A Princess of Landover (Magic Kingdom of Landover) by Terry Brooks

A Princess of Landover (Magic Kingdom of Landover) by Terry Brooks
Buy A Princess of Landover (Magic Kingdom of Landover) by Terry Brooks at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Fantasy
Reviewer: Madeline Wheatley
Summary: A Princess of Landover is the first new book in the Kingdom of Landover fantasy series for over a decade. Princess Mistaya Holiday is now a rebellious teenager, and the book follows her progress through expulsion from school to tackling something rotten at the heart of the Kingdom's derelict royal library Libiris. Oh, and could that be first love making an appearance?
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 336	Date: September 2009
Publisher: Orbit
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1841495804
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Mistaya has a lot to deal with in this book. But then so do her parents, Ben (human) and Willow (half Dryad), as for much of the time they do not know where she is: your basic parental nightmare if you have a fifteen year old daughter whether you are the ruler of a magical kingdom or not.

Mistaya has been sent from the Kingdom of Landover to school in her father's world. But Carrington Women's Preparatory is not ready for Mistaya's attempts to fit in by solving problems with the help of magic. So back to Landover she goes and is immediately faced with two problems that put the minor niggles of Earth into perspective. First, her parents want her to take responsibility for renovating the run down and isolated royal library Libiris. Second, the loathsome Laproig, Lord of Rhyndweir, wants to marry her and won't take no (or even maybe) for an answer. Running away seems to be the only way out, so Mistaya takes to her heels and finds sanctuary in a place that turns out to be far from safe.

This is a light story, simply told, and in many ways reads like a book for young teens rather than an adult fantasy title. There are some engaging characters with interesting twists to their behaviour, such as Strabo the Dragon and the Prism Cat. Others, such as Laproig, are more like pantomime figures (I kept wanting to boo loudly whenever he appeared) which means that even dramatic scenes hold no real menace. Overall, not one to be taken too seriously, though there is a hint of more worrying things to come in the opening and ending sequence set in the zoo.

Now I have to confess that this is the first Landover book I have read, and I am aware of rumblings of discontent about this book from some confirmed fans in terms of how it compares with the earlier titles in the series. Brooks has included quite a lot of back-story that was great for me as a newcomer to Landover, but would possibly be irritating to a fan who already knows the history of the place. It certainly meant that there is no problem reading this title as an introduction to the series, but it is also something of a spoiler if you want to move on to read the earlier titles.

Thank you to the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Terry Brooks first became known for the Shannara series: try Armageddon's Children. Or for a satirical take on fantasy worlds try the master: Terry Pratchett's Making Money, or Mort.

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