Book of Enchantments
Patricia Wrede
Point (Scholastic)
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Anthology
****
DESCRIPTION: A collection of Patricia Wrede's short stories. Some are written in other people's universes, two are in the Enchanted Forest, and the rest are stand- alone tales of magic and wonder.
REVIEW: I gave this its rating mainly on a comparative basis with other anthologies. I don't have much luck with them. Maybe I'm picking lousy ones, or maybe I've just read one too many fantasy anthologies that degenerated into perverted orgies, nonsensical and/or pointless rambling, or meaning-of-the-universe tales. Actually, those problems are some of the contributing factors to my continued perusal of Young Adult books, where the first and last troubles are blessedly absent. Anyway, as far as anthologies go, this wasn't half bad. A few stories, set in other people's worlds, I found confusing without knowing the full background; one of my personal pet peeves is when an author uses a previously established world and fails to inform the reader, or at least give a hint where the universe was created (i.e. what book was #1.) At worst, the stories were so-so, and some were rather good.
You might also enjoy:
Strange Happenings (Avi, YA Fiction - Five tales of magical transformations)
A Treasury of Witches and Wizards (David Bennet, editor, YA Fiction - Stories about magic users)
A Glory of Unicorns (Bruce Coville, editor, YA Fiction - Tales of unicorns at their wildest)
Bruce Coville's Book Of... anthologies (Bruce Coville, editor, YA Fiction - Themed collections of short stories)
Odds are Good and Oddest of All (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - The popular author's own short stories)
Fantasy Stories (Diana Wynne Jones, editor, YA Fiction - Short stories and book excerpts)
Here, There be Dragons (Jane Yolen, YA Fiction - An anthology of dragon-themed stories)
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The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
(Books 1 - 4)
Patricia Wrede
Scholastic
Fiction, YA Fantasy
*****
DESCRIPTION: In a fairy-tale world, royal children are expected to get cursed at their christening, youngest sons are to succeed at quests (preferably after two or
more older brothers are lost in the process), and giants are regularly scheduled to rampage villages by evil step-parents. This world, of course, has dragons, wizards, and a
vast Enchanted Forest, where only the brave or foolhardy wander. But, of course, there's never a shortage of brave (or foolhardy) heroes... and thus, never a shortage of
stories.
The Chronicles include four books:
Dealing with Dragons - Princess Cimorene is sick of being the proper princess. To escape an arranged marriage, she runs away and winds up living with the dragon
Kazul as cavekeeper and friend. Just as she's settling in, a task complicated by would-be rescuers and the spoiled princesses of other dragons (who don't look kindly on
Cimorene and how she actually enjoys working for Kazul), the ever-meddlesome wizards start stirring up trouble.
Searching for Dragons - Mendanbar, the young King of the Enchanted Forest, discovers disturbing patches of burned-out, magic-drained forest in his domain...
each with a number of dragon scales. Reluctantly, he heads out to talk to the King of Dragons, fearing a rogue dragon at best and a war at worst. Arriving at last at the
cavernous royal doorstep, he learns that the King of Dragons has gone missing and her princess - Cimorene - is very worried. Mendanbar and Cimorene set out to find King Kazul
and discover who is attacking the magic of the Enchanted Forest.
Calling on Dragons - The good witch Morwen, longtime resident of the Enchanted Forest and friend to Cimorene, Kazul, and Mendanbar, has to help stop an invasion of
wizards seeking to destroy the Forest. An odd assortment of assistants, including her cats and a sadly mutated bunny named Killer (who happened to pick the wrong plants to
nibble in Morwen's garden), join her in her efforts.
Talking to Dragons - Young Daystar grew up on the edge of the Enchanted Forest with his mother. One day, after a mysterious and threatening visitor drops by, his
mother sends on a quest to find out who he really is, a journey that leads him deep into the forest in the company of a fire witch with upredictable - and unreliable - powers.
REVIEW: Usually, I review books separately (as you may have noticed), but these overlap enough that I'll just lump them together. Either that, or I'm getting lazy... or trying to save space. Anyway, these books are very funny, with good stories and neat characters. Book Three was the weakest, being primarily a set-up for the fourth and final volume. As for the best... I can't really say. The first two were all-around fun, but the fourth proved that there was still life left in the concept (after the less-impressive third installment, I had begun to wonder.) The world is amusing, but doesn't cross the line to stupidity. Cimorene and her companions know enough about their world to work around fairy-tale conventions rather than merely be enslaved by them, and the characters come across as real people, not simple props in a story. If you're looking for something fast and lighthearted, these books are definitely the way to go!
You might also enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide (Douglas Adams, Fiction - The irreverent tale of the last human survivor of Earth's demolition)
Demons Don't Dream (Piers Anthony, Fiction - Two Earth kids share an adventure in the pun-filled magical land of Xanth)
The Frog Princess (E. D. Baker, YA Fiction - A clumsy princess turns into a frog when she kisses an enchanted prince)
Galaxy Quest (Terry Bisson, Fiction - The washed-up cast of a cheesy sci-fi show meets aliens who believe it was real)
Dragon's Keep (Janet Lee Carey, YA Fiction - A princess born with a dragon-claw finger faces the flaming beasts marauding her lands)
The Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - A boy criminal pits his prodigious wits against the underground Fairy nation)
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - A boy buys a dragon's egg in a magic shop)
Dragonsdale (Salamanda Drake, YA Fiction - Born and raised at a dragon riding academy, a girl's father forbids her to fly)
The Darkslayer (Craig Halloran and Ernie Chang, Fiction - On the chaotic world of Bish, the barbarian hero Venir fights evil underlings)
The Tales of Jig Dragonslayer (Jim C. Hines, Fiction - A craven but clever goblin, captured and forced to guide a group of bickering adventurers, learns that heroism is highly overrated)
Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin (Diana Wynne Jones, YA Fiction - A magical world is forced to put on "tours" for offworld visitors, recreating standard epic fantasy journeys)
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (Diana Wynne Jones, Fiction - A tongue-in-cheek guide to epic fantasy)
My Sparkling Misfortune (Laura Lond and Alla Alekseyeva, YA Fiction - Seeking vengeance against a prince, a villainous lord finds himself stuck with a do-gooder spirit helper)
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore, Fiction - A prince sets out to save the land with a helpful guide to practical heroics)
The Unhandsome Prince (John Moore, Fiction - A determined girl frees a homely prince from a frog curse, but demands a more handsome husband)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A boy learns that his father was a Greek god, in a clever update on classic myths)
The Bartimaeus trilogy (Jonathan Stroud, YA Fiction - A humiliated apprentice summons a djinni for vengeance, but learns he's in for more than he bargained for)
Dragon's Bait (Vivian Van Velde, YA Fiction - Staked out as bait for a dragon after being accused of witchcraft, the girl and her would-be killer team up to exact vengeance)
The Pit Dragon Chronicles (Jane Yolen, YA Fiction - On Austar IV, a slave boy steals a dragon's egg from his master)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A boy thief finds himself partnered with a dragonlike alien)
Forever After (Roger Zelazny, creator, Fiction - After the war between Good and Evil, the magical artifacts that won the day must be scattered across the land)
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Mairelon the Magician
Patricia Wrede
Starscape
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**
DESCRIPTION: Seventeen-year-old Kim has had a rough life. She lives on the streets of an elder-day London, picking locks and pockets in equal measure, dressing as a boy for protection. When a wealthy stranger offers her money to poke around a street magician's wagon, searching for any signs of a particular silver bowl, Kim doesn't think twice. He doesn't want her to actually steal anything, and Kim is a curious creature by nature. There is something special about Mairelon, though. The tricks he does on stage may be standard sleight-of-hand, but behind the curtain he is capable of real magic. When Kim gets caught in his wagon, she becomes entangled in his efforts escape the wizardry police and search for various lost magical artifacts (including the mysterious bowl) in an attempt to clear his name.
REVIEW: I've read and enjoyed other books by Wrede, so I though this was a fairly safe bet. I was wrong. The one truly original twist here is that, despite the
obvious implications of the man's name, Mairelon is not yet another revival of Merlin. Between an overwhelming wash of characters (with accompanying titles, relations,
alliances, and servants) and the excessive use of London street-slang (which added color to the dialog but grew tedious in the narrative), I barely made it through. Though
Kim is seventeen, she doesn't act it, and this book can't possibly be pitched at a teen audience. Wrede should've shaved some years off her age, or tightened up the writing
to a higher level. Neither Kim nor Mairelon live up to their potential, and many things I was sure would come into play didn't, meaning that large chunks of the story wound up
as useless filler. The lost artifacts themselves seem to be pushed by the wayside, and with them much of the plot. The ending sequence, in which absolutely everyone introduced
in the book shows up for one of the longest, least comprehensible, most boring, and most improbable climaxes I've ever read, took forever to get through, though the events
described don't take more than fifteen-odd minutes story time. I would say it was a disappointing waste of a good premise, but that would require caring about the plot enough
to notice the premise. This wasn't quite bad enough for my lowest rating, but it wasn't quite good enough for an Okay, either.
I've noticed that there is a sequel, The Magician's Ward. I wonder if Wrede abandons all originality and makes Mairelon into Merlin in that one. I won't ever know, of
course, because I was suitably unimpressed with this book to not buy its sequel. Highly disappointing, because I know Wrede's capable of so much more.
Yes, I know the Amazon link leads to an omnibus version. If you're going to slog through one, go ahead and slog through both. Just don't ask for a review here...
You might also enjoy:
Dragons Wild (Robert Asprin, Fiction - A college playboy learns that he and his sister are dragons, about to come into their "secondary gifts")
Bright Shadow (Avi, YA Fiction - A girl finds herself entrusted with five wishes that work)
Midnight Magic (Avi, YA Fiction - A charlatan wizard and his apprentice must solve a mystery for the king or face dreadful punishment)
Running with the Demon (Terry Brooks, Fiction - A girl and a strange traveler confront a demon in a small Midwestern town)
The Wiz Biz books (Rich Cook, Fiction - A computer programmer finds himself in a world of magic)
Hatching Magic (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A modern Boston girl discovers a hatchling wyvern and wizards from another time)
The Familiar Dragon series (Daniel Hood, Fiction - A murdered wizard's dragon familiar forces a bond with an amateur detective)
Magic or Madness (Justine Larabalestier, YA Fiction - A girl learns of her family's dark magical heritage after her mother goes insane)
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