Two and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
I’ve always been a fan of Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom novels. I’m of the opinion that Brooks is at his best when he doesn’t take himself too seriously — and in these books, he found the perfect balance between humor and his trademark earnestness.
But A Princess of Landover, the latest book in the series that began in 1986 with Magic Kingdom For Sale — SOLD!, just doesn’t measure up to the four predecessors (of five total) that I’ve read.
Willful and impulsive, Mistaya, the now-15 year-old daughter of Ben Holiday and the half-dryad Willow, doesn’t fit in at the “real”-world boarding school where she’s been sent by her parents to expand her horizons. After being expelled, she returns to the magic land of Landover, where she insists on staying. It’s suggested that she try to revive the land’s forgotten library, Libiris.
But Mistaya has no interest in, well, much of anything, so she decides to run away — although she does eventually go to Libiris anyway (the place that anyone is least likely to look for her!), where she’s called upon to solve a mystery.
The biggest problem with the book is the main character herself. Mistaya is a princess — in both senses of the word. She’s petulant, impulsive, and often downright irrational.
Are there actual teenagers like this? Maybe so, but they don’t make for very interesting main characters in books.
Mostly, Mistaya read to me like a middle-aged man’s idea of what a teenage girl is like. But here’s the thing: even teenage girls have legitimate points-of-view. And if you spend time inside their heads, that point-of-view would make perfect sense.
Mistaya’s never really did. And the oh-so-sensible lectures that the adults in the book keep giving her indicate where the author’s true sensibilities lie.
A second problem is a seriously meandering plot. It’s great to be back in Landover again, and it’s a pleasure to see many fondly-remembered characters — especially the wonderful Edgewood Dirk, the prism cat.
But too much of the book’s action seems random. A multi-chapter trip for Mistaya to see her grandfather the River God seems to exist solely so she can get yet another lecture from a “wiser” adult.
Worse, the novel doesn’t have anything resembling an antagonist until about halfway through the book. Meanwhile, the “mystery” of Libiris is boilerplate all the way.
A prologue and epilogue — both more intriguing than the contents of this book — hint that they’ll be another entry in the series, and that it’ll involve the return of Nightshade, the Witch of Deep Fell.
I’m less excited about that now than I was before I read this book.
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Also oddly disappointed in this novel.