Fantasy is an interesting subject. There are some mythical creatures that can go in YA books and not be cheesy: Vampires, werewolves, elves, even faeries. Others, like the unicorn, are more difficult.

In Rampant, Diana Peterfreund challenges tabboo, by basing the whole book on not just the existance of unicorns, but the existance of vicious, man-eating unicorns.

And amazingly, she succeeds.

Rampant follows the story of high-schooler, Astrid Llewelen, as she discovers that her mother's slightly scarring bedtime stories about man-eating unicorns are true. Before long, she is sent to train in Rome to be hunt the beasts. But the job is more complicated than either Astrid or her mother anticipated; as trusted advisories turn traitor, unlikely alliences must be formed.

Diana Peterfreund is a truly talented author who took a most unlikely and difficult topic and turned it into a beautiful and horrible masterpiece.