Title: Rampant |
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...
Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years. Or not. Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries. However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student ... an attraction that could jeopardize everything. |
Book Review
Wow! what can i say beyond WOW! I loved this book!! Ive not read any books by the author before but i def thinking she has careened to the top of my best ever list! I will def be reading more of her books and this is why:
The Characters. I loved the characters! they were so deep and developed. Their uniqueiness really shined for me. There are a bunch of girls at the cloisters and sometimes i got confused. I had to ask myself "which was that?" quite a few times...but i liked learning about them all. There voices were all so true to character! This author really knows how to write from a teen's pov! My favorite character was Cory! She was so conflicted and deep! I felt so bad for her! She seemed to work so hard but didnt really get too much credit!
The Plot/Theme. Ive never read a unicorn book before so i wasnt sure what to expected...Ive always "liked" unicorns (b/c of harry potter) and was kind of put off by people "killing" them...but after getting engrossed with the story..those feelings were challenged and addressed. The storyline was amazing and very hard to predict! There were a few things that were easy to put together and realize before Astrid, but i think those were put in to distract you from the HUGE twist towards the middle/end!
There were a few things i didnt like...Like Phillipa. I liked her ok...but i have to say shes my least favorite character. I guess she just seems stuckup to me with the things she says...and she acts so bossy! She did however take care of Astrid and the other girls. She reminded me of Isabell from Shiver/Linger! LOL. Also, I think the "flood and fire" verbage was annoying too..it got repeatious...but neither of these took any from the story!
Another very small thing that got to me was the italian and jaron. I sometimes couldnt remember (or didnt know) what they were talking about when they mentions tools and stuff....or like parts of Rome...haha..im so lame! I was listening to the audiobook so i couldnt even figure out the spelling to consult my trusty google search bar.....sigh.
Overall this was a great read and i highly recommend if to anyone wanting to read a good "mystical creature", romance and/or mystery book! I will (not so) patiently be waiting for book 2!
The Characters. I loved the characters! they were so deep and developed. Their uniqueiness really shined for me. There are a bunch of girls at the cloisters and sometimes i got confused. I had to ask myself "which was that?" quite a few times...but i liked learning about them all. There voices were all so true to character! This author really knows how to write from a teen's pov! My favorite character was Cory! She was so conflicted and deep! I felt so bad for her! She seemed to work so hard but didnt really get too much credit!
The Plot/Theme. Ive never read a unicorn book before so i wasnt sure what to expected...Ive always "liked" unicorns (b/c of harry potter) and was kind of put off by people "killing" them...but after getting engrossed with the story..those feelings were challenged and addressed. The storyline was amazing and very hard to predict! There were a few things that were easy to put together and realize before Astrid, but i think those were put in to distract you from the HUGE twist towards the middle/end!
There were a few things i didnt like...Like Phillipa. I liked her ok...but i have to say shes my least favorite character. I guess she just seems stuckup to me with the things she says...and she acts so bossy! She did however take care of Astrid and the other girls. She reminded me of Isabell from Shiver/Linger! LOL. Also, I think the "flood and fire" verbage was annoying too..it got repeatious...but neither of these took any from the story!
Another very small thing that got to me was the italian and jaron. I sometimes couldnt remember (or didnt know) what they were talking about when they mentions tools and stuff....or like parts of Rome...haha..im so lame! I was listening to the audiobook so i couldnt even figure out the spelling to consult my trusty google search bar.....sigh.
Overall this was a great read and i highly recommend if to anyone wanting to read a good "mystical creature", romance and/or mystery book! I will (not so) patiently be waiting for book 2!
Diana Peterfreund
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Diana Peterfreund has been a costume designer, a cover model, and a food critic. Her travels have taken her from the cloud forests of Costa Rica to the underground caverns of New Zealand (and as far as she’s concerned, she’s just getting started). Diana graduated from Yale University in 2001 with dual degrees in Literature and Geology, which her family claimed would only come in handy if she wrote books about rocks. Now, this Florida girl lives with her husband and their puppy in Washington D.C., and writes books that rock
Her first novel, Secret Society Girl (2006), was described as “witty and endearing” by The New York Observer and was placed on the New York Public LIbrary’s 2007 Books for the Teen Age list. The follow-up, Under the Rose (2007) was deemed “impossible to put down” by Publisher’s Weekly, and Booklist called the third book, Rites of Spring (Break) (2008), “an ideal summer read.” The final book in the series, Tap & Gown, will be released in 2009. All titles are available from Bantam Dell. She also contributed to the non-fiction anthologies, Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, edited by Jennifer O’Connell (Pocket Books, 2007), The World of the Golden Compass, edited by Scott Westerfeld (BenBella Books, 2007), and Through the Wardrobe, edited by Herbie Brennan (BenBella Books, 2008). Her first young adult novel, Rampant, an adventure fantasy about killer unicorns and the virgin descendents of Alexander the Great who hunt them, will be released by Harper Collins in 2009. When she’s not writing, Diana volunteers at the National Zoo, adds movies she has no intention of watching to her Netflix queue, and plays with her puppy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Rio. |
