Melody's Unicorn - Richard Swan

Full disclosure: I’m a 39 year old who usually reads realistic fiction and memoirs. I’m not one for fantasy or sci-fi, well really I’m not one to jump on an obvious fantasy or sci-if book. I don’t know why, but something drew me to Melody’s Unicorn by Richard Swan, and I’m glad it did. I’ve been reading a lot of really heartbreaking non-fiction lately, so it took me a few chapters to get into Richard Swan’s style seeing as it’s written for children (I would say tweens, but younger and older will definitely enjoy it too). But Melody’s Unicorn is just lovely. It took me back to my childhood when I loved to read about fairies, dragons, unicorns, and all of the other entities that we believe do not exist but secretly think they possibly do.

Melody has special powers and a need to find out her true identity. She arrives in London looking for answers to her questions and ends up discovering a whole new world that opens itself up to her. I am looking forward to reading the next books in the trilogy as it will be interesting to see where Melody and her friends go from here.

I love how Swan sets the scene in his novel, and how he describes Melody’s surroundings. I found myself mapping out London in my head and imagining myself in Melody’s place. Thoroughly enchanting! Melody’s Unicorn is definitely the type of book my bookish childhood self would have jumped on. And I have no qualms about saying how much I enjoyed it as an adult!

Melody’s Unicorn will be published by John Hunt Publishing - Our Street Books on May 31st. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!