A year had passed since Ben Holiday had crossed from Earth to the magical realm of Landover. The sickness that plagued the land at the time of his arr..Show More »ival has been expunged, the magic restored. Now, however, Ben finds himself travelling back to Earthh in response to a disturbing dream that seemed to hint that his former law partner and closest friend Miles Bennett was in need of help. Questor Thews, the ill-trained but steadfast court magician, travels to an ancient fortress wherein he believes he will find a pair of ancient books of magic. The lovely Sylph Willow has a mission of her own, find a bridle of spun gold, the only object capable of binding a mysterious black Unicorn, a being of Landoverian myth widely believed not to be a true unicorn but a demon whose presence corrupts those who look upon it. Upon visiting Earth, however, Ben finds Miles doing splendidly and glad of the visit. Upon returning to Landover, Ben discovers that he had an uninvited passenger. The former court wizard Meeks, half-brother to Questor and the one who had sold him the throne of Landover inthe first place, has returned to the realm and now exiles Ben from his own castle, though not before placing a spell on him that makes him unrecognizable to his friends. He has also assumed Ben's appearance and, thanks to Questor, gained possession of the missing books of magic and now needs only the bridle of spun gold in order to capture the black unicorn, whatever it may be, for some unknown but undoubtedly sinister purpose. Can Ben find a way to regain the trust of his friends and thwart the treacherous wizard's plans before it's too late?
Once again narrator Dick Hill does an excellent job of bringing life to a great story. As with Magic Kingdom, I found it very hard to stop listening. This is definitely one narrator who could probably do justice to just about anything he reads.

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IT was alittle less than a year since Ben Holiday and is friends thwarted the plans of the treacherous wizard Meeks and, in so doing, discovered the s..Show More »ecret of the mysterious black Unicorn. Now, Questor Thews, the ill-trained court wizard, announces that he has finally discovered a spel that will return Abernathy, the court scribe, to his human form after more than twenty years of being a talking dog. There is a catch, however. Questor needs an object to serve as a catalyst for the magic, something to separate the man from the dog in Abernathy. Unfortunately the only object close at hand that can serve that purpose is the medallion of the kings of Landover. Despite the risks, Ben reluctantly agrees to lend the medallion to the cause. All goes well until Questor inadvertently breathes the magic dust of his spell and sneezs, causing Abernathy to vanish, taking the medalion with it. Things become more complicated when a mysterious bottle appears in the spotwhere Abernathy once stood. It's quickly discovered that the bottle is in fact the prison of an evil genie-like demon who corrupts those it serves even while granting their wishes. The bottle, it's discovered, is the property of Michel Ard Ri, the exiled prince of landover who departed with the wizard Meeks. Ben realizes that Abernathy must hve been sent to Earthh and, worse, to wherever Michel now lives. The situation becomes more urgent when the bottle disappears. Ben decides to depart for Earth with the aid of Questor in the hope of recovering Abernathy and the medallion. Can he find Abernathy before Michel Ard Rhi does? Can Abernathy elude his old enemy long enough for Ben to find him? And will they find the Darkling before it falls into truly evil hands?
Once again I find little fault with Dick Hill's narration. It's easy to keep track of hat character is speaking and each has their own personality. Hill even does justice to emotional scenes. This was definitely worh my time.

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This was a twist on the whole series of books. You expect one thing and get another. Don't try to do anything else while listening to this book you wi..Show More »ll want to catch every detail.

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All of these books have the same plot, but they ARE a pleasant diversion and well read. If that's enough for you, you will like the book. Just don't e..Show More »xpect excitement or surprises ... or new plot twists. Terry Brooks has found a formula and he is sticking to it. I'll try one more in the series, but if the next book is as predictable as this one was, I will give it up. I love the concept, but the author isn't doing anything with it that he didn't do in the first book. Since then, all of them have been the same. Time for the author to actually write something new!

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A Princess of Landover is the sixth volume in one of my favorite fantasy serieses after Lord of the Rings and The Belgariad. For years my only exposur..Show More »e to these novels came via the Library of COngress and their Talking Book program. Unfortunately the narrator of those versions wasn't the greatest as far as I was concerned. He gave characters different voices but not much in the way of expression.
Then about eight years ago I discovered the commercially available audiobook versions, produced by Brilliance Audio and narrated by Dick Hill. These versions were far better, not merely because Dick Hill's voices were more varied (although I will agree that he makes Abernathy sound rather like the Geico Gecko), he also brings emotion to the presentation. When characters cried I thought he actually was crying about something on several occasions. Others may not agree but I generally have liked everything I've heard from Mr. Hill.
But unfortunately I'm not fond of abridged books, even if I'm rereading a book I've already read before. So I was a little disappointed when I purchased the then five novels in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series and found them to be abridged. Fortunately most of what was cut from the programs was unimportant.
Now, however, they're all available from the same company and done by the same narrator, but in unabridged form. The sixth novel takes up five years after the end of Witch's Brew. Mistaya, the daughter of Ben Holiday and Willow, king and queen of Landover, has just been expelled from a women's college preparatory school on Earth and returns to Landover. As punishment, Ben charges her to reconstruct Libris, the long-abandoned royal library. Though initially reluctant, Mistaya quickly befriends a mysterious young man named Tom and discovers a sinister plot in the works that could spell the end of Landover.

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