Patricia C. Wrede: Talking to Dragons (2015, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company)
304 pages
English language
Published Jan. 5, 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
A fast paced, humorous YA science fiction. Young Daystar, raised by his mother Cimorene at the edge of the Enchanted Forest, is sent out on an adventure with a magical sword, meeting a young fire witch and an immature dragon on the way. This is the fourth book of the Enchanted Forest series, and takes place a generation after the first.
3.75 Not a bad fantasy picaresque for a younger audience and miles ahead of the preceding volume. However, it's doesn't quite reach the heights of Cimorene's first "solo" adventure and there's people marrying again - well it's a fairy tale setting, so I won't complain too much. Pity the series couldn't keep up the level of the second volume throughout, though.
I loved this series, and felt like this book, while it had some issues, was better than the previous one, which was (for me) the weakest of them.
I do think maybe Daystar was too rational and logical to be an actual teenage boy. I still liked him though, even if he felt a little wooden at times. The fire witch was the standout character, imo.
Re-read favorite.
It continues to disappoint me, that Wrede is unable to return to the gender negotiation of the first book. Although a decent fantasy novel, the story and characters are a far cry from the unexpected subversion of the first book.
