Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
86th out of 1,145 books
—
4,671 voters
Calling on Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #3)
Those wicked wizards are back--and they've become very smart. (Sort of.) They intend to take over the Enchanted Forest once and for all . . . unless Cimorene finds a way to stop them. And some people think being queen is easy.
Paperback, 244 pages
Published
March 1st 2003
by Sandpiper
(first published 1993)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
More lists with this book...
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Calling on Dragons, though it does give us great background information on witches in general and Morwen in particular, is by far the weakest entry in the series.
My dislike, or perhaps I should say my lack of liking, for this book is primarily due to the character Killer, an enchanted bunny that Morwen finds in her garden. He's a hopping, talking MacGuffin; because a wizard was involved with his enchantment, Morwen takes him to the castle to consult with Mendanbar and Cimorene (who, incidentall...more
My dislike, or perhaps I should say my lack of liking, for this book is primarily due to the character Killer, an enchanted bunny that Morwen finds in her garden. He's a hopping, talking MacGuffin; because a wizard was involved with his enchantment, Morwen takes him to the castle to consult with Mendanbar and Cimorene (who, incidentall...more
Calling on Dragons was fun, but by this point, the series is becoming much more predictable. I still enjoyed the various characters, but I felt the whole wizard-antagonist plot device was becoming a trifle stale. Also predictable was all their wizard melting. You'd think by now the wizards would have figured out a way to prevent being melted (especially Antorell, who gets more than enough melting, yet still is always surprised when it happens.
I enjoyed seeing all the personalities of Morwen's va...more
I enjoyed seeing all the personalities of Morwen's va...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
In book 3 of Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the sword belonging to the King of the Enchanted Forest is stolen by those dastardly wizards. Cimorene and her companions must find it before it drains all of the magic from the enchanted forest!
My favorite line from this book is Brandel the fire witch describing his sister Rachel. She lived in a tower with a sorceress to learn magic - the only access was by lowering a chair from an upper story window. Heroes never believed she wanted to be there - they...more
My favorite line from this book is Brandel the fire witch describing his sister Rachel. She lived in a tower with a sorceress to learn magic - the only access was by lowering a chair from an upper story window. Heroes never believed she wanted to be there - they...more
Cliffhanger!!! Definitely a fun read, from Old MacDonald to Rapunzel (actually Rachel's and she had a chair) tower. Silliness abounds and also some action. And in this one we get to hear what Morwen's cats say.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
Although I am so reluctant to recommend books in which a Dragon is turned into a protagonist, (curious why? Excellent non-fiction on the topic of myth and popular culture today is "A Landscape With Dragons"--highly recommend it to parents who have children heavily invested in fantasy literature. You don't have to agree with all his points to realize that he is raising an issue than many parents might not even know is there. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...) I cannot help but love these b...more
this series is hilarious, the first two books had me laughing to tears.
Wrede keep things simple in a good way, a fairytale for those that had enough of simple stupid fairytales of a quite princess, and a prince on a horse.
well, cimorene ain't like that- she's smart, kind, funny, and fantastic!
when i started this book, i looked for another fine read. with everything good and solved in the end.
well, Wrede had a suprise up in her sleeve. she gave hints, but considering the other two books, i di...more
Wrede keep things simple in a good way, a fairytale for those that had enough of simple stupid fairytales of a quite princess, and a prince on a horse.
well, cimorene ain't like that- she's smart, kind, funny, and fantastic!
when i started this book, i looked for another fine read. with everything good and solved in the end.
well, Wrede had a suprise up in her sleeve. she gave hints, but considering the other two books, i di...more
It was fun to get more of the cats' perspective in this story. Each book has a different lead character it seems, which is cool. The first one was Cimorene, the second was Mendenbar, and this one was from Morwen. When a rabbit grows quite large, and wizards are suspected once again for breaking into the Enchanted Forest, Morwen and friends go to the King & Queen to make sure all is well. A group goes in search for the enchanted sword and Kazul, the king of the Dragons goes back to the Enchan...more
Wah...I did not expect this book to end quite so abruptly. There's definitely some pacing problems...or maybe that was intentional. Patricia Wrede uses her characters to good effect, but was clearly writing with the goal of setting up the fourth and final book. Since the fourth book was actually written long before the other three, it does make me wonder if she felt like she had to force the story along here. Otherwise, this one manages to straddle the line between the first two...neither is it...more
I really enjoyed this entire series, and I think that it is perfectly written for its target age group (perhaps 8 to 14 year olds). It was interesting to have the point of view switch to the witch. I do think that the book summaries are a bit misleading, as well as the cover art, because you think that all of them are going to feature Cimorene as the main character, and then they don't. I don't mind that they don't; I really enjoyed the different points of view, but it did bug me that the front...more
I liked this one quite a bit. It has similarities with the second one, and the wizards are still the enemy (yes, they still melt, too), but I like how it continues. Telemain is still there, thankfully. We have Morwen's host of cats.
Killer complained about being hungry a lot. He had one good quote in there, though—one of the last times he mentions his hunger, actually.
Anyway, the audiobook was done rather well, just as with the second book—they used many of the same voices from the second.
We lear...more
Killer complained about being hungry a lot. He had one good quote in there, though—one of the last times he mentions his hunger, actually.
Anyway, the audiobook was done rather well, just as with the second book—they used many of the same voices from the second.
We lear...more
As the third installment of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, this book just managed to up the ante in comparison to the other books. It was entertaining, but yet again the wizards were Up To Something. And after being defeated - usually by having a bucket of soapy lemon water dumped on them - in the past books, whatever menace as bad guys they may have once had was diminished by this book. I won’t deny these books are creative and usually amusing (though the jokes can get old), but they all have...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Book three - check! Just keeps getting better. What I loved about this one is that it's told by the witch (or at least 3rd person limited from the witch's perspective) so you get a lot of cat time. The way the author describes the witch's cats cracks me up, being a cat owner myself and always suspecting that their disdain for everyone and everything was just an act. On a side note, I was surprised by the way this one ended - I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I guess I'll just have to read on...more
This is the third book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two until I got to the last few chapters.
The wizards are back and this time they have stolen King Mendanbar's magical sword. Queen Cimorene, a giant donkey named Killer (who is actually a very hungry enchanted rabbit), and Morwen and her rather annoying cats are off to recover it. Of course they have many adventures along the way as they meet individuals that somewhat resemble characters from well-l...more
The wizards are back and this time they have stolen King Mendanbar's magical sword. Queen Cimorene, a giant donkey named Killer (who is actually a very hungry enchanted rabbit), and Morwen and her rather annoying cats are off to recover it. Of course they have many adventures along the way as they meet individuals that somewhat resemble characters from well-l...more
Contrary to what you see on the cover, this book actually focuses on Morwen, the witch. Yeah, most of the cast from books 1 and 2 pop in for a bit, and Morwen's story certainly goes along with theirs. But Morwen is someone you probably know a lot less about than you think, and this is a book I wasn't looking to read, but completely fell in love with.
Like the other books in this series, there is plenty of humor and fairy tale parody for everyone. Pick it up if you need something to make you smile...more
Like the other books in this series, there is plenty of humor and fairy tale parody for everyone. Pick it up if you need something to make you smile...more
Though this installment has a bit of a downer ending (fortunately, this is resolved in the final book), it was still fun. I wish the motivations of the guy obsessed with traditionalism for witches and dragons and such had been explained, but that's really my only complain. Whereas I found the previous book, which was from Mendanbar's perspective, a little hard to get into, this one was fun right from the start. Morwen is a great character, and her cats are very real and very funny. Thus, I enjoy...more
When I was in elementary school I decided to write a book. It was basically a fantasy land where I could just make anything happen that I wanted to. Wolverine showed up at one point. There were gladiators, dragons, elves, spaceships with interdimensional aliens and an embarrassing amount of insanity. Then I got tired of writing — after about 400 pages or so — and I wrote a five page ‘ending.’ I made up a bad guy who had been behind all their troubles from the start — though they didn’t know this...more
Those evil wizards are at it again and now they've managed to steal the sword that protects the Enchanted Forest. Mendanbar has to stay in the Forest for some magical reason (I can't remember exactly what right now), so Cimorene has to leave to find the sword (because only a member of the royal family of the Enchanted Forest can wield the sword, or something). She's accompanied by Morwen, a couple of Morwen's cats, Telemain, Kazul and an enchanted rabbit named Killer, who provides the majority o...more
I enjoyed "Calling on Dragons" but not nearly as much as the first two. Now, I wasn't able to read this nearly as quickly as I was the previous two, so I'm sure I lost a bit of the flow because I had to stop and start so much. But, I just felt the book plodded more than its predecessors, and that every time we got close to something interesting, the story would back off and resort to something funny, or take that climax moment and start explaining something that really didn't need to be explaine...more
Genre: Humorous Fantasy
This is the third book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It’s probably my least favorite. In it, the witch Morwen and the shape-changed rabbit, Killer, discover evidence of wizards stealing the power of the enchanted forest, despite the spell that Telemain and King Mendanbar put together to that is supposed to prevent just such problems at the end of the second book. So Morwen, Killer and her cats set out for the castle, picking up Telemain along the way. Once there they...more
This is the third book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It’s probably my least favorite. In it, the witch Morwen and the shape-changed rabbit, Killer, discover evidence of wizards stealing the power of the enchanted forest, despite the spell that Telemain and King Mendanbar put together to that is supposed to prevent just such problems at the end of the second book. So Morwen, Killer and her cats set out for the castle, picking up Telemain along the way. Once there they...more
This one was not quite as good as the other two - I found the cats to be a touch gratuitous, Killer's complaining got annoying, and it just wasn't as funny as the first two. However, the rating gets bumped up to five stars for having the guts to go with the ending that it did. A fairy tale for kids (even a parody of one) is so obviously supposed to have a happy ending, that I never even questioned that there would be one. So I applaud Patricia Wrede for daring to be different with this book and...more
I remember liking this one the best of the series when I originally read them, but I didn't actually remember much of the book. Which was pleasant, because I didn't know what was going to happen but it wasn't so climactic that I felt I needed to read ahead.
I do like Morwen. She is so very refreshingly sensible and no-nonsense. I particularly enjoy her friendship with the overly-erudite Telemain.
It did seem though that they spent way to much time in the mud. Much too much mud.
I do like Morwen. She is so very refreshingly sensible and no-nonsense. I particularly enjoy her friendship with the overly-erudite Telemain.
It did seem though that they spent way to much time in the mud. Much too much mud.
Another cute story. Killer, though, really irritated me. And, altogether, this story seemed less tight than the first two. The plot felt muddled and/or insubstantial. And while Cimorene's efforts at the end, to figure a way out of their predicament, were noble, I didn't see much emotion in her besides anger. If I was in her situation, I would have cried at least once, no matter how stubborn I was. But anyway, it was cute. These are fun stories for kids.
I didn't feel the story was quite as good as the story in the first two books, but on the other hand, Morwen's cats play a prominent role, and there's Killer, the rabbit, who gets enchanted...again...and again...and again...
The other slightly unsettling thing about this book was the HUGE cliffhanger ending. Still, the characters are charming, as are the references to other fairy tales and their characters. I recommend the series.
The other slightly unsettling thing about this book was the HUGE cliffhanger ending. Still, the characters are charming, as are the references to other fairy tales and their characters. I recommend the series.
Apr 06, 2013
Janastasia Whydra
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
animals,
fiction,
magic,
must-buy-for-bookshelf,
mythology,
reinterpretation,
women,
young-adult
Like the previous two volumes in this series, Patricia C. Wrede's Calling on Dragons reinterprets many of the classic childhood fairytales and rendering what we previously thought about princesses, dragons, and witches as foolish notions. This installment dominantly follows the perspective of Morwen the Witch and on her adventure with Telemain, Cimorene, Kazul, Killer (the rabbit-turned-blue-winged-incorporeal-donkey), and Trouble and Scorn (two of Morwen's nine cats), we learned what is and was...more
I didn't like this as much as I liked the first two books, but with more explanations of magic, a nice focus on Morwen and her kitties (finally!) and with fairy tale/story spoofing still happening all over the place, it's hard to complain.
It doesn't end as "happy" as the first two books did either, but it's a great setup for the last book in the series, which is sure to pull everything together and be awesome!
It doesn't end as "happy" as the first two books did either, but it's a great setup for the last book in the series, which is sure to pull everything together and be awesome!
Of the four books in this series, this one is my least favorite. While we do meet a delightful assortment of new characters--including a rabbit who continually eats enchanted things and winds up as a six foot tall blue, winged, floating donkey--I found the story a bit too long for my taste. The ending sets us up delightfully for my favorite book: Talking to Dragons, number four. It ends on a good cliffhanger with good information for the start of the last book.
I couldn't quite give this one three stars, though I wanted to. It felt like the story was getting old at this point, like the energy was used up in the first two books. There just wasn't enough to sustain the story, and too much was left unexplained. There was a particular problem with the motivation of the villains - I couldn't follow why they were doing what they were doing, and the explanations fell flat.
Synopsis: The wicked wizards are again trying to take over the enchanted forest. This leads Cimorene and her friends on a quest to find the king's magic sword.
My Review: Great book for kids, but for me the dialog in this book was especially annoying. The book ends with a big cliffhanger though, so I'll have to track down the 4th book of the series and find out how everything ends.
My Review: Great book for kids, but for me the dialog in this book was especially annoying. The book ends with a big cliffhanger though, so I'll have to track down the 4th book of the series and find out how everything ends.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her se...more
More about Patricia C. Wrede...
Share This Book
2 trivia questions
1 quiz
More quizzes & trivia...
1 quiz
“The efficiency of the cleaning solution in liquefying wizards suggested the operation of an antithetical principal,which-"
"Did you have to get him started?" Cimorene asked reproachfully.”
—
61 people liked it
"Did you have to get him started?" Cimorene asked reproachfully.”
“- Obawiam się, że lustro nie wymaga żadnych korekt – oświadczył z niezwykłą dla niego delikatnością. – Z zaklęciem jest wszystko w porządku, powinno też być kompatybilne z lustrem zamkowym. Problem polega na czymś innym.
- Wiedziałam – rzuciła gniewnie Cimorena i zaczęła chodzić tam i powrotem przed kominem. – W domu stało się coś złego.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
- Wiedziałam – rzuciła gniewnie Cimorena i zaczęła chodzić tam i powrotem przed kominem. – W domu stało się coś złego.”
May 07, 2013 05:00pm