July 20, 2009
Fans of Brooks's magic kingdom of Landover will welcome this title, the first new book in the series since 1996's Witches' Brew
. Ben Holiday's daughter, Mistaya, is now 15 and currently suspended from her private girl's school on Earth for scaring a classmate with magic. Her father—at wit's end despite having defeated many more fantastic challenges—decides to teach her responsibility by sending her to the remote royal library, Libiris. Mistaya runs away, but winds up in Libiris anyway, trying to hide in plain sight. There she discovers a suspicious character called His Eminence, a mysterious voice crying for help and a vast evil threatening all of Landover. The lighthearted story, as with the earlier volumes, can be serious without the convoluted grittiness of Brooks's Shannara saga, and there are plenty of treats for returning readers.
June 15, 2009
A new installment in The Magic Kingdom of Landover series (Witches' Brew, 1995, etc.).
Former lawyer Ben Holiday purchased that magical world and became its king, but experienced many challenges to his power and his kingdom. This latest installment, set several years after the events in Witches' Brew (1995), focuses on Holiday's rebellious 15-year-old daughter Mistaya, whose mother is a sylph, one of the numerous magical beings in Landover. After Mistaya is expelled from an Earth-based boarding school, Holiday puts her in charge of renovating Libiris, the abandoned royal library. She refuses and briefly runs away; when finally, reluctantly, she arrives at Libiris, she hears a mysterious voice calling for help from the stacks. Her investigations uncover a plot to dethrone her father involving an evil army of demons. Brooks's Landover proves to be a fun and engaging fictional universe, and much less daunting for newbies than the wide-ranging Shannara mythos (The Gypsy Morph, 2008, etc.).
A pleasant fantasy romp.
(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
December 1, 2009
Adult/High School-Mistaya Holiday has some problems, and her biggest isn't that she is being expelled from Carrington Women's Preparatory. No, her biggest problem as the hybrid child of Ben Holiday, a human, and Willow, a sylph, is returning to Landover and explaining to them what she intends to do with the rest of her life. Her father's advisers suggest that he send Mistaya to the royal library, Libiris, to help with its reorganization and reopening. Before the king has a chance to offer this suggestion to his daughter, Laphroig, a local baron who resembles a frog, asks for Mistaya's hand in marriage. When she gets wind of the proposal, she flees to her maternal grandfather, the River Master, to ask for his protection. He is not happy that his crossbreed granddaughter hasn't been around to see him for over a year, and Mistaya leaves him to strike out on her own. Luckily she has many magical friends, including prism cats, mud puppies, G'home Gnomes, and Throg monkeys to help her on her quest. Brooks's fans have waited years for him to return to the magical kingdom of Landover, and they will enjoy this latest effort."Joanne Ligamari, Twin Rivers United School District, Sacramento, CA"
Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2009
After almost 15 years, Brooks returns to magical Landover in this sequel to Witches Brew (1995) thatcontinues the adventures of Mistaya, daughter of Landovers high lord, Ben Holiday. Suspended from her boarding school for not conforming, the 15-year-old comes home to fall at odds with her father, who, thinking she needs to learn discipline and responsibility, sends her to reorganize and reopen Libris, the long-abandoned royal library. Considering the isolated, rundown institution the backside of beyond, as well as beyond help, Mistaya runs away to her grandfather, the River Master. But he plans to send her home again. With the help of the magical prism cat Edgewood Dirk, Mistaya escapes once more and ends up at Libris, the last place Ben would think of looking for her. Unfortunately, evil magician Craswell Crabbit is in charge there, and Mistaya is soon embroiled in foiling a plot to release the demons from the underground to wreak havoc on Landover. As is his wont in this series, Brooks spins an exciting tale laced with a generous dollop of humor and a touch of romance, and, as usual, the characters are well limned and appealing. The fact that Nightshade, witch of the Deep Fell, lurks on the sidelines, hoping to get back at Mistaya, suggests yet another episode may be in the works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)