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Dealing with Dragons is a young adult fantasy novel written by Patricia Wrede, in which the fictional princess Cimorene escapes her oppressive family to be a dragon's princess. It is the first book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles series.
Summary Cimorene, the youngest princess of Linderwall, is frustrated with her life in Linderwall. Unlike her blond, short, blue-eyed sisters, she does not have the usual appearance of a princess, sporting jet-black hair and being the same height as many men. Cimorene is bored with the dancing, embroidery and etiquette that are required learning for princesses. As a result, she bullies the castle staff into teaching her magic, fencing, cooking and juggling. At the age of 16 her fairy godmother and parents decide that something needs to be done with her. Faced with the prospect of being forced into marrying someone whom she does not like and who does not like her, she decides to run away. Acting on the advice of a talking frog, she goes to the Mountains of Morning to become the princess of the dragon Kazul. Unlike most princesses, she likes her position and becomes good friends with Kazul, particularly since she can make Kazul's favorite dessert (Cherries Jubilee). After Cimorene meets the wizard Zemenar, Kazul explains to her that the dragons and the wizards disagree about the wizards' access to the Caves of Fire and Night, where the wizards must go to practice many of their spells. The dragons and the wizards have an agreement that allows the wizards partial access to the Caves of Fire and Night, in exchange for keeping out of the dragons' parts of the Mountains of Morning. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem, but the wizards have an unusual way to gather magic. Instead of making their own magic, like the dragons, their staffs absorb it from whatever happens to be nearby - including dragons. Their magic being absorbed causes the dragons to have violent allergy attacks. When Kazul is accidentally but non-fatally poisoned by a sample of dragonsbane that Cimorene was asking her about, Cimorene has immediate suspicions that the wizards were gathering this poison most deadly to dragons. When Cimorene is sent to tell another dragon about Kazul's suspicions, he replies that the King of the Dragons has been poisoned fatally--with dragonsbane. Kazul must leave immediately to compete in the trials with Colin's Stone, a rock that magically chooses the next King of the Dragons. Cimorene learns in the middle of the trials that the wizards poisoned King Tokoz and are planning to interfere with Colin's Stone's magic so as to make a dragon who favors their interests King. In the course of this, she luckily learns that soapy water mixed with lemon juice melts wizards. Cimorene, with the help of the witch Morwen, foils the wizards' plan. Then Kazul, having been chosen to be the next King of the Dragons, ends the agreement with the wizards, and Cimorene settles in for a career as Kazul's assistant. Main characters Cimorene - A very bored 16 year old princess from the Kingdom of Linderwall Kazul - High ranking dragon acknowledged as being overly suspicious Zemenar - Head wizard of The Society of Wizards, not someone to be crossed Stone Prince - Prince, partly turned to stone by the gold dipper at the Healing Well Woraug - Bad-tempered dragon, opponent to Kazul Alianora - Princess to Woraug | ||||||||
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