeable in their own rights and the world of Shei'rah has all the ideal magic. However the last act wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped. I appreciate that it wasn't a perfect, everyone walks away happy ending but parts of it felt a little cobbled together.
Aside from that this book was still a joy to read and I wouldn't mind returning to this world at some point.
Aside from that this book was still a joy to read and I wouldn't mind returning to this world at some point.
May 3, 2019
Joey, a young tomboy, doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere. The writing shows her awkwardness and her desire to be different, but afraid that she will not change. She wants to feel that she is a part of something. She meets a young boy named Indigo, and the mysterious music he plays on his horn leads her to a faerie land called Shei’rah. The unicorns are plagued by blindness. Could greed have caused the problems? This is a story of an adventure for a young girl, and the story has unicorns!
June 27, 2024
An absolutely delightful book and the perfect read for a sunny afternoon. The illustrations are lovely too. This is a light book and if it were not for the sometimes whiny tone of the main protagonist, who is after all a schoolgirl, it would have been a 5 star review. The descriptions of the mythical land she enters and the creatures that inhabit it are stunning and you really care about what is happening. Thoroughly recommend for a summer read.
March 11, 2017
Reads like a fairy tale. Like his more popular book, The Last Unicorn, this one has deep philosophy. It's also a lighthearted children's book. This book is set in our world, but the main character can travel into a fantasy world. It shares a bit of Chronicles of Narnia type world travel, but from a very Peter S. Beagle way of storytelling. I actually prefer this one to The Last Unicorn.
July 14, 2023
This was very much a YA book, which is fine, but it could have benefitted from some editing. I felt some of the word choices were strange and it was not up to Beagle's typical prose. Overall though, I thought the story was interesting and it moved along quickly. Not the greatest read, but enjoyable enough.
May 14, 2017
While I love Beagle's stories and writing, I found this one a little disappointing. There were lovely aspects to it, but overall it felt thin to me, and as though it never reached the book it wanted to be.
September 13, 2020
This was a trip down nostalgia lane and I loved it . The illustrations and quality of this finished product is stunning. Please publish books like this again, where every part of the physical book has been considered.
July 11, 2021
The writing didn't grab me quite as much as previous works by this author, but Shei'rah as a world and the development of the unicorns and everything was really cool and I liked it a lot. It's definitely a world that I would love to visit.
June 14, 2017
The whole story resembles a parable that wants to teach us how to appreciate what we have. I would love to read it again.
June 25, 2017
Ending was a little predictable, but an enjoyable story with lovely illustrations.
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June 7, 2019I read this too long ago to rate, but know I enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews