Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

A.F. Steadman's Skandar and the Unicorn Thief is an epic fantasy for 9 year olds set in a world where unicorns are real, and they're terrifying.

What happens

Forget sparkles and rainbows. In Skandar's world unicorns are twice the size of horses, with bloodied teeth and elemental magic. Wild ones can wipe out a whole village.

Bonded unicorns are different. Every thirteen-year-old sits the Hatchery exam, and the ones who pass go to the Island to try a door and hatch the egg meant for them.

Skandar wants it more than anything. He's thirteen, bullied at school and quietly holding his family together. His dad finds it hard to get out of bed most days. His big sister Kenna failed the exam last year and hasn't been the same since.

Race day brings a rare good morning. Dad cooks a fry-up, Kenna argues about wingbeats and elements, and for once they're all squashed on the sofa together.

Then a rider in a black shroud swoops into the arena on a wild unicorn and steals the winner, New-Age Frost, in front of the cameras.

And the next morning, at the door of the exam hall, Skandar's teacher tells him he's not allowed in. Nobody will say why.

The race is brilliant to read, all ice cocoons, wildfire and lightning bolts in the sky. But the heart of it is Skandar and Kenna. There are their silly jokes about poo, and the way she sends the bully Owen crashing onto the tarmac. It's so easy to care about a boy who's scared of daddy-long-legs and still sticks up for a younger kid.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

There's a lot of sadness at home. Skandar's mum died when he was a baby, which is backstory, and his dad's low days are described honestly. The unicorns are gory too, with rotting flesh, a rider with burns and a broken arm, and a prologue where the cameraman is sure he's about to die. If your reader is fine with a dark edge to their fantasy, they'll probably race through it.

What to read next

For another boy with nobody much looking out for him, who meets a creature straight out of legend, try Dragon Rider. Ben is living alone in an old warehouse when a silver dragon and a grumpy brownie turn up, searching for a hidden valley.