Overall Rating: Recommended (How I Rate Books)
Personal Rating: Fun Children’s book for kids between 8 and 13, but enjoyable for all ages
Genres: Fantasy, YA, Children’s, Dragons
Similar books:
Previous books by the author/in the series I’ve reviewed:
Spoilers below. You’ve been warned!
This is a fun children’s book, about the adventures of King Mendenbar and Princess Cimorene as they try to avert a war between the Dragons of the Mountains of Morning and the Enchanted Forest. Cimorene’s employer Kazul, the King of Dragons, has gone missing and King Mendenbar of the Enchanted Forest is implicated in her disappearance. Cimorene and Mendenbar must team up to find Kazul before it’s too late.
This is a kitchen-sink fairy tale story a-la Shrek. There are about fifty fairy tales featured herein, including Rumplestiltskin the dwarf who spins gold in exchange for your first born child (who now runs an orphanage for all his first-born children), a rampaging giant who wants to get out of the pillaging business and wants to get into the consulting industry, and a science-obsessed magician who can’t help talking in technobabble. It goes on and on and on. The setting is charming.
The characters are good, in the sense that they have agency. Cimorene actively decides to go on an adventure to save her friend/employer Kazul. Mendenbar actively decides to go on an adventure with Cimorene, even though he could reasonably go home at almost any point. Both characters were masters of their own destiny, and weren’t blown along by the needs of the plot. Of the two of them, I liked Cimorene more because she had a more go-get-’em attitude.
Net total this is a fun book. Check it out if you’re curious. Great for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 or so.
John Mendez- Book Reviews and More 