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Queen Cimorene sends her sixteen-year-old son Daystar into the Enchanted Forest with the only weapon that can combat an evil wizard's magic in an effort to restore the balance of power in the kingdom.Tags
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LongDogMom Similar style and humour, as well as pushing against the stereotypes and rigid expectations that society believes people fall into just because of what they are.
dylanesque Talking to Dragons and the Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle share an irreverent, light-hearted tone, a magical coming-of-age quest, unlikely friends, and a rich magical world.
Member Reviews
Talking to Dragons is the fourth and final book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. The story goes back to its fractured fairy tale roots and is told entirely from the first person point of view of Daystar, Cimorene's son.
His mother always taught him to be polite to dragons. It's particularly good advice when one day his mother hands Daystar a magic sword and sends him into the forest on a quest with no further instructions than to seek out Kazul, someone who can presumably explain everything. At least Daystar hopes so.
According to a forward by the author, this story was written first in the quadrilogy several years before Wrede was persuaded to turn it into a series. I can see exactly what inspired the first show more chronological book and I devoured this title in 24 hours. While I still enjoy Cimorene's story best, this installment brought back all the things I loved about Dealing With Dragons and made for an enjoyable read.
Daystar is such a nice, polite and fairly clueless young man. He has a strong determination to do the right thing, even if he's not quite sure what that is. Daystar is joined on his quest by Shiara, a young fire witch who doesn't know how to use her magic, and a dragon who is trying to prove itself to the clan. It was a lot of fun hanging out with these youngsters and re-discovering the magic of the forest all over again from a fresh perspective. While the plot is not overly complicated, I kept cheering for our heroes and was delighted in meeting old characters again.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I know I'll be revisiting these books again in the future. show less
His mother always taught him to be polite to dragons. It's particularly good advice when one day his mother hands Daystar a magic sword and sends him into the forest on a quest with no further instructions than to seek out Kazul, someone who can presumably explain everything. At least Daystar hopes so.
According to a forward by the author, this story was written first in the quadrilogy several years before Wrede was persuaded to turn it into a series. I can see exactly what inspired the first show more chronological book and I devoured this title in 24 hours. While I still enjoy Cimorene's story best, this installment brought back all the things I loved about Dealing With Dragons and made for an enjoyable read.
Daystar is such a nice, polite and fairly clueless young man. He has a strong determination to do the right thing, even if he's not quite sure what that is. Daystar is joined on his quest by Shiara, a young fire witch who doesn't know how to use her magic, and a dragon who is trying to prove itself to the clan. It was a lot of fun hanging out with these youngsters and re-discovering the magic of the forest all over again from a fresh perspective. While the plot is not overly complicated, I kept cheering for our heroes and was delighted in meeting old characters again.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I know I'll be revisiting these books again in the future. show less
And finished nr. 4. I pretty much read these books in a row, adn I'm still surprised by how much I like them. Their tone somehow conveys the feeling of reading a book meant for children, but the world is so enchanting and it has such great characters, that I love it anyway. It's whimsical, and its heroes make sense. In this book we follow Cimorene's son, and its fun to meet all the other characters again through his eyes. I admit, I could have done without the neat wrap-up that managed to get everyone nicely paired-off, but that's a minor gripe. Overall, I enjoyed it very much and I'm sorry this is the end to the series...
I've done reading the whole series, so will copy these comments to 3rd and 4th book, too.
Love the humor. Love the breezy adventure and endearing characters. Each book focuses on different folks, but the sequence events counts, and I do not recommend trying to read them as stand-alones. The ending of #2 is a bit worrisome, and the ending of #3 is a cliff-hanger, and #4 does have some intensity not necessarily suitable for the youngest readers. On the whole, they're clean and fun, I'd say fine for ages 9 up but if your younger child wants to read them you should also.
Um, they're also not really memorable - they're probably best suited for people who like to reread books because there's a lot going on, but nothing heavy enough to make an show more impact on the reader's worldview. I know it's partly my fault because I read them so fast - but then, they were fast reads, and I couldn't help it.
*at least, I didn't find them to be memorable. I'm sure kids would, and probably some adults. show less
Love the humor. Love the breezy adventure and endearing characters. Each book focuses on different folks, but the sequence events counts, and I do not recommend trying to read them as stand-alones. The ending of #2 is a bit worrisome, and the ending of #3 is a cliff-hanger, and #4 does have some intensity not necessarily suitable for the youngest readers. On the whole, they're clean and fun, I'd say fine for ages 9 up but if your younger child wants to read them you should also.
Um, they're also not really memorable - they're probably best suited for people who like to reread books because there's a lot going on, but nothing heavy enough to make an show more impact on the reader's worldview. I know it's partly my fault because I read them so fast - but then, they were fast reads, and I couldn't help it.
*at least, I didn't find them to be memorable. I'm sure kids would, and probably some adults. show less
I just learned that this was actually the first book published in the series, and that the first three were prequels. Odd, that. I am absolutely amazed that the story works as well as it does with the rest of the series, and that Wrede was able to fit all the pieces together. But then, I can't imagine what someone who was reading this book without having read the first three would make of the story - which honestly needed all the backstory to make sense.
I still remember the letter I wrote to Wrede after reading this book after it was re-released. It was one gigantic list of questions - What happened to Killer? How were there wizards on the side of good? That sort of stuff. Even as a kid I was an astute reader. Wrede's response was show more something akin to "I don't know the answers myself!"
I'm glad that I discovered this series in my very formative years. I'm positive that they made me a life-long fantasy reader, and lover of cracked fairy-tales. show less
I still remember the letter I wrote to Wrede after reading this book after it was re-released. It was one gigantic list of questions - What happened to Killer? How were there wizards on the side of good? That sort of stuff. Even as a kid I was an astute reader. Wrede's response was show more something akin to "I don't know the answers myself!"
I'm glad that I discovered this series in my very formative years. I'm positive that they made me a life-long fantasy reader, and lover of cracked fairy-tales. show less
On the day when a wizard destroys the front door of their house, Daystar’s mother hands him a sword and tells him not to come home again until he can explain why she sent him away. Questing his way through the Enchanted Forest, Daystar befriends a lizard, a fire witch, and a young dragon, and encounters elves, dwarves, witches, wizards, and many others before his quest is complete and he learns the truth about his extraordinary sword.
Not my favorite of the series, but still a very good book, and it does an admirable job of answering the questions left unanswered at the end of the previous book. It’s a good ending to the series, but I never want the series to end — maybe that’s why I don’t love this book best of all?
Not my favorite of the series, but still a very good book, and it does an admirable job of answering the questions left unanswered at the end of the previous book. It’s a good ending to the series, but I never want the series to end — maybe that’s why I don’t love this book best of all?
The fourth and final book in a series of anachronistic, faintly parodic fantasy. Very fun, and I definitely enjoyed this one more than the second or third book - I'd say it's almost as good as the first. It resolved (finally!) several plot tangles started in previous books and upgraded the 'bad guys' a bit so they're back to being vaguely menacing instead of completely ridiculous (thank god). Again, I don't entirely like the way Wrede handles romance; I mean, while it's admirable that she's obviously trying to keep things from getting too mushy or bodice-rippery, to me she's taken it too far in the other direction and love seems to pop out of nowhere.
Daystar has lived with his mother at the edge of the Enchanted Forest, seeing princes and heroes stop by briefly in their questing. When the wizard Antorell shows up, however, things are a bit different. For one thing, his mother melts Antorell. For another, she goes in to the Forest and comes back with a sword about which she tells him little, just that he has to go in to the forest and figure out why he needs to be there. So Daystar sets out.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Dealing with Dragons, when I read it several years ago, and finally finished reading the series with this fourth book. Though it had been awhile since I read the others, I had no trouble following this one. In fact, readers who had never read the show more others may enjoy this one more since, like Daystar, they have very little knowledge of what he needs to do. I had a tough time thinking of Daystar as a believable sixteen-year-old. In addition to being unfailingly polite, just like his mother taught him, he's incredibly naive. I suppose I would be too if I'd lived with my mother at the edge of the forest and didn't really make friends with anybody, but it was a tough hurdle that I never really got over as I read his narration. Shiara, the fire-witch that Daystar meets in his travels, was a fun character that I liked despite, or maybe because of, her temper and willfulness. All in all, the series was a fun one that plays with conventional fantasy tropes, and I would recommend it to upper elementary or middle school fantasy readers. show less
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Dealing with Dragons, when I read it several years ago, and finally finished reading the series with this fourth book. Though it had been awhile since I read the others, I had no trouble following this one. In fact, readers who had never read the show more others may enjoy this one more since, like Daystar, they have very little knowledge of what he needs to do. I had a tough time thinking of Daystar as a believable sixteen-year-old. In addition to being unfailingly polite, just like his mother taught him, he's incredibly naive. I suppose I would be too if I'd lived with my mother at the edge of the forest and didn't really make friends with anybody, but it was a tough hurdle that I never really got over as I read his narration. Shiara, the fire-witch that Daystar meets in his travels, was a fun character that I liked despite, or maybe because of, her temper and willfulness. All in all, the series was a fun one that plays with conventional fantasy tropes, and I would recommend it to upper elementary or middle school fantasy readers. show less
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Author Information
42+ Works 41,558 Members
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer, born 1953 in Chicago, Illinois; she is the eldest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology. She earned an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977. She finished her first book in 1978. She is a full-time writer. She is a vegetarian and lives in show more Minneapolis, Minnesota with her three cats. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Talking to Dragons
- Original title
- Talking to Dragons
- Original publication date
- 1985
- People/Characters
- Daystar; Cimorene; Shiara; Telemain; Kazul; Morwen (show all 18); Mendanbar; Antorell; Suz; Janril; Nightwitch; Isabelle; Marchak; Willin; Silvarex; Grineran; Darlbrin; Cottlestone
- Important places
- Enchanted Forest; Caves of Chance; Cimorene & Daystar's cottage on the edge of the Enchanted Forest; Morwen's house, the Enchanted Forest; Invisible Castle, the Enchanted Forest; Telemain's tower, the Enchanted Forest (show all 8); Cave of Crystal Lights, Caves of Chance; the King of the Enchanted Forest's castle
- Dedication
- For NATE (who started it),
and for the rest of the Scribblies:
STEVE, PAM, KARA,
WILL, and EMMA. - First words
- Mother taught me to be polite to dragons.
- Quotations
- I took a deep breath and spoke as steadily as I could:
'Sword of the Sleeping King,
I conjure thee:
By stream and starlight,
By sun and shadow,
By song and storm wind,
Show me thy tale! ... (show all)(chapter 2)
We both nodded, and Kazul smiled again. 'Well, then. There are two types of magic in the world: the kind you're born with, and the kind you get from something else. Dragons' -- Kazul looked smug -- 'elves, unicorns, and fir... (show all)e-witches are born with magic. Ordinary witches and magicians get their magic from objects or from rituals involving things that have magic, which works quite well and doesn't upset things.
'Wizards, on the other hand, get their magic from everything around them that happens to have magic. Those staffs of theirs absorb little bits of it constantly, and the suction gets worse every time a wizard stores a new spell in his staff. That, by the way, is why dragons are allergic to wizards. Whenever those staffs get near us, they start trying to soak up some of our magic and we start sneezing.' (chapter 18)
2015 ebook omnibus intro:
Talking to Dragons is different from the other books of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I wrote it first, when I was still very much a new writer -- it was my third novel ever. It was my ... (show all)first try at first-person narration, and the first time I wrote a book without having any idea what it would be about when I started. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Smiling, I picked up the other two bundles and started after Shiara.
- Original language
- English
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- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Fantasy, Kids, Tween, Teen
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ8 .W92 .T — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
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