BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's Bearers of the Black Staff.
Ben Holiday, mere mortal turned monarch of the magic kingdom of Landover, has grappled with numerous contenders for his throne, but nothing could have prepared him for the most daunting of challengers: his headstrong teenage daughter, Mistaya. After getting suspended from an exclusive private school in our world, Mistaya is determined to resume her real education—learning sorcery from court wizard Questor Thews—whether her parents like it or not. Then, horrified that a repulsive Landover nobleman seeks to marry her, Mistaya decides that the only way to run her own life is to run away from home.
So begins an eventful odyssey peppered with a formidable dragon, recalcitrant Gnomes, an inscrutable magic cat, a handsome librarian, a sinister sorcerer, and more than a few narrow escapes as fate draws Landover’s intrepid princess into the thick of a mystery that will put her mettle to the test—and possibly bring the kingdom to its knees.
Description:
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's Bearers of the Black Staff.
Ben Holiday, mere mortal turned monarch of the magic kingdom of Landover, has grappled with numerous contenders for his throne, but nothing could have prepared him for the most daunting of challengers: his headstrong teenage daughter, Mistaya. After getting suspended from an exclusive private school in our world, Mistaya is determined to resume her real education—learning sorcery from court wizard Questor Thews—whether her parents like it or not. Then, horrified that a repulsive Landover nobleman seeks to marry her, Mistaya decides that the only way to run her own life is to run away from home.
So begins an eventful odyssey peppered with a formidable dragon, recalcitrant Gnomes, an inscrutable magic cat, a handsome librarian, a sinister sorcerer, and more than a few narrow escapes as fate draws Landover’s intrepid princess into the thick of a mystery that will put her mettle to the test—and possibly bring the kingdom to its knees.
From Publishers Weekly
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. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal
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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.