About book Das Letzte Einhorn - Graphic Novel (1968)
I rated this five stars for two reasons. First, the graphic adaptation of the novel I love so much was excellently done - beautiful, breathtaking art (most especially the ones of the unicorn herself) and just enough of the important parts of the novel to satisfy me, seeing as you can only put so much into an adaptation. I both recommend and warn against reading the novel close to reading the graphic novel, as I did. Beagle's narrative is "filled with wonderful turns of phrase and sparkles of wit" (Gillis, Peter B. "The Good Parts") to be sure, and that does not translate to images, most especially descriptions of sounds and scents and tones of voice. I felt a loss of these things as I read the graphic novel, but I understood there wasn't much chance of being able to include them. However, having read the book mere days prior, I remembered them, and it enhanced those moments for me. It's a bitter-sweet sort of combination.The second reason I rated this five stars is that there are some extras I didn't know about when I purchased it: the art gallery, for one - which contains pieces from artists other than Ranae De Liz and Ray Dillon, as well as the sketches and black-and-white inked stages of some of the passages included in the main story; and a short story by Peter S. Beagle himself, for two - a historical fiction, if you will, about a Dutch man who wrote fantastic stories of far away places to which he had never been, one Dr. Olfert Dapper. I greatly enjoyed the story, and while the only real "fantasy" element of it is the description of the unicorn itself, the rest is still ripe with imagery and charm and wit as only Beagle can write.And before you accuse me of being biased, I'll tell you plainly: I am biased. The man's work inspires me to write, and to write better than I do now. Only barely remembered the cartoon being on HBO all the time growing up and seeing it in bits and pieces, never made an impression. So I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. I especially like how the bad king was more a a sad bastard messing things up with his self-absorbed ways, like real royalty, rather than some cliché, unbeatable evil with grandiose plans. The guy was trying to hold on to something that made him happy. Also nice to read a fantasy story that wraps things up in one book, rather going on for several volumes ending in cliffhangers for years.
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A perfect adaptation of one of my favorite books of all time. Gorgeous.
—wbjereh
