When I asked a friend of mine, what for him was the best Terry Brooks series, he immediately recommended me the Landover series. He told me to read "Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD!" and then tell him my comments. Well, I read it and liked it. But I never did get to go on reading the other three or four books that came after it.
The book is basically an "outsider-visiting-a-magical-realm" type of story, much like "Flight of Dragons" and "Thomas the Unbeliever". We have the protagonist, Ben Holiday transported to the kingdom of Landover. Unlike other characters who get sucked into a magical realm, Ben Holiday willingly and sanely agrees to go to that world.
I loved the way Terry Brooks orchestrated Ben's "transport" to Landover. He stumbles upon a shopping catalog with an ad of a "kingdom for sale". The ad grabbed Ben's attention and he was immediately curious about this kingdom. I guess he was thinking that it was some kind of grand vacation manor outside the city. So he decides to purchase the "kingdom", thinking that he was buying a piece of property.
Another thing I loved about the book is the comical element about the characters and the situations that Ben encounters in Landover. We have a dog for a court scribe and a wizard greeting Ben as he settles down in the kingdom. He learns that the "kingdom" wasn't exactly what he imagined. The land has no ruler and it is divided into small feudal colonies (much to his disappointment).
Ben is then tasked to reunite the different inhabitants in Landover, as well as defeat a dragon and a witch that is terrorizing the people. Despite the insurmountable challenges, Ben manages to reclaim the throne and become King of Landover.
Another concept that I loved about the book is that Landover's physical state is magically tied in with its ruler. When Ben arrived in the realm, the kingdom was in disarray and the high castle was in a pitiful state. This reflected the fact that Landover had no king to rule over it, and the kingdom was now "dying". Ben ascension to the throne restored the kingdom to its proper splendor.
I'd recommend the book to people (since it is available in the NWA library). The book is an easy read and the story is pretty stand alone. That's probably the reason why I never got to reading the next book in the series. But then again, I would like to continue reading it in the near future.
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