2007 (reprint), Orbit
350 pages, Paperback
Personal Copy
Fantasy
Cushions: 2
Daggers: 1
Smiles: 6
Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥♥+
Summary from Terry Brooks' website.
Landover was a genuine, out-of-this-world magic kingdom, complete with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement had promised. But after he purchased it for a million dollars, Ben Holiday discovered that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention.
The kingdom was falling into ruin. Taxes hadn't been collected in years. The Barons refused to recognize a king and the peasants were without hope. The dragon Strabo was laying waste the countryside and the evil witch Nightshade was plotting to destroy everything. Generally, things were a total mess.
Ben's only followers were the incompetent Court Magician, Questar Thews, and Abernathy, the talking dog who served as Court Scribe. For servants, all he had were a pair of kobolds. The Paladin, legendary champion of the Kings of Landover, seemed to be only a myth and an empty suit of armor.
Of course, there was the lovely and devoted Willow--but she had a habit of putting down roots in the moonlight and turning into a tree.
To put the final touch on the whole affair, Ben soon learned that the Iron Mark, ugly and terrible lord of the demons, had challenged all prospective Kings of Landover to a duel to the death--a duel which no human could hope to win.
The task of proving his right to be King seemed hopeless. But Ben Holiday was stubborn.
I stumbled across Terry Brooks for the first time in the sixth installment of this series, A Princess of Landover. If I had seen Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold! before reading APoL, I don't think I would have picked it up (having a preference for female protagonists). I enjoyed finding out how the story first started - it is as funny as PoL. Ben gets way more than he bargained for. He's so stubborn minded sometimes - but so are his subjects. I felt like I knew them in PoL, so learning how their relationships developed in the dicey beginning of the story was a delight.
I loved learning about the castle, which only got a brief mention in PoL. Learning why it creates furniture/food in a certain way was fun. The characters are all so funny - especially the debut of the G'home Gnomes.
I honestly laughed a lot while reading this, and I'm itching to read the rest (I've got one of them on my TBR pile).
Check out Terry Brooks great line of fantasy works on his website.
Liked this? Check out A Princess of Landover, book 6
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