This is one of those cozy, old-school fantasies that I can confidently recommend to a wide spectrum of readers.

Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

When Claire and her sister Sophie go exploring in their late aunt's home, they never expected to find a portal to another world. Claire senses danger and asks Sophie to promise not to go back to Arden. But when Sophie disappears, Claire must make the journey to find her sister. Can she save Arden in the process? This is a great middle-grade fantasy adventure that I will definitely be recommending to young patrons.

Awesome middle grade story! My girls and I enjoyed this book so much! We can't wait for more. Full of adventure, it kept us turning pages long after their bedtime. We love books about secret door/portals (Narnia is our favorite, of course). The sister aspect really got through to my own girls. Highly recommend this one!!

I adored this book SO much. My true regret is I did not read it sooner.

If there was any doubt as to the type of book this was going to be, just have a look at the cover. It hits all of the genre standards: kid finds a magical world and is thrown into an unexpected adventure with an uneasy team to achieve an aim she doesn't fully understand. There are ancient curses, faction tensions, and betrayals. Its fairly well written, just very typical of the genre.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I hit the halfway point I finished it rather quickly. I think young girls will be attracted to the cover and title because of the unicorn connection, but this is really a story about friendship, bravery, and love of family. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and I will definitely be reading the next book.

I will be purchasing this book for my library. I think there will be a big demand.

One thing that I didn't love was the really frequent use of similes. Some of them just didn't flow naturally and kind of pulled me out of the story. Just my little hang up. I enjoyed the story itself. Lots of little twists (and some bigger ones).

"She might not have been the tallest or the bravest, but she was a good listener -- she had to be, if she wanted to learn important things. From experience, Claire knew that the biggest bits of news were often told in the quietest of voices."

The Unicorn Quest is a fun middle grade novel with plenty of spunk. Claire Martinson is an ordinary girl who, with the help of her older sister Sophie, discovers an extraordinary passageway into a mythical land called Arden.

There is plenty to like about this adventure tale - Claire is intelligent and kind, a loyal friend and a talented artist. She loves her sister Sophie more than anything in the world and isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to save her when she goes missing in Arden, even if it means facing her fears alone.

I've got to admit, I'm a sucker for books with secret passageways into other worlds, and I love all things unicorn. Those were two of the main reasons I picked this one up. While Arden was a very cool mystical land, one I'm sure that my younger self would have loved to visit, I was disappointed by the lack of unicorns in this unicorn quest. It is surprisingly sparse. I do think a sequel is in the works, which will hopefully make all of my unicorn dreams come true, but I think this book would have been better with more unicorns. Or, with a slighly different title so that readres don't go into thinking there are going to be tons of unicorns throughout.

Overall, a good read for kids, and it would definitely be a fun one to read aloud.

Benko's debut is, for the most part, a well written and engaging MG fantasy portal novel, where a younger sister follows her older sister (who is in remission from an unnamed disease) into a fantasy world, where different factions have different magical abilities and where unicorns once loved but now are gone. With the help of two new friends and her lucky pencil, she must track down her older sister and maybe find out more about these unicorns along the way. The author occasionally leans too heavily on the art metaphors (the protagonist is a young artist), and I found the epilogue a bit frustrating but inevitable for all that—still, I liked these characters enough that when the sequel comes out, I will most likely read it. B+.

A fun book with compelling themes and adventure. I would love to read this to my daughters in a couple years as they would resonate with the motivations of these characters. And who can resist the potential for a Unicorn? Not me. I enjoyed this book and would have loved it even more if I was still a youth!

When Claire and her sister Sophie move into Windemere Manor after the death of their great aunt Diana, who collected all manor of odd objects, they aren't entirely sure what to do with themselves. Sophie is recovering from an undisclosed illness, and their parents are still overly protective and scared for her. Claire is scared as well, but irritated that Sophie doesn't spend as much time with her as she used to. When the sisters investigate an odd chimney in the house, they find it is a portal to a magical kingdom. Claire doesn't think it is a good idea to travel there, but when Sophie disappears, she knows she must go in search of her. However, when Claire arrives in Arden, she is met by the rather hostile Nett and Sena, who inform her that her sister has been there but has also been accused of stealing a magical artifact that is keeping the fragile peace of the Arden guilds, and is nowhere to be found. Claire, of course, must embark on a quest across the lands in order to find her sister. This is treacherous, even with Nett, a Tiller, and Sena, a Forger. The guilds are protective of their lands and loathe to let others cross them, so Claire must use her wiles and wits to locate her sister. She eventually finds that she and her sister are more entwined with the fortunes of Arden than they ever could have imagined. Once the artifact is found, will Arden be saved and their time in the kingdom over? Or are there more adventures awaiting the girls?
Strengths: The land of Arden is well developed, and the fracturing of Arden into guild divisions makes sense. It's serious, but not scary, and the fighting is in the past, which is a nice touch in a lighter fantasy for younger readers who are more interested in magical adventures, friendships, and unicorns. Claire's desire to find her sister despite her reluctance to enter Arden is realistic, and her fear for her sister despite her annoyance at her is something with which many readers will sympathize. The magic skills are an interesting touch. I'll be curious to see where this adventure takes us. If I had a paper ARC, I would have three students who would read this right away!
Weaknesses: Arden is a typically Anglo-Celtic medieval world, and there are so many fantasies with this setting. While I always have readers who adore this, I personally am looking forward to the Rick Riordan imprint that will introduce more fantasies from different world cultures.
What I really think: Definitely will purchase for fans of Pierce's Alanna, Wrede's Dealing with Dragon's, Levine's The Two Princesses of Ba'Marre, Hale's Princess Academy, and Jessica Day George's and Diana Zahler's fantasy books.

DNF

This book was good...it just wasn’t for me. I would have liked more world building and character development, I think. I just didn’t feel drawn into this world.

I will still recommend this to my students drawn to fantasy novels.

Thank you, Netgalley and Bloomsbury, for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a decent story that really lagged in places. The middle felt like it could've used a trim. The end was exciting, but it just took me so long to get there.

Artistic younger sister Claire, spirited older sister Sophie.
Alternate world with magic and talk of unicorns.
First novel by Kamilla Benko.
Unfortunately, I lost interest, but might return to it after a while to see if it sits differently then.

This book is an enjoyable adventure where two sisters discover that their great-aunt's fireplace is a portal to another world. One sister embarks on a quest to find the other across the new world, which features distinct flavors of magic, a grim historical backstory, and finally a plot twist. While probably something fun for young fantasy fans, everything about it was somewhat less than I had hoped for -- a good story, but nothing crazy memorable.