It's only been a day since Emma and Eadric turned back into humans and already things are getting crazy. Emma is struggling to learn how to control her magic, Aunt Grassina is completely focused on her true love who's been turned into an otter, and if that weren't enough, the neighboring kingdom has decided to invade. Emma decides that the best course of action is to get her grandmother to break the spell on Haywood so that Grassina will focus on saving their kingdom instead of on him. Unfortunately, things go exactly opposite of the way Emma had hoped and now she and Eadric must set out on a series of quests to gain the ingredients to break the spell before the kingdom has to declare war.Somehow I liked Emma a lot more when she was a frog than I do as a human. In the first story she was completely out of her element and she and Eadric really had to work together to overcome obstacles on their journey to become human again. But now that Emma has magic, she thinks that she can do everything herself. It doesn't matter that she's only recently figured out that she can even do magic and nearly all of her spells go wrong. No, she has convinced herself that she's a master witch and keeps getting both her and Eadric in more and more trouble with every spell she casts. Usually it's only thanks to Eadric that things work out but Emma doesn't see that. So, I like Emma a lot less and Eadric a lot more.The story was fun and light-hearted. The two had to go to a lot of new magical places and meet a lot of interesting characters in order to help Grassina save Haywood from eternal otterdom. I would've liked it even better if they went to fewer places and instead spent more time in the most interesting places, like the magical marketplace. But what is the likelihood that the four or five ingredients they were looking for would actually be in the same place? The ending is definitely a lead-in to the next book in the series and only provides some resolution to the current problems. This is a book that I would recommend to my friend's ten-year old daughter without hesitation.
Now it's Book 2 of The Tales of the Frog Princess. It's starting to separate from the original tale of The Frog Prince, and growing legs to become an independent story.In the sequel, Emma and Eadric are back into Princess and Prince. But, the Green Witch, or her aunt Grassina isn't fulfilling her duties because she's looking for her love, Haywood, whom she found has been turned into an otter. Of course, a neighbouring kingdom finds this the best time to attack, so Emma and Eadric meddle around trying to help. And of course, since the title is called Dragon's Breath, dragons are involved. I really really loved this book! There are many things to love, such as the relationship between Emma and Eadric. The way the two of them develop their relationship without rushing into it makes it very sweet and very very real. Plus, I like how the two of them are friends first and lovers second. Another thing would be the cast of supporting characters. One of my favourite was Lil, this adorable bat. She was introduced in the first book, but I think that she has a bigger role in this book. If you're liked The Frog Princess, you'll definitely love this book. I recommend reading the series in order because this is a very well-written world, full of lovable characters. This review was first posted to a href="http://allsortsofbooks.blogspot.jp/20... the mind of a Bibliophile
What do You think about Dragon's Breath (2005)?
Cute, for a children's book. I'd say that this book was a little more "Young Adult" genre (or leaning towards it) than the first book in the series. This book dealt with beheadings, ghosts, nasty spiders that wanted to get ahold of the main characters so they could "suck their blood out of their body" - just little situations that were a bit more "adult" and "scary" compared to the first book. I will say that the book seemed to end very - very - abruptly. One second, they were flying in the air with a dragon - and the next second, the book was done. Odd. I'm also shocked at how fast everything in the plot changed; the whole point of the novel was to break the spell that turned Grassina (the Green Witch)'s lover into an otter. So the whole book is dedicated to gathering the necessary items to break this spell. Right towards the end - they get everything they need, do the spell - and turn the otter back into Grassina's lover. But in an instant - flowers rain down - and turn Grassina into an ugly mean witch (like Olivene - which is a beautiful name, by the way) - and then Grassina is now mean and doesn't care for her lover - Haywood - which in 2 sentences - makes the whole point of the book WORTHLESS. All that, just to make it backfire??? Stupid! I understand that because of the "flower" curse - Grassina turned mean and ugly (the flowers) and this made Emma into the Green Witch now - but couldn't there have been a better way - than to make the reader feel like they just wasted their time with the story? I'm curious to see if they try to reverse what happened to Grassina in the next book, but I think I'm going to take a break from childrens/YA lit for awhile - and go back to reading some books that have a point :)
—Librarirun
Tales of the Frog Princess, book two.Emma and Eadric have regained their human forms (mostly), but their troubles are far from over. Emma's aunt Grassina is ignoring her duties as the Green Witch because all she can think about is finding a way to return her fiancee, Haywood to HIS human form. Grassina's mother turned him into an otter years before. Grassina has finally found him, but he is still an otter.Emma and Eadric race against time to retrieve the items they need to reverse the spell. Meanwhile, the neighboring country decides to take advantage of the situation and invade Emma's kingdom. A surprising twist at the end of the story paves the way for book number three in this entertaining series.
—Debbie
THIS BOOK COUNTS AS 2 BOOKS After Emma and Eadric were turned back to humans, Emma was trying to figure out how Haywood could turn back into a human[instead of an otter:], so her aunt Grassina and Haywood could be together again and possibly get married. Emma decided that the only way to turn Haywood back would be by asking her grandmother[who was the one who turned him into an otter:]. Grassina, Eadric, Haywood, and Emma travel to her grandmother to ask her. Grassina refuses and puts a spell on Haywood that'll make him forget that he was ever human. If four days go by, then there is no way of reversing the spell. Emma heard her grandmother say the ingredients you need to reverse the spell. She came up with a plan. Grassina would find Haywood and bring him to the castle,and Emma and Eadric would go on an adventure to find the ingredients. I liked this book beter than the first. It was more interesting and more was going on. I recommend this book especially for fantasy lovers.
—Brianna Mathes
