Rating: 
Summary: Decent Sequel
Review: A nice addition to the Landover series. The book starts off with Ben, Willow and Questor all having very vivid dreams that they feel they need to act upon. Ben, thinking that his friend from Chicago is in trouble, goes back through the fairy mists to earth. Questor goes to an ancient fortess to find lost books of magic and Willow goes in search of the black unicorn, a legendary beast of pure evil. All of this, not surprisingly is the grand planning of Meeks. The quasi-villian from the last book. The reason why I say quasi is that he was not the main antagonist in book one. Here however, he takes a much more active role and the results make for very entertaining reading. Meeks transforms Ben into an incognito peasant and takes his persona, acting as king of Landover. The only people who recognize him are is enemies and the only help he gets is from a frustratingly egnimatic talking cat by the name of Edgewood Dirk. A nice addition to the growing pantheon of characters. Speaking of which, Strabo, Nightshade, Kallendor and the River King all make an appearance and all show growth. Even Ben, but the decisions that he makes can be somewhat daft and tends to strain the story a bit. Other than that warning, (more of a heads up really) it's a great story and a nice diversion from the epic Shannara series. I think most will like this and agree.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating
Review: I have always the liked the shannara series, but once I started reading the magic kingdom of landover series I fell in love. This is one of the few books (with the exeption of the other landover novels) that I can sit on the couch for four hours at a time reading. A must read. I would also highly recomend the other landover novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I listened to the book on tape version of this book (abridged) on a recent road trip. It was entertaining as a travel distraction. I have to agree with some other reviewers: Ben (the hero) didn't strike me as a particularly brilliant king. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be backed by a particularly brilliant staff, either. Despite the general lack of brilliance, the characters and plot can be quite charming. It is certainly not perfect, but worth at least three stars, since it served its function. Probably not worth spending money on this, but well worth checking out from your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I listened to the book on tape version of this book (abridged) on a recent road trip. It was entertaining as a travel distraction. I have to agree with some other reviewers: Ben (the hero) didn't strike me as a particularly brilliant king. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be backed by a particularly brilliant staff, either. Despite the general lack of brilliance, the characters and plot can be quite charming. It is certainly not perfect, but worth at least three stars, since it served its function. Probably not worth spending money on this, but well worth checking out from your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Attention Catching!
Review: Our man, Ben Holiday, ruler of a magickal kingdom, finds even more problems to solve in his new world...like, for instance, staying alive. The novel begins at breakfast, with a dream and escalates from there....entangled with more twists and turns than a roller-coaster, so hang-loose and enjoy the ride. I like the girl who turns into a tree. After reading the Shannara series, you may need a little comic relief. "Magic Kingdom For Sale" has the same great writing style, but less Intensity.... you won't feel so nervous about the main characters and the quest is more like your own life--how the heck am I going to straighten this mess out? What did I get myself into? --except for the fact that your friends are not quite human and your world is completely new...and you have more responsibility than you ever imagined, just when you thought you were FINALLY going to get a break...and then this Dark Lord character wants to take-over everything and.... Oh, read the story! This series is more at-home on the shelf beside "The Hitch-hiker's Guide," than the Shannara series. You'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: Possibly my favorite in the series...
Review: The sequel to Magic Kingdom for Sale...Sold is once again narrated by Dick Hill, who continues to do an excellent job capturing the personalities of the characters and of giving listeners a very clear mental picture of the landscapes and places explored by the characters, and in many cases a very good idea of what each character looks like. This story, like the prior one, requires the characters to unravel mysteries both about themselves and others, and might also give them a better understanding of illusion and reality. Now for the story.
It all started with three dreams, each sent to a different person. To Ben Holiday, there came a dream about his old law partner and close friend Miles Bennett. TO Questor Thews, there came a dream about a pair of ancient books of magic which had been lost for centuries. To the Sylph girl Willow, there was sent a dream of a mysterious black Unicorn, a being reputed to be not a fairy but a demon. As expected, each of these three feel compelled to test the accuracy of their dreams.
Ben returns to Chicago only to discover that, far from being in any kind of trouble, Miles is actually doing quite well. Convinced that his dream was a lie, Ben returns to Landover. When Questor returns with the missing Books of Magic, it is revealed that one of these books appears to have been burned up from within, while the other contains drawings of unicorns. It may or may not pertain to the legend of a black unicorn. It does seem to have something to do with the legend of a large number of unicorns who mysteriously disappeared while on a journey through the valley of Landover to other worlds. Perhaps these unicorns and the black one are linked in some way?
Later in his bedroom, Ben encounters the former court wizard, a man named Meeks. Meeks lured Ben back to Earth with a false dream of Miles and then returned with him to Landover by taking the form of an insect and hiding in Ben's clothes. He decides that the best way to take his revenge on Ben would be to let him live. He places a special spell on Ben that prevents others from recognizing him, and he also seems to have managed to rest the enchanted Medallion away from Ben, giving him command of the Paladin. But if he possesses such power, why doesn't he use it? He also decides to tell Ben the truth about what's going on. The dreams were his own invention. Indeed, two of them have already served their purpose. Ben's provided Meeks with a way back into Landover, while Questor's provides him with the missing books. But what of Willow's dream?
After being thrown out of the castle by Meeks (who has assumed Ben's appearance), Ben resolves to find out what the purpose of Willow's dream is and to attempt to thwart it. But first, he must find a way to undo whatever magic Meeks placed on him. This requires more journeying inside himself than in the world of Landover, but Ben is aided by the two newcomers to the series, Edgewood Dirk, the mysterious fairy cat, and the Earth Mother, Landover's beautiful Nature goddess. Arrayed against Ben are not only Meeks, but the dragon Strabo and the witch Nightshade, who both have personal reasons for wanting Ben dead.
My recommendation is for those fantasy lovers who have not read this book or this series find a copy. It's definitely worth a read. Brooks once again fails to disappoint readers with his spell-binding tales of enchantment and adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Left me watching breathlessly for unicorns
Review: This book was not my favorite but I loved the ending. I was riding home in the car after I finished reading this book and I was looking out the window the whole time, something I almost never do. Why? I was looking for unicorns. This book just gave me that sense, that if I looked hard enough I would see a unicorn streak by. I have to admit that the story itself got a little boring to me (Ben was being so stupid) but the ending made it all worthwhile. A good ending for a book is vital because since we read it last we remember it best and Terry Brooks has more than succeeded in that field. Even now, the morning after I finished reading it, I'm still watching expectantly for a unicorn to run past my window, with its tail and mane streaming out behind it, the very picture of hope and belief in magic.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best fantasy books!
Review: This is a great sequal to Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold! There were many interesting twists and turns, I couldn't put it down.
I think this series so far is much better than Shanara. I couldn't read those, but this was amazing! I would defainetly recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining...
Review: This is based on the abridged audio book version:
1) Definitely a high-magic type story...meaning magic is everywhere and some characters are very powerful. This may be a turn off to some folks. 2) No elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs or goblins in this fantasy story. This was a nice change actually. What you do find is kobolds, fairies and unicorns (of course). 3) Main character Ben Holiday is a likeable human in a magical world. 4) Meeks the "evil" wizard seemed too much a stereotypical bad guy. He was a bit boring in my opinion. 5) The rest of the cast (defunked wizard, "dog" man, and the offspring of fairies and wood nymphs) was an interesting change to the standard fighter, caster, theif combo.
Rating:
Summary: So very cool!!!
Review: This is just a great book fun and lighthearted Talking Cats
A former trial lawyer who now has to be king
An evil wizard scheaming his way back to power See? great story elements go pick up a copy if you haven't already.
|
