Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold !

A fantasy written by Terry Brooks in 1986
Reviewed edition by Ballantine from 1987
A paperback has 370 pages
ISBN 0-345-31758-0

Click to rate this book from worst

to best.

Ben Holiday is a successful lawyer who just happens to be tired of his life. Luckily, he notices a handy advertisement offering a kingship of a fantasy island for mere $1M and decides to take it (he is a successful lawyer, remember ?).

Of course, a kingdom for $1M is just too good to be true. Ben Holiday finds himself a king over four loyal subjects, of whose one is an incompetent wizard and one is a dog, living in a castle that is falling apart, and being a laughing stock of just about every other inhabitant of the fantasy island.

To make matters worse, Meeks, the person who sold the kingdom to Ben Holiday, has a rather strong interest in Ben Holiday giving up his kingship, and tries real hard to make him do so. In this case, trying real hard includes making a deal with a demon lord from a neighboring world, who is to challenge Ben Holiday for a mortal combat.

So all Ben Holiday has to do now is figure how to restore his kingdom to its former splendor, while avoiding being killed by the demon lord ...

Review

One problem with Terry Brooks is that some of his books feel terribly unoriginal. This is one of them. A man who recently lost his wife, a wizard who gets his spells all messed up, a mysterious River Master with powerful magic, a magical test that reflects all of one's fears back, all of this makes me go "oh, one of those ..." rather than "wow, now that opens up some possibilities !!!".

Another thing that I found mildly irritating was the way the opening of the book drags along. It takes the author 50 pages to describe how Ben bought the kingdom, and you have to read no less than one third of the book for Ben to actually admit that he is going to stay in Landover. I wonder what The Hobbit would look like if Bilbo only joined Thorin and company by the time they were entering Rivendell, and did not decide whether to accept the job before they were through the Misty Mountains and feasting at the Queer Lodging of Beorn.

Still, the book is not all that bad to read. It does have a few humorous moments, and will keep you entertained for the afternoon if you do not look for deep meanings.

Rated as average by Ceres on 2000-03-30

Back To Index