A Princess of Landover

Let's get to the point. Was this the best Landover book he's ever written? The answer is no. Is it bad? The answer is no. This book, in my opinion was actually pretty fun, and that is generally, or at least in my opinion, how Landover books should be.

Mistaya, in her teen angst I can find her sometimes hard to relate to, but I confess, when I first read the Landover series, I had a hard time relating to Ben Holiday's bouts of anger. That's okay, at least they have personalities. And sure, some characters that past fans of the series were big fans of didn't get their "due", but Terry made it particularly clear that this book focuses on Mistaya.

The book was well written, which I believe is something Terry never has a problem with. It could've been longer, sure, but I was satisfied with what I got. It definitely felt in the spirit of the series to me, and that counts.

I am not going to say how this book ends, there is no sense in spoiling it in a review, but I will say it does leave the option for a continuation, and that promise makes the book better. I would like to see more of Landover, and in my opinion (as my reviews tend to be) definitely makes this new entry into the series worthwhile, and worthy of a higher rating than it has been receiving.

I am also a huge Terry Brooks fan, and I too was a bit disappointed with this book after the long wait. It's not really a bad book, just not nearly as intriguing or mesmerizing as Brooks' other books. First problem is that this book totally lacks any edge. Nobody faces any serious peril and the entire book feels way too fluffy. Secondly, Mistaya's character is very shallow and uninteresting (is this the same Terry Brooks who created the most amazing female character in recent literature, Nest Freemark?) Mistaya is too human, although we are constantly reminded that she is a special child of 3 worlds, and her human teenage conducts get annoying very quickly. She was a lot more mysterious and interesting in Witches' Brew. I also really missed the original characters, Ben, Willow, the Kobolds, and especially Quester and Abernathy. I realize that the torch needs to be handed over eventually, but the replacement characters must be just as interesting as the original, like was the case in the Word and Void series. Finally, am I the only person who is getting really annoyed by the G'Home Gnomes?

This is Mistaya's story. The familiar denizens of Landover all make cameo appearances, but are peripheral to the main storyline, Mistaya's search for independence. I kept thinking, Holden Caulfield goes to Landover. Not quite. The book is even paced, too even. There is not as much action or suspense as in the other books. The story is well written. There is enough background exposition to allow someone new to the series to understand what is going on, although I would rather someone new to the series to start with the first book because it is a much better story. The other books in the series should not be read out of order.

Fans of the series waited many years for another book. While grateful for the continuation, I hope the next volume will continue the trend of increasingly complex storylines that was so evident in the first five books. Mr. Brooks has definitely left a setup for book seven.

I enjoyed "A Princess of Landover" for the most part; it was a quick, light read and taken as a stand-alone book suitable for a teen, I'd recommend it.

However, as an adult familiar with the previous books, I wasn't drawn in by the story. It was far too tame: Princess Mistaya was never in any real danger and neither her flight from Stirling Silver nor her time at Libris generated much heat. The climactic encounter at the book's end was more comical than dramatic.

None of the characters were well-developed. Mistaya herself seemed to not have any particular compelling reason for her running away from the castle except that the plot required her to leave. I believe many fans of the previous books will be like me in being surprised at the treatment of Landover's main characters.

Obviously, Mistaya's the new focus of the series but what happened to everyone else? Nothing apparently; twenty years of being a king and Ben's still just a guy who bought a magical kingdom, Questor's still a random magic generator, Abernathy remains a reluctant dog, Willow an ethereal virtual non-entity and Ben's subjects (like the murderous suitor of Princess Mistaya)don't particularly respect or fear King Ben.

It's one thing for the emphasis to shift to Mistaya and another to realize that seemingly little or no thought was given to envisioning the world she inhabits. I felt like everyone had been frozen in time, sheets thrown over the furniture and only now, when a new series of books considered, were things dusted off and the clockwork people wound-up again.

A big disappointment for me: After all this time, I would've loved to have known that in the background, Landover was still growing and evolving. I won't be waiting for the rest of the series - though if I happen to see it at the library, I'll read it. I just won't go seek 'em out.

I'm a big fan of Brooks, and have read all his works, save the Star Wars adaptation he did. This book started great despite some annoyances: the stereotypical father, the stereotypical teenage daughter, the ominous encounter with a fairy creature early in the book that you just knew was going to play a pivotal role in determining the outcome of the story.

However, the mystery, the challenges, and the interesting characters that Brooks created made for really good reading - right up until the end. The resolution felt rushed and the climax felt overly contrived. The way in which the Princess of Landover fixed the "problem" seems to have some holes.

All in all, I felt as if I was ushered into a great story, then given a lukewarm resolution. Terribly unsatisfying. Nevertheless, the initial 3/4 of the story were fun and interesting, which deserves at least 3 stars.

Now, you know an author has done his job when you pick up a book and not even fifteen pages in you feel inspired to write. Despite not having felt particularly excited about writing in the last couple weeks, that was exactly how I felt when I picked up this book.

Sure, it's been 15 years since the book before it in this series was written so I'm a little rusty on the story line but even so it's easy to pick up and Brooks gives you enough details to go along even without remembering everything from the previous five books in the series. Disclosure here, I have a soft spot for this particular series. When I was really little I would always demand that my dad make up stories to tell me when I was bored (for example, waiting to get a haircut or something). He used to take the characters from the Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold series and make up short stories about them. When I finally read the book myself it had a whole new dimension to it because I already knew and loved the crazy characters and their quirky personalities.

Terry Brooks has since become my favorite author. Out of the 24 books I've read of his, he has yet to let me down. (Something else to note, it takes Brooks only about a year or two to produce a new book, which is fantastic and exciting for readers.)

What strikes me about this book is the way he falls perfectly into the tone of the main character, Mistaya Holiday. In this case, unlike most of his other books, a fifteen year old is driving the story and the voice matches accordingly while still maintaining the mystery and intelligence of his other books. There's always more going on than you can predict even though you are constantly being provided with clues that, when the solution is found, click into place.

This series takes place five years after Witches' Brew. Mistaya Holiday, now fifteen, has been sent to her father's world (Earth) to make friends, learn about people, and receive an education she can't get cooped up in Sterling Silver (the magical, living castle that takes care of the royal family of Landover) with only inept wizard Questor Thews, Abernathy the half-dog half-man scribe, and a magical mud puppy named Haltwhistle for companions. Not a big fan of this plan, Mistaya manages to get herself kicked out of the boarding school where she was sent and returns home to a not-so-thrilled father. To make matter worse, a not-so-nobleman, recently widowed, has asked for her hand in marriage. To make matters worse, her father decides she should go to Libiris, the royal library, abandoned and located in a remote part of the kingdom, to continue her education. Being fifteen, Mistaya is none to thrilled with her parents decision and runs away, intent on staying away until she can come up with a better option than those offered to her. But where does one go when trying not to be found? (Especially when your father has a magical devise that allows him to scan the entire kingdom better than if he had a GPS tracker?) To the last place he will look for you. Which, in Mistaya's case, is Libiris. But things in Libiris, though forgotten by the citizens of Landover, is not as forgotten as Ben Holiday would have liked and Mistaya soon finds the old library filled with mystery and danger. Can she get to the bottom of everything and save Landover in time?

If you haven't read the rest of the Magic Kingdom Series at all (beginning with Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold) you'll find yourself confused while reading A Princess of Landover, as this one picks up where the others left off and many of the details are directly related to what happened in the other books. But if you have an even vague sense of the past, then you will find the return of old characters welcome (in particular we get a suprise visit from the ever mysterious Prism Cat Edgewood Dirk) and an exciting new tale in store.

The biggest downside to the book was that it felt rushed. Where most of Brooks' books tend to be somewhere in the six to seven hundred page range, this book was only a little over three hundred pages. Not to say that a book needs to be long to be good, but it felt as though the long journey and the character growth that normally comes from it happened almost instantaneously. I would have likes a little more time in the various places that Mistaya went and for it to be a little more difficult for everything to come together in the end.

But even with the faster than normal novel, I was more than thrilled to get back to Terry Brooks's world-any of his worlds. Landover is still as rich in detail and life as ever and Brooks has set it up for much more adventure to come.

Former Chicago based lawyer Ben Holiday has faced many of his fire breathing enemy and all kinds of WITCHES BREW in the courtroom and in the fantasy realm of Landover where he has become the monarch and his sylph wife Willow his queen. Magical foes prove easy to deal with when he and his spouse struggle with their half-breed fifteen year old daughter Mistaya, who has been suspended from her preppy school back on earth.

Desperate to teach his rebellious offspring a lesson on behavior, he sends her in exile to Libiris the royal library for her to rusticate. Instead Mistaya rejects her father's scheme and runs away only to end up somehow Libiris. She tries to hide from her parents, but Mistaya hears an odd voice from some creature called His Eminence begging her for help. She soon finds a dastardly plot to overthrow her parents so like any teen she charges ahead kicking demon butt in order to prevent a coup from happening.

The latest Landover fantasy is an exciting tale starring a chip off the old block teen heroine who brings freshness to the saga. The story line is fast-paced as Ben faces his greatest challenge of all: a rebellious teenage daughter. Fans will enjoy her adventures while newcomers will be able to join Mistaya's escapade with or without reading the fun previous books in this straightforward saga so different than Shannara.

Harriet Klausner

In the Landover series, Terry Brooks does a great job, in my opinion of creating a magical kingdom. His characters are well defined, his script is dramatic and visually lush, and his plot is suspenseful and exciting. I love the way he can jump from character to character in different scenes and keep the excitement going. His book builds up to a thrilling climax, where you are not sure if the hero can escape. The denouement is real and satisfying.

As a long time fan of the Landover novels, I eagerly grabbed this book up as soon as I could. It'd been far too long since I'd last read about all of my favorite characters. What I discovered here in this book wasn't entirely the Landover I'd grown to love. Rather than focusing around the regular cast of characters, this book focuses more on Ben & Willow's daughter, Mistaya.

The plotline follows Mistaya as she's suspended from her school in the ordinary world of her father's. Rather than stay & try to reason with the headmistress, she returns back to Landover & discovers that her parents are less than pleased with her. Her father's response is that she either has to help reorganize the royal library at Libris. Naturally, she doesn't want to do either. The biggest affront to her is when one of the Lords of the Greenswald, the loathsome Laipfrog comes calling for her hand in marriage. Mistakenly believing that her father is actually entertaining the idea of marrying her off, Mistaya runs away from home only to eventually end up at the very place she was trying to avoid- Libris.

I did enjoy this book, but I have to admit... it wasn't really the same thing I'd enjoyed previously. If anything, this read like it was written as more of a teen book than an adult one. That doesn't mean that it's a bad read- it's just different from what has come before it. One other reviewer said that the characters of Willow & Ben are pretty much cardboard standups of their previous selves & that's pretty much true. If you're hoping for good old Ben action, you'll be disappointed. The book predominantly follows Mistaya & Ben is resigned to a worrying & demanding parent. Luckily for me, Libris was an interesting mystery for me to read about & was much more interesting than Mistaya's worries. (For someone with a mental age of 22 she didn't seem to act like it most of the time.) The big revelations at the end really aren't that surprising & there's a bit of a cliffhanger that gives us the possibility for a future book. I just hope that the future book is better in including Ben & Willow rather than turning it into the Mistaya show.

As a standalone book I rather liked it & would give it 4 stars. As a Landover book & the first one we've had in years, I'd only give it about 3 stars.

It is not nearly as good as the earlier ones. I purchased this one to complete the set, years before I had purchsed the first 5 books on CD when the kids were younger. Now the kids are grown and I purchased it more for myself than anything. My disappointment may be as much not having a couple young teenagers to listen to it with me on road trips as anything else.

I was initially concerned about this book after reading some of the reviews, but since I am a big fan of the Landover books, I decided to read it.

I am very happy that I decided to read it. In my opinion, it is a great book and worthy of being one of the Landover books.

I found it to be very interesting and well written. I think that the people that say that this book is not as good as the others in the series have just forgotten the previous books or need to re-read them again in order...

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy books and specially if they like the Landover books...

I've loved pretty much everything Terry Brooks has ever written, the Landover series especially. After a not-quite-as-good-but-still-decent Shannara series (The High Druid of Shannara series), he brought out the great Armageddon's Children series, so I had high hopes about this return to Landover.

Unfortunately, this book feels less like Landover, and more like something from the Young Adult section of the store. Everything about Mistaya is reminiscent of the whiniest of teenagers, while the characters we've grown to love like Ben and Questor are shadows of their old selves. It's almost like a bad fanfic set in the Landover universe.

In any case, I really can't recommend this book. Pretend the Landover series ends with book five, and don't read past that.

Love this book- love the series. It keeps getting better. This series is not for everyone, but I get a kick out the characters and situations. I think the princess learned a thing or two from her experiences in this book.

Landover is the weakest of Terry Brooks' series and this latest addition only underscores that. The plot is not very creative and the ending almost too fantastic to believe. I almost felt as if the book was written for a teenage market, rather than the adult market that the Terry normally targets. It's a pity that the book was so weak given that Brooks has recently written some great books in the Shannara series. Unless you're a big Landover fan, you should pass this one over.

A Princess of Landover (2009) is the sixth Fantasy novel in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series, following Witches' Brew. In the previous volume, Rydell threatened Landover with a huge army of conquest. Nightshade convinced Misty that she has been rescued from an abduction attempt by Rydell and that her parents knew where she was. Then Nightshade offered to teach her magic and Mistaya accepted the offer.

In this novel, Mistaya is the only daughter of Ben and Willow. Misty was gestated by soil from Landover, Earth and the fairy mists. She grew into a human looking infant, but developed more quickly. She has the body and emotions of a fifteen year old and the mind of someone in the mid twenties.

Ben Holiday is a former trial lawyer. He has been King of Landover for about eighteen years. He is married to Willow.

Willow is a sylph, the daughter of the River Master and a wood nymph. She is also Ben's wife and the mother of Mistaya.

Questor Thews is the court wizard of Landover. He was the half-brother of the former court wizard. His wizardry has improved somewhat, but he still cannot return Abernathy to his human body.

Abernathy is the court scribe. He is also a talking dog. He had once been a human, but had been transformed by Questor.

Strabo is a dragon, a huge fire-breathing magical creature. He likes young women, but doesn't care for Ben.

Edgewood Dirk is a Prism cat. He is a Fae creature of the mists, with several magical powers and the personality of a cat.

Haltwhistle is a mud puppy. He serves the Earth Mother and has his own form of magic.

Poggwydd and Shoopdiesel are G'home Gnomes. They live in burrows, so are generally dirty. And they assume that any unwatched animal is fair game. They particularly like to dine on family pets.

Nightshade is the Witch of Deep Fell. She came from the fairy mists long ago. She has been trapped in the form of her crow familiar within the Seattle zoo for the past few years.

In this story, Misty is attending Carrington Women's Preparatory, a posh academy for pre-college students. She is called into the office of the headmistress about an escapade involving an illusion of Strabo, which scared some of her fellow students into leaving her alone. This is her third transgression of the rules, so she is suspended from classes.

Misty is more upset with the school's unfair policies than saddened by the suspension. She decides to leave school immediately and return to Landover. She is met by Strabo, who warns her never to use his image without asking his permission. Then she finds Haltwhistle waiting for her.

On the way to Sterling Silver, Misty discovers Poggwydd wrapped in rope and hung from a tree. She releases the G'home Gnome and takes him with her to the castle. Her parents are surprised to see her and even more surprised by the suspension.

Ben tries to convince Misty that she had been in the wrong, but to no avail. Questor and Abernathy come up with a plan to send Misty to Libiris to restore the old library. Then Laphroig of Rhyndweir asks permission to court Misty.

Her parents seem so unfair to Misty, particularly her father. He sides with Carrington's policies, wants to marry her to the ugly Laphroig, and is trying to send her off to a musty, dusty and decrepit library. So Misty leaves home and travels to her grandfather, the River King. When he sides with her parents, she runs away again.

This time she -- and the G'home Gnomes -- accompany Edgewood Dirk out of Elderew. His magic shields her from detection, but he insists that Misty choose the destination. With some hints from the Prism cat, she decides to go to Libiris.

Meanwhile, Nightshade is perched on the highest limb in the avian cage, observing everything with her red eyes. She had appeared suddenly in the cage, seemingly out of nowhere. Now she is thinking about her revenge and watching for a way to escape.

This tale takes Misty into a very dangerous situation, involving a rogue wizard, demons from Abaddon, and a mysterious young man. Her parents are frantic about her disappearance, but resolve to wait for her to surface on her own. Naturally, Ben looks for her every day with the Landview.

The story reintroduces us to Landover, from the surrounding mists to the demons underneath. All the major characters are shown or mentioned in this novel. And the plot is not much different from the previous novels.

Yet this tale has its own charms. Of course, a rebellious teenager is not really charming, but it does remind me of my five daughters. One suspects that the author also has a daughter or two.

Yet the situation continually rubs Misty's nose in her less delightful aspects. The G'home Gnomes surely brings some introspection from their self-centered and self-serving attitude. The Prism cat forces her to think ahead rather than act out of impulse. And then she meets some really horrible examples of such behavior.

This novel better have a sequel. The conclusion solved the immediate difficulties, but the number of dangling threads would greatly please a playful kitten. And Misty is a truly delightful character. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Brooks fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of magical kingdoms, maturing adolescents, and parental frustrations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Mistaya seems to be a cobbled together version of the loudest, most spoiled kids you see in a department store in the midst of a tantrum. This book is primarily about a spoiled, self-important, unsophisticated "princess", her manipulations and tantrums, her confused nearly to the point of fright father, her indulgent mother, and her enabling mentors and the trouble she gets into as she gets her way, and the lessons she fails to learn as she encounters characters justifiably displaying her worst traits. From not learning how to work the system at school (because a smart and clever character would have been RUNNING things, not being run OVER by things) to calling her father a LIAR to his face to being spiteful and manipulative in most of her actions while being short tempered and impatient with those who did not do exactly as she wished (and not seeing the irony of her attitude), to even being secretive when indulged in the end, I found Mistaya a horrible person to have to read about. The best thing I can say is that it is a book that shows you what a spoiled, over-indulged child will be like if you constantly try to be a FRIEND to your child even when it is most important that you be their PARENT in a particular situation. Mistaya LOOKS 15 years old, has the MIND of a 20+ year old, but has the EXPERIENCE of a sheltered 10 year old. It seems to me that such a child would require MORE conversations and assitance to navigate the world and her perceptions. In this book, hoever, only Ben Holiday thinks guidance is in order and EVERYONE ELSE advises him to give her space, let her figure things out on her own, and generally walk on eggshells around her using particular language that will not make her cross with the speaker. What IS that?

I like Edgewood Dirk, but he was more tolerant of Mistaya's petulant, explosive, potentially violent anger than Ben Holiday's slow-to-see-the-patterns behavior, and that made no sense. I think the ONLY character worth seeing was STRABO, and he was shown so very little in this story. I actually liked "The Tangle Box" as you could see the three most powerful characters of Landover in a new light. However, this book makes clear (if you could not tell from "Witches' Brew") that Mistaya has a disdain for her father that is unwarranted and unseemly and that Willow is more concerned with making sure Ben does not react to the disdain than she is in correcting or even questioning her daughter on her sometimes barely contained hate for her father. I don't know if Brooks believes that's how all 15-year-olds feel about their parents, but I sure hope that's not true.

These attitudes set the stage for the main story, but by the time I got to the mystery I cared so little for the "heroine" that I only found interest in the prospect of her FAILING to resolve the issues in a positive manner. In any event, I doubt I'll read another from this series as it has gone down a most disagreeable path.

Terry Brooks is a solid craftsman, and I have read a scattering of his books over the years - but "Princess of Landover" (Del Rey, $26, 328 pages) is a disappointment. First, it's a young adult novel, and should be billed as such: It's about a 15-year-old girl who battles her parents, gets in over her head, and is too stubborn to take the easy (and obvious) way out.

Let me put it another way: When the talking cat showed up on page 106, I knew this was not one of Brooks' best efforts.

Not his best, and not as good as the other books in the series, but enjoyable in its own right. I missed Ben a bit, but the story isn't really about him so that is fine. I would give it four stars but I still feel it deserves five because Terry Brooks is amazing, and I have never read a book of his that was not very good.

I have read many of the other books in the series and this is without a doubt the worst. It seems to take 200+ pages for anything of interest to happen, and the book is less than 300 pages long. There really is neither interesting action nor development. I am surprised I actually finished this book.

I am a huge Terry Brooks fan and I tried to like this book (the fact that I finished it is a testament to my committment). I kept waiting and hoping the payoff was coming, but it just drudged along. This may have been the most boring book I've ever experienced. I was shocked. I kept waiting for an explanation or any reason why the fairies were so interested in her. She was extremely unlikable and not very impressive. Terry did nothing to elaborate on why she was important and why we should care. I wonder if he just had a contractual obligation to write a Landover book and whipped it out. Absolutely aweful and boring.

Mistaya seems to be a cobbled together version of the loudest, most spoiled kids you see in a department store in the midst of a tantrum. This book is primarily about a spoiled, self-important, unsophisticated "princess", her manipulations and tantrums, her confused nearly to the point of fright father, her indulgent mother, and her enabling mentors and the trouble she gets into as she gets her way, and the lessons she fails to learn as she encounters characters justifiably displaying her worst traits. From not learning how to work the system at school (because a smart and clever character would have been RUNNING things, not being run OVER by things) to calling her father a LIAR to his face to being spiteful and manipulative in most of her actions while being short tempered and impatient with those who did not do exactly as she wished (and not seeing the irony of her attitude), to even being secretive when indulged in the end, I found Mistaya a horrible person to have to read about. The best thing I can say is that it is a book that shows you what a spoiled, over-indulged child will be like if you constantly try to be a FRIEND to your child even when it is most important that you be their PARENT in a particular situation. Mistaya LOOKS 15 years old, has the MIND of a 20+ year old, but has the EXPERIENCE of a sheltered 10 year old. It seems to me that such a child would require MORE conversations and assitance to navigate the world and her perceptions. In this book, hoever, only Ben Holiday thinks guidance is in order and EVERYONE ELSE advises him to give her space, let her figure things out on her own, and generally walk on eggshells around her using particular language that will not make her cross with the speaker. What IS that?

I like Edgewood Dirk, but he was more tolerant of Mistaya's petulant, explosive, potentially violent anger than Ben Holiday's slow-to-see-the-patterns behavior, and that made no sense. I think the ONLY character worth seeing was STRABO, and he was shown so very little in this story. I actually liked "The Tangle Box" as you could see the three most powerful characters of Landover in a new light. However, this book makes clear (if you could not tell from "Witches' Brew") that Mistaya has a disdain for her father that is unwarranted and unseemly and that Willow is more concerned with making sure Ben does not react to the disdain than she is in correcting or even questioning her daughter on her sometimes barely contained hate for her father. I don't know if Brooks believes that's how all 15-year-olds feel about their parents, but I sure hope that's not true.

These attitudes set the stage for the main story, but by the time I got to the mystery I cared so little for the "heroine" that I only found interest in the prospect of her FAILING to resolve the issues in a positive manner. In any event, I doubt I'll read another from this series as it has gone down a most disagreeable path.

Terry Brooks is a solid craftsman, and I have read a scattering of his books over the years - but "Princess of Landover" (Del Rey, $26, 328 pages) is a disappointment. First, it's a young adult novel, and should be billed as such: It's about a 15-year-old girl who battles her parents, gets in over her head, and is too stubborn to take the easy (and obvious) way out.

Let me put it another way: When the talking cat showed up on page 106, I knew this was not one of Brooks' best efforts.

Not his best, and not as good as the other books in the series, but enjoyable in its own right. I missed Ben a bit, but the story isn't really about him so that is fine. I would give it four stars but I still feel it deserves five because Terry Brooks is amazing, and I have never read a book of his that was not very good.

I loved the first few books in the series. Toward the middle books, however, I felt the quality of the writing and the story lined were strained and not as clever. After the first two chapters of this book, I had to put it down - it's too boring to read as a primary book. I want to see how the rest of the story plays out, and I enjoy Terry Brooks, so I'll read this when I have more time and am more awake. It's too much of a snoozer to read at night.

I have read many of the other books in the series and this is without a doubt the worst. It seems to take 200+ pages for anything of interest to happen, and the book is less than 300 pages long. There really is neither interesting action nor development. I am surprised I actually finished this book.

I am a huge Terry Brooks fan and I tried to like this book (the fact that I finished it is a testament to my committment). I kept waiting and hoping the payoff was coming, but it just drudged along. This may have been the most boring book I've ever experienced. I was shocked. I kept waiting for an explanation or any reason why the fairies were so interested in her. She was extremely unlikable and not very impressive. Terry did nothing to elaborate on why she was important and why we should care. I wonder if he just had a contractual obligation to write a Landover book and whipped it out. Absolutely aweful and boring.

I thought overall it was a good book, but not as good as I was expecting after Witches' Brew. The main problem I think is seemingly under-present, underpowered villains. The fact of the matter was that Mistaya with magic (if not experience) on par with Nightshade is one tough princess at the end of the last novel. In this novel, though, the antagonist doesn't even appear until 2nd half of the book (the landowner doesn't count he's just too lame and pathetic). Then, during the fights the obvious way to handicap Mistaya's powers seem to be to have her friend act heroic by knocking her down (to get her out of the way of dangerous blows) right before she saves the day, or throwing valuable keys to the enemy (to obviously keep them away from his good friend).

On the other hand, much better than the action was the plot. I think the fifteen-year-old melodrama was well done (although a bit weird considering she's supposed to be physically 15 but have a mental age of 22). Also, I relished the introduction of old and new characters that really stayed true.

I've waited 14 years for a new 'Magic Kingdom of Landover' novel! This book is fantastic from beginning to end. The daughter is a great new character and I love how she is so strong-willed and intelligent at age 15. It is a bit creepy that that landowner wants to marry her, but it just show what a despicable cretin that guy is. Brooks is able to make his fantasy characters seem like real people with real emotions, something that is hard to do in a fantasy novel. Can't wait for the next installment! I thought it was hilarious the way Brooks copied 'The Wizard of Oz' when Mysteria arrived at the library!
It was obvious that it was done out of respect and tongue in cheek. I hope he writes another 'Knight of the Word' novel also. The 'Shannara' series got old for me years ago. This is a novel that can be read as a stand alone book, but i recommend that you get all the 'Landover' novels and read them.

Overall this was a pretty good book. Ben Holiday was not the center of action this time around, instead the hero of the story is his daugher, Mistaya. It did start off a little slow, but once the plot picked up it was pretty interesting. I enjoyed how Edgewood Dirk was used in the story, he is one of my favorite characters in the Landover series. In my opinion the cat saved the book from getting a three or two star rating.

Enjoyed this "story within a story." There is a sense of familiarity for those who have read the Landover books, but enough new spins to make it a fun discovery. Definitely the Brooks style of character development. I didn't want it to end.

I'm a huge Terry Brooks fan. As I write this review, all his books are sitting on the shelf next to me (with the exception of his adaption of Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life.)

Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! (The Magic Kingdom of Landover) was the first book of his books I read. Part of the attraction was his wonderful depth of character, and the way the characters, while still in character, used all of their resources to surmount the problems in front of them.

In this book, by contrast, characters seem one-sided, and, frankly, there are too many. In passing, Brooks brings back nearly all the characters of the Landover world. To explain all of them, recaps of all of the previous books are required. These recaps are seemingly stuck into the story (one particularly artificial-feeling (3 page!) one has Ben Holiday thinking to himself about his past while standing around.)

Worst of all, at least in my opinion, by bringing back all of the characters, Brooks lets plot holes abound! We know how Ben Holiday reacts when his daughter is missing--how is it that much of the book goes by without him having an original thought? If you want to have the focus be around Mistaya and her efforts to overcome adversity, give us a reason for why her extremely powerful family and friends cannot come to her aid. An earthquake, perhaps.

Furthermore, he created wonderfully complex characters in the Landover world. Even the evil Nightshade and semi-evil/good Strabo are shown to have delightfully complex personalities, quite understandably because of their complex pasts. In this book, unfortunately, they are all given one-sided roles to play. For someone attracted to Brooks's ability to create such characters, this was a disappointment.

Wasn't the best of the books in the series, but definitely on par with the rest. It didn't have the depth of a lot of the other books, but it was a fun read. I would recommend to anyone who has read the other books to read this one as well.

I have read all of his books so far. he is a great writer always looking for more books from this author. I would recommend this book to anyone who has read his magic kingdom of landover series. this one is about ben holiday's daughter Mistaya. this is about her life as a teenager and the different challenges that she faces. very interesting read and hard to put down.