Amy’s review of Rampant by Diana Peterfreund.

Main Character:Astrid Llewelyn
Love Interest: n/a
Series: Killer Unicorns
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

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.

Everything about this book worked for me. I mean, who doesn’t like unicorns? But the unicorns in Peterfreund’s world are vicious monsters – and after 150 years of being thought extinct, these dangerous creatures are slowly emerging from hiding.

Astrid grew up listening to the tales her mother told her, of unicorns and unicorn hunters and she always thought her mom was crazy. But one night while babysitting and making out with her boyfriend, a small unicorn attacks Astrid’s boyfriend. Astrid is beyond flabbergasted and before she can blink, her mom has her shipped to Rome to become a unicorn hunter. Except the hunting school has kind of fallen to ruin and the man in charge of it kind of doesn’t know what he’s doing.
With the re-emergence of unicorns, a few other girls show up at the school. And what made this book so good for me was that they educate themselves. They work together to train and rely upon each other. And strong characters like that are ones I enjoy.

I also enjoyed the unicorns. Yeah, if you weren’t a virgin they’d try to tear your face off, but Astrid had a cute little lap-unicorn that I liked. Rampant goes into unicorn lore in a way that was truly interesting.

There’s an interesting plot afoot in this book as well. The unicorns seem to be working together in their attacks, something that is not supposed to happen. So who is the hidden foe organizing them? And let me tell you – one of the characters falls victim to this foe’s plot and that part broke my heart. But again, even though something bad happened, the characters rallied together. More than anything, this was a good book about girl power. LOL Yes, I meant that to be corny. But it’s about putting aside your differences and working for the greater good. In this case, it’s taking on some seriously deranged unicorns. Fun times! So if you’re in the mood for something along the lines of fantasy, with some seriously kick-ass teenage heroines, I’d say pick up Rampant. You won’t be disappointed. A-

..and that’s your scoop!