The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like The Last Unicorn

Beagle, 1968 · #55 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 78/120 · adapted for screen

A unicorn learns she may be the last of her kind and sets out to find what became of the others. A hapless magician and a hard-bitten cook go with her.

Mood10Theme9Structure8Further reading4Creative details9Real-world blend2Divine influence4Climax and fights7Epicness3Genre standard5Originality8

Its strongest scores: mood and theme. The five books below have the closest scores across all eleven criteria.

If you liked The Last Unicorn, read:

  1. The Blacktongue Thief

    Buehlman, 2021 · #89 on the list · 68/120

    Kinch Na Shannack, a thief in debt to the guild that trained him, is pulled into a quest against giants with a battle-scarred knight he was supposed to rob.

    Close on structure, further reading, creative details, real-world blend.

  2. The Books of Babel

    Bancroft, 2013 · #60 on the list · 77/120

    On his honeymoon, a schoolteacher loses his wife in the crowds at the foot of the colossal Tower of Babel. He climbs ring after ring to find her.

    Close on theme, structure, further reading, creative details.

  3. The Engineer Trilogy

    Parker, 2005 · #82 on the list · 70/120

    Ieuan Vaatzes, an engineer exiled for one small improvement to a design, turns his skill with machines into a weapon of revenge against the city that cast him out.

    Close on theme, structure, further reading, creative details.

  4. Raven's Mark

    McDonald, 2017 · #70 on the list · 73/120

    Ryhalt Galharrow, a bounty hunter, works for a sorcerer called Crowfoot at the edge of the Misery. The Misery is a poisoned, warped wasteland left by a weapon.

    Close on structure, further reading, creative details, real-world blend.

  5. Greatcoats

    de Castell, 2014 · #86 on the list · 69/120

    The King's travelling magistrates were disbanded when the king was killed. Falcio val Mond keeps the king's final order and keeps judging.

    Close on structure, further reading, real-world blend, divine influence.

Featured pick

Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer

Manolis Tsongas, 2026 · #5 on the list · 101/120 · for adults and mature teens

A dragon is the real reason King Leonidas and his three hundred died at Thermopylae. Sixty-two years later the gods send a Spartan boy of the agoge to kill it. The book takes lessons from tragedy and the cost of sacrifice, as is the Greek way.

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How the scores work: each book is rated 1 to 10 on eleven criteria; real-world blend and climax and fights count double, for a maximum of 120. See the full Fantasy 101.