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Dealing with Dragons

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Brief synopsis (no spoilers): Princess Cimorene lives in a very proper kingdom where everyone fulfills their expected rolls. Everyone except Cimorene that is. Between all her normal lessons she sneaks away to secret lessons with the castle fencing teacher, cook, and wizard. Each time her parents find out about these secret lessons they put a stop to them and tell her to be more normal. So, to make her life a bit more exciting she runs away and becomes Princess (housekeeper/helper) to Kazul the Dragon. Once there, she gets wrapped up in a case of intrigue among the Wizards.  

Category: Middle-school - teen fantasy

Why I chose this book: Found it on a list of 25 books one should read in their lifetime 

My personal opinion (the review): I immensely enjoyed this book. It has a bit of a feminist bent to it, but it's not overbearing. I don't really agree with the whole running away aspect, but I do like that Cimorene wants more out of life and she seeks after it. I like the Cimorene was willing to work and learn the things she needed to in order to be helpful to Kazul. I also enjoyed getting to learn about the structure of the dragon world. For example, the King of the Dragons is called the king whether they are male or female. And, according to Kazul the Queen of the dragons is a separate and "terribly boring" job. The wizards portrayed were kind of dumb and that was disappointing. 

Warnings
Language: None
Violence: Some fighting, but nothing gory
"Adult" situations: Only a few kisses once a prince and princess have decided to marry
Death: Wizards get melted

Movie rating equivalent: PG 

Protagonist description: I liked the way one of the reviews I read on Goodreads described Cimorene: "I mean, part of what makes Cimorene so awesome, as I’m reading now, is how even though she doesn’t particularly want to be royalty, she doesn’t suck at it. 

She’s good at Princessing. She knows how to embroider and dance. She can greet visiting dignitaries in fifty different languages. She can draw and is excellent at etiquette, and knows nine ways to agree with an ambassador from Cathay without actually promising him anything.

But she also knows how to juggle and fence and debate. She knows her way around the kitchen and is decent at economics and conjugates Latin verbs for fun. 

It’s not as though she rejects any one aspect of her life and/or education… she just wants more than what she’s allowed to have as a princess in her kingdom. "  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150739.Dealing_with_Dragons?from_search=true&search_version=service
Point of view of story: Third person

Book length:Short

Story flow: Fluid

Grammar and spelling issues: None

Character connection (no spoilers): None

For series:
Independent or integral: Independent as first in series

Series review as a whole: I've only read the first, but so far I love it and am excited to see what happens in the next book.

If you only have time for one, read: Dealing With Dragons, first in series. 

Comments

  1. BrittanyJanuary 19, 2016 at 1:52 PM

    This was my FAVORITE book series as a middle schooler :)

    ReplyDelete

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