Lord, I love these books so much. Searching for Dragons follows the adventures of Cimorene, but is told from the point of view of Mendanbar, the King of the Enchanted Forest. Mendanbar is as unconventional as Cimorene, and just as subject to being nagged about the proper way to do things. The change of perspective is nice, and also enables the reader to see exactly how charming Cimorene is from the outside.One of the things I appreciate about Wrede is the fact that, while her characters bemoan the silliness of princesses, they cast aspersions on the silliness of princes just as often. Additionally, Wrede makes sure to throw in some allusions to the social circumstances that make princesses act silly. Silly princesses are a common trope, but books that give comparable time to silly princes and discuss the impact of societal expectations on the way women act are rare. Honestly, especially considering the fact that these are children’s books, Wrede does an excellent job with delving into social constructs of gender. My favourite witch, Morwen, also makes an appearance in this book (along with her horde of cats). Seriously, one day I hope to become Morwen. She is fantastic. Ballimore and Dobbilan the giants are completely charming, bickering domestically about the necessity of grinding to bones of Englishmen into bread. The cast of characters in this book is larger than in Dealing with Dragons, but each new character is completely captivating in his or her own right. No one seems superfluous or out of place.—Rating: 5 Dragons.Favourite Quote (Erm, really Favourite Scene for this one. Sorry.): “Just inside the door, the giant stopped and sniffed the air. Then he sneezed once, scowled ferociously, and said in a voice that shook the torches in their brackets:‘Fee, fie, foe, fum,I smell the blood of an Englishman.Be he alive or be he dead,I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’Ballimore shook her head. “Nonsense, dear. It’s just Princess Cimorene and the King of the Enchanted Forest.’‘And neither of us is English,’ Cimorene added.The giant squinted down at her. ‘Are you sure about that?’‘Positive,’ Mendanbar said.‘Well—’ the giant sniffed again, experimentally, then lowered his club with a sigh. ‘That’s all right, then. I wasn’t in the mood for more work tonight, anyway. Sorry about the mistake. It must be this cold in my head.’”Recommend: Yes, of course. I don’t think it even needs to be said at this point.
Mendanbar, the King of the Enchanted Forest, has a problem. Well, that's nothing new, but this time the problem involves dragons. And possibly wizards, but definitely dragons. Something is burning out large sections of the Enchanted Forest, and he found dragon scales at the site. But getting a straight answer out of Kazul, King of Dragons, is harder than he expected (the King being unexpectedly missing), and soon he and Cimorene, the dragon King's Cook and Librarian, are hunting Kazul down. Mendanbar is almost more of a favorite for me than Cimorene. Where she's sharp and direct, he comes off as absent-minded, although really he's just distracted by watching the flow of magic. Being King of the ENCHANTED Forest means dealing with a lot of magic anyway, so the job comes with a few perks, such as being able to see and deal with the magic in the forest. But it also means he's completely tuned to the way the Enchanted Forest does things, and has a lot of trouble sensing, for example, how active his own magical sword likes to get.And if Cimorene hates the typical princess, Mendanbar hates them even more, since he's being pressured pick one to marry. Their mutual dislike for other royalty leads to a lot of amusing moments between the two of them, as they're figuring out the other is anything but typical.In addition, if Mendanbar isn't enough of a treat (and I adore both his character and the way he uses magic; I realized on this rereading how much Mendanbar's magic influenced how I WANT to see magic in a fantasy book---both sensible and mysterious), we have Telemain. Telemain is a magician, fascinated with learning all about magic, and chronically unable to express himself in short, understandable words (unless a dragon is asking, because they eat people). The obvious history Telemain has with Morwen only deepens the amusement.Like the first book, this one has a wealth of fantasy tropes to cheerfully turn on their heads, alongside the more serious plot about what happened to Kazul. Mendanbar has much the same sensible outlook on these things that Cimorene does, although I get the sense he doesn't hate tradition so much as finds it inconvenient. Overall, this is just as much fun as the first (perhaps more so, if you prefer Mendanbar's more easygoing nature). I rate this book Highly Recommended.See my reviews and more at http://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress.com
What do You think about Searching For Dragons (2002)?
This was another very fun book. The back cover gives you the idea it is more about Cimorene, when it’s really about Mendanbar and his quest to find out why there are large bare, almost burnt out patches of nothing in his forest. He is sent by a squirrel to see Morwen who tells him to visit Kazul. Only problem is Kazul is missing.Thus Cimorene and Mendanbar set off together to find the Dragon King. Along the way they meet the usual giants, dwarfs, magicians and royalty. Except none of them are actually “usual” as you may suspect if you’ve read book one. For example, the giant is fed up because “every three months, regular as clockwork, one of those boys shows up and there’s never been a Tom, Dick or Harry among ‘em. Just Jacks. The English have no imagination.” (p.101-102) Similar to the first, this book has a dash of romance but in this tale it’s mainly friendship and mutual interests that then blossoms into love at the very end. There is also plenty of adventure, mystery and lots to chuckle about.Full review posted on my blog: http://rinasreading.blogspot.com/2012...
—Rina
October 7, 2007July 21, 2014Sometimes a king just wants to walk away from all the tedious business of running a country, especially if he's the only one doing all the tedious work of running the country. Even more so if he has an officious steward looking reproachfully at him all the time because he won't do things the proper way. Fortunately there's a sort of crisis developing involving those nasty wizards and small areas of ecologic devastation to the Enchanted Forest, so Mendenbar can go walk about and see what's up. The plot thickens when he runs into Cimorene, Chief cook and Librarian to Kazul, King of the Dragons.After a number of small scale and not very dangerous adventures among storybook characters with an embarrassing magic carpet, everyone makes it home for a good meal.Still a pleasure, but with less of Cimorene being clever, and more of her fencing prowess. You'll cheer the vanquishing of those bothersome wizards without feeling guilty, because they aren't injured, only inconvenienced for a while, and there's no gore at all.A good story to read to quite young children (mine were six and three) and a charming diversion for the more aged.Personal copy
—Kaethe
The second in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles written by Patricia C. Wrede, Searching for Dragons, was nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (1994). It's a good story for young readers.Mendanbar, king of the Enchanted Forest, has a problem. Something or someone has destroyed a circle in the forest, including the magic. When the king arrives to confer with Kazul, king of the dragons, he discovers that Cimorene is worried because Kazul is overdue from a trip. The two
—Rusty
