FRAGMENTS OF A UNICORN'S SOUL by J.R. Loveless

Publisher: Torquere Press
Date published: 4/6/15
ISBN: 978-1-944449-49-0
MM, Paranormal
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Weblink: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=96&products_id=4632
Obtained via publisher.
Rating: 3



Elek is a unicorn who lives in the forest. All unicorns must remain behind the veil so humans don’t catch and hurt them. However Elek is drawn outside the veil and saves the life of a small child. Years pass and Elek falls in love with the boy who becomes a man. But humans cannot understand unicorns and unicorns must not leave the safety of the forest.


I was attracted to this book because of such a beautiful and different premise. The plot, the world and the emotions of the characters hold enormous promise of great storytelling.

The love Elek holds for the child, then man, Jonathan, is shown dramatically and in a manner that underlies the basic enchantment of the tale. The steps toward potential resolution of the problem are elegant, believable yet not predictable. Both the characters and the story itself live up to the blurb and are good.

Unfortunately I found it almost impossible to believe that a book which has been published before and now re-edited could still hold two incredibly annoying problems, which this book does. First, there are POV changes with no warning mid-paragraph. I anticipate a line break as a minimal requirement for a POV change. Secondly there are no scene breaks or chapter headings. The book is all one long piece with no subdivisions at all. This is a long way beyond annoying. It’s completely unprofessional. We move through different scenes, years pass, the POV character changes, but the story just rolls on with no formatting to indicate anything has altered. I’m stunned that the editor and publisher permitted this to happen. There is also a complete lack of understanding of how to write a further past scene inside an already past scene. Tenses are important here.
This book didn’t live up to its potential.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.