Quality Brew

Witches' Brew, the fifth installment of Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover series, is perhaps the darkest of them all. It's a straight-up plot for revenge being carried out by the Kingdom's evil witch, Nightshade, against the king, Ben Holiday (for retribution of events that took place in book four). The witch seeks to use Ben's own young daughter as an instrument against him, and her vengeance won't be satisfied until he's dead.

As with all the Magic Kingdom books save the first, there's a subplot running in this book too, this one concerning a magic that sends Ben's loyal friends Questor Thews and Abernathy to Earth. More startling, it has restored Abernathy from his dog form to his original human state. The two must unravel the means by which they were exiled from Landover in order to return home.

On this subplot first, it actually occupies only a few chapters in the book as a whole -- and that's probably for the best. The characters aren't really in any true jeopardy, and we the readers are actually ahead of the characters when it comes to knowing how they were sent to Earth. And if you're a modestly clever reader, you probably know how this subplot is going to end as well. This diversion in the book is interesting at times, as it gives a chance for a reunion with a minor character from book three, Wizard at Large, but it isn't all that engrossing overall.

The main storyline of the book is far more interesting, however. Even though we know Nightshade is to blame for Ben's troubles quite some time before he does, the book does manage to serve up a few interesting plot twists along the way. There are several compelling confrontations in the book, as part of Nightshade's plot involves sending a series of powerful "monsters" to do battle with Ben's champion, the Paladin.

But this time out, a couple of fairly significant secondary characters aren't here for the ride. A pair of trouble-making Gnomes, Fillip and Sot, had appeared in every Magic Kingdom book up until now, a sort of Abbott and Costello. (Though perhaps more like a Costello and Costello.) While there is a new Gnome character of the same race and a similar personality in this book, it's not the comedic duo Brooks has brought us before, and I for one found it a bit of a loss.

Still, the story is entertaining and pulls you along. In fact, I found this a more quick and compelling read than any of the other books in the series, a real page turner. Overall, I'd say the Magic Kingdom series remained consistent with this book; I rate it a B+.