I'm not sure what to think of this book. This is the fifth book in the series and I loved the first one so much, I've wanted to read all of the others. And most have been decent -- but not as good as the first one.In this one, Ben Holiday and Willow's daughter, Mistaya, is growing at an astounding rate. She's two, but looks 10 and acts 15. In other words, she's a spoiled little bitch and entirely unlikeable and I didn't like this about the novel. And it centers around her, for the most part, so we're inundated with her attitude. So, someone comes to the castle and issues Ben a challenge for the kingdom of Landover. If he can defeat seven monsters, he'll keep his kingdom. If not, the challenger gets it. Strangely, though, Mistaya is kidnapped almost immediately and used as bait for Ben to follow this stranger's rules. While traveling with Mistaya in a fruitless effort to find her safety, Questor and Abernathy are sent back to Ben's home world of Earth, where Abernathy is turned from dog back to human and he is elated. Of course, not all is as it seems. Nightshade, the witch, is behind everything and steals Mistaya to train her to become a witch -- and to unwittingly kill her father.In the last book, I complained that Ben seemed pretty dense, which was odd considering that he had been a high priced, successful attorney in Chicago and was now king of the land. In this book, he's just as dense and so is Willow. In fact, they spend most of their time together in the book "holding" each other for support -- and that gets pretty damn old very quick.There is magic in this book, of course. And we get to see some of the characters we know and like, such as the Earth Mother and her mud puppy and Strabo, the dragon. And Ben does somehow defeat several monsters through the help of his alter ego, the Paladin. But by the time Ben has figured out what's going on, the reader figured everything out eons before and is annoyed by his ineptitude and I've got to fault Brooks for that. I want to give this three stars, but because it's a Landover book and I enjoy the series and because it does introduce some new people and elements to the setting, I'll give it four. Cautiously recommended.
Definitely an interesting read, and it left room for another Landover book. One thing I abhor in most fiction is the prevalence of the 'precocious child', as though no author were capable to make your average kid interesting. But the daughter of Ben Holiday and Willow, human and once-fairy born in the darkest part of the land, was given a logical reason for her rapid maturation - well, logical by fantasy novels anyway. Despite that, she retains the poor decision-making skills of an inexperienced child, particularly one who grew up in a loving home with no deception. The novel tells of an unexpected challenger to the throne and his magical companion, who kidnap the royal princess for their own means and deceive her into a serious case of Stockholm syndrome. Their use for her is surprisingly impressive, though I questioned its role. Was it simply a case of wanting the daughter to play a stronger part in her father's destruction, or was she truly stronger than her host, and more capable of the creations?The final part of the plan, though appropriately ironic, seemed something of a letdown. After all the play it was given, I had expected something more dramatic (though the result was appropriately so). To some degree, I suppose expected the child to be turned against her parents - the initial loss of memory suggested such. Still, such takes are over done; the final blow was to come from love, and was realistically simple.The novel sort of dangled the possibility of a sixth Landover novel, which I hope to see. (Does it already exist? Must look.) To be sure, there's room to tell the tale of the maturation and adventures of the princess, but the most obvious loose end came with Elizabeth; the difference in times and the 'I'll wait for you' suggest the pair will meet again.Another great read!
What do You think about Witches' Brew (1996)?
This was never my favourite story in the series, but this time round I must have found something appealing in it as I enjoyed it a lot. In this one, Ben has finally brought peace to Landover and is looking forward to just watching Misty grow up...except that she is very unusual and doesn't seem to be growing up in quite the normal way. But thoughts of fatherhood are put on hold when a mysterious challenger arrives at the gates, claiming to be a warlord from beyond the mists, who wants the kingdom for his own. He will send 7 challengers to fight Ben and if one should win, then the throne is his. Ben refuses, but when Misty disappears, he is forced to fight, calling up the Palladin who he no longer wishes to be. But what Ben doesn't know is that it is the witch Nightshade who is behind it all, tricking Misty with lies and hoping to bring down Ben in retribution for the feelings she was forced to feel while they were trapped in the Tangle Box. This is a fast-paced, funny in places, but always excellent, story. The characters are just as great, although Willow can sometimes get a bit annoying by being too-good-to-be-true all the time. The monsters are really good, although very familier to readers of fantasy, and I like the twist at the end when the warlords true identity is revealed - he had it coming for a long time!
—Dark-Draco
This book is on par or better than the fourth book, Tangle Box. The fourth book was better, though still flawed, than the boring dismal second and third books.I was correct about my predictions about Abernathy in my review for the 4th book. He is now again a dog but I still feel that he'll be back to his original state at the end of the series. There's only one book left, The Princess of Landover, which I will read next to find out the end.It's no surprise that Nightshade came back to reek havoc in this book, it was outright stated this would be the case in Tangle Box. It was bit frustrating that the main characters didn't see this til the end, but their denseness was more understandable. The trip along the way wasn't as bad or boring as before as well. I enjoyed learning about Mistaya, Willow's and Ben's daughter. I can see her blossoming and becoming a true character. I worry a bit if Mistaya will face the same fate Willow was subjected to in the beginning of the series. Merely fulfilling a trope and being a bad caricatures of a person. I have high hopes since she's received great treatment of this book but it wouldn't be a first time a female character fell short or to the wayside to fit in the narrow confines of fantasy trope. Still lots of tropes and predictability, but it is indeed a more enjoying light summer read for the fantasy genre. I enjoyed it. It's a nice break from long, involving or "High" fantasy books. It's not for everyone but currently I'm enjoying it. I hope the last book doesn't make me regret this endeavor. I'm going to hunt down the last book, to see if slogging through the mediocre and downright badness of several of the books in this series was worth it in the end.
—Brooke Banks
Another formulaic installment in Landover. Lines are drawn, allegiances are made more clear and resolution is found. I get the feeling that Mr. Brooks isn't really trying all that hard with this series. What bothered me most was the blatant time line problems between Earth and Landover. It wouldn't be bad if time progressed differently between the two worlds, but he explicitly said in The Black Unicorn that time in the two worlds progresses in tandem. I'm also confused as to why Mr. Brooks felt the need to introduce a new G'home Gnome rather than using Fillip and Sot again.
—Dan
