Review: Magic Kingdom For Sale, Sold by Terry Brooks

Ben Holiday is a man withdrawn from the world. He lost his pregnant wife a few years ago, lost touch with all but one of his friends and only leaves his home for work in his highly successful law firm. All that changes when he flips through a Christmas catalog addressed to his wife and finds an advertisement for a magic kingdom for sale. Despite his better judgement this is an opportunity Ben cannot pass up. However the advertisement may have embellished a few things and Ben may have bitten off more than he can chew.

The adage of writing what you know is an old one but one that applies well in this novel's case. Brooks was a lawyer before becoming a writer and his able to bring a level believability to Ben Holiday that I have never seen from any of his characters before. The support characters all also well portrayed  being an interesting mixture of charming quirks and very human faults.

The concept is an interestingly refreshing one and combined with some solid world-building keeps things interesting.Pacing is well controlled and I was glad to see Brooks habit of overly describing meals is toned down.

Overall I probably enjoyed this novel more than Brooks Shannara series and I think he did too and it shows. 8/10.