Get ready for a unicorn-filled spectacular in "Beyond the Portal" by Donna Galanti! This third and final chapter of the Unicorn Island series is a whirlwind of enchantment and surprises that will leave you with a heart full of joy.

Join Sam, Tuck, and the fantastical Barloc as they embark on their most daring adventure yet. This time, it's not just about unicorns and rainbows – they're diving into uncharted dimensions, unveiling family secrets, and stirring up a bit of magical mischief that will keep you grinning from ear to ear.

Donna Galanti brings her A-game, shaking up the fantasy playbook with unexpected twists that will have you on the edge of your seat. This isn't your typical unicorn tale; it's a magical journey where family takes the spotlight, and surprises wait around every corner.

Feel the excitement as the trio faces a mysterious green issue, adding a dash of mystery to the mix. The quest to uncover its source becomes an engaging puzzle, keeping you guessing until the very end. And the race against a magic-enforced deadline? It's a suspenseful ride that will have your heart racing.

While it might not be headed to the stars on a space probe, this trilogy is a delightful concoction of adventure, fantasy, and heartwarming family moments. Donna Galanti's storytelling brilliance weaves a spell of magic and mayhem, leaving you with a craving for more enchantment long after you've turned the final page.

My daughter absolutely loved this book. I always have a hard time finding something she looks forward to reading and this book made it where she wanted to read. She didn't fight me to set down and do her reading. She has already told me she would read it again.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book follows two friends as they go on a quest to find a missing person and help unicorns.
This is the third book in the series. It is not needed to read the previous books to understand and enjoy the story. The story is quick and easy with bright illustrations.

This was a very cute unicorn book. I read it with my daughter who loves all things unicorn. We really appreciated the wider vocabulary here for middle graders, well I did, she didn’t like me making her look up words - but learning is fun! Also the illustrations were beautiful and full colour and added so much to the story. Love the different families represented and the inclusion of both boy and girl main characters. This was not too girly and all genders can get into the story. The book also dealt with morally grey issues which was great for discussion, there were two sides to the unicorn hunt and both had important and compelling reasons for doing what they did. I loved the realism there, because not every problem in real life is clean cut into good and bad.
The only small note I have is that this book would be better enjoyed had we read the previous in the series. The author did a good job filling in the blanks but it would have been richer had we been with the books from the start. So best read in series order.
I’d recommend this for all middle graders who like adventure books and books about animals.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was unaware going into this book that it was the last in a series but I think it worked fine as a stand-alone. But I would like to go back and start from the beginning since I enjoyed this one. I read Unicorn Island with my young stepson and he also really enjoyed it. We're both fantasy readers and this book gave us a wonderful setting with magic and adventure.

Sam, Tuck and Barloc find a way beyond a portal on Unicorn Island and what follows is a magical adventure with interesting I highly recommend if you have a middle grade student who enjoys getting into series. It would be perfect for early readers.

Thank. you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book, the colorful of illustrations made me excited to read it. The colors were vibrant and complement the story which is very entertaining. An adventure story that brought a beautiful colorful mood.

Well, it's only good news here, as the final book in this trilogy rounds everything off in brilliant fashion – not closing the circle completely, and not ticking each and every narrative box, but taking us where we would want to be. With a mission more concerned with mending her original family, Sam and her friend (and their favourite unicorn) go to the island where unicorns live in a lovely sanctuary – and travel to the unearthly dimension where they originally came from. This is fraught with danger, as unicorns were hunted before they were all forced to leave, and who knows what the situation is now.

Well it's not ideal (and it's frustrating that nobody thinks to ask the source of the green issue), but they might just be able to beat the magic-enforced deadline and get everything tickety-boo. This is an adventure to prove the whole series so far has not really been about unicorns after all – but family. But by now we're not finding that soapy at all, and we're so in love with the whole situation and spirit of these books we can only will everyone to succeed. Not quite the laminate it, stick it on a space probe and shoot it to the stars quality, but still this whole trilogy has been delightful, and unexpectedly good. For me each volume has been worth four and a half stars.

I requested this book based on the cover and in part due to its association with EPIC, which my kids use in the classroom. What I did not realize is that it is 240 pages long and we quickly lost interest. Within the first 3 pages, there are 7 characters mentioned, which had me and my kids flipping back and rereading as we felt lost, especially reading this series out of order.

Instantly, I felt this is better suited for kids older than my own based on the sensitive subjects of “real” dad and “birth mother,” mentioned within the first few pages; topics which I do not feel my children are quite ready for and we stopped reading. Additionally, within the first chapter, there is a reference to 1640, which my kids didn’t understand. In other words, I spent more time explaining the references mentioned within the first chapter than actually reading the story.

I will add the illustrations were beautiful and extremely detailed. I think this would make for a great story for kids a bit older than my own, especially when read in order. I’d love to try this series/author some time down the line when my kids are older but this is definitely beyond their age range. I would prefer not to assign a star rating, since we were unable to finish the book but I do feel that this could make a magical story and the illustrations are wonderful.

Great adventure story about unicorns but the series should be read in order to fully understand. Didn’t like how the people would take the horns but other than that, it was a great adventurous read

Who doesn’t love unicorns?

We’ve gotten such great feedback from this series from our young mi ds and this is the final book in the series so I’m sure it will be highly requested. The adventures of Sam her friend Tuck and Barlow the unicorn keep readers on the edge of their sears!

Highly Recommend 5/5

The secrets of Unicorn Island are all revealed in the final book in Epic’s middle-grade fantasy series! When Sam and Tuck discover a way to unlock the answers they’ve been seeking, they must set out to discover the truth…

For Sam, knowing a little about her mother’s disappearance through the portal is almost worse than knowing nothing at all. Determined to distract herself, she tries to learn everything possible about caring for the herd on Unicorn Island. But when she and her friend Tuck stumble on a coded verse in The Unicorn Protector Creed, they are faced with an even greater task.

With no way of knowing what’s beyond it, Sam, Tuck, and Barloc the unicorn step through the portal and find that not only is Sam’s mother no longer a unicorn protector, she also lives in a world plagued by its own problems—and convinced that the only solution to them rests in the horn on Barloc’s head.

With the portal closing at sundown on the third day, Sam and Tuck are in a race to rescue their friend, reunite their families, and save another world from a terrible fate of its own making!

Overall I enjoyed reading this book (I mean it has unicorns, what is not to love). But all in all I do feel like that without reading any of the other books in the series you miss out on some (important) background information of the story.

I know it's a book meant for children and they might not question it, but I had some difficulties accepting the "morals" of the people in the town for hunting the unicorns and taking their horns. I'm glad that it ends well and Sylvia definetly had a redemption arc (thankfully) but it feels like in the years after the unicorns were rescued someone could (and maybe even should) have come up with a different way of cleansing the water.

But overall a nice, exciting and adventurous book for children (with unicorns!)