The Skandar series is a trilogy of fantasy novels by A.F Steadman. The first novel, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief was released in April 2022.
Once, unicorns were considered mythical. Then wild unicorns- vicious, undead carnivores out of nightmare- began to overrun their secret Island habitat, and their existence was revealed to the world. The Island's human inhabitants also revealed themselves, explaining that there was only one way to diminish the predatory horde; that unhatched unicorns must imprint on a human, stabilizing their magic and merging the two's souls. The Islanders had less children than they had unicorn eggs, so now "Mainlander" children had to be tested for compatibility with the latter. Left with no choice, Mainland governments complied.
Thirteen years on, unicorns are a source of glamour rather than fear. The vibrant coats and powerful wings of tamed unicorns are splashed across magazine covers; their riders are celebrities whose races attract billions of fans.
One of these fans, a British boy named Skandar Smith, seems as far from that glamour as possible. His grieving and impoverished father cares more about memories than the wellbeing of his children. Kenna, Skandar's fearless elder sister, is broken by her failure to become a rider. All three of them watch the biggest race of the year......and they see its invasion by "the Weaver", the hooded rider of a wild unicorn.
That is the year Skandar becomes a rider. It's the year he meets his unicorn, Scoundrel's Luck, and explores the Island that has been the cause of so much wonder and intrigue.
It's also the year he battles the Weaver face-to-face.
This series includes the following tropes:
- Element No. 5: Spirit, whose wielders can create intangible weapons and manipulate the bond between a unicorn and its rider. Basically everyone related to Erika Everhart is a spirit wielder."You can touch it, and if you throw that [spirit-conjured] dagger- and believe in its existence with enough force- it will knock a rider from their unicorn as effectively as any other elemental weapon. It's like that moment when you're not quite asleep, and you suddenly feel like you've fallen from a great height. Nothing touched you, but you still felt the impact."
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: Silver unicorns are the strongest- so strong that their riders suffer Power Incontinence. Other than that, colour doesn't matter.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Well, you can, but doing so always screws an innocent person over. Particularly important is the biological law that each unicorn has one rider it is destined for; trying to hijack that bond or prevent it from forming never ends well for different reasons.
