The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series progresses and we start the second book: Searching for Dragons. In this book, we will meet new characters; the story is centred in a completely new one: king Mendanbar. Don’t worry, the main characters from the previous book of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles will still be there.
I still don’t like this series. I will not deny that it is an entertaining read; otherwise, I would not be reading them. It has all the elements that I normally like in a fantasy book: there are dragons, there is magic, there are sorcerers … but everything seems too simplistic, and there are many details in the story that come from nowhere without further explanation and we have to accept it as it is. (I watched the sketch from John Mullaney about Back to the Future, I will call issue the Marty-Doc Indeterminacy, because it’s up to us to complete the missing information) I clearly understand that the audience that Searching for Dragons is targeting (or for that matter the entire Enchanted Forest Chronicles series) is a young audience and hence lax on these issues, that is, details. Having said this, I can go into further detail (myself) about the book.
Something that I do find interesting is that the book does not focus on the protagonist of the first book, Princess Cimorene, but on the king himself of the Enchanted Forest: Mendanbar, a new character in the series. Again the bad guys in the movie are the wizards, who this time kidnap the queen (or king) of dragons, Kazul. As is evident, the book shows the journey of these two characters in their adventures to rescue the dragon. Along the way, they meet various characters who will help them through their difficulties. Saying more about Searching for Dragons would be basically telling the end, and therefore … spoilers. So I will stop at this point. It is a fairly short book. Once again I checked the Reading Length page to see how long it would take to read the book: 3 hours and 26 minutes. https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-0544541464
Final comment: As I said above, the book does not convince me completely. Above all, due to the arbitrariness of the facts and the intentions of the characters. (and the Marty-Doc Indeterminacy). However, (and you will see this very often on my blog), there is something about the series of books that have a special interest in me. If the first book is not good, I always hope that the situation will improve in the following books. Perhaps the main character suffers a trauma that makes everything change later on, or perhaps the author improves the story as it progresses … I don’t know. But you always have that hope. Look at the Chronicles of Narnia, for example, the ending completely destroyed what was built in the first six books! I will continue reading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, and at the end of the fourth book we will see in retrospect if it all made sense.
Book quote: “Well, it doesn’t sound particularly noble and knightly to say you’ve rescued the Chief Cook and Librarian, does it? And it has cut down on the number of interruptions. I used to get two or three knights a day, and now there’s only about one a week. And the ones who do come are at least smart enough to figure out that I’m still a princess even if the dragons call me Chief Cook.”
Keep on reading,
Questions to answer in the comments:
Have you read any of the books of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles? And in particular, have you read the second book in the series “Searching for Dragons”? Did you like it? Do you agree with my final comments on the book? Have you read any similar books of the same genre that you would like to recommend? Please answer these questions in the comments section.
GG KLIMT 