Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (Rampant #1)

Astrid Llewelyn has a normal life. She does fine in school, hopes to become a doctor, and has a attentive boyfriend. Everything could be perfect if her mother wasn't insane. Astrid's mother, Lilith, is obsessed with unicorns. Astrid has grown up with stories about the animals, and these aren't the dancing-on-clouds-and-farting-out-rainbows unicorns that most young girls play games with. No, Lilith tells stories of real unicorns, unicorns who would kill a man without a second thought and eat him, too. Astrid is convinced that her mother is crazy. After all, unicorns don't exist, right? Until one night, they do. After Astrid is attacked by a unicorn, her mother ships her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter. Astrid wants nothing to do with her mom's plans and doesn't want to kill anything. However, there's no room for an aspiring doctor at hunter HQ, and Astrid is thrown into the hunt, like it or not.

Astrid is a relatable, complex girl. She doesn't want to kill anything, but in order to protect the people around her and herself, she has to. Unless she kills her prey, they'll get her first. I admire her bravery and determination as she goes after the violent beasts, and I think she has more guts than she gives herself credit for. Astrid is terrified of the unicorns, but she is even more scared of what might happen if she doesn't stop a rampaging monster. I can sympathize with her value of independence. You see, the unicorns are attracted to the hunters, so it's not safe for them to be out in public, and they're forbidden from seeing anyone because, get this, the hunters have to be virgins in order to have the heightened speed and healing they need to fight unicorns. Astrid doesn't take crap from anyone, though, and she often leaves HQ without permission. And yes, she's also seeing someone.

The unicorns of Rampant are awesome! Of course, I've never seen YA about unicorns, let alone killer unicorns, so maybe it's easy for me to be impressed. Anyways, Peterfreund takes her ideas for different species of unicorns from mythology around the world. Some species, like the fluffy little zhis, are kept by the hunters as pets. (The girls in the book have one. Her name is Bonegrinder, and she likes to eat cows.) Other species, like kirins and re'ems, are larger and will kill a hunter. No matter how innocent unicorns may sound, they're ruthless. To top it all off, they also have poison! I applaud this creative idea.

I also think that Rome is the perfect setting for this book. It's an old, rich city where the past and the present live side by side, with the colosseum and modern traffic right next to each other. There's a certain magic about it, and it seems only natural that unicorns could exist.

I thought this was a original, thrilling book. The idea of vicious unicorns is very creative, and Astrid is a strong heroine. I liked how Peterfreund wove unicorn mythology into her writing, and the world of the hunters is rich with its own culture are traditions. I can see that a lot of thought and time went into developing the world of Rampant! The plot was well-paced with plenty of kick-ass fights and chase scenes, a considerable coating of gore, and no shortage of adventure. While some scenes and events in the book (i.e., rape) could make some readers uncomfortable, and definitely made me a bit uneasy, I enjoyed the story and its breakneck plot twists very much. This a great urban fantasy novel, and I would recommend it to any girl who loves some magic and action. 4/5 stars.

#assassinsspieshuntersandbodyguards #dragonsandunicorns #fantasy