Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

Parents need to know that Skandar and the Unicorn Thief does not feature the kind of unicorns that fly over rainbows and make kids swoon over their beauty and poise. Quite the opposite, even for the tamer bonded unicorns. The horned monsters love raw meat, wear armor, and fight alongside their bonded humans using dangerous magic. Some kids as young as 13 are injured in staged battles where they throw fire balls, tornadoes, boulders, and more at each other. The worst injuries are falls, bites, burns, and broken bones. Wild unicorns stampede through towns, and people go missing afterward. Unicorns aren't at fault for all the violence, however. There's some bullying, a woman is beaten and taken prisoner, and guards are killed (shown and heard only from afar with light and explosions). A girl experiences panic attacks, and there's talk of 24 unicorn riders assassinated years before. There's not much else in the way of mature content: two mild swear words and a mention of Skandar's dad drinking beer. Skandar's friend Bobby says, "Being let down, especially by parents, is the worst." Three characters -- Skandar, Mitchell, and Amber -- all experience this and all handle it differently. Amber bullies others to protect herself from further harm. Mitchell tries to be perfect to get his cold and distant father to notice and learns that it's not as important as being true to himself and loyal to his friends. And Skandar deals with a depressed and distant father by forming a stronger bond with his sister, Kenna, and eventually with his friends at school. Along with that, our hero Skandar is selfless and determined to choose the right path, even if it leads him away from what he longs for most: an identity and sense of belonging.