Read History
2026 | Score: 4.5
I was pretty disappointed with this, especially since I remember enjoying Shannara when I read it a long time ago. No part of it felt particularly exciting, and the world was fairly bland. Started off slow and never had any redeeming qualities to boost it up.
Format: Audible
Days: 8
Date: 9/28/2026 -> 10/6/2026
Summary (Spoilers)
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!
Terry Brooks
Magic Kingdom of Landover #1
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!
Ben Holiday is a lawyer in Chicago. His life has felt unfulfilled the past two years since his pregnant wife Annie died in a car accident. He has been drinking a lot and is not happy with life. He receives a christmas catalog from Rosen’s limited and one of the items listed is a “magic kingdom for sale”. The catalog describes the magic kingdom for Landover and how for one million dollars the purchaser can become its king. He talks over the item with his law firm partner Miles, who tells him to forget about it but it sticks in Ben’s head.
He ends up buying plane tickets and flying to New York to meet with Mr. Meeks, a strange one-armed man who tells him that the magic kingdom is real and explains the contract to him. He will be given a medallion that will transport him into Landover and mark him as king. If he ever wants to return he just needs to remove the medallion. If he returns within 10 days he will be given an almost full refund, otherwise he is required to stay in Landover for at least one year. Ben agrees and signs the contract, returning to Chicago to set all his affairs in order. Miles is upset and tells him he is being foolish but Ben needs a change in his life.
He follows the directions provided by Mr. Meeks and flies to Virginia before walking into the woods with the medallion on. He shortly realizes he is no longer on Earth, before being attacked by a malicious figure riding a shadowy beast, but is protected by a ghostly knight riding an old horse, the same knight pictured on his medallion. The knight knocks him away and he wanders into a dragon sleeping in a clearing, who blows him away before he is met by an odd old man. The man introduces himself as Questor Thews, court wizard and aide to the king. Questor tells him the scary figure he saw is The Mark, a demon who wants to control Landover, and the knight is known as The Paladin, but hasn’t been seen since the last king died. He tries to use his magic to summon a meal but seems to have problems controlling it.
As they travel through Landover Ben notices that the land seems to be in disrepair, everything is slightly grimy or falling apart. Questor explains that since the old king died 20 years ago, and no ruler has sat the throne long since, the magic that holds Landover together is falling apart. Questor’s half-brother, the old court wizard, and the last king’s eldest son did not want their responsibilities so they left Landover for another world. Mr. Meeks is the old court wizard, and they keep sending people to rule over Landover who will fail, allowing Meeks and the prince to return and get more money and stuff.
They arrive at Sterling Silver, Ben’s new castle. It looks run down but still has some magic left. Ben is introduced to his other retainers. Abernathy, the court scribe who is now a dog-person after some failed magic by Questor, and two kobolds, Bunion and Parsnip. Ben learns that the kingdom has mostly fallen apart, he has no army, no taxes, no treasury, and no fealty from other lords. The limited magic left in the castle allows them food and comfort, but not much else.
Ben grapples with whether to trust Questor or return to Earth, but ultimately decides to keep his purchase of Landover and try to help.
The first mission for his small court is to try and recruit people to pledge to him as king, so they travel first to the Lords of the Greensward. They meet with the lords, who mock Ben, and he is even challenged to a duel by Lord Calenbore. They box each other and when Ben is threatened The Paladin shows up again, scaring the lords but they say it is just Questor making an illusion (it is not). They say they will only pledge to Ben if he can remove the dragon Strabo from their lands (the dragon he saw earlier). After being given this seemingly impossible task, they head out again.
This time they go to meet the Rivermaster, who controls the lake area of Elderew. He comes from the fairy realm and has magic powers to heal the land around him, so his area is in better condition than the rest of Landover. On their travels Ben meets a beautiful sylph named Willow, who says she belongs to him. He later learns she is the Rivermaster’s daughter. Thinking of his dead wife he rebuffs Willow despite being attracted to her. The Rivermaster says he will pledge to Ben as king if he gets the Lords of the Greensward to promise to stop polluting the lake. Their small company leaves again and returns to Sterling Silver.
Ben dedicates time to learning about Landover, its history and people, to better lead them. After some time he is approached by the G’home Gnomes Philip and Sot. G’home Gnomes are a race of gnomes not very useful that steal other people's stuff and are thus hated by most races. They say Crag Trolls have captured their brethren and are keeping them hostage. Ben agrees to help despite Abernathy being very against it, because he needs to get some people to pledge to him as king, even if it is annoying gnomes.
They go to the Melkor and confront the Crag Trolls, who do not acknowledge Ben as king and take all of them prisoner. Willow shows up in the night, saying she left her father’s protection to come serve Ben. She frees them and Questor makes an illusion of Strabo the dragon to give all of them (including the gnomes) a chance to escape. After freeing the gnomes Ben decides to approach one of the last powerful people he has not yet, the witch Nightshade.
Ben heads into the Deep Fell with the gnomes Philip and Sot, as well as Willow. They get past the witches' illusions and ask for her help. She says she will not pledge to him but if he goes into the fairy realm and retrieves Io Dust for her she will help him. Ben faces false memories and realities of people from his life that he is worried about failing, but with the help of some fairies gets past his fear and gets some pods of Io Dust, but is warned Nightshade plans to betray him. When he meets her and throws the dust in her face, making her fall under his control temporarily. He interrogates her and learns she sent his friends and court to Abaddon, the demon kingdom ruled by The Mark. She tells him the only one who could go get them is Strabo. He commands her to fly into the fairy realms, where she has been banished, basically killing her.
Ben, with the help of Philip and Sot, goes and finds the dragon Strabo, and when Strabo is about to kill him throws the dust in his face as well. He climbs aboard and commands Strabo to fly to Abaddon and help his friends. They use magic to travel to the demon kingdom and find his friends trapped on a small rock above a pit. When the demons see them coming they try to drop the stone into the pit but they catch everyone except Questor. Questor uses the magic completely successfully for the first time to float himself up and they all escape back to the mortal realm.
Willow nearly dies from their time in the demon realm but they are able to help her transform into a tree and heal. That night a demon shows up and says The Mark has challenged Ben to a duel in 3 days, which he agrees to. Ben orders Strabo to never return to hunt the land where humans are in Landover while he lives and is king. He then asks the Rivermaster and the Lords of the Greensward to meet him in 3 days for his duel with the mark.
When they all gather he tells the lords he has removed the dragon Strabo and asks for them to pledge to him as king, like they promised. They refuse, as does the Rivermaster despite him getting people to agree not to pollute anymore. The Mark shows up and Ben faces it alone. He summons The Paladin using the king's medallion, and ultimately fully commits to Landover, giving The Paladin strength. He realizes he IS the paladin and his consciousness transports into the paladin and he duels the Mark and barely manages to kill it and emerge victorious, upon which time his spirit returns to his body. He does not tell anyone he is the Paladin, but they all kneel and swear to him as king.
Ben invites everyone back to Sterling Silver, and the magic starts to gain strength again. They have lots of feasts and Ben finally feels like King, and begins planning for the future. THE END.