The Black Unicorn

Continuing on with my Magic Kingdom of Landover rereading adventure brings me to book 2: The Black Unicorn. Ben Holiday has been High King in Landover for one year, and things are going rather well. But then he has a dream in which his former business partner and friend back in our world, Miles Bennett, is in trouble. The dream feels real, and he feels compelled to go and make sure Miles is okay. When he tells his friends about his dream, it turns out that both Questor Thews and Willow have also had equally compelling dreams: Questor was shown the location of the missing books of magic, and Willow dreamt that a demonic black unicorn was loose in Landover and she needed to find a magical golden bridle and bring it back to Ben so he could stop it. They all decide to go and see if their dreams are real (plus Ben wants to deal with his affairs in a more permanent way now that it's been a year that he's been gone). Ben sends the two kobolds, Bunion and Parsnip, to accompany Questor and Willow; he can't bring anyone back with him to Earth.

Questor and Bunion's quest is a quick success: they find the tomes where the dream promised they would be with little problem. Willow, with Parsnip in tow, heads back to her people to see if she can gain some more information on the bridle and the black unicorn.  And Ben makes it back to our world, only to be confronted by Meeks, the wizard who sold Ben the kingdom (and who is angry that he was shut out of said kingdom when Ben proved to be a worthy king after all). Thankfully this first vision of Meeks is just that: a vision. So Ben does everything in his power to make it back to Chicago under the radar, paying with cash where he can so as not to leave a paper trail. But when he gets to the office, he's confronted by another ghostly apparition of Meeks. Thankfully Miles is alright, so Ben hightails it back to Landover as quickly as he can.

But on his first night back, after puzzling over the books of magic with Questor and Abernathy for awhile (one is a burnt out book, the second only has pictures of unicorns in it), Ben awakens from another dream (one in which he gave his medallion to Meeks) only to find the wizard gloating over him. It seems Meeks was able to hitch a ride back into Landover using Ben! And to add to the horror, Meeks pulls out the medallion, showing Ben that he now wears one tarnished and with the wizard's image, rather than his Paladin and Sterling Silver. Meeks then uses illusion magic to make Ben look different and to make himself look like Ben, then he has Ben banished from the castle. Ben decides that the only thing he can do is try to catch up with Willow and warn her that her dream was sent by Meeks. He sets out alone for the River Country, but is shortly joined by Edgewood Dirk, a fairy prism cat who has decided to accompany him on his journey. And so the two set out, trying desperately to catch up to the sylph.

Like Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, I didn't really remember much of the plot of The Black Unicorn. I remembered that Edgewood Dirk was in the book because he is the best character, but I didn't even remember that he was accompanying Ben (I thought he accompanied Willow like he does in the fourth book in the series, The Tangle Box). Little bits of the story seemed somewhat familiar as they happened, but there were a lot of things I thought might happen that didn't (like I thought Willow would be the one to help Ben break the spell). 

Thinking of breaking the spell....Ben Holiday is so incredibly dense in this book! One of the first people he visits, The River Master (Willow's father), tries to heal him, and flat out tells Ben that the magic enchanting him is of his own making. Dirk keeps telling Ben things about the spell and about how dreams work (but in his roundabout cat way which Ben has no patience for - I was complaining about this to my partner and we concluded that Ben Holiday is a dog person who does not like cats, otherwise he would have clued in at some point to what Dirk was telling him). Dirk practically spells it out near the end of the book, and Ben STILL had to waste time figuring things out. It was really upsetting to read after awhile, especially when you remember that Ben is supposed to be this super sharp and whip smart lawyer. 

I do think though that some of this could have been better had events unfolded a little differently. After their visit with the River Master, Ben and Dirk end up going to see Nightshade in an ill-fated attempt to get the bridle. Nightshade is still incredibly angry at Ben for sending her into the fairy mists with the Io Dust a year ago. She sees through the illusion and decides to bring him to Strabo. The dragon currently has possession of the bridle, and she is hoping to trade Ben for the bridle (since Strabo is also mad at Ben for using the Io Dust on him). Strabo is likewise able to see through the illusion; both Strabo and Nightshade decide it's because they are old, magical beings; they offer no further explanation. This encounter might have worked better before Ben's conversation with The River Master because it offered a few hints but no real substance as to what was enchanting him.

I also had a pretty good idea that Meeks didn't have the medallion because Ben was still able to talk to everyone. I remembered from the first book (and it's mentioned again at the beginning of this one) that it's the medallion that lets Ben read, write, speak, and understand the language the people in Landover speak. Had he lost the medallion he wouldn't have been able to communicate with anyone, unless Meeks had given his tarnished medallion that ability as well (and let's be honest, why would he bother?)

Also, Strabo and Nightshade were hilarious. Ben and company got away because the two of them started insulting each other then fighting. Had that not happened, Ben was as good as dead.

And then at the end, even though it's Willow who found the black unicorn, Willow who braved touching it despite all the warnings that she would be lost if she did, and Willow who got all the memories from the unicorn, Ben was the one who explained everything about the unicorns and the books of magic to his friends. I felt like he was mansplaining (though I know this isn't an accurate use of the term: he wasn't talking down to her and he did keep checking with her for confirmation). I felt like she was robbed of that moment which should have been hers to tell.

Despite my annoyances and complaints, I did think The Black Unicorn was a better book than Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Where Magic Kingdom is an introduction, The Black Unicorn is building on what we know of the different characters. It's also telling a rather interesting story about where the wizards power comes from with some fun characters (like Dirk! I think one of my favourite moments is when Meeks and everyone are confronting each other and Dirk just waltzes into the middle of the field. Meeks takes one look at him and freaks out - clearly the wizard has some sort of history with prism cats). But like Magic Kingdom, I'm giving The Black Unicorn a downgraded rating from what I gave it years ago: it's going from a 4/5 to a 3/5.

And while I am going to continue this rereading adventure, I think I might take a break to read something else before I jump into the third book, Wizard at Large 

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!

I read the first five Magic Kingdom of Landover novels a long, long time ago (I think around 30 years ago!! I think it was in late elementary school) I remember really liking them, but I don't really remember them. So I decided I would reread them all, see what I think of them now, and finally read the final book for the first time. This is also my first time reading them in order; I originally read books 4 and 5 first, then went back to read 1, 2, and 3.

So first up is Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, which tells the story of Ben Holiday buying the Kingdom of Landover for $1,000,000 and becoming the King the fairy kingdom needs. I originally gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

Ben Holiday sees the ad to buy Landover's kingship in a reputable magazine that his wife used to get. His wife, Annie, along with their unborn daughter, had passed away in an accident two years previously. Ben, a partner in a law firm, had mostly withdrawn from everyone, choosing instead to throw himself into his work. But his work is no longer challenging, and he feels he is losing himself; while quite likely a scam, he feels being King of a magic kingdom might be his ticket to start living again. 

I'd like to mention that, reading this now, I didn't like how Ben's grief was portrayed. I especially didn't like the insistence of his friend and fellow partner, Miles, that after two years Ben should be moving on. Grief doesn't work like that, and people need to grieve and feel their emotions at their own pace, not at the pace that society so often demands. 

I'd also like to note that when I read this when I was younger, I probably would have glossed over that part of the story. It seems reasonable when you haven't really experienced grief, especially from an unexpected loss. But now, years later, I was uncomfortable with this part of the story. 

So anyway, Ben Holiday meets with Meeks, the man responsible for selling the Kingship of Landover. Meeks deems him a suitable candidate precisely because he doesn't have any close ties to people (and, of course, because he is capable of paying the $1,000,000 fee). When Ben accepts, he is granted 10 days to experience the Kingdom and decide if he will stay, afterwhich the sale is final. Should he remain, he must also stay for one full year or else his purchase is forfeit.

But once he arrives, Ben discovers that the Kingdom is in shambles. There is a blight destroying the land, the magic castle, Sterling Silver, that he is to live in, is tarnishing and dying. The coffers are empty, and the various people of the land are fighting. But even after losing most of his ten day grace period due to the magical mishaps of Questor Thews, the court magician, Ben decides to stay for the challenge, and to prove he is more than the play-King many people accuse him of being. But his time is limited: the demon lord known as the Mark will challenge him for the throne by Midwinter. Will Ben be able to reunite the people in time to stop the demon, especially when the conditions they give for their pledges of fealty are impossible?

I honestly didn't remember a lot of the plot. I remembered a few bits and pieces here and there, but lots felt new: the stuff with the Mark, the people of the Greensward, how Ben met Willow at the Irrylyn. I remembered that Ben did something to make both Nightshade and Strabo hate him, but not the specifics of what happened between them (and I did find it funny that they got mad at him for tricking him, but they both intended to either trick him, kill him, or both). I remembered the truth of the Paladin, but not what it took for Ben to discover it (basically accepting that Landover was his home). I also didn't remember that he went into the Fairy Mists (I remember Willow getting help from the Fairy People in later books and traveling through thr Mists, and maybe Ben returning to Earth in a later book, too. But not his foray here at Nightshade's insistence). 

I did remember the main characters (Ben, Willow, Questor, Abernathy, Nightshade, Strabo, and sort of the River Master), but not some of the lesser characters like the kobolds Bunion and Parsnip. Or the G'home Gnomes, Filip and Sot (but when they were introduced, I did remember the name G'home Gnomes and where it came from). 

I also had a harder time liking Ben Holiday in this book. At times I liked him: he was clever and loyal to his new friends. But at other times I didn't, like when he would get mad and kick the gnomes for no reason; it felt like there were two versions of Ben Holiday and they were often at odds. I also didn't like Willow. She was very flat in this book. I remember her being a lot more active, and hopefully that will be the case in later books. Even her introduction was weird - I know she's a fairy creature, but her falling in love with Ben (and completely abandoning her home and people) just because he happened to be the man who saw her on a certain night at the Irrylyn felt contrived. And I'm not really sure how old she was supposed to be, but Ben was supposed to be about 40, and the book kept calling her a girl....so yeah, that felt uncomfortable. Again, these are things I noticed now that would have gone right over my head when I originally read the book.

So when I finished rereading Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, I felt that it didn't deserve the 4 stars that I gave it when I was younger. I downgraded it to a 3 (it would have been a 2.5/5 book I think, but you can't give half stars on Goodreads): I still liked parts of it, but there are other parts that, 30 years later, didn't really sit well with me. I'm interested to see what I will think of the rest of the series! 

 

Edit, Sept 18/26: I just finished reading The Black Unicorn, the second book in the series, and am now downgrading Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! to a 2/5, while I'm giving The Black Unicorn a 3/5. 

Three Bags Full

The movie The Sheep Detectives looked cute, so when I saw Leonie Swann's book at work, I had to read it! Unfortunately I returned the book before writing here, so I'm just going to write something brief since I don't have the book to refer back to.

Three Bags Full tells the story of a flock of sheep trying to solve their shepherd's murder. While I had a hard time getting into the book originally (there are a lot of characters, and the dramatis personae only helps with the sheep, not the humans), once I got through that, I thought the book was a lot of fun! The sheep were all so quirky and different, but most importantly, they felt like legitimate sheep who were mostly doing sheep things (and not really understanding human things) for most of the book.

I also really liked the ending, and how the sheep solved the murder (and communicated it to the humans). I didn't really see the solution coming, which is always a plus in a mystery (I suspected the character who was involved, but wasn't really sure). And the sheep logic was fun - they kind of got to the answer but through the wrong logic (because it was their understanding of things, not how the humans actually did things).

 There is a sequel to Three Bags Full, but I don't think I'm going to read it. While I enjoyed reading the book, I felt like it was self-contained and didn't really need a second part; I'm going to leave things there for now. If I change my mind in the future, I can always get the second book then.  

The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdome and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace

I found The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdome and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace by Pedram Shojai at the perfect time. Life has been incredibly stressful these last few years, throwing one thing after another at me (most recently: wildfires). So I welcomed a nonfiction book that I don't even remember putting on hold showing up to hopefully help me with stress management.

The Urban Monk looks at nine common areas that cause people in the modern world problems, including stress, time management, sleep, and money. Shojai examines each problem and uses his views as both a trained monk and a doctor of Chinese medicine to offer solutions. He then further provides "modern hacks" - things that people in the modern Western World can do now to help break the cycle of each problem. Each chapter also starts and ends with a case study, which is based off of real people that Shojai has helped.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading through The Urban Monk. I found Shojai's suggestions helpful and would really like to try them at length. I thought the book was good for a beginner like me (while I'm familiar with some of the things Shojai talks about, I've never really practiced them in real depth or for long). But at times the book does get a little repetitive-sounding. He doesn't so much repeat himself, as offer similar suggestions for different problems (he provides different meditations to try, or suggests different herbs that are helpful). The structure of each chapter is the same as well, so that adds to the repetition (and might turn you off of reading it if you don't like structural repetition like that). His word choice was also a little off-putting at times in that he uses a lot of colloquial language and swears, which seem at odds with the subject matter (but he definitely wasn't as off-putting as I found Chris Crowley in Younger Next Year). I think The Urban Monk is definitely worth the read if you are stressed out by modern life and looking for a new way of thinking about and approaching what life can be like instead.

Stay for a Spell

I absolutely loved Amy Coombe's Stay for a Spell! I saw it at work and the premise sounded like so much fun: a princess gets cursed to never leave a bookshop until she can find her heart's desire. Her parents decide to send all of the princes of the realm to try to help because as everyone knows, love's kiss from a prince is sure to break the spell. And so Princess Tanadelle (or Tandy, as we get to know her as), is trying to live her life in the bookshop while every so often she's interrupted by the arrival of another prince.

While sometime a bit predictable (I knew what the pirate Bash had left in Tandy's shop when he stole all her books on curses fairly early on), Stay for a Spell is such a fun read. I liked all the characters. It was super fun seeing all of the princes different spell-breaking attempts. And I was really rooting for Tandy to succeed: with her bookshop, with her curse, and with learning how to do things on her own. I also liked the direction the book went with Tandy's curse: her heart's desire wasn't something cliche. :)

 Stay for a Spell was the perfect cozy fantasy read. I'll definitely keep my eye out for more by Coombe!

Pirate Latitudes

I found Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes at a little free library recently. I remember really liking Timeline (which I believe I read before starting this blog). And it sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a read.

Pirate Latitudes is the story of the privateer Captain Charles Hunter, who, with the unofficial blessing of England's Governor of Jamaica, Sir James Almont, leaves Port Royal with a crew of "loggers" with the intention of attacking the Spanish port of Matanceros and stealing a treasure-laden Spanish ship. 

The narrative was a little all-over the place. At first the book seemed to be following Almont, but once Hunter was introduced, he quickly became the central character. I wish things had gone back and forth between the two characters though - stuff was happening with Almont at Port Royal with his new secretary, Robert Hacklett, that we didn't get to see.

 At face value, the story is interesting enough. Attacking Matanceros is a difficult proposition, and it was interesting how Hunter went about it. The stakes were also consistently high: his crew was captured early, narrowly escaping death. And even the aftermath of the raid against Matanceros was fraught with danger at every turn.

But this book is full of very unsavory and altogether unlikable characters. While in the end I didn't mind Hunter, I spent a lot of the book not caring what happened to him and his crew. Pretty much everyone was a terrible person doing terrible things. I know that this is a historical fiction book, so it's quite possible that there's some truth to the way everyone was acting. But I honestly didn't want to read about it. 

As someone on Goodreads said, Pirate Latitudes "comes across as a [. . .] project never intended to see the light of day." And I can believe that. In a lot of ways, it felt like the book wasn't polished - it was most likely still a draft that Crichton was working on, or something that he never intended to share with others. 

While I did make it through the whole story, Pirate Latitudes definitely was one of my least favourite Crichton books I've read (I honestly think I enjoyed Jurassic Park better, and I wasn't overly fond of that either). Unless you're a huge fan of his, or really enjoy historical novels about pirates, I'd recommend giving this one a miss.

Isles of the Emberdark

I was so excited to hear that Brandon Sanderson was writing more of his Secret Projects! I asked my partner for the newest one, Isles of the Emberdark, for my birthday and couldn't wait to start reading it!

Isles of the Emberdark is a sequel to a novella Sanderson wrote some time ago. But rather than asking readers to go track down said novella, he incorporated it into the first part of Isles. I absolutely loved the first part of the book! It introduced the protagonist, Sixth of the Dusk, and went back and forth between his present day, where he is struggling to find purpose in his life, and what happened five years ago that led to his current predicament. Dusk was a Trapper, working on the most dangerous island on his world. But the world has changed, and no longer has need of Trappers. Plus with the arrival of people from other worlds, Dusk's people are struggling to navigate through the politics, trying desperately to hold onto their independence. It falls to Dusk to make one last treacherous journey to try to find a solution to his people's struggles.

Unfortunately, after the first part ended, the second part switched narratives to a different character, Starling. While she and her crew were interesting, they weren't who I wanted to be following, and I had a hard time getting myself to continue reading (even knowing that they were going to meet up with Dusk eventually). But I did, and I made it through, and was eventually rewarded with reconnecting with Dusk. And once that happened, I did enjoy the story a lot more. Though I did find myself wondering at times why Starling was there (other than to explain stuff to Dusk) - most of his story could have happened without her.

In the end, I enjoyed Isles of the Emberdark, though not as much as the other Secret Project books I've read. That said, I would very much like a sequel of some sort to see what would happen next! :)