Do you believe in magic?

Xander does. He’s been a magic hunter for most of his life. When he was younger his friend Kelly would go on magic hunts with him but no longer does. On the very day that he decides to give up on magic it blasts across the sky in all of its technicolor glory. He doesn’t see fairies, gnomes or a spirit.

Instead he witnesses three rainbows, but there’s no pot of gold at the end of these rainbows. What Xander discovers are three unicorns! But not just your garden variety type. These are zombie unicorns and they barf rainbows!

“RONK!”

Being zombies they also smell terrible and tend to be accompanied by flies. The unicorns have heard about human adults who no longer believe in magic and will experiment on them if discovered. Xander knows it’s up to him to protect these rainbow vomiters from harm, but how?

Matthew K. Manning has written one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year. The writing engages the reader from the beginning with this amazing and absurd story (I say that with the utmost respect) that is so imaginative and funny. I wanted these rainbow-barfing unicorns to be real. I wanted to go watch them vomit rainbows into the sky for myself. I wanted to visit Pegasia to witness for myself this magical dimension.

Joey Ellis’ illustrations capture the comedy in this book perfectly! My favourite illustration today is of Xander bathed in a rainbow yet pretending he can’t see anything out of the ordinary. It accurately depicts the humour of a kid obviously caught in a lie, denying it regardless and refusing to make eye contact. I expect my favourite illustration will change each time I open the book though.

I spent the whole book thinking this would make an incredible series and I dreaded nearing the end because I needed more! More unicorns! More vomit! More fun! Then I made it to the very end and lo and behold, what do I see on the back cover? The covers for the next three books in the series! Yippee!!! They look like as much fun as this one and I can’t wait!

I will be buying this book as soon as it’s released (for myself) so I can reread it to my heart’s content and have already recommended it to my favourite librarian for an avid young reader who consistently checks out the same kid’s books I do. I need to read the rest of the series urgently!

Food I craved while reading this book: apple donuts, cotton candy and blueberry strudel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for introducing me to this new favourite.