Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Review: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund


Rampant
Diana Peterfreund
August 2009
HarperCollins Publishers
Young Adult
ISBN: 0061490008
  
Forget everything you ever knew about nicorns . .
Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years. Or not. 
Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.
 However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.
When I received this book, I was extreme excited because I had seen rave reviews about it online but unfortunately, it didn't exactly turned out like I had hoped. In fact, parts of it just bored me and it just dragged at a snail's pace. Astrid's interesting enough of a character but at times, I felt like she was whiny and that annoyed me but admittedly, she does grow as the book progresses. However, the premise for the story of killer unicorns was pretty great, I really liked reading about the different types of killer unicorns. Several of the secondary characters were very interesting to read about, and these things together was what kept me reading Rampant.
I absolutely hated Astrid's mom, no joke. She was portrait pretty horribly, in my opinion, because it sounded like she was forcing Astrid to go to Italy to learn how to fight the unicorns because that was her dream and she was living vicariously through her kid and honestly, that annoyed the living lights out of me. Enough that I skipped her parts after a while.
While I thought I would really like Rampant and sure, some parts of it were pretty entertaining, those weren't enough for me to really love the book, killer unicorns or not.

8 comments:

Mandi said...

Interesting view on this book, I have only seen a couple of reviews and I think they were pretty positive.

Nice honest review!

Anonymous said...

what a shame it didn't live up to your expectations! love the honesty though...blog with integrity!

-Aimee
www.myflutteringheart.blogspot.com

BookObsessedGrl said...

I'm sorry it wasn't everything you hoped it would be. I rarely read YA but I was really thinking about getting this one because of the Killer Unicorns (had to be caps because it's a great B horror movie title - isn't it?) Hearing how you felt about it I think I'll wait until I come across it in the used book store. Thank you for the wonderfully honest review!
~Heather
a.k.a. BookObsessedGrl

Tales of Whimsy said...

Cool review. Sorry you weren't feeling it. I can't wait to give it a try.

Enchanted by Books said...

Haven't had a chance to read my copy yet but I'll still read it despite the fact that you didn't like it. Sucks that there were boring parts, but I'll give it a go still. :)

Donna said...

I've been thinking about getting Rampant because of all the rave reviews I read so far. Too bad it didn't stand up to your expectations, hate when that happens with a book. Thanks for the honest review. :)

SusiSunshine said...

Killer unicorns? Really huh? Now I have to think about this PNR book with the unicorn shifter and what wonderful things he can do with his horn(never read this one but read the blurb). No unicorns for me!

ParaJunkee said...

Hi there Wendy. Just wanted to stop by and say hello,with a little reminder that the Covet review deadline is today for Blog with Bite. Stop by and let us know where you posted it, by clicking here. I'm really looking forward to your opinions on the book, and seeing who the Top Reviewers are for Covet! - XO ParaJunkee - your friendly neighborhood BWB Editor

He can Chapter-32 me anytime!

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