Ben and Willow's child is kidnapped by Nightshade. Nightshade uses the child's magic against Ben before he gets a clue and realizes what is going on. Ends with everything ok and Nightshade as a crow in our world.

This book had absolutely nothing interesting in it. Which is why it was the last of the Landover novels. But it was typical Brooks, so who knows why this series didn't take off like the Shannara one ( )

Another enjoyable entry in the Landover series. I have really enjoyed this series, and I hope Brooks pens more in this series after the next entry. ( )

I'm not sure what to think of this book. This is the fifth book in the series and I loved the first one so much, I've wanted to read all of the others. And most have been decent -- but not as good as the first one.

In this one, Ben Holiday and Willow's daughter, Mistaya, is growing at an astounding rate. She's two, but looks 10 and acts 15. In other words, she's a spoiled little bitch and entirely unlikeable and I didn't like this about the novel. And it centers around her, for the most part, so we're inundated with her attitude. So, someone comes to the castle and issues Ben a challenge for the kingdom of Landover. If he can defeat seven monsters, he'll keep his kingdom. If not, the challenger gets it. Strangely, though, Mistaya is kidnapped almost immediately and used as bait for Ben to follow this stranger's rules. While traveling with Mistaya in a fruitless effort to find her safety, Questor and Abernathy are sent back to Ben's home world of Earth, where Abernathy is turned from dog back to human and he is elated. Of course, not all is as it seems. Nightshade, the witch, is behind everything and steals Mistaya to train her to become a witch -- and to unwittingly kill her father.

In the last book, I complained that Ben seemed pretty dense, which was odd considering that he had been a high priced, successful attorney in Chicago and was now king of the land. In this book, he's just as dense and so is Willow. In fact, they spend most of their time together in the book "holding" each other for support -- and that gets pretty damn old very quick.

There is magic in this book, of course. And we get to see some of the characters we know and like, such as the Earth Mother and her mud puppy and Strabo, the dragon. And Ben does somehow defeat several monsters through the help of his alter ego, the Paladin. But by the time Ben has figured out what's going on, the reader figured everything out eons before and is annoyed by his ineptitude and I've got to fault Brooks for that. I want to give this three stars, but because it's a Landover book and I enjoy the series and because it does introduce some new people and elements to the setting, I'll give it four. Cautiously recommended. ( )

I love this series! It's simple reading but just the kind of easy escapism read you need sometimes. ( )

The final (until the next one is written) book in the Landover series! I couldn't believe how disinterested I was in Ben and Willow's storyline. I wanted to spend much more time with Nightshade and Mistaya or Abernathy, Quester, and Elizabeth. Maybe that's because I feel like Willow and Ben have gone about as far as they can go as characters. They do reveal some very personal secrets to each other in this book, but they're always accepting of each others' (mostly Ben's) faults. Mistaya, on the other hand, gets to hear Nightshade's history, though somewhat edited, and they develop a strange friendship that you know can only be doomed in the end. I think that Terry Brooks has some real potential with his villains, but we spend so much time with the heroes of the story, who are fairly bland in comparison, that we hardly ever get the villains' perspective. More Nightshade!

Maybe it's just the move to Washington, but it was very cool to see Abernathy and Quester set in a local environment for me as a reader. I was hoping Elizabeth would reappear in the series, but the potential relationship between herself and Abernathy gets dumped by the wayside for Ben and Willow's story. *grumble*

Okay, I'm complaining a lot. I did like this book, but I never felt pressed to keep reading, so I started and stopped several times along the way. The side characters her are much improved and, while it's not my favorite Landover book, I thought it was a good one. ( )