Review – Dealing with Dragons (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book 1) by Patricia C. Wrede (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 240 pages
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: November 1, 2002
ISBN-13: 978-0152045661
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

I have had this book on my bookshelf to read for a very very long time. This was a cute fantasy read with a lot of humor in it, I enjoyed it and think it would be best suited to middle grade and young adult readers.

Princess Cimorene doesn’t want to do normal princess things so she comes up with a plan. Instead of waiting to be kidnapped by a dragon she runs away and strikes a deal with a dragon. However she doesn’t count on the evil wizards trying to wreck havoc with the dragons and their politics.

This was a very cute read best suited to middle grade readers. I enjoyed the humor throughout and all the quirky dragons and princesses. The story is very simple and very short, so I think most adults will be a bit bored…however if you are an adult that really enjoys middle grade level reads you will probably like this.

I loved Princess Cimorene and her desire to do something that fell outside the norm for a princess. I also really enjoyed all the scenes where knights kept turning up to rescue her and she would turn them away.

Additionally the dragon Kazul was a very fun character and I really enjoyed how Kazul and Cimorene developed a solid and caring friendship over the course of the book.

The book teaches some good lessons; basically that it’s okay to do your own thing and that girls are fully capable of rescuing themselves when they are in tricky situations.

Overall this was a very cute and fun little fantasy read. It’s a very short book and the plot is fairly simple and straightforward…so I would recommend to the middle grade age group. There is a lot of humor in the book and the story moves quickly so it makes for an engaging read. Although I enjoyed the story, I didn’t find that it kept me thinking or guessing or wondering. The story wraps up pretty well too. As a result I probably won’t read the rest of the books in the series. I just have too much to read and (although I enjoyed this book) I just didn’t really find myself wanting to read more about these characters by the end of it.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge