A Spoiler Free Reread Review
Calling on Dragons is, ah, very much a middle book. The characters spend most of the time running around to track down Mendanbar’s sword, which is key to the problem also set up in this book. Calling on Dragons is definitely more of a romp than it isn’t, but I’m not sure it’s a particularly good bit of story.
First off, I very much dislike this cover (the one with the blue donkey front and center). Something about the way Killer is portrayed in the art is just… 🤢 Thanks, I hate it. So, so much hatred. Growing every time I look at the cover. It has to sit face-down at all times because that blue donkey is just BLECH. Killer himself is probably the most annoying character I’ve encountered in recent memory. If he wasn’t needed to resolve a thing at the end, I’d have rather Morwen just left him alone to deal with his own stupidity.
You like cat companions? Like more than one? Oh good, cuz Morwen’s got 9. Not that we spend all book with all 9 cats, but the cat companions are definitely highlights. Trouble and Scorn are a very helpful, snarky duo.
The quest for Mendanbar’s stolen sword is largely just a series of mishaps, largely to Killer’s detriment. It was only slightly amusing to come across a Farmer MacDonald. He was boring, in my opinion. Getting Brandel on board the sword-finding-train was much more satisfying. I like the concept of fire-witches. I liked the small reference to Baba Yaga’s flying mortar and pestle. But yeah, the rest of the quest was just whatever.
So now we’re set up for Talking to Dragons. Yay. That’s really all Calling on Dragons was, was set up.
Favorite Lines
"Wizards don't know how to handle cats. I don't think they're very smart." - Fiddlesticks
"You shouldn't give advice you don't follow." - Queen Cimorene
"Rabbits aren't supposed to have adventures. Our temperaments aren't suited to them." - Killer
"Telemain and Morwen?" Kazul muttered. "What am I, diced troll food?"
No comments:
Post a Comment