The Unicorn Sonata is not directly linked to any of Beagle's other works, and Beagle has deliberately made it very different from The Last Unicorn. On the other hand, it is part of a remarkable maturation of his art, part of a period in which he has written works of transcendent beauty, such as The Innkeeper's Song (1993; please see separate entry) and Giant Bones (1997; please see separate entry). In particular, The Last Song of Sirit Byar (1997; please see separate entry) works on musical themes, though from a different angle than in The Unicorn Sonata.

Whereas in The Unicorn Sonata the music of a world finds its way into individual human hearts, in The Last Song of Sirit Byar a single man brings music to his world, transforming lives with it. In both The Unicorn Sonata and The Last Song of Sirit Byar, music is presented as...