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spiringempress 's review for:
Calling on Dragons
by Patricia C. Wrede
Let me start by fully stating: that I love this series and I especially love Cimorene, but the ending bothered me. It troubled me so much that I tossed and turned in my bed that night and I kept thinking to myself that there had to be a better solution than the one arrived at. ESPECIALLY SINCE, Cimorene was a capable and resourceful young woman. I mean, she won the favor of the King of Dragons and learned how to defeat the wizards with soapy water and a little bit of lemon juice.
So here are my thoughts about the conclusion. I understand that Wrede wrote Talking to Dragons first and later went back and revised the edition. However, I do not think that excuses how illogical the ending was. No one attempts to free Mendanbar beyond physical means. At the end of the novel, Wrede writes that Cimorene attempts to free Mendanbar from the castle by digging under the tunnel, lathering the bubble in soapy water, and other various methods. However, I find it hard not to consider two things. First, I find it hard to believe that Telemain with his interest in magic and his plethora of wizards staffs found after the fact, would not have tried to tamper or fiddle around with the bubble. He simply concludes that because he couldn't break Kazul's bubble before that it simply cannot be done. This is the man, however, who figured out to melt wizards without a bucket of soapy water, (something that no one had ever considered before) and in my opinion is a huge disservice to his character.
Secondly, Kazul just killed a ton of wizards and she's the King of Dragons. Is there no way she could have negotiated with the remaining wizards and forced them to take down the bubble? Again, I think disregarding or simply assuming that the wizards won't help is silly because Kazul is a badass and pretty intimidating. And we all know that Antorell would be pretty weak after Kazul ate his father whole. In fact, there really is no mention of anyone besides Cimorene doing anything to free Mendanbar and I don't believe that.
Anyways, I think the first two books in the series is brilliant, and the last two suffer because Wrede had to sacrifice character development, as well as, intelligence, to make the series jive. It's unfortunate, but a reality and I applaud her efforts; I just wish that there had been more thought put into ruling other scenarios.
So here are my thoughts about the conclusion. I understand that Wrede wrote Talking to Dragons first and later went back and revised the edition. However, I do not think that excuses how illogical the ending was. No one attempts to free Mendanbar beyond physical means. At the end of the novel, Wrede writes that Cimorene attempts to free Mendanbar from the castle by digging under the tunnel, lathering the bubble in soapy water, and other various methods. However, I find it hard not to consider two things. First, I find it hard to believe that Telemain with his interest in magic and his plethora of wizards staffs found after the fact, would not have tried to tamper or fiddle around with the bubble. He simply concludes that because he couldn't break Kazul's bubble before that it simply cannot be done. This is the man, however, who figured out to melt wizards without a bucket of soapy water, (something that no one had ever considered before) and in my opinion is a huge disservice to his character.
Secondly, Kazul just killed a ton of wizards and she's the King of Dragons. Is there no way she could have negotiated with the remaining wizards and forced them to take down the bubble? Again, I think disregarding or simply assuming that the wizards won't help is silly because Kazul is a badass and pretty intimidating. And we all know that Antorell would be pretty weak after Kazul ate his father whole. In fact, there really is no mention of anyone besides Cimorene doing anything to free Mendanbar and I don't believe that.
Anyways, I think the first two books in the series is brilliant, and the last two suffer because Wrede had to sacrifice character development, as well as, intelligence, to make the series jive. It's unfortunate, but a reality and I applaud her efforts; I just wish that there had been more thought put into ruling other scenarios.