Release Date: September 28th, 2010
Pages: 400
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating:

Series: Killer Unicorns #2
Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Now a fully trained unicorn hunter, Astrid Llewelyn is learning that she can’t solve all her problems with a bow and arrow. Her boyfriend has left Rome, the Cloisters is in dire financial straits, her best friend’s powers are mysteriously disintegrating, and her hope of becoming a scientist seems to be nothing but an impossible dream.

So when she’s given the opportunity to leave the Cloisters and use her skills as part of a scientific quest to discover the Remedy, Astrid leaps at the chance. Finally, she can have exactly what she wants—or can she? At Gordian headquarters deep in France, Astrid begins to question everything she had believed: her love for Giovanni, her loyalty to the Cloisters, and—most of all—her duty as a hunter. Should Astrid be saving the world from killer unicorns or saving unicorns from the world?

Review: I reviewed the first book in this series Rampant earlier this summer.

Ascendant blew it out of the water.

My biggest complaint with Rampant was that it focused too much on the fact that hunters had to be virgins. Lots of sex talk. But since the author got that out of the way in the first book, she didn't have to dwell on it quite as much in this one (It's still there, but not as much).

The way Peterfeund writes Astrid's transformation throughout the book is at times so heart-wrenching and beautiful that I actually felt tears spring to my eyes. I fell in love with Astrid in a way that I wouldn't have thought possible after reading the first book. By the end I was SO SAD that it was over!

So why only 4.5? Two reasons: the ending was VERY sad. I REALLY hope the next one (there is a next one, right?) comes out ASAP. I need closure! Also there was some lesbian stuff. Not a ton, but I really don't like any kind of LGBT. Not my thing. (P.S. If you like LGBT you should check out Kristi's site, she's featuring it right now.) So those two things brought it down a half-star.

But I still gave it a "semi-squeaky" rating because it's just so gosh darn TOUCHING!