Talking to Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book Four (4) (1985 original; edició 2015)

From the author: "Yes, the publication dates are correct. Talking to Dragons was published in 1985 by MagicQuest; the other three books are prequels.

Talking to Dragons is told from the viewpoint of Daystar, Cimorene’s son, as he sets off on his own adventures and tries to piece together the past his mother hasn’t told him about."

https://pcwrede.com/books/enchanted-forest/ ( )

Re-read favorite. ( )

Yes, the book is just as well written as the others but it is just too sad that the boy grows up without his dad. I can't bear to think of my boys growing up without their dad :( ( )

I loved this series, and felt like this book, while it had some issues, was better than the previous one, which was (for me) the weakest of them.

I do think maybe Daystar was too rational and logical to be an actual teenage boy. I still liked him though, even if he felt a little wooden at times. The fire witch was the standout character, imo. ( )

Although Talking to Dragons is the fourth book in Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest chronicles, it was published five years before Ms. Wrede started filling out the back story of our 16 year-old hero, Daystar's, remarkable parents. (I'd wondered how Ms. Wrede could do something so nasty to Cimorene and Mendanbar as to part them from each other for so long some months before Daystar's birth. The three back story books are Dealing With Dragons, Searching for Dragons, and Calling on Dragons, in that order. Daystar and Shiara are okay, but as a hero and heroine they can't begin to compare to Cimorene and Mendanbar.

Daystar has been living with his mother in a cottage at the edge of the Enchanted Forest. He may assume he's only a poor boy, but his mother has been teaching him what he'll need to know when he's able to assume his proper station in life. His adventures begin when the wizard Antorell blows up their cottage door. The method Cimorene uses to deal with Antorell is not the same as the one discovered in book one, but after 16 years, we shouldn't be surprised that she found another.

Cimorene retrieves a sword readers of the earlier books will recognize at once, buckles it on her confused son, and orders him not to return until he can explain to her why he had to leave. Daystar doesn't argue with her for long. He starts going through the Enchanted Forest as he was told. He meets a talking gold lizard named Suz. Suz tells him his sword is the Sword of the Sleeping King and to follow it, but not as much as Daystar wants to know. Then he meets Shiara the fire-witch.

NOTES:

Chapter 1: Suz the gold lizard is introduced.

Chapter 2: Daystar and Shiara meet.

Chapter 3: We learn Shiara's problem.

Chapter 5: Morwen enters the scene. She says a helpful spell.

Chapter 6: Here is where Shiara names the kitten Morwen gave her 'Nightwitch'.

Chapter 7: Enjoy the interaction among Daystar, Shiara, and a princess in great distress.

Chapter 8: We meet a dragon and a knight.

Chapter 10: There's a fully grown fire-witch in this one. Daystar recites another spell his mother taught him.

Chapter 11: We have the Peter de Sève cover scene!

Chapter 13: Telemain introduces himself to Daystar and Shiara after they come to his home. He says he and Morwen grew up together. He also mentions the unpleasant habits of the fire-witch from chapter 10. Ew. According to Telemain, the Sword of the Sleeping King was meant to deal with wizards.

Chapter 14: Telemain advises going through the Caves of Chance to avoid the wizards. He also gives pointers about dealing with trolls and rock snakes. Also, our little group has to deal with a quarter of the wizards looking for Daystar and Shiara.

Chapter 15: Daystar finds a key and meets a quozzel.

Chapter 17: Daystar tells Shiara why she had so much trouble when she tried to snitch some of the Prince of the Ruby Throne's apples. He also figures out how to solve Shiara's problem.

Chapter 18: Daystar, Shiara, and Nightwitch meet Kazul. They find out who the dragon too young to have a name is.

Chapter 20: We learn what happened to Antorell's father, Zemenar.

Chapter 22 has the conversation that will eventually lead to this book becoming the fourth in a series instead of a stand-alone.

While I don't like this book nearly as well as the earlier ones, it gets really good in the last few chapters, so I gave it the same four stars I gave the other books. I hope that now that the need for secrecy is over, Daystar can develop more sense. There were times when I was just as upset with him as Shiara was. It's not that he's stupid, he just hasn't figured out yet when the rules he was taught should be ignored. (I am reminded of a song on an old Disney record of mine advising never to smile at a crocodile. There's a line about there always being a special case where one should forget etiquette. How true.)

Dragon lovers: Kazul won't be seen until the last few chapters, but there's a very young dragon to enjoy.

Cat lovers: Besides scenes with Morwen's cats (and how I loved their reaction to an announcement the witch made in the last chapter), there's Nightwitch, the kitten Morwen gave to Shiara.

Bottom line: You might wish to go ahead and read this book first even though you'll be spoiled for the main events in the other, better books. Reading the others after this one will be like reading the book a movie was based on after seeing the movie, when you find you like the book more. ( )