Illustrated by Joey Ellis
1 star
Came for zombie unicorn hilarity, left very disappointed.
Not particularly well-written in my opinion. The events were pretty boring and the plot is meandering. This is the first book so maybe the adventures get more interesting after the initial setup, but nothing much really happened. There are garbage-eating zombie unicorns from another dimension barfing rainbows; I feel like something should be happening.
The illustrations, on the other hand (or hoof), were fantastic! The character designs are so gross and fun. Nice humor and oddity. Unfortunately, it’s clear the author and illustrator worked separately on this and often the artwork does not match what is presented in the text. I wish the story followed the version in the artwork, because it is so cool.
I feel like the whole rainbow-barfing aspect was a ripoff. The cover and artwork throughout are hilarious, rainbow liquid spewing from the unicorns’ mouths. In actuality, the text describes it as a rainbow light that comes out of their mouths, making them glorified flashlights.
There’s also really weird commentary throughout that is awkward and unneeded. Like asserting that a gray-haired woman’s hair in a ponytail is “a style that looked much too young for her” (p. 102). Ponytails are definitely just a basic hairstyle that it’s totally normal for people of any age to wear. Or the judgmental page-long examination of Xander’s eating habits and weight because he is out of breath after running all the way home. It’s totally normal to be out of breath after running without the assertion that “All the lettuce in the world didn’t seem to help with that” (p 28). Eating lettuce is definitely not going to make you a better runner, cardio and running is. The kid ran all the way home without stopping. Seems like he’s doing just fine.
Includes a character spotlight of the zombie-unicorn Ronk, a glossary of terms used, synonyms for barf (which I wish had been used in the actual book), and basic jokes about unicorns and horses.
Despite the excellent premise, I did not like this one. It’s definitely meant to be a spoof on the My Little Pony universe and has such a fun idea, but the writing was not executed well.
Fine for kids looking for a kind of gross, simple story about rainbow unicorns, but I didn’t find it particularly entertaining.