Black Unicorn

Landover, Book 2

By: Terry Brooks

Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

A year had passed since Ben Holiday bought the Magic Kingdom from the wizard Meeks, who had set a series of pitfalls against him. Ben survived, by the aid of three loyal friends: Questor Thews, and ill-trained wizard; Abernathy, a talking dog, the court scribe; and the lovely Willow, who sometimes had to be a tree.

But Ben had been troubled by dreams of disaster to his former partner, Miles Bennett. Yet when he returned to Earth, Ben found Miles doing splendidly.

Unknown to Ben, the dreams had been a trap by Meeks, who had returned to the Magic Kingdom as a tiny insect hidden in Ben's clothing. That first night back in Landover, Ben awoke to see Meeks gloating over him. claiming to have the medallion that could summon the mysterious knight-protector, the Paladin, and that he had cast a spell to witch appearances with Ben.

Ben found himself outcast, no longer recognized by any friend, though all his powerful enemies seemed to know him. Without the medallion, he couldn't seek the help of the Paladin against Meeks. There was only the prism cat - whatever that might be!

And where was Willow - and the mysterious black unicorn she'd set out to find?

©1988 Terry Brooks (P)2022 Random House Audio

Just as good as when I read it as a kid

A wonderful presentation of the book that I read as a kid and vivid and true as the text the author wrote intended. If cinema or long form series could replicate I'd watch. On to the next book in the series.

Lots of fun

I very much enjoyed this book. It is engaging and lots of fun. It is every bit as good as book 1. Thank you for a good clean story.

Perfect narrator

I read the first few books in this Terry Brooks series, and I loved each one. It is a pleasant surprise to find that the narrator of the audio book versions is such a great fit. It is beautifully spoken and with just the right touch of emotions, a slightly different voices. Great job.

2nd in the series

First time through the series I read the books. This time through they are being read to me.

Great book 2 in the Landover series

Great voice work and good story. Like the Disc World Series (especially Going Postal or Reaper Man), this audible version actually makes the story better.

Did not enjoy the different voices

The performance would be better with out the narrator's attempt at using different voices for different characters or perhaps using different actors for the different voices. The Earth Mother voice in particular was bad.
Brooks tends to us a lot of complicated scene descriptions that put one to sleep and the plot is often unpredictable in a disappointing way. In this one it takes for ever for the main character to figure out the obvious and the entire story lone needs to be explained at the end.
Otherwise the world imagined and rules if that world and its characters are quite enjoyable.

amazing story telling

most acomplished weaving of the tail. Terry Brooks has a way of drawing you into the story putting you into the middle and keeping you there.

Still a bit too whimsical for my taste

Terry Brooks is an excellent writer. I love everything Shannara that I've read. These earlier books from him are cute and whimsical with an everything is gonna be okay and good guys always win vibe. Book two was actually softer than book 1, but a good listen. I won't be getting book 3. If you have a pre-teen that is interested in fantasy, this series wouldn't be bad. Narration was excellent.

Outstanding Production & Narration

The producers of this series were insightful enough to look ahead to a small but telling character detail in book 3 and include that flavor in the whole series. Well done!

Jeremy Arthur’s performance is as fresh and enjoyable as Brook’s Landover series. Kudos and keep up the amazing work, Arthur.

good but could be better

I loved this series when it first came out. still love book 1. While I failed to remember almost the entire book this time around, I could not help feeling it was way too predictable. Yes, my subconsciousness might have remembered some, but not enough to account for that.

I also wish they could redo the narration with an up to date narrator. when audiobooks first came out, this guy was probably good. Now, he sounds like he's talking to children and attempting to make the story sound more serious than it is.