Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Title: Calling on Dragons (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Book Three)
Author: Patricia C. Wrede
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult
Publisher: Magic Carpet Books (March 2003)
Blurb:

A Princess’s work is never done – not even when she becomes queen!

Princess Cimorene is now Queen Cimorene . . . and she’s faced her first queenly crisis – the Enchnated Forest is threatened with complete destruction!

Those wizards are back – and they’ve become very smart. (Sort of.) They’ve figured out a way to take over the forest once and for all . . . and what they have planned isn’t pretty.

With a little help from Kazul the dragon kind, Morwen the witch, Telemain the magician, two cats, and a blue, flying donkey-rabbit named – what else? – Killer, Cimorene might just be able to stop them.

And some people think being queen is easy.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

CALLING ON DRAGONS by Patricia C. Wrede is the third book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Princess Cimorene is happily married to King Mendanbar, and is now Queen of the Enchanted Forest. Morwen the witch, who is friends with Queen Cimorene and Kazul, notices that there is something going on in the Enchanted Forest – the spells that Telemain the magician and Mendanbar wove don’t seem to be working. The wizards are back . . .

Having read and enjoyed the first two books in this series, I had high expectation for this book. I really enjoyed the fact that Wrede allowed us to know a bit more about Morwen in this book, as she is the main focus of this book. I really enjoyed getting to know her, and how her relationship with her cats worked.

Having Morwen take centre stage in this book worked really well. She is familiar as she has appeared in the previous books, but Wrede expands upon this character to great effect in this book. I really enjoyed the dialogue between Morwen and her cats; Wrede made the cats seem unique and individual, and the fact that only Morwen and other animals could understand them worked brilliantly.

Wrede really upped the level of the plot in this book. There are several different interlinking plots in this book that Wrede weaves together to create an enthralling story. Wrede takes the ideas that she created in the previous books, and continues to expand upon them. CALLING ON DRAGONS also has the sense of humour that pervaded the previous books.

CALLING ON DRAGONS is a fantastic addition to the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and if you have enjoyed the previous books in the series then you are sure to adore this one too.