Black Unicorn

Black Unicorn (1991) by Tanith Lee is the first of a trilogy.  It is a slim story, part of the Dragonflight series of books arranged by the book-packager Byron Preiss. The Dragonflight series ran for about six years and included a dozen or so short illustrated novels by various authors. Black Unicorn has a small number of adequate ink drawings by Heather Cooper, and a color cover, which fails to capture the flavor of the text. The story itself concerns Tanaquil, the daughter of the desert sorceress Jaive. Tanaquil has a special talent for fixing things.  Her piecing together of the skeleton of a unicorn brings the creature back to life, and starts her on a quest to the city near the sea, which also involves the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.  I found the story surprisingly engaging (probably due to Lee's undoubted stylistic talent), and look forward to reading the next book.