Death of a Unicorn, Peter Dickinson

I knew going in that this was a mystery novel, and not actually fantasy — however the title might make it sound. But it doesn’t actually seem like much of a mystery novel, either, for pretty much the whole first section. It’s kind of fun in a voyeuristic sort of way — young debutante becomes gossip writer for a magazine — but the whole thing didn’t quite work for me. The narration jumps around, I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t think the footnotes were well done (they work even less well than usual when you read something in ebook format).

Before long, I found myself skimming, and not long after that, I just didn’t care at all. I think Dickinson wrote some fantasy, and I’d be a bit more interested in trying that, considering that he was married to Robin McKinley and did some writing with her as well.

Rating: 2/5