“The Unicorn Hunters” by Katherine Arden

I didn't have "being sad over the fact that in real life the independent Duchy of Brittany was subsumed into France 500 years ago" on my 2026 Bingo card, but here we are.

A problem I have with books grounded in real-world history, assuming the author has done their homework, is that progress is slow because I keep getting distracted reading about the actual history. Guy Gavriel Kay has long been the biggest offender here, but Katherine Arden is giving him a run for his money. Anne of Brittany, as I have learned, is a fascinating figure. The last ruler of an independent Duchy of Brittany, the only woman to have been Queen Consort of France twice. Her story features three marriages, questionable annulments, defiant assertions of independence, and even a cameo by Pope Alexander VI (because what kind of late medieval/early Renaissance intrigue could it even be if there wasn’t a Borgia in there somewhere). Anne’s story ended tragically, with a death in her mid-30s and Brittany a permanent part of France.

Arden built her story around “what if Anne’s story ended differently?”

To start with, Arden aged Anne up so she’s about 20 when she becomes Duchess, instead of 11. (I know that child marriage was hardly unheard of among European nobility, but I appreciate that I didn’t have to cope with that in the book.) Brittany is under threat from France; she’s being pressured to marry Charles VIII, which would mean the end of Brittany. Instead, Anne reaches out to the Holy Roman Empire Maximilian I of Austria for protection. She’ll still have to accept a husband she doesn’t know or want, and acknowledge his sovereignty, but Brittany will remain and hopefully her son will inherit. That’s all more-or-less true to history.

Where things diverge is when, keeping a French ambassador distracted, they go unicorn hunting, and Anne actually encounters one. Along with a man, a diviner from the French king’s court in Paris who has been lost among the fae for two centuries. He doesn’t remember much, but he does remember a message he was supposed to bring: that there is a third contender vying for the hand of the Duchess of Brittany - the king of the fae.

So far I’ve loved everything Katherine Arden has written, this very much included. This book is otherworldly and beautiful, and I’m looking forward to whatever she’s working on next.