Originally posted to my Wordpress journal on June 8, 2023

We all know the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” And while withholding judgment can prove true, especially when meeting new people, I find the opposite approach far more useful when hunting for a new read at my local thrift store. Case in point: Terry Brooks’s Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold! The cover caught my eye for one particular reason: a dog. But this was no ordinary dog. No, this classy canine, a Wheaten Terrier, wielding a pen and overseeing a ceremony while sporting green robes and eyeglasses. I had to know why

Truthfully, the cover art (done by Darrell K. Sweet, who famously illustrated the covers for Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga) is what really sold me on this book. While it didn’t hurt that I’ve read some of Terry Brooks’s other works, namely the original Shannara Chronicles, I really enjoyed the feel of the cover and the nontraditional approach to the title. Much like the pivotal advertisement that sets the story in motion, the cover does a great job of selling the story. The aforementioned canine scribe overlooks a ceremony being performed by a Gandalf-esque administrator, while a rather average-looking man with an unusual talisman around his neck looks out at the reader. I had questions that needed answers.

I’ll admit, the first few chapters were hard to get through. Had it not been for my curiosity and a trust that Brooks would provide a worthwhile story, I would have put the book down. It’s not that the opening is poorly written, but I do think Brooks shines best when writing the fantastic. Opening in the Chicago apartment of the novel’s main character, Ben Holiday, the first chapter is a slog of exposition. Ben has felt depressed since the loss of his wife, drinks too much gin, and feels disillusioned by the practice of law, all while being comfortably wealthy from family money and his thriving law practice. As main characters go, there was little to make him feel particularly relatable, and it was almost enough to make me put the book down as Ben spends the first twenty or so pages wallowing in doubt, gin, and self-pity.

Thankfully, the allure of Landover, being advertised in a wish book from a prestigious department store for the surprisingly low price of $1,000,000 (about $2.7 million by today’s measure), was too much for me to ignore, much like it was for Ben. A sense of whimsy takes over the narrative as Ben contemplates the very idea. Highlights like the mysterious Mr. Meeks, who facilitates the sale of Landover to Ben, and his pragmatic best friend, Miles, who tries to convince Ben to forgo the purchase, were pleasant interruptions against points where the narrative delved into the finer details involved in giving up one’s adult responsibilities to pursue a midlife crisis.

Once Ben is transported to Landover, the pace and tone of the story quickly adopt the whimsy promised by the initial wish book advertisement. Ben has had plenty of time leading up to his travels to think about his future in Landover, considering the special effects and actors that must be required to make such a place possible. While he expects to be duped, and he certainly is, it happens not at all the way he imagines. On his way into Landover, Ben is attacked by a ferocious dragon and saved by a mythical knight. He meets the court wizard, Questor Thews, the Gandalf-esque gentleman from the cover, rides in a self-sailing boat, and is taken to his castle, which has larders that never run empty and baths that keep the water warm all on their own. But hints that all is not quite as advertised in Landover appear right from the start. Questor may be a wizard, but he’s not particularly adept, as he managed to transform the court scribe, Abernathy, into a dog but can’t figure out how to turn him back. The kingdom has been without leadership for twenty years, and Ben has no army, servants, or money. On top of it all, while his castle is alive, it has been slowly and painfully dying ever since the last King of Landover passed away without an heir two decades ago. It becomes clear that owning a magic kingdom won’t be a walk in the park.

Perhaps his first true test as King comes at his woefully under attended coronation when he learns the reason no one else who’s purchased the kingdom has stayed on to rule for long. Landover, being a valuable kingdom for it’s proximity to the fairy realms, is desired by a demon lord who has ensures none of the preceding 32 claimants to the throne have ever chosen to stick around. But this never ending cycle of barely kings had done a great deal of damage to the land and it’s people. Unlike the others, Ben intends to change that and he makes an effort to do just that. He first travels to the Lords of the Greensward who only agree to recognize him as the king if he slays the dragon, Strabo, who plagues their lands. From the Greenswards, he travels to the Lake Country and meets with the River Master and asks for his allegiance. While he is again denied, he strikes a deal to bargain with the other lords in order that they should stop polluting the earth and rivers of Landover. The only pledge he’s able to earn is that of two gnomes, perhaps the lowliest of species in Landover. As Ben himself puts it, he’s building his kingdom on a house of cards.

During all this, perhaps my biggest complaint with the story cropped up and that was in the lack of female characters. For the first half of the novel, the only women of note are Ben’s deceased wife, Annie, the receptionist to Mr. Meeks office, and Nightshade who is only a name throughout much of the story. All three of these characters lack any real agency or characterization. Annie is dead by the start of the novel though Ben thinks about her throughout the narrative while the receptionist takes up only a few paragraphs of space in the story and is then gone. Nightshade, a classic evil witch archetype, is no more than a potential problem on High King Ben Holiday’s already heaping plate. As a woman, this is a gripe I often have about older fantasy stories. While it doesn’t make them unreadable by any means, I often find it harder to connect to the story. Given my previous experience with Brooks, while I wasn’t expecting a host of female characters, I was looking forward to meeting another strong, determined woman like Eretria or Amberle from the Shannara trilogy. And while Willow, a beautiful sylph who periodically shape shifts into a tree, appears about halfway through the novel and eventually joins the cast of misfits in Ben’s court, she definitely lacks the dimension and characterization of her predecessors.

Willow is, in fact, rather single-mindedly set on belonging to Ben, insisting that she was bound to him by prophecy, to the extent that she follows his company even when he insists she not. While there’s a sort of charm in her stubborn resolve, especially because her presence ends up proving beneficial, it doesn’t make her particularly relatable. She does have moments where she shines, like her second meeting with Ben when her parentage is revealed and when she single-handedly infiltrates a camp of Crag Trolls to save the Court of Fools. But between her almost stalker-like obsession and non-human status, there isn’t much about her that I find relatable or even admirable. By the end of the story, she falls victim to becoming the damsel in distress as well. Given that there are five other books set in the Kingdom of Landover, I hope that Willow’s character eventually sees more development

Later in the story, the fearsome Nightshade does finally make an appearance, and while the consequences of meeting with her lead to an enormous moment of growth for Ben, it is really only the catalyst. There’s very little actual time spent with Nightshade, and her realm, thick with mists and marsh, proves to be nearly as much of a challenge to the King as the witch herself. Similar to Willow, there’s very little depth to her character.

Nightshade feels like a poor imitation of the White Witch of Narnia. She’s part of the oldest magic in Landover and more powerful than virtually anyone or anything in the kingdom, but she’s also a solitary enemy who commands respect only out of fear. When compared to Lewis’s White Witch or to Ben’s next challenge, the dragon Strabo, she is just a bump in the road.

On the other hand, Ben’s confrontation with Strabo is delightful in a way I didn’t expect. Up to the point of meeting the dragon, we are led to believe he’s nothing but a savage monster who thinks with his stomach. Instead, Ben finds a rather polite and, for a bit, even quite talkative dragon. But similar to Nightshade, he isn’t anything original. In fact, he feels a lot like Smaug without a mountain or a horde of gold. Given Ben’s past experience with law, once it’s revealed that Strabo is an intelligent being, I expected the two to face off with words. And while Ben doesn’t subvert expectations so wildly as to best the dragon with a show of strength or skill, he does so instead with a bit of trickery, which was a refreshing surprise.

After managing to defeat the dragon, the final challenge standing between Ben and the kingdom is the demon lord called the Iron Mark. Knowing the confrontation is before him, he asks the Lord of the Greensward and the River Master to attend, hoping to make one last plea for their fealty, but once again he is denied. While his present company is impressed by his victory over Strabo, they aren’t convinced that he has command of the magic that belonged to the crown during the time before the Old King’s death, that of the mysterious Paladin. Once considered the most powerful force in all of Landover, he hasn’t been seen in the Kingdom for twenty years. That is until Ben arrives. Throughout the story, the Paladin appears on several occasions to save Ben from trouble. Similar to the medallion that promises to return him to Earth should he wish it, the Paladin feels like a reassuring bit of plot armor for Ben, who can use any help he can get. But the mystery of who the Paladin is and where he’s been all this time, as many presumed him dead, lingers over much of the narrative.

Thankfully, the identity of the Paladin is made clear to Ben in the nick of time. The revelation is nothing that hasn’t been seen in fantasy fiction before, but as Ben grows into a more complex and lovable character, the reveal feels fitting, and the foundation leading up to it has been properly laid. In the end, Ben wins the pledges of the River Master and the Lords of the Greensward. While he’s honest with himself about this being only one small victory on the journey ahead, he also welcomes the challenge. In the end, he finds the adventure he was searching for, and Landover gains a king.

On the whole, I enjoyed the story. Written in Brooks’s familiar voice, but packed with wit and humor, it felt a bit reminiscent of Pratchett’s Color of Magic, which was released three years before the first Landover novel. While the story had a slow start at first, I’m glad I pushed through. By the time Ben had met the Lords of the Greenswards, I knew I was in for the long haul. Admittedly, this happens probably 1/3 of the way through the novel, but the allure of Landover is strong. It’s loaded with familiar and near-familiar tropes: dragons, witches, bumbling wizards, gnomes with sticky fingers, and of course, a talking dog. All of these lend a sense of whimsy that makes the novel feel familiar, while questions and mysteries surrounding the fairy mists, the Paladin, and the very nature of Landover’s magic keep things from feeling stale.

I found that the story’s biggest failings came about with the pacing. With few exceptions, nearly every chapter falls close to 20 pages long, but there are definitely a few that could have been shortened, broken up, or even lengthened in some cases. This led to multiple points throughout the story where I felt things were dragging out or being rushed along. I think this contributed to some of the characters feeling less fleshed out than they could have been, especially Nightshade and Strabo. And while I almost disliked Ben at the story’s start, with so much time spent focusing on his losses and sadness, by the end, I had been completely won over by his cleverness and determination, even against such stacked odds.