Paperback, 352 pages
English language
Published April 1, 1992 by Orbit.
Disappointed that it's a pretty straightforward power fantasy. Would have been much more interesting with more politics/intrigue. The MC is a lawyer, for god's sake!
Big fan of Mr Brooks' "Shannara" novels here, but had evaded his attempt at "non-serious" fantasy for many years. Went into this one expecting that it would be sort of a Pratchett- or an Asprin-pastiche, and was pleasantly surprised that it really wasn't:
An easy read, and easy to like. A well-executed, wonderfully charming story.
...Now, is this necessarily a series that I'm going to follow for five or six more novels? - Don't know.
...Can I see what people liked about it? - Definitely yes.
Magic Kingdom For Sale wasn't as much fun as I expected.
this is a book about a 40 year old lawyer that ends up in a fantasy world.
The story is told in the first person, but our hero is not a fantasy fan, he has no prior knowledge to help him deal with what he encounters in this fantastical kingdom.
Thus is thoughts and reactions are hard for the SF&F reader to identify with. this is not how I would react. His powers of debate as a layer don't help him but he also doesn't know about fantasy and it's rules so he doesn't know how to work them to his advantage.
The fact that the narrator makes him sound sixty rather than forty doesn't help either.
On top of that this serious man of action has a mental breakdown every time his reminded of his dead wife. Something …
Magic Kingdom For Sale wasn't as much fun as I expected.
this is a book about a 40 year old lawyer that ends up in a fantasy world.
The story is told in the first person, but our hero is not a fantasy fan, he has no prior knowledge to help him deal with what he encounters in this fantastical kingdom.
Thus is thoughts and reactions are hard for the SF&F reader to identify with. this is not how I would react. His powers of debate as a layer don't help him but he also doesn't know about fantasy and it's rules so he doesn't know how to work them to his advantage.
The fact that the narrator makes him sound sixty rather than forty doesn't help either.
On top of that this serious man of action has a mental breakdown every time his reminded of his dead wife. Something that happens allot and gets annoying after a while.
