The Magic Kingdom of Landover Volume 2

With Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold! I realized that even books can fall into the 1980s, and that the 1980s is, in fact, its own genre. It's something I kind of knew already, but was driven home by the Netflix series Stranger Things, and now by Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold!.

The 1980s' as I think of it in the fantasy/scifi genre is marked by mostly lighthearted, or at least lighterhearted, stories, primarily stories of people who find themselves thrust into an adventure by chance -- but it turns out to be the kind of thing they've always longed for, even if they didn't know it. The protagonist might feel that he or she is something special, or might just long for something more than they have now, but their lives seem destined for nothingness until... lightning strikes.

In movies, it's Back To The Future and Star Wars and E.T. and The Last Starfighter that really feel 1980s to me; in books it's things like Spellsinger and the Split Infinity trilogy by Piers Anthony and this one by Terry Pratchett that seem to be the platonic ideals of the field.

It's interesting to think of it that way, that there's a specific kind of storytelling that feels 1980s, in a way that other types do not. Lord Of The Rings, for example, doesn't fit in because it's too serious and weighty. Some of the books I like a lot (like Footfall or Startide Rising) that came out roughly around that time also don't feel 1980s, even though they're good. They don't have the same feel to them that I described. Certain books that have come out since then have the 1980s feel to them -- Harry Potter does, for example.

You could, of course, blame it on Star Wars, especially since Star Wars is destined to go on to be the one thing that is remembered about the 20th century, and may well last as the only thing remembered about the 1000-1999s, making George Lucas the 30th Century's Shakespeare. Imagine: future progeny of mine will whine and say why do we have to learn The Empire Strikes Back anyway, all they do is talk funny. And Star Wars has a big part in shaping 1980s scifi & fantasy, but that begs the question of whether Star Wars created the 1980s feel or simply mirrored it as nearly perfectly as it can be; that is: did people particularly love Star Wars because it created something knew they hadn't known existed, or did they love it because it seemed to crystallize how they already felt? I suspect it's a little of both.

In terms of how the 1980s might spawn this particular genre, it needs to be deconstructed a bit, I think, by comparing similar works which fall on either side of the line. Like Harry Potter and the His Dark Materials trilogy. Both involve multiple-volume stories of an orphan with some sort of special destiny having to learn about the world and eventually take part in a war, but Harry Potter feels 1980s while Dark Materials doesn't. I think that might be because the latter is a more serious story; it feels like the author is trying to work through a point and examine things like religion and God and society; Harry Potter meanwhile just feels like it's telling a story, and any points are secondary.

Then consider Star Wars versus Battlestar Galactica, the latter of which doesn't feel 1980s to me; in part that's because there's no newcomer, no Skywalker, and in part its because the story is far more epic and serious (even in the cheesier first go-round for the series) than Star Wars; sure, Star Wars has the Death Star and the Empire and the like, but Battlestar had the last desperate remnants of humanity crammed into a ragtag fleet wandering through space, so the stakes were higher in Battlestar than in Star Wars. If Luke had never left Tatooine, the Death Star might still have been blown up or might not, but there would still be humans and they'd still live lives that might not be all bad.

(Still living a life that might not be all bad even if you're under the dominion of an evil empire is how we're all spending at least the next four years, and how we've spent 8 of the first sixteen years of this milennia, after all.)

So from those two examples, you get additional 1980s-ish things you need: the lone hero who longs for a greater destiny, a somewhat lighthearted feel, and a storyline that doesn't take on (explicitly) weighty issues and which doesn't make the stakes too high. As I think through things that feel 1980s I think that nails it.

From that perspective, Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold hits all its marks. Ben Holiday is a lawyer whose wife died 2 years ago in an accident, leaving him alone and drifting, lost-ish, through his late 30s, when one day he comes across an ad in a high-end Xmas gift catalog offering to let him buy a magic kingdom of his own to be king of; all it would cost is $1,000,000

The book came out in 1986, and out of curiosity I checked to see whether one million bucks was way more than I thought it might be worth back then; an inflation calendar says a million bucks back in 1986 is about $2,200,000 now, so: no, I correctly sussed it: a million bucks wasn't all that much back in 1986, relatively speaking.

Or was it? I checked to see how many millionaires there were in that decade, and found that the number of millionaires in the US soared during the 1980s; there were 4,414 millionaires in the United States in 1980, and 63,642 in 1990. (That linked article, from 1992, notes that Congress that year approved a tax on millionaires to pay for programs to fight child abuse and hunger; the same tax had been vetoed by Bush I earlier that year.) Just FYI, by 2010 that number had grown to 268,000, a number that was actually down from 2007.

A million dollars, it seems, is sort of the marathon of income; I noted a while back that given the rise of "Iron Man" competitions and other extreme endurance races, running a marathon alone doesn't seem to be the staggering feat it once did. Back when I could run without nearly dying, I ran some 5K races. Nobody does 5K any more. If you're not doing at least a marathon, you're nothing. And marathoners in 2016 are the 5Kers of 1991: bottom rung of runners. Millionaires are that for money makers; the top 1% of income earners make have average adjusted gross income of nearly $2,000,000 per year now.

That alone shows what changed in the 1980s: a million dollars in the 1980s was more than just a million dollars: it was an extreme; only 4,000 people in the entire country made a million dollars a year in 1980.

It wasn't until 1957 that an actor was paid a million bucks for making one movie. (It was William Holden, for Bridge on the River Kwai). By the early 1980s, Jane Fonda was making $2,000,000 to costar in 9 To 5; Brad Pitt's pay for Fight Club was roughly 17 times what movie stars made back in the 1950s.

In 1968, the four Beatles' combined worth was about a million pounds, which I think is roughly $2,000,000. Adele is reportedly worth $125,000,000 right now.

There might have been lots of reasons why incomes took off (reasons beyond Reaganomics, which I think we can all agree have been disastrous for society) like that, why there would be 63,000 people making a million bucks a year as we went into the 1990s, things ranging from the advent of cable TV and VCRs (and thus a new income stream for movies and sports) to changes in how stars operate (the studio system slowly lost control) to the start of free agency in sports to the Internet allowing people to retain control of their creative output and hence the money, too, but it looks like it was the 1980s when everything just began to spring free, and maybe Reaganomics was the sole reason for that; it certainly seems that nowadays it's anathema to consider any limitations on income via taxes, and where the government regulates it does so in an extremely limited way: consider the interventionism of Obamacare versus the creation of Social Security. I wonder if we could get Social Security created today? I doubt it.

Horatio Alger's 'rags to riches' stories grew prominent in The Gilded Age; his stories were marked by a stroke of luck which befell the protagonist, raising him up to middle class status (with some hard work, of course, because: America.) There's something similar at work in the Star Wars, 1980s-feel books and movies, as I noted. The hero longs for something more, and that something usually drops into his or her lap by chance: R2D2 crashed on Tatooine and was bought by Luke; Ben Holiday gets a gift catalog that his wife used to like.

Ben, of course, buys the kingdom, only to find out that it's nothing like he imagined; it's magical, sure, but it's falling apart and nobody respects him as the king, in part because the sale is intended to be a scam: the seller, the son of the 'old king', is selling the throne to people he figures will fail so that he can get rich in another world. Ben, though, seems to be more than the loser the scammers pegged him for, and sets out to hold on to his throne and save the kingdom -- but he has to learn how to control the magic and eventually face off against the "Iron Mark," a demon who lives in a netherworld and covets the kingdom himself.

You can see the same familiar arc of that story in numerous 1980s works: the loser (or so-called loser) who has to face a personal challenge embodied by something external: Bif is Marty McFly's lack of confidence, Voldemort is Harry Potter's insecurity about his background, and the Iron Mark is Ben Holiday's fear of failure. (On a literary note, that fear of failure seems to jump out of nowhere. At the outset, Ben's major reason for buying the kingdom is that his life seems empty and drifting without his wife; midway through the book we're told that Ben has this mortal fear of failure or something like it, but it's hard to see that in the Ben we first meet, one who has built a successful law firm and is a millionaire, after all, expertise and money gained from suing companies on behalf of individuals).

(And as I re-read this book and realized that, I wondered if my own choice of careers was affected by my memories of Ben Holiday back when I was 17 or so?)

There' s no secret why I like the 1980s style; I was raised on it, after all; my entire ethos has been shaped by the way stories unfolded in the 1980s, and just as 80s music feels right to me, the 1980s story feels right to me, too.

But what's sad is that, as it turns out, all those 1980s victories were a bit hollow, weren't they? Elliott went back to his old regular life; ET never came back. Harry Potter, as I understand it, has a cursed child and wizards are still hidden. After Luke helped blow up the second Death Star, it turns out the Empire never went away and in fact might be stronger than ever. That's the dark underbelly of the 1980s stories: they don't, ultimately, mean anything. In Battlestar they found Earth. In His Dark Materials they saved (literally) the entire set of universes, forever. But in Star Wars there's always another Death Star.

Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold! ends with Ben Holiday celebrating [spoiler alert I guess?] his victory over the Iron Mark, but noting that there was still a lot of work to be done and that things weren't even close to perfect yet. It's something to think about, if you go re-watch Star Wars: as they're marching up those steps to get their medals, off on the other side of the galaxy Vader's getting onto his Star Destroyer, dusting himself off, and just coming right back at them.

After the Gilded Age, we got unions and worker safety rules and a 40 hour workweek (which was invented by a rich industrialist; he wanted his workers to have time off so they would buy his products and use them). After the Great Depression we got Social Security. After World War II we got Medicaid and Civil Rights. After the 1980s we got...

I'm not going to finish that thought.

Briane Pagel blogs at Thinking The Lions; find it on Blogspot.

The Magic Kingdom of Landover is a fun, secondary world fantasy series by long time fantasy novelist Terry Brooks. In this day and age of George R.R, Martin and Joe Abercrombie, when gritty, ugly, gloomy fantasy worlds are all the rage, Brooks somehow manages to remain a herald of a more traditional style of fantasy, and his Landover series is no exceptions. In fact, I enjoy these books even more so than the Shannara books.

This series has a charm all it's own. The characters are entertaining. The secondary world is vibrant and expansive. The series tackles some heavy themes: love, forgiveness, moving beyond a golden past to which there is no return and the pain of loss. But it is still a fun series of books. Filled with humor, magic, wizards, a witch, a forest king, and a charismatic dragon, Landover is the type of story that heartens back to a more traditional faery story. Yes there is danger. Yes, there is loss. Thing are not always a bed of roses but in the end these stories make you feel good. They aren't for everyone. But even if you're an uber-gritty fantasy fan boy, you may appreciate something a little more fun from time to time. This series may fit the bill!

Give it a try. It's not a fantasy masterpiece. But it is a damn fine tale, and at times will have you in tears or in stitches. Give it a shot. It's well worth it.

Total pulp fantasy. Nice and simple formula. Something bad happens. Things go from bad to worse. Something bad happens. (Again?) Things keep getting worse, (Really? They can’t be that dumb, and there’s only 20 pages left.) Dues ex Machina. All problems solved. Falling action. The End. Happy Ending. - For Now. First story was ok. Second, not event that good. Third was the best of the three. The third almost makes me want to keep reading the Landover stories. Almost. This is not necessarily a bad writing. It won’t keep you up at night, that’s for sure. Maybe add it to your, “I need a break from deep, dense or disturbing ” pile. But not the top of that pile.

This is an unbelievably unforgettable premise. I mean, could you just imagine? If you could buy the things dreams are made of… Combine this with a solid storyline with lots of plot twists to keep you on your toes and you have a winner. Brooks has created a magical land full of mythical being and dangers and rewards beyond your wildest imaginings. He brings the entire world to life, allowing you to do more than simply walk through it, you experience it.

The characters definitely made this story. They were as magical as the land they lived in. Not only are there a myriad of humans, fairy creatures, and other being to get to know, but there were a number of personalities to fall in love with. There were certain characters who made me laugh every time they appeared, others who made me cringe. Above all, however, their plights all tugged at my heart. The main character took the cake. He was fantastic. He is one of those rare individuals who capture your heart, embodying everything that you want to be and all the weaknesses you see in yourself.

This was a magical, enjoyable novel that brings Brooks’ world to life in a big way. I can’t wait to see what happens in Landover next!

Ben Holiday, attorney at law, is dissatisfied with his life. He sees the justice system becoming more and more flawed and his profession become the butt of every bad lawyer joke. His wife has passed away and he is increasingly withdrawn. When he sees an advertisement for a honest-to-goodness magic kingdom in the Christmas Wishbook, he seizes on his chance to give some more meaning and purpose to his life. He's got more than he bargained for when he arrives to find the kingdom in disrepair and no small amount of dangerous foes clamoring for his throne and his only allies a talking dog, an inept wizard, two kobolds and a girl who is part tree.
With such a premise, I expected this book to be much funnier than it was. I was only disappointed for a few minutes, though, because the story was so engaging as it was. I am not a huge fan of swords and magic epic fantasy, but this really brought a new twist, what with the protagonist being so out of place within the fantasy world. He spends just the right amount of time being amazed and disbelieving of his situation before coming to terms with the reality of the magic and the danger. He shows a lot of fortitude, but not so much that it comes across as disingenuous. The dynamism of the character is also an asset to the narrative. His rag-tag band of supporters are also able to learn and grow through their experiences with Ben, but not so much that there is no room for further development in the sequels, of which there are several. The climax and resolution of the tale is also just the right amount of satisfying whiles still leaving threads to be followed up with in later books.
I must also say that I listened to an audio book of the author's seminal work, The Sword of Shannara, some years ago, and despite the fact that it was the Absolute Favorite Book Ever of the guy I was seeing at the time, was not wholly enamored of the tale. I felt it went on too long and that it did not seem terribly original or engaging. Of course I was also driving from Minnesota to Georgia at the time and might have missed some things while my attention was diverted by traffic. I am pleased to say that I found this book much more pleasurable and may be induced to give that other series a try at some point. I continue to be told that it is rather good.

This starts off slower than the other stories I've been reading lately. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't taken a few chapters of umming and ahhing until we reached Landover. It's not that I mind not being thrown into the action, in fact I like a good lead up. But when it takes two chapters for him to decide to buy the kingdom, then drags me halfway through third chapter before he get there ...
Things sped up a little after he reached Landover, though there were a few dull patches, it's an overall good balance between action and the internal doubt Ben has for his position. The struggles, both the mental and the physical, were interesting and, sometimes, very cleverly dealt with (other times, Ben's a diggleberry who deserves a good slappin', but that's just my opinion).
There are a few things that happen that are just plain strange. Perhaps that's because I'm not all for the "you've spotted me, I've fallen in love, now I'm yours, take me" idea of how he meets his `lover'. In fact, the whole scene feels a little odd to me.
The ending ... well, I always knew he was going to win; it's the first in a series, after all, so I expected it. But the ending felt a little too predictable and easy.
That being said, I'm still looking forward to reading the next book.

Magic Kingdom For Sale- SOLD! is an interesting fantasy novel. Ben Holiday is a dissatisfied lawyer; his wife has died recently, and he feels like life is over already at the age of thirty-nine. So when he sees an advertisement for a magic kingdom in a holiday catalogue, he jumps on it. Paying a million dollars, he arrives in Landover, only to find that the kingdom is not all it was cut out to be. Yes, there are fairies and dragons, but the kingdom is in ruin. "The Barons refused to recognize a king, and the peasants were without hope. A dragon was laying waste the countryside, while an evil with plotted to destroy everything. Ben's only followers were the incompetent court Magician; Abernathy, the talking dog who served as Court Scribe; and the lovely Willow- but she had a habit of putting down roots in the moonlight and turning into a tree. The Paladin, legendary champion of the Kings of Landover, seemed only to be a myth and an empty suit of armor. To put the final touch on the whole affair, Ben soon learned that the Iron Mark, 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..."

As you can see, there's quite a lot going on, a lot to absorb. Ben sets out on a quest to seek the aid of many of the kingdom's most powerful inhabitants, in hopes that they will help him win his impending duel, and prevent his impending death. He meets with many strange creatures along the way.

This book has humor, adventure, and another quality that's hard to name. It's in the vein of epic fantasy, although obviously, it's not. I love how the first few chapters of the book set in Chicago and New York are so realistic, and then it all of a sudden transitions into a completely fantastical world, with fairies and dragons and bumbling wizards and dark magic. Terry Brooks's writing in both styles is really engaging, and easy to get into. I found myself once again immersed into the story of Ben's quest, and highly enjoyed this one.

I loved the characters too: all of them are different weird creatures. Abernathy, who was turned into a dog by one of Questor's (the court magician's) failed spells is really funny, especially since he's always bickering with Questor. I really love Willow too.

This is the first of a series, and I may read the second and third books.

My blog is located at novareviews.blogspot.com.

Face it, this book is formula fantasy. A contemporary earthling finds his way to a magical world where fairies are real, and proceeds to get himself into all sorts of trouble with the locals. He struggles with the movers and shakers of the fantasy world, Landover, banishing some and killing others as he attempts to reassert the rule of law and establish a strong central throne to hold the feuding lords together and bring peace and order to the land once more.

The trouble with this novel is that there is nothing new here at all. The writing is good, and the story is told with vigor, but there is nothing here that you haven't seen a thousand times before. Brooks pulls off his fantasy world with a refreshing energy that breathes new life into tired tropes, but that doesn't make up for the lack of innovation that characterizes this work. This is why the book only got three stars from me. I value styles, techniques, and ideas I haven't seen before, and this novel doesn't have such. It's good formula fiction, but the formulas are very old, and very tired, and though I managed to finish the novel I found it underwhelming. If you're looking for the same themes and elements that probably got you into fantasy to begin with, look no further, you've found it. If you're looking for a fresh take on the fantasy genre, this book will bore you to tears.

Magic Kingdom for Sale is a traditional -- in every sense of the word -- fantasy novel that is magical, enchanting, and touches on some pretty serious questions that most of us deal with, at one time or another. What is my purpose in life? What do we do when our life is changed so drastically, that we no longer feel as though we are the same person?

I won't go into the plot or the story -- if you want that, there are plenty of other reviews out there. But let me say that, after reading a string of some of the more "modern" fantasies, complete with dark visions of life, rape, incest, and a sense of dread, it was SO nice to dig into book 1 of the Landover series. Is it derivative? Well, perhaps in a few ways, but Brooks also takes many of the fantasy tropes and uses them in slightly new ways, while at the same time acknowledging that they are indeed tropes. That is kind of the point, since the story takes place a magical kingdom that is not supposed to exist, but in fact does.

If you're a bit exhausted with fantasy novels that revel in the dark side of existence, and have no real, ethical or philosophical ideas to explore (other than life sucks and then you die) and are looking for traditional fantasy that is both fun and a bit serious to boot, then Magic Kingdom for Sale might be the book for you. It's certainly not a "classic," but it is a very, very good read.

Last fall, Princess of Landover was released...a new book in the Landover series after more than a decade. I had read the Landover books back in the 90s but had largely forgotten many details of the story, so I decided I may as well catch back up before reading the new book.

In Magic Kingdom For Sale -- Sold, we follow a meandering lawyer in his quest to find purpose in a life that has become dull and unfulfilling. On a whim, he responds to an advertisement selling the right to be king in a fantasy realm called Landover. He initially expects some sort of special effects or other technological wizardry but is shocked to quickly discover that this magical world is real and with it come all sorts of dangers and adventures.

Ben Holliday is officially king, but the kingdom is a mess, thanks largely to the neglect caused by the continual sale of kingship and the lack of successful kings doing the job. Although set up for failure in many ways, Ben decides to give it his all and actually try to succeed at the job that many before him had run away from.

The concept itself is intriguing and a lot of fun. It's the sort of fantasy I remember from my youth and wanted to experience...the idea that if you found the right path, took the right turn, or moved a certain rock, there would be a passageway to an amazing land where magic was real, fantastic creatures and races flourished and anything was possible. Instead of merely happening on the kingdom, the adventure is taken up a notch by making Ben king (even if his power is largely limited due to lack of political recognition in the land).

The writing is solid and I could really visualize a lot of what was going on. The characters are fun and well crafted, though sometimes not quite as three-dimensional as I would have liked. Ben himself is a good full character though I often found myself frustrated with his perceptions and doubts.

The plot is enjoyable and believable. We wander the land with Ben and his new found friends as they try to show citizens of Landover that he, Ben, is in fact king and he deserves to be recognized as such. All of the factions have natural doubts but slowly they set up specific conditions under which they'll recognize his authority. And those conditions set up a variety of fun adventures.

The fantasy action itself isn't anything terribly revolutionary or exciting in terms of the Fantasy genre. However, the intriguing characters, the well constructed plot tension, and the solid writing make this a worthwhile read.

One note that put me off a little bit because I had forgotten about it, is the fact that Ben Holliday swears. In Brooks's Shannara series, the language is very subdued. They have their own form of swearing (Shades) but generally the language is very "G" rated. Landover's language is still mild by comparison but would be "PG" rather than "G." While this did strike me as odd, it was realistic when considering that Ben is an American lawyer from the heart of Chicago in the 19080s.

I look forward to re-reading the series and getting back into the heart of Landover. Most people I talk to don't really consider the Landover series to be Brooks's best work. Many even shun then. While I agree that he has many books that are better, Magic Kingdom is well worth reading and is a lot of fun as long as you go into it not expecting some sprawling fantasy epic with deep reaching effect.

***
3 out of 5 stars

Ben Holiday, a solemn lawyer who had lost his wife and daughter did the most unusual thing one day: buy a faroff fantasyland and become a king for it. And he did it all with a very straightforward mind as if he is still back on Earth - he even went jogging through the enchanted forest near his new palace! In addition, our hero befriended a whole cast of very interesting fantasy characters like a comical wizard, a talking dog with human hands, and a very luscious green-skinned forest nymph who could turn into a tree and looks ready to throw her fabulous body at the stern-faced lawyer who still misses his lost family. And what is more, our hero got much more than he bargained for: a great mission to overthrow all the enemies like the wizard's evil twin, a dragon, and a sorceress holding an iron grip on the lovely little fairyland that he had inherited. A very delightful, imaginative ride through the pretty place gently illuminated by several colored moons!

What can I say!? Terry Brooks is the one who pretty much spearheaded my interest in Fantasy with The Sword of Shannara, and from there I also went on to enjoy the tales of the magical kingdom of Landover. Magic Kingdom For Sale Sold is one of my all-time favorite books. I loved it as a child, and still love it as an adult. In fact, I've lost track of how many times I have read and re-read it over the years. It is a definite keeper, and one that I have recommended to all my friends, and anyone that has a love of Fantasy.
Have you ever wished that you could find a portal to another world? Have you ever dreamed of being swept away into a magical land with fantastical creatures? Well that is exactly what happened to Ben Holiday. He answered an add in a Christmas catalogue, thinking it to be a joke, and instead found himself stepping through the boundary between our world and the world of Landover ... and as it's king no less! Sounds wonderful right? Well, let's just say that things were not exactly what he expected!
Terry Brooks has spun a thoroughly enchanting tale with Magic Kingdom For Sale Sold! It has so many wonderful elements; magic, romance, fascinating creatures, humor, a hint of mystery, and lots of wonderful, quirky characters. But be warned ... once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down until you have read the last page! And the adventure doesn't end there. There are four more books in the series, all equally as good as the first; The Black Unicorn, Wizard At Large, The Tangle Box, and Witches' Brew.
I highly recommend this book. If you haven't yet read it yet, then what are you waiting for?!! Buy it now! You will not be disappointed ... I promise.

In this book a highly successful lawyer falls into deep depression over a death in the family. To fight this crisis he decides to do something brash: answer an ad he sees in the newspaper: to buy a magic kingdom for one million dollars. To the shock of his partners, he leaves his law practice. Then, having bought the kingdom, he discovers it has...quirks, which he has not expected. As king, he must rid the kingdom of a dark paladin and other evils. This book was good, with a spiritually resonant ending. I enjoyed it, and I will read its sequels. But it is not the refreshing, zealous sort of work he took delight in writing in Sword of Shannara and Elfstones of Shannara. This is sometimes a sad book, sometimes speckled with humor. Overall, it comes across as a mysterious adventure. I award it three stars instead of four because of occasionally strained humor that did not make me laugh, and a few thematically heavy turns that initially dragged me.

This is a typical fantasy book, and then again it is not.
It is about a disenchanted guy, Ben Holiday, living the city life, trying to get over his wife's death. One day, he stumbles upon an advertisement in a catalogue: "MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE". Amused at first at the ridiculousness, Ben is slowly drawn in by the fairy-tale-like idea of knights in shining armor and wizards and castles.
Unfortunately, life as the king of a magic kingdom is not all it is cracked up to be, as Ben soon discovers. He begins to despair when most of the kingdom's subjects are distrustful and refuse to help him, and his only followers are a group of misfits. Things only become worse when a demon lord challenges Ben to a duel he cannot possibly hope to win without help.
This is a very good book, about human relationships, and how courageous even ordinary people can be.

This is the first time I have read a book by Terry Brooks. I don't read much Sci-Fi, but this sounded fun. I was not disappointed. This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a while. This story has it all, adventure, mystery, suspense, comedy, romance... The characters are well developed and each has it's own personality.

Ben Holiday, an attorney and widower, finds an ad in a high-end catalog for a magic kingdom. The ad promises dragons and castles, fairies and sorcerors. Ben, who is tired and disgusted with his current life, decides to check it out. A million dollars later, he finds himself the owner of Landover. Landover is a magical place that has gone without a King for many years and it will be Ben's job, along with his small cast of supporters; a wizard, a talking dog, and a beautiful girl who becomes a tree, and 2 monkey-like creatures who never stop grinning to bring Landover back to it's restored condition.

There is nothing to complain about or dislike with this book. It's fun and well written. I enjoyed it so much, I have purchased the rest of the series. Give it a try, you'll have a good time.

Terry Brooks is the undisputed master of presenting fantasy-novel concepts in a fashion that the "average Joe" can latch on to and identify with. His Shannara series has improved with every subsequent novel, and this legacy promises to continue with his upcoming series of books. However, Brooks does not deign to mimic the worlds and plotlines of "Shannara" with the "Magic Kingdom" series; rather, in my opinion he simply looks to create a fun and fascinating universe that, again, the average person can enjoy.
Lawyer Ben Holiday, while not the most dynamic character in fantasy fiction, is nonetheless interesting and his perspective is well-conceived and written. He must tackle the challenges of owning Landover, his very own newly-purchased fantasy kingdom, the reality of which is obscured from his view from page one. His comrades, the court wizard Questor Thews and the loyal scribe and half-canine Abernathy, are unwittingly comical in their sincerity and approach to matters. Holiday's adversaries, while at times cliche (a dragon and a witch), are regardless interesting in and of themselves (Strabo the dragon is positioned as a cynical yet introspective pseudo-philosophical being with sparse but powerful fascinations). And our hero's challenges range from daunting to hilarious, often spanning multiple adjectives in between and invoking a plethora of emotions from the reader.
To those looking for a serious fantasy-epic compendium, I advise you strongly to avoid "Magic Kingdom" and its sequels. One must approach "Magic Kingdom" from a completely different angle than, say, "Wheel of Time" or "Shannara." Holiday's adventures in Landover are whimsical (to us, anyways; the more so because they are not for him) and the land's creatures, stock-standard though they often are at times, each possess a unique and engaging personality that has become Brooks' hallmark (Strabo's wizened introspection in solitude, Nightshade's driving disdain and fury for weaker beings, Kallendbor's politicianesque power plays and, in the later books, Edgewood Dirk's maddening simplistic disinterest in human worries and dreams). Expecting a complete detachment from life on our blue planet is the wrong approach to take here; instead, Brooks has given us the "Layman's Guide to Escaping Reality in Five Easy Steps." Chapter One, "Magic Kingdom For Sale: SOLD!" is a perfect introduction to this concept, and I highly encourage anyone looking for a fresh idea in the light-reading realm to purchase this book and its series brethren.

Magic Kingdom may diverge from your typical fantasy story in many ways but at it's core is the timeless tale of a man who must find stregth within to conquer demons (physical and emotional) to succeed in fulfilling his destiny. Ben Holiday is just that man. His wife has left him a widower and his job as a lawyer is no longer enough to hold together his reason for living. Eventually he answers a strange add in which he buys a kingdom to rule for one million dollars. The only problem is the people of the land don't recognize his legitimacy to the throne. The Kingdom almost like his inner-self is dying. To save himself he must recognize who he is. Only than will the power to save himself and the kingdom be made possible. The book moves along quickly but don't be a stickler for everything to make sense or be sensible. Anything is believable in a novel as long as you buy into the writer's world. However even that world has rules. Sometimes Brooks doesn't stick to them. For example we are to believe Ben Holiday a man of great wisdom and intelligence from his law days. However it is clear that the land he inhabits is dangerous. He is accosted by a dragon upon entering it. Early in the novel Ben decides to go out alone in the Kindom. When he returns he is surprised to find out he was trailed for his safety as there are bog wumps, cave wight, and wolves out there. He hears this and believes that "apparently" he was in danger out there and didn't know it. I guess dragons don't count as being dangerous becouse the fact that there is one out there didn't bother him or seem dangerous. Small details like this occur but it is a good story. I'm just a little to retentive I guess. Enjoy!

I have always enjoyed Mr. Brooks's books and this one is no exception.

A widower,Ben Holiday, buys a magic kingdom and learns that there hasn't been a proper king for twenty years so he tries to restore order to all of the kingdom's people. The catch is that most of the people don't believe that he can do it. And to make matters worse the demon king, the Iron Mark wants to kill him. The only people that believe that believe that he can do it are a half able wizard, a transformed scribe, two kolobs and a sylph named Willow. But before Ben can defeat the Iron Mark he first must find the AWOL Knight-Errant, the Paladin. The catch is that no one has seen him since the old king's death and without the Paladin Ben has no hope of defeating the Iron Mark.

I'm an avid fan of fantasy, but I'd read (or tried to read) other books by Terry Brooks, and not really been able to get in to them (probably my fault, but still. . .) Anyhow, this book was captivating from the first page to the last, and I found myself wishing that I could find a magic kingdom for sale in some odd catalogue, as Ben Holiday does in this book. As he journeys to the magic kingdom of Landover, he finds that being king of a fairy kingdom isn't all strolling through ferny forests and sunlit meadows -- for all is not well in this kingdom, and the king is the one with the heaviest load of responsibility. . . and the most pressing weight of danger. . .
I highly recommend this book to any fantasy fan, which at points is funny, mystical, romantic, action-packed; and it's interesting throughout. Enjoy, and the check out the rest of the series, because they're all great reads!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book(and it's successors) It had adventure, humor, and it was fun to read. It didn't have all the long boring history lessons of Prologue 1&2, and pointless subplots that so many fantasy novels do. That was told gradually as they journey along and was mixed in with the action. Most of the book dealt with the matter at hand, getting X-lawyer, X-boxer, X everything Ben Holiday his Kingship and pulling Landover from the blighted state she was in. What subplotts there were, always stuck to the story, whether Ghome Gnomes, Crag Trolls, or Greenswardians, it was all interesting. This was an excellent start to an excellent series. I like to see a ruined kindom rise up to greatness by a single man. He and his friends(would-be subjects) travel many different places and you get to see for the first time just how big and vast the world of Landover truely is. The Characters and friendships were very well done and very humorous at times, especially Questor and Abernathy's relationship.

This is a review of the Kindle edition the book.

It is good that Kindle edition of this book is free, as no effert has been put into making it a sellable edition of the book.

The text has obviously been OCRed (Optical Character Recognition) in which a printed version of the book was scanned and mechanically converted back into text (vs. pictures of the printed page). This OCRed text was never proofread.

The "book" is filled with upside-down exclamation points, non-English accented characters, and numbers where letters should be. For example, in the middle of one sentence I found the characters "1.1", and the sentence made little sense. It took me awhile to figure out that "1.1" should really be "I. I" and that my 1 sentence was really 2 sentences. Also, the name of the land "Landover" is constantly mis-"typed" with random umlauts, accent marks, and/or spaces in the middle of the word. Words with apostrophes often shed the apostrophe and adjoining character (e.g., "'s") and some random character is put in their place. All signs of the OCR software guessing letters incorrectly.

That said, the errors are distracting but not insurmountable. You can read the book, but are jarred out of the experience by obvious errors that could have been corrected if an intern/outsourced employee had been given the task of proofreading the results of the OCR software. Most people skim a book, and your mind will learn to just skim over the most obvious and frequent errors.

I am considering buying the next book in the series (if it is for sale) but am concerned about the utter lack of quality exhibited by the publisher.

Terry,Brooks.(2005).

New York: Ballantine Books

This first Landover is about a man named Ben Holiday. His life is in ruins his wife dead . His life is so miserable until he sees an ad for a magic kingdom that was for sale. Well he bought it, and from that point on ben holidays life is changed. when he gets there he find the land is ruins. His only follower are a court wizard that is still learnig magic, and a talking dog for cuort scribe. He must journey around the kingdom to gather whats left of the old kings old alliances to battle against the evil demon the Iron Mark. To complete his task he must batle dragons and other mystical creatures. He must also awaken the old kings champion the palidain.

Ben Holidays is a strong man and is very stubborn. After his wifes death he began to start drinking more.

I think you would like this book if you liked adventures and comedy. This book really would intrest people who loved medival and magic. This book is really ment for 5th and up because of the swearing. It was a good book for me and I highly reccomend reading it.

Some may think that the story starts off slow, although I think it is just the right speed for the setting. It's perspective takes a different path for fantasy, and, without giving any spoilers, takes some time to make the transition, but it is intriguing enough to keep you wondering how it will unfold, and it delivers that well. So well, that it seems Warner Bros. is making a movie about it, which I think is long overdue for a book published in 1986. I have read other works by Mr. Brooks, and only recently listened to this book on Audible.com. Now, I am curious to see how it continues and am currently on the third book in the series. Give it a try, it's a worthy read.

This is definitely not your typical fantasy novel. While others have written stories about people from our world/universe taveling to alternates where magic functions, few place the protagonist in the throne of a land that refuses to recongize his rule. Ben Holiday finds himself in just this situation, and struggles mightily to find away to legitimize his reign. That he will ultimately succeed seems obvious, but the journey provides an interesting character study, as Holiday must face his demons and learn to control his fears. The other characters are quirky and often amusing, and this book is a pleasant read, but not quite good enough to motivate me to go out and hunt for the rest of the series.

Ben Holiday, a long-time lawyer, who recently lost his wife Annie, finds an odd advertisement in the Wishbook Catalogue. The ad stated that a magical land, Landover, is for sale for one million dollars. He decided that this would be perfect because it would allow him to forget his sorrow. Thus begins his adventure and his ascension to the throne of Landover. In Landover, he must overcome demons, dragons, witches, as well as human obsticles. This was a fairly enjoyable book. It lacked the usual complexity of other fantasy novels, but had a very interesting twist to the story line. The author writes with a sense of humor. He also adds love into the mix. I would recommend this book for a short quick novel to pass some free time.

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!

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! delivers nothing new and presents very little originality. Add to that the fact that the key point of the plot -of one escaping from the drudgery of the daily world to face unsurmountable problems in a magical land of fantasy - is heavily overused, and on your hands you will have the book that draws on forever.
At least that was my impression of this. Most surprising of all is the total lack of any sort of originality. The book takes a mileau approach - a sort of "see the world" - but given that there is nothing for our pithy lawyer-turned-monarch to see... well, you understand. None of the societies are explored in any sort of depth, all being summarized by a few predictable passages. Despite the fact that the book centers singularly on the ventures of five people (the classic bumbling wizard, the classic mindless person from a different world, the classic pretty lady, and the classic knowledgeable-type), I found only one meaningful relationship going on in the book, and even that was dealt with quite clumsily - Brooks seems to overemphasize, even overstate his points.
There is a number of similar books that handle the concept better.

Terry brooks is a master of fantasy. Magic Kingdom was the first book of his that I had read and it is so good that I have read it three times, given it to a friend to read, and then bought it again for my fiancee. It is always a joy to pick up a book, and within a few pages, be thrown into a fantastic world, on an incredible journey, with such vivid characters. I felt as though I had become the main character, Ben Holiday. And the link between this reality and the kingdom of Landover made it seem so ... possible. If you long to get away from it all and take an exciting journey, do it now, and buy your own Magic Kingdom!

This is just slow and meant to be read at a leisurely pace. If you like books that are to the point with some good action scenes and whatnot, check out Brooks' shannara series. But this, however, well... it has an emotional enough ending that saved the whole book. Being frank and to the point, this is list of some things that was wrong with it: constant swearing which is unusual for Brooks, a slow pace, takes forever to get to the point, we ALWAYS need to know what brand of shoes Ben Holiday is wearing and what brand of cereal he's eating (Ben Holiday put on his Nikes and ate some Raisin Bran), a tad boring in places where you force yourself to read, people who turn into trees, overload on quirky characters, some unrealistic emotions, but aside from all that, it did have a good ending. And, on the plus side, it REALLY helped me fall asleep.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book(and it's successors) It had adventure, humor, and it was fun to read. It didn't have all the long boring history lessons of Prologue 1&2, and pointless subplots that so many fantasy novels do. That was told gradually as they journey along and was mixed in with the action. Most of the book dealt with the matter at hand, getting X-lawyer, X-boxer, X everything Ben Holiday his Kingship and pulling Landover from the blighted state she was in. What subplotts there were, always stuck to the story, whether Ghome Gnomes, Crag Trolls, or Greenswardians, it was all interesting. This was an excellent start to an excellent series. I like to see a ruined kindom rise up to greatness by a single man. He and his friends(would-be subjects) travel many different places and you get to see for the first time just how big and vast the world of Landover truely is. The Characters and friendships were very well done and very humorous at times, especially Questor and Abernathy's relationship.

This is a review of the Kindle edition the book.

It is good that Kindle edition of this book is free, as no effert has been put into making it a sellable edition of the book.

The text has obviously been OCRed (Optical Character Recognition) in which a printed version of the book was scanned and mechanically converted back into text (vs. pictures of the printed page). This OCRed text was never proofread.

The "book" is filled with upside-down exclamation points, non-English accented characters, and numbers where letters should be. For example, in the middle of one sentence I found the characters "1.1", and the sentence made little sense. It took me awhile to figure out that "1.1" should really be "I. I" and that my 1 sentence was really 2 sentences. Also, the name of the land "Landover" is constantly mis-"typed" with random umlauts, accent marks, and/or spaces in the middle of the word. Words with apostrophes often shed the apostrophe and adjoining character (e.g., "'s") and some random character is put in their place. All signs of the OCR software guessing letters incorrectly.

That said, the errors are distracting but not insurmountable. You can read the book, but are jarred out of the experience by obvious errors that could have been corrected if an intern/outsourced employee had been given the task of proofreading the results of the OCR software. Most people skim a book, and your mind will learn to just skim over the most obvious and frequent errors.

I am considering buying the next book in the series (if it is for sale) but am concerned about the utter lack of quality exhibited by the publisher.

Terry,Brooks.(2005).

New York: Ballantine Books

This first Landover is about a man named Ben Holiday. His life is in ruins his wife dead . His life is so miserable until he sees an ad for a magic kingdom that was for sale. Well he bought it, and from that point on ben holidays life is changed. when he gets there he find the land is ruins. His only follower are a court wizard that is still learnig magic, and a talking dog for cuort scribe. He must journey around the kingdom to gather whats left of the old kings old alliances to battle against the evil demon the Iron Mark. To complete his task he must batle dragons and other mystical creatures. He must also awaken the old kings champion the palidain.

Ben Holidays is a strong man and is very stubborn. After his wifes death he began to start drinking more.

I think you would like this book if you liked adventures and comedy. This book really would intrest people who loved medival and magic. This book is really ment for 5th and up because of the swearing. It was a good book for me and I highly reccomend reading it.

Some may think that the story starts off slow, although I think it is just the right speed for the setting. It's perspective takes a different path for fantasy, and, without giving any spoilers, takes some time to make the transition, but it is intriguing enough to keep you wondering how it will unfold, and it delivers that well. So well, that it seems Warner Bros. is making a movie about it, which I think is long overdue for a book published in 1986. I have read other works by Mr. Brooks, and only recently listened to this book on Audible.com. Now, I am curious to see how it continues and am currently on the third book in the series. Give it a try, it's a worthy read.

This is definitely not your typical fantasy novel. While others have written stories about people from our world/universe taveling to alternates where magic functions, few place the protagonist in the throne of a land that refuses to recongize his rule. Ben Holiday finds himself in just this situation, and struggles mightily to find away to legitimize his reign. That he will ultimately succeed seems obvious, but the journey provides an interesting character study, as Holiday must face his demons and learn to control his fears. The other characters are quirky and often amusing, and this book is a pleasant read, but not quite good enough to motivate me to go out and hunt for the rest of the series.

Ben Holiday, a long-time lawyer, who recently lost his wife Annie, finds an odd advertisement in the Wishbook Catalogue. The ad stated that a magical land, Landover, is for sale for one million dollars. He decided that this would be perfect because it would allow him to forget his sorrow. Thus begins his adventure and his ascension to the throne of Landover. In Landover, he must overcome demons, dragons, witches, as well as human obsticles. This was a fairly enjoyable book. It lacked the usual complexity of other fantasy novels, but had a very interesting twist to the story line. The author writes with a sense of humor. He also adds love into the mix. I would recommend this book for a short quick novel to pass some free time.

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!

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! delivers nothing new and presents very little originality. Add to that the fact that the key point of the plot -of one escaping from the drudgery of the daily world to face unsurmountable problems in a magical land of fantasy - is heavily overused, and on your hands you will have the book that draws on forever.
At least that was my impression of this. Most surprising of all is the total lack of any sort of originality. The book takes a mileau approach - a sort of "see the world" - but given that there is nothing for our pithy lawyer-turned-monarch to see... well, you understand. None of the societies are explored in any sort of depth, all being summarized by a few predictable passages. Despite the fact that the book centers singularly on the ventures of five people (the classic bumbling wizard, the classic mindless person from a different world, the classic pretty lady, and the classic knowledgeable-type), I found only one meaningful relationship going on in the book, and even that was dealt with quite clumsily - Brooks seems to overemphasize, even overstate his points.
There is a number of similar books that handle the concept better.

Terry brooks is a master of fantasy. Magic Kingdom was the first book of his that I had read and it is so good that I have read it three times, given it to a friend to read, and then bought it again for my fiancee. It is always a joy to pick up a book, and within a few pages, be thrown into a fantastic world, on an incredible journey, with such vivid characters. I felt as though I had become the main character, Ben Holiday. And the link between this reality and the kingdom of Landover made it seem so ... possible. If you long to get away from it all and take an exciting journey, do it now, and buy your own Magic Kingdom!

This is just slow and meant to be read at a leisurely pace. If you like books that are to the point with some good action scenes and whatnot, check out Brooks' shannara series. But this, however, well... it has an emotional enough ending that saved the whole book. Being frank and to the point, this is list of some things that was wrong with it: constant swearing which is unusual for Brooks, a slow pace, takes forever to get to the point, we ALWAYS need to know what brand of shoes Ben Holiday is wearing and what brand of cereal he's eating (Ben Holiday put on his Nikes and ate some Raisin Bran), a tad boring in places where you force yourself to read, people who turn into trees, overload on quirky characters, some unrealistic emotions, but aside from all that, it did have a good ending. And, on the plus side, it REALLY helped me fall asleep.

This book breaks away from the bonds of normal fanatasy writing and yet takes you away from reality as well as even Tolkien could. If you're not much of a fantasy fan, I would still recommend this book very highly. It is very relatable. In fact, I recently just had a discussion with a friend about why we believe this is the best of all Brook's works and I came up with the fact that it may appeal to more mature audiences more than a book like Shannara, because it is easy to relate to the main character: a middle-aged lawyer from Chicago who's life has hit a plateau, and when he finally finds his fairy tale land, it is all to real, plagued with problems, deceit, and challenges just like every day life.
So many fantasy books follow the formula like Shannara: A young man of royal blood who somehow has spent enough time away from royalty to be street-wise admits his fate and saves the world (or kingdom, or whatever).
This book is an individual piece of art all of its own. Congratulations to Brooks. Most authors spend their entire careers trying to produce something like this, and yet here it is. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't take advantage of this opportunity and experience it for themselves.
As with almost all series I've ever read, the first book in this series (Magic Kingdom:For Sale-Sold) is definately the best. However if you are the kind of person who enjoys the continuation of stories like this, I highly recommend the rest of the series. However, if you are someone who thinks it best to leave well enough alone, you will still be able to live on satisfied with this story just of itself in your heart to treasure for years to come.
Happy reading.

Fans of Brooks' Shannara series may find Magic Kingdom to be a bit on the childish side (I would say more like The Hobbit than Lord of the Rings). But if they can get past the style difference, they will find a delightful fantasy novel. I must admit that I am biased toward lighthearted (and in some cases, young adult) style fantasy, so Magic Kingdom was right in my ballpark. I wouldn't really call Magic Kingdom young adult, but I guess it could pass for that.

Breakdown: Plot: 10 out of 10. A solid plot involving scheming wizards, talking dogs, and ancient knights, if that tells you anything. Setting: 9 out of 10. Landover is a beautiful world that makes one want to live there. While it lacks the realism of the Shannara world, it makes up for it in sheer imagination. Characters: 8 out of 10. Pretty good characters overall, but a bit lightweight. Pacing: 9 of 10. Fast and steady. Satisfaction: 10 out of 10. The story really drew me in and made me sympathize with the main character, and the intrigue was there right from the start. If you don't mind fantasy that's a bit more simple and lighthearted, then this is the book for you.

BROOKS CREATES A VERY BELEAVABLE SET. I COULD SEE, THOUGH NOT LIKELY, THAT THE BOOK COULD BE REAL. FANTASTIC ORIGINALITY WAS INVALVED IN THE CREATING OF THIS BOOK. THE PALADIN WAS VERY ORIGINAL. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO LIKES ADVENTURE BOOKS. THIS SEARES IS PROBABLY THE BEST I'VE COME BUY IN A WHILE. I READ LOADS OF BOOKS, ABOUT 2-3 A MONTH, AND THIS ONE WAS FANTASTIC. I GIVE TERRY BROOKS THE KINGDOM OF LANDOVER SEARES 5 STARY FOR ORIGINALITY AND BELIVABILITY.
E-mail me with other books like this one if you know any.
By the way, the Vikings rule!!!!

All the characters in Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold! are great. The fantasy world Brooks makes up is fasinating. It is great how the author draws you into the book by talking about all the new people/things the charater, Ben Holiday meets. How Ben percieves the foreign land he comes into, and how different it is to his own home world is probably the best discription I've read in a long time. You feel as if you're with him. Brooks is a great author, he always leaves you wanting more. I highly recommend this book and all the other books in this series.

Ben Holiday, a successful lawyer and recent widower purchases a magic kingdom out of an exclusive catalog for a million dollars.

A great fantasy done by one of the best. A fun and action packed adventure that is refreshingly unpretentious. What makes this work is that the book never tries to be more than what it is. There is no deep rooted symbolism or abstract concepts to be found here. Just a cast of great semi-quirky caracters in a book with a unique charm. Those who like their fantasy in an epic scale look elsewhere. All others enjoy!

I'm not usually into Terry Brook's books. I read one of the Shannara books, and it seemed like a shortened version of "Lord of the Rings" - in order to find this magic object we have to walk through a dangerous forest, make our way under a mountain where we'll face supernatural enemies and so on. This book isn't like that at all. The main character is a quite normal person who's frustrated with his life and sees an ad for a Magic Kingdom for sale. He assumes that it's a joke, it has to be, but he still can't stop thinking about it. And, eventually, he finds himself the new King of Landover. In trying to deal with this new world of his, he has great help of a clumsy wizard and a talking dog... The book is funny and takes some unexpected turns, and I really enjoyed reading it.

The book cover for 'Magic Kingdom' didn't look very promising to me, but I was inspired by its reviews, its comical premise, and the fact that Terry Brooks wrote it--hey, one of fantasy's best supposedly, though I never really made it through the first book of Shannara. The name itself suggests a fun, light-weight, humor filled adventure and that's what I went in expecting.
I was disappointed. Almost all elements of Landover follow standard fairy-tale cliches. Granted, that is pretty much what was promised, but the book did little to make up for its lack of originality, in humor or otherwise. It's actually quite serious and dry, and too much of it is just plain boring. Sometimes I found myself taking in the words as quickly as possible without bothering to visualize the scenes or soak it in, just to get on with it. Strange since usually when a book doesn't interest me I'll hardly finish it, I guess in this case, like Ben, I was stubborn.
It starts slow enough, introducing us to Ben Holiday's normal life preceding the purchase of Landover, and doesn't really pick up that much once he moves into the Kingdom and we are introduced to his four companions: bumbling wizard Questor, the talking dog squire Abernathy, and a couple of fierce monkeyish warrior kinda guys.
One major gripe I have is that Landover feels so barren, like endless plains of uninhabited earth. For the most part it fails to give us a sense of a real, living world. "Where are all the people?" I asked myself at one point. There was no sense of things happening, until of course the fivesome journey forth to wherever they must be for the story to progress and people seem to appear. At some points you'd think they're living on the moon or something.
It's really the last 100 pages that save my impression of the book, it turns into a real page-turner with some surprising and captivating elements. The character of Strabo the dragon is awesome, very well done, my favorite in the entire book. Most of the characters throughout are quite well done I think, if not outstanding. I take that back. They serve their purpose I should say, though some of the scenes between them strike me as cringe-worthily melodramatic. Let me quickly inject a complaint that the constant quibbling of Questor and the dog wore swiftly thin. I didn't care much for Willow, she seemed thrown in just to serve the "necessary" romance portion, which I didn't care for at all. It's forgivable since it wasn't the focus of the book but it was pretty straightforward and cringe-worthy. Throwing in a fairy-tale creature more-or-less reserved for Ben just seems like the easy route, and it kinda annoyed me adding to the "substanceless fantasy" feel. For being the only other female character can't say I'm too impressed.
Now I realize this review is starting to drag on so I'll sum it up. Terry Brooks still has work to do to esteem himself in my eyes, from what I've read of him he doesn't strike me as that creative and his writing lacks that... grandeur. I will pick up book two of this series because, even though it's far from the best out there, somehow it managed to keep me reading to the end and I came to enjoy Landover and its tiny group of mismatched characters. I wish to stick around a little longer.

"The kingdom was in ruin. The Barons refused to recognize a king, and the peasants were without hope. A dragon was laying waste the countryside, while an evil witch plotted to destroy everything..." Printed on the backside of the paperback, this passage explains Ben Holiday's problems after paying a million dollars to enter and rule in a fairytale land; Landover. In a special magazine called Rosen's Christmas Wishbook, Ben reads of an "...island of enchantment and adventure rescued from the mists of time, home of knights and knaves, of dragons and damsels, of wizards and warlocks." With his wife dead, and no near family, Ben enters Landover and promises to fix the dilemmas which Landover and its creatures have had for the past two centuries.
Before Ben Holiday, the protagonist in the novel, accepted his job as King, there had been roughly two dozen past kings who have failed, all paying the million to a man named Meeks. Meeks, a native of Landover, planned to make fortunes by selling the Kingship to unworthy subjects. Yet he made a mistake by appointing Ben, for Holiday did not quit, and undertook the long plans of restoring the kingdom.
With description and creativity, this novel could be called a tremendous accomplishment. Terry Brooks, in his first Non-Shannara novel, uses vivid characters, to help Ben Holiday as King. His creativity in describing the "bonny blues," the main food source of Landoverians, will draw a perfect picture of the bluish tree in your mind. With leaves tasting of melon, and the branches of milk, the bonny blues contain all of Terry Brooks' imagination. One of Brooks' most striking accomplishments would be a scene where Ben fights another Lord, when Ben tries to accumulate allies to support the Throne. In this scene, Brooks' description reaches Tolkien's level of detail. With lines like, "The big man turned, grunting, and Ben hit him again, once, twice, a third time..." Brooks give you an opportunity to experience battles, not just to read about them.
The plot in A Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!, slowly develops, but after it gets rolling, it keeps tumbling ahead. With action filled scene after scene, Ben Holiday is faced with the many perils of Landover as he tries to regain the allies of old.
Unlike his Shannara series novels, Brooks uses a more down-to-earth style of writing--not saying that his Shannara novels aren't down-to-earth--but A Magic Kingdom has fewer main characters, trapped in a smaller world, with less inhabitants. This book doesn't have the blood and gore of his other works, but has more "pleasant" battles, with no wars whatsoever.
As Ben Holiday rids Landover of the evils and allies himself with the good, he discovers the one thing that has held back the previous kings in the past. This, a theme throughout the novel, remained as the act of believing in yourself. Once Ben did this, he could master the magic hidden from Landoverian Kings for the past century. He uses this magic from the side of good, returning Landover to its former self.

This book is fun and simple, just the way I like my fantasy novels. It was weird, at first, seeing a then-contemporary character (a lawyer, no less) as our hero, but then he's transported to a magical world called Landover, and that's when things get interesting. The book is a perfect length, not overly written like some novels (The Wheel of Time series, for example), and I look forward to reading the other books in this cute series.

This is a truly enchanting story of a fantasy land that we know can never exist... or can it? The vivid and descriptive way Terry Brooks writes makes you stop and think twice about the possibility of there being an actual Magic Kingdom where fantasy and reality collide.
This story is about a very wealthy lawyer named Ben Holiday, who lives and works in Chicago at a very successful law firm. Recently, his wife passed away, and since then his life has been going downhill. He has managed to stay focused with his work, but he has become very anti-social, and he no longer has the zeal for life that he once did. He was always searching for a way out, to make everything all right again. It seemed like an endless search, until he stumbled across an advertisement in a catalogue that caught his eye. The advertisement was for a fantasyland where wizards, witches and dragons were a reality, and for $1,000,000 you could rule them all; you could be the King of Landover.
After heavily pondering the idea, Ben decides to purchase the Magic Kingdom of Landover. After rounding up 1 million dollars in cash, Ben passes through the boundary between our world, and Landover. To his surprise, the land that he was now in was nothing like the land that was described in the advertisement. Landover was a very run down, out of control world where the people were nomads that would not recognize a king.
In my opinion, this is one of the best books I have ever read, and I am pleased to find out that this is only the first book in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series; there are five books in total. I personally like how this story tells the tale of an underdog who defies all odds and comes forth to save Landover from ruin. Read this story to find out how Ben goes about dealing with the problems in Landover. I highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy story; in fact I would rank it up close with J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit." So, if you liked "The Hobbit," I think there is a good chance you will also take a liking to this book, as you get go know the characters and their unique personalities.
Once again, I strongly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy story!

In my opinion the book is OK, but I really got irritated with the DVD case of the audiobook it smells like burned plastic it is totally bridle. It is in fact so bridle that the clips are breaking. The only thing someone can do is to dispose of the case and get a other one (which I did). The second thing I do not really like is that this MP3 CD is a burned CD not a pressed one, but this fact is secondary. In cases like this I regret that I can't make two reviews, one for the story (5 stars) of the book and one for the CD and case (1 star).

I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the title -- and I ended up reading the whole series! This book is a rarity among fantasy books: an extremely original plot, interesting and bizarre (but sophisticated) characters, plenty of humor and excitement. I was glad to see that the main focus of the story actually was the plot, and that it didn't get lost in the genre. For this reason it will appeal to a wide range of people, even those who don't normally like fantasy. Give it a read! You won't regret it.

You sit in your room start reading this book, as you turn the pages you are taken to the other side of our world in to his, where things are not so normal but are excepted for what they are. You dare not fall asleep, not afraid of anything, it's just the excitement and the anticipation of things to come that keep you going. As you go on, things turn on you and you fall in love with a world that only excits in ones imagination. As the magic flows from places untold of, you feel yourself falling in love with a castle you know that could not excist, you feel the warmth it gives you when you walk around, you feel it's love when you are hurting! Your friends are all there for you, even though you have just met them. They help you when needed and stand by you as needed. You alone have the chance to make a difference and you alone have the chance to make a change, but to do this you first must survive the cruelty from others and win others trust! Your job is not an easy one si! nce things are stacked against you, but if you pull through I am sure you will make it. It's a magic place that will catch your emagination time and time again.
Don't miss out on a fantasy that will take you through hardship, friendship, and love all rapped up in one little package!

Although it was not the typical Brooks, suspenseful and compelling, fantasy novel, I wouldn't consider criticising it. Terry Brooks' attempt to create a sprightly fantasy world was not unsuccessful.
The tale begins with Ben Holiday, whose general state of existence is remorseful and melancholic because of the tragic death of his wife and child many years ago. He is a successful lawyer, and his life seems incomplete until he discovers that he can evade reality. After debating with his partner in law, Miles, he purchases a Magic Kingdom from a respected corporation known for their unusual merchandise. What Ben did not know until purchasing the Kingdom was that Landover was in an impossible and seemingly irreparable state.
Eventually, Ben overcomes the difficulties of Landover, as well as the inner conflict of which has been manifesting inside him since his wife and child's death. The characters in Landover are quirky and fascinating, and help deliver the outcome of truly believing in yourself in a package that many of us can relate to.

If you like enchanted castles, wizards, demons, talking dragons, evil witches, love, battles, etc., etc., etc., then "The Magic Kingdom of Landover" Vol. 1 is for you.
I know it's trite and over-used but this is a page turner and a fun read. I don't want to give much of the story away, I'll just say the premise is ingenious the way our hero, Ben Holiday (a successful modern day lawyer in Chicago) ends up King of Landover, a mythical kingdom (or is it?).
I've already decided for myself that (just like Hogwarts) Landover's out there somewhere. You'll just have to read and decide for yourself.

I'm anxious to read Vol. 2, (the two remaining books in the series).

I have been looking for something like this for a long time. Thank goodness a friend I work with came to the rescue with this suggestion.

I like the way Mr. Brooks writes. Does not waste words, the book is fast paced and keeps your interest with something constantly going on. If you like adventure, fiction, and fantasy then you will like this. He takes you to this never, never land and makes you believe it is the real thing. How often have you wished to just stumble across a make believe time and place, with castles, trolls, faries, the whole thing. I can't wait until Volume Two comes in the mail so I can continue on with the epic. I LOVE IT.

I just love this series by Terry Brooks! It is such a fun, light read. It is well-written, the characters are interesting, the plot keeps your interest, and it's just plain comical. This book is not terribly deep so if you want something that will really make you stop and think, this is not it. If you want, however, something that will give you a few hours enjoyment, then this is the book for you. Check out the other books in the series, too. They are also very fun.

Way back when I first started into fantasy, this one caught my eye. To buy a Kingdom was a cool idea. Of course at the time they don't explain all the 'bad' things which go with it and that you have to leave this world. LOved it.

Exceptional fantasy storytelling.

If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.

I read the review for this book and decided to read it. I got a copy from the local library and almost returned it before reading it. The cover page looked like an horrible amatuer rendering of some fantasy land. But what the hay, I had nothing else to read. So forth I plunged into the book and was surprised by how taken I was into the story. I found myself laughing out loud to some parts.

Ben, a widowed lawyer from Chicago was very unhappy with his current life. He found an ad that promised adventure in a 'fairy tale kingdom' one that he thought was made up with special effects and costumed characters. But when he arrives he find true adventure and magic. The story follows him and his small band of misfit followers along his quest to restore the old kingdom to its original state.

It is a heart warming book worth the read.

I am a big fan of Terry Brooks books! This series in particular has a lot of imagination and takes you on an exciting ride with a reluctant hero who rises to become everything you want in a good strong leading man. The book is imaginative and unpredictable. The way Terry sweeps you into another realm is refreshing and it kept me enthralled. I couldn't put the book down!

Terry Brooks did a great job mixing fantasy-fiction and some real life elements in the story. I would highly recommend readers that like the split person reading. The book mixes the characters in a mass jumble that all ties together in a great epic adventure. He did a great job in his character selection and I thought that the story had a great beginning and a wonderful ending. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes Dragons, Trolls, Gnomes, and etc.

Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold (Magic Kingdom of Landover) was a book that I read as a teenager and now this year re-read and I must say that I loved it. Terry Brooks has here created a fun, exciting and well-written fantasy novel. The hero of the tale is Ben Holliday who buys a magic kingdom for a million dollars and then realizes that he bought something other then what he had expected. Highly recommended. 5/5.

Slow at first but stick with it. I was going to put this book down since it was very slow for the first 1/3 of the book but it does pick up and gets good. I did end up getting all the books that follow after it. If you are looking at reading this get the first 3 books in one book so save you money he has another book that has the last 3 books so you only have to buy 2 instead of 6 books

Enjoyable bubblegum(brain candy as opposed to brain food book) fantasy...brooks tells a good story, and free is an excellent price. The problem with the kindle version is that there are a fair number of typos and scanning errors that pop up throughout the book. I wish that the publishers thought this sort of thing through, because a well-formatted freebie would certainly sell more Terry Brooks books in the future than an error-riddled one. I'd like to have more Terry Brooks, but I think I will be viewing samples before I purchase them.

I liked this book a lot. I got through it very quickly. It was engaging, but I agree with previous critics about the lack of character development. I also think the main character, who is supposed to be this intelligent seasoned lawyer, made some incredibly obvious stupid mistakes. There were some really interesting parts toward the end that I enjoyed. I think this series has a lot of potential, and I will be reading the next book The Black Unicorn as soon as it comes in the mail!

Honestly, the main reason to read this book is so you can understand what is going on in the sequels. The Black Unicorn, Wizard at Large, and The Tangle Box are MUCH better books. I rate this at 2.5 stars, rounded down because it annoys me.

This book started off slowly, then got much better towards the middle. If you read the Author's biography, the slow start makes a bit more sense (he was a lawyer before becoming an author).

The Kindle edition has a LOT of scanning errors, tons of upside down exclaimation points, words crammed together, and other words torn in two.

Now that I've finished this book, I was really disappointed to see the sequel books are not available for the kindle, only the most recent book in the series, which means skipping several chapters. :(

Terry Brooks has a very charming writing style, totally disarming. You could notice that evenin his first Shanarra book; even while the story was a 100% rip-off of Tolkien.
I bought a used copy to read on the plane over the Atlantic; it served its purpose of providing good, sometimes clever, well written entertainment. My wife then read it - the first book of this genre she has ever read.
The story hoovers between science fiction and fantasy. A lawyer buys a magic kingdom. The kingdom is dying, and just a few faithful servants to the throne try to save it. The lawyer finds out that they seller has tried to cheat him, but instead of running he sets out to do his kingly duties.

This book is a wonderful fantasy and is great for anyone who is looking for a break. The book begins in our present day world but soon you find yourself reading a fairytale. Very well written and exciting. A great plus is that it is clean enough that you could let your teenager read it and not worry an ounce. Terry Brooks is a great author and I love everything he has written.(So do my teenage and college age boys.) You won't be sorry you read this!!

It's Brooks' first completely original idea. The Shannara books were too much like LOTR. I'm actually 14 (13 when I read it) years old, but I think that it's a great book for young fantasy lovers. It's a combination of many fairy tales, but has an intresting passage from the normal world to the magical one. I've been to the mountains in Virginia and to the specific tunnel. Brooks describes the tunnel just like it is. It has original characters and the plot is simple/funny.

Depressed lawyer goes kingly.

With his wife dead and being a lawyer basically sucking the really big one, the protagonist of the piece decides to do something outlandish. He sees an ad in a strange trade publication for the titular place, and having plenty of cash, decides to buy it.

When he does, he has a bunch of work ahead of him as the place is falling apart, which is why it is so cheap. With an oddball sidekick crew he has to do something about it. Completely not very serious.

I read Brooks' Sword of Shannara and it was a great book, but not very original. This book, on the otherhand, is one of the most original and unique books I have ever read. I have to admit that it starts out a little slow, but once you get into it you'll find that it is hard to put down. Brooks' magical kingdom of Landover made my imagination run wild, there truly is nothing like it. All of the characters are very well developed and have likable qualities which make you root for them. I found myself truly caring for the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, especially someone who is looking for a not-so-dark and highly original book filled with immense amounts of imagination.

I did not purchase the freebie...but instead bought the entire collection. I have it in paperback and it is one of my favorite sets of books. I wanted it on the Kindle to preserve it. If you are a fan of fantasy...Terry Brooks will enthrall you. All of his books are great...but the Landover series has a comedic side to it that I love. Hope all who got the freebie and it's formatting errors will not turn away because of that! You would be missing out on a really great story!

I'd seen this book around, thought about getting it, and finally did. I love fantasy and thought because Brooks was a best-seller and all that, that this would be a delightful book. Boy was I wrong. Okay, it's a very neat idea, and the plot was tight, but that's about where my compliments end. There's virtually NO character development. I didn't care in the least about Holiday. I could not relate to him, or to any of the characters. I could not get into Holiday's mind. I didn't feel welcome. It felt like the story was rushed and happened way too quickly and easily. There were no guts to this story; it's superficial. It was silly--not in a good way--trite, and paper thin.
If you want to read a story about a real-world person entering a land of fantasy and having adventures there, read "The Woods Out Back" by RA Salvatore! THAT book is absolutely fabulous! It's witty, well constructed, believable, honest, meaningful, engaging--everything that "Magic Kingdom..." isn't. I heartily recommend it instead!

It' a good book, don't get me wrong, but it isn't funny. I want to repeat that, IT ISN'T FUNNY! It probably could have been funny if it was written by someone else but Terry Brooks is first and foremost a serious fantasy writer. It's what he is good at. Abernathy the dog squire is somewhat amusing I suppose when introductions are made, but when the story-line gets started there is no room for amusement whatsoever. I would probably give this book a higher rating if it weren't for the fact that it makes a mold for the next two or three books. After Brooks starts writing different plots the series gets much much better. My advice is to go ahead and read it, and then skip to The Black Unicorn and read on down the series, just don't expect much humor, if you want that, read Douglas Adams.

I really want to like this story, but there's a lot to be desired within the pages of Magic Kingdom. The main character is really the only character - we get more insight into the personality of a dragon than from our hero's love interest, for example.

There is very little of note in Landover - even though Ben, our main character, signed up for the stereotypical fantasy land, there needs to be something creative or new about it to make it worthwhile for the rest of us to read. It's cute - and nothing more.

That actually sums up most of Magic Kingdom - cute, but little beneath the surface.

I Loved This Book And Promptly Bought The Rest In The Series! I Devoured Them All And I Go Back And Visit Landover Any Time I Like! Ben Surprises Himself As Well As All Of Us As He Steps Into The Role Of Landovers King And Protector! The Whole Series Is Fantastical And Does Not Disappoint At All! A Fun Read, A Great Escape, A Wonderful Journey! A Must Read For Fans Of Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, Harry Potter And More! I Highly Recommend This Book! ;)

Just the unique fantasy fiction novel I was looking for. Not adolescent in story and vocabulary, unique, captivating, and characters and plot are hilariously creative; passed down through my family generations, this book is timeless. I can't wait to read more of this author.

Brooks is the writer of epic novels, but this one didn't catch me. The premise is interesting; however, the vocabulary isn't variable enough for my taste. Brooks seemed to have a particular fondness for the word "trailer" in this installment, which made me want to spork my eyes out.

After losing a little faith in Terry Brooks after reading Shannarra, being extremely put off because it was just a rip off of LOTR, I was a litle hesitant in reading this book, but once I did i quickly found myself absorbed in the story.
Funny and a lot different from standard quest type epic fantasies, I found this to be refreshing and enjoyable break. The plot was interesting as well, but I won't get into that to prevent spoiling it for anyone.
So if you like fantasy but are a little tired of the same old plot clothed with different characters and worlds, then read this book. You'll enjoy it.

Mr. Brooks, wrote a very good, if not great, series starting with this book. He tells the story of a successful ordinary guy who buys a magic kingdom on a whim after his wife dies. Its an enjoyable light read, and may even be better than the Shanara series. Recommended for fantasy fans of all levels.

What a great book!!! I have read all of the books in this series and loved them all. I first read these books as a teen after my mother gave me the book in an attempt to spark my interest in reading, it worked. I have re read them again just recently, and will now give the books to my daughter to read. I could not put these books down, could not wait to get the next book in the series and was sad when there were no more books in the series. I wish he had written as many books in this series as he did in the Shannara series.

The world of Landover is a very interesting and fun to read setting. If you like the fantasy genre, this is a very good example of how good it can get. The characters have great adventures and also have a comical side to them. So, if you're looking for a fun, fantastic, and enchanting adventure, pick up this book today!

I have read this series MANY times, It will grab you and make you want sit down, read and let everything else go by. you can almost feel you can just go there, That it is REAL. I would like to suggest you acquire the whole series and start from the beginning with Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!, and let your mind go. I feel this is that good of a series. Terry Brooks writing style will let you fly through the story. With some series you can read the books in any order and be fine, But Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! you will enjoy a lot more if you follow the story in order and let the adventure unfold to its fullest.

What a fun, campy read. I read this book because of kindle's free promotion of it. It turned out to be very good and would be worth paying regular price for. I wish it had been a little bit longer and detailed but I guess the author left it open for future installments. This is a great book to read on vacation...enjoy!

The Magic Kingdom set has to be one of the best works I have read. From the first book to the last, Terry Brooks keeps you in suspense. The characters are wonderful. I suggest anyone that enjoys fantasy novels to read this set. I do hope Terry Brooks adds another book to this faboulous tell.

I bought this book because I really liked the concept of buying a magic kingdom. This kingdom, however, didn't seem very magic to me, but rather full of fantasy cliches. Also, nothing much happens anywhere unless the lawyer-turned-king actually goes there. It appeared to me that the whole kingdom is frozen and only parts of it come to life as our hero appears there. Finally, the whole plot is very predictable.
On the up side, brooks has a few funny ideas and knows how to make one turn the pages, hence two stars.
With so many good fantasy books left for me to read, after the experience of this book I am glad I don't have to look at Brook's work any more.

This was a light-hearted tale. There are a lot of situations that seem impossible to overcome, but Ben Holiday has the best LUCK in the world. A real walking rabbit's foot. I really liked the characters, especially the kobolds and the G'home Gnomes. This book really deserved 4.5 stars. I recommend this book to anybody. A great adventure!!!

Wow! Terry Brooks does it again with this book. a new twist on the fatasy genre. Plenty of action, humor and thought went into this book. The charecters are witty and fun to read about. Defintily a must read.

I love this series, these books are awesome. I tried to read the shannara books by terry brooks and they are just plain dull compared to Magic Kingdom. This book is interesting and funny, I love it.

I was so impressed after reading this book that I found myself at the book store asking for the rest of the series and when a new book would be out. I just cant get enough of Terry Brooks. I have a difficult time finding an author that can keep my attention but Terry Brooks had me before the end of the first chapter. I recently introduced my fiencee and her three kids to the "Shannara" series and they are hooked as well. I cant wait to get them started with "The Magic Kingdom of Landover" !!

A fun break from the seriousness and self-importance of most modern fantasy. Sure, it's a small novel, moves quickly and feels somewhat shallow, but I liked the characters and the story. It's a whole lot better than the many ponderous, ultra-hyped, copycat mega-novels that are out these days.

Although I'm not a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, the title caught my eye. I picked this book up on a lark, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. As as result, I have read each book in the Magic Kingdom series. These books are simply light frothy confections guaranteed to take us away from our ordinary lives. Terry Brooks' tongue-in-cheek writing style adds a level of humor to the stories that had me laughing out loud. There is only one problem: it takes too long for new books in the series to come out!

I was surprised that the main character stayed after realizing what a difficult world he'd entered. Rarely am I invested in a character so quickly. I was proud of his decisions and happy with the results.

This was a pretty good book in my opinion. Too often fantasy books drag on, are hard to follow, and are boring, but this book was easily read. It was a pretty basic story, but I enjoyed the thought of moving to a fairy-tale kingdom. The book is well written and easy to read straight through. Its not the type of book you have to read slowly and analyze, but its great just to pass time. I actually got my husband to read it and he doesn't read so it can't be that bad.

Wow! Terry Brooks does it again with this book. a new twist on the fatasy genre. Plenty of action, humor and thought went into this book. The charecters are witty and fun to read about. Defintily a must read.

I love this series, these books are awesome. I tried to read the shannara books by terry brooks and they are just plain dull compared to Magic Kingdom. This book is interesting and funny, I love it.

I was so impressed after reading this book that I found myself at the book store asking for the rest of the series and when a new book would be out. I just cant get enough of Terry Brooks. I have a difficult time finding an author that can keep my attention but Terry Brooks had me before the end of the first chapter. I recently introduced my fiencee and her three kids to the "Shannara" series and they are hooked as well. I cant wait to get them started with "The Magic Kingdom of Landover" !!

A fun break from the seriousness and self-importance of most modern fantasy. Sure, it's a small novel, moves quickly and feels somewhat shallow, but I liked the characters and the story. It's a whole lot better than the many ponderous, ultra-hyped, copycat mega-novels that are out these days.

Although I'm not a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, the title caught my eye. I picked this book up on a lark, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. As as result, I have read each book in the Magic Kingdom series. These books are simply light frothy confections guaranteed to take us away from our ordinary lives. Terry Brooks' tongue-in-cheek writing style adds a level of humor to the stories that had me laughing out loud. There is only one problem: it takes too long for new books in the series to come out!

I was surprised that the main character stayed after realizing what a difficult world he'd entered. Rarely am I invested in a character so quickly. I was proud of his decisions and happy with the results.

This was a pretty good book in my opinion. Too often fantasy books drag on, are hard to follow, and are boring, but this book was easily read. It was a pretty basic story, but I enjoyed the thought of moving to a fairy-tale kingdom. The book is well written and easy to read straight through. Its not the type of book you have to read slowly and analyze, but its great just to pass time. I actually got my husband to read it and he doesn't read so it can't be that bad.

The Magic Kingdom of Landover Volume 1 (2009) is an omnibus edition of the Landover series. It contains Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!,The Black Unicorn and Wizard at Large.

These novels are set in Landover, a kingdom nestled within the mists of Fairy. It provides enchantment and adventure and has knights and knaves, dragons and damsels, and wizards and warlocks.

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold (1986) is the first fantasy novel in this series. A prestigious department store offers a Magic Kingdom for sale at only $1,000,000.00 to an appropriate buyer. See Meeks at the main office.

In this story, Ben finds a Christmas Wishbook in his mail. It is addressed to Annie, his deceased wife. Looking through the catalog, he finds an advertisement reading "Magic Kingdom for Sale" and describing Landover.

Naturally, Ben initially considers the advertisement to be a hoax. Yet the department store has a reputation for providing exactly what they advertise. Maybe it would be an adventure.

Ben discusses the ad with Miles, his partner and only friend. Miles also sees it as a cruel hoax, but doesn't mention anything that Ben hasn't already considered. Eventually, Ben takes a week off and goes to New York to talk with Meeks.

Meeks is initially more interested in questioning Ben about his work and skills, but does finally provide a little more information. Yet he chooses not to disclose the location of the kingdom nor the identity of the seller. He lets Ben see the contract terms on the offer, but refuses to let him have a copy until Ben buys the kingdom.

Ben clears away all pending commitments and raises the $1,000,000.00 price of the kingdom. A month after his meeting with Meeks, Ben receives plane tickets and directions to a rendezvous point where he will be met. The directions take him into the Blue Ridge Mountains.

After parking the rental car and walking up the designated path, Ben finds a dark tunnel through the woods. He considers turning back, but continues on into the darkness. As he travels through the tunnel, he encounters a dark creature with a dark rider.

Ben flees from the screaming creature and then finds a battered knight at the other end of the tunnel. The mounted knight charges past him toward the following threats. Ben is nudged off the path by the horse as it rushes past him. There is a sudden explosion of light.

The Black Unicorn (1987) is the second fantasy novel in this series. Ben is firmly established as the High Lord of Landover and has various projects underway to improve the land.

In this story, Ben, Questor and Willow have dreams. When they discuss them at breakfast, there seems to have been an urgency to each dream. Despite warnings from Abernathy, all three set out to follow the dreams.

In Ben's dream, Miles is having some difficulty. So Ben returns to Chicago to check. He encounters visions of Meeks twice during his visit, once at the end of the time tunnel and once outside the elevator on the fifteenth floor near the offices of his law firm. Miles tells him that his fears are unfounded and Ben hurries back to Landover.

In Questor's dream, the hiding place of the lost magic books is revealed. So Questor and Bunion travel to the ruined fortress of Mirwouk. There they find the lost books and return to the castle.

In Willow's dream, a black unicorn appears in Landover. So Willow and Parsnip search for the unicorn.

Ben returns first to Sterling Silver. Shortly thereafter, Questor arrives and shows the magic books to Ben. Then Ben goes back to bed, but has a strange encounter in the night.

Suddenly Meeks appears before him. This time he is not an illusion, but the real wizard. He paralyzes Ben with magic and them replaces his clothes with those of a common man. When Ben tries to use his Paladin medallion, he finds it changed to an image of Meeks. And Meeks has the Paladin medallion.

Somehow Ben no longer looks like himself to others and Meeks looks like Ben. Ben tells his friends that he is the High Lord, but they deny him and have him ejected from the castle. After stewing a while, Ben realizes that Willow will bring the Black Unicorn to Meeks in his guise as the High Lord, so he heads south to intercept her.

Wizard at Large (1988) is the third fantasy novel in this series. Ben has been High Lord for almost five years.

In this story, Questor has found a way to transform Abernathy back to his human form, but he needs the Paladin medallion to use as a catalyst. Since Questor's magic efforts usually fail in part or completely, Abernathy is not certain that such effort would be beneficial.

Despite his objections, it is obvious that Abernathy wants to regain his human form. Ben reluctantly agrees to the effort and hands the medallion to Abernathy. On the first try, Questor changes Abernathy into a full dog, without speech or hand-like paws.

Embarrassed, Questor tries again and successfully returns Abernathy to his dog-like form and pushes for a full transformation into a human. But then he sneezes and Abernathy disappears. A bottle with dancing harlequins appears in his stead.

Questor believes that he has exchanged Abernathy for the bottle. And he is certain that he has seen the bottle previously, but is unsure of where and when. Later he realizes that the bottle contains a Darkling, a form of demon that does dark magic for the holder of the bottle.

Meanwhile, Abernathy finds himself crowded into a display case. After a while, a young girl comes into the room and soon discovers him within the case. Elizabeth lets him out and takes him to her room. Unluckily, two guards see Abernathy with her and report the news to Michel Ard Rhi, the master of the castle.

The author of this series is best known for his Shannara novels. This fantasy series has a somewhat different emphasis.

Highly recommended for Brooks fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of court wizards, fanciful creatures, and true romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Overall a great book. Definitely not the best by Terry Brooks, but thoroughly enjoyable none the less. I've re-read it several times (as I have most of my books) and each time that I read it, I STILL enjoy it... and that's what makes a book a good book. The storyline is interesting, the characters unique. I'd recommend reading al the books in the series to fully enjoy the complete story

I read this after the first Shannara books, so expected a great deal. I was not disapointed! A fun book which keeps you interested. If you want deep forget it, if you just want a light read this will do you fine.

This book is really great! Terry Brooks really do know how to take all the reader to the magic kingdom.I really love the way he combines real world with magical world. How great it would be if I can visit Landover?

I love this series. I bought the book for a friend. I haven't read him in a while, so can't remember the details of sex, violence or such. But, I know I will buy anything Terry Brooks writes. I have all this series on my wish list to replace the ones I had loaned out and never got back! These are keepers!

i loved this book so much. i read the shannara books, and then i read this one. they are all so good. this has such a unique idea to it. who other than terry brooks could think of it? i am looking forward to reading more and more.

This book had an interesting premise, but buried itself in all of the basic fantasy cliches. There was minimal original here and what was was so poorly written and predictable. Would definitely recommend skipping this book.

It's nice to read books and imagine the places and characters. This book takes this image a step further with the main character buying his way into an imaginary world cause he is sick of the real one. This was the first book I read on my kindel and could not figure out what page I was on and before I new it I was finshied.

great reading and good story line. packed with adventure, a book a man can relate too. so if you like Sci.Fi fantisy, this are the book you want to read. its more them one book and you have to read them all.

I'm not griping about the fact that books 1-3 are in volume 1, and books 4-5 are in volume 2. Before this series was announces for a rerelease in omnibus style, I thought it would be appropriate for them to split it out...only I was thinking they should have release volume 1 first, then follow it a couple years after with volume 2, which would include (at the time, a yet to be released) 6th Landover novel. I'm not even griping about that. What I am disappointed with is the fact that they (Del Rey) decided not to do the series justice, and release the two volumes in trade back format only. Ninety percent of the people that will be picking this up will be current Landover fans. We could have only hoped to have a collector's volume, similar to the handsome books that were released for the Shanara series. But apparently there is no collector's market in Landover fandom...or Del Rey thinks they are too cheap to fork over an extra $15 for a nice hardbound book. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Del Rey still plans on doing the omnibus release in hardback format a couple years after the paperback release of the 6th volume.

I'm not griping about the fact that books 1-3 are in volume 1, and books 4-5 are in volume 2. Before this series was announces for a rerelease in omnibus style, I thought it would be appropriate for them to split it out...only I was thinking they should have release volume 1 first, then follow it a couple years after with volume 2, which would include (at the time, a yet to be released) 6th Landover novel. I'm not even griping about that. What I am disappointed with is the fact that they (Del Rey) decided not to do the series justice, and release the two volumes in trade back format only. Ninety percent of the people that will be picking this up will be current Landover fans. We could have only hoped to have a collector's volume, similar to the handsome books that were released for the Shanara series. But apparently there is no collector's market in Landover fandom...or Del Rey thinks they are too cheap to fork over an extra $15 for a nice hardbound book. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Del Rey still plans on doing the omnibus release in hardback format a couple years after the paperback release of the 6th volume.