Peter is the rare writer whose stories are ageless. They are as poignant and intimately relatable to me as a 66 y.o. as they were when I was 16. They touch both my heart and soul, reassuring me that, by some miracle, I have retained both -- despite the intervening half-century of life I've experienced. These two tales are set in the world of his duely reknowned "The Last Unicorn." As of this review, there are but three others, stories of the early life of his protagonist Schmendrick the Magician in contrast to his latter days recounted in this present collection. I can only hope there will be more. ( )

The two hearts novella is an interesting tale. It is nice to see how the characters of the last unicorn are doing after the first adventure, but definitely is not a sequel by any means. It is just slightly adjacent to their stories, although a little more important to King Lirs story. The second novella, sooz, is interesting. Although feels a little slow at parts ( )

I'm still unsure whether this deserves a 2, a 3, or a 3.5. I've loved "The Last Unicorn" since I saw the film adaptation the first time back in 2010 or so, and loved the book since the first time I read it after watching the film. I love the film soundtrack, too, and I've watched the film with friends, recommended both book and film to friends, and it's a treasured part of my library. One of my ringtones is a song used on an AMV for the film, that I've kept for over 10 years.

I am happy that after so many trials and tribulations Peter S. Beagle got his intellectual property back, and that I was finally able to read both of these stories. It's truly remarkable, congratulations, I wish him great success. The cover art for this and the new cover art for "The Last Unicorn" to match it are gorgeous. I'm not sure if the same people did both, but Jim Tierney and Daniel Brount did a great job for this one.

That being said, I think most people who like either the book or film adaptation of "The Last Unicorn" can happily skip this and be better off. The core lesson here is: be kind, because life is hard and painful and death is unavoidable, and you and the people you love are only here for a brief time. Although I had a synopsis of "Two Hearts" I'd read many years ago, the story was a bit more depressing than even I was prepared for, though the writing is pretty good. "Sooz" is somehow worse, and that's partially because of the incredibly pointless gang rape scene and the way it was handled that reminded me more of Andresz Sapkowski's "The Witcher" books than anything else, which isn't a compliment. "Sooz" in particularly reminded me of some of the worse of Ciri's portions from those books.

I have always described "The Last Unicorn" as poetry in novel form. There are moments these two stories get there, and the ending in particular for "Sooz" gets quite close, which is one reason I upped my personal star rating (but downgraded it again because I can't in good conscience give this a 4). That being said, it's a bit of a miserable time, which is saying something because "The Last Unicorn" is hardly a happy story. But at least it's a beautifully tragic story. These two are just tragic and miserable. "Sooz" in particular drags writing-wise and narratively. In many ways, it reminded me of "The Hero and the Crown" by Robin McKinley, which handled similar premises far better.

All in all, I can't recommend this to anyone, unless you're a die-hard fan of Beagle or "The Last Unicorn" and need to read everything official you can get your hands on, or just want to support a beloved author who's accomplished so much in his lifetime. Just be in a good place, mentally, when you read it, and don't go in expecting anything like "The Last Unicorn". I wasn't expecting that, but I was hoping for something at least semi-enjoyable. I probably could have saved my time and reread Ursula K. Le Guin's "Earthsea Cycle" or "The Hero and the Crown" by Robin McKinley. Reread "The Last Unicorn". Watch the film. Skip this. ( )