SEARCHING FOR DRAGONS
                           BY PATRICIA E. WREDE

Synopsis
 This book started off with King Menanbar in his complicated yet amazingly huge castle of Enchanted Forest, with his able assistant Wilin, discussing the important matters concerning the state of the forest and castle. After the discussion, the King then decides to slip out of the castle to take a stroll in the Enchanted castle as a short break from his busy lifestyle.
 
    However, during the stroll, the king discovers a patch of the forest being destroyed that only stumps and a few flakes of ash remained. The area was burned and sucked out of magic. A few of dragon scales were found on the wasteland. Determined to find out the culprit, Menanbar went to witch Morwen for help. Setting off on the mission, the king met lots of weird people whom he never knew lived in Enchanted forest and he even went beyond his own boundaries in order to solve the case.
  


Plot Structure and Development
    Together with Princess Cimorene, the king went in search of Kazul, the King of Dragon who had gone missing. Throughout the mission, they met lots of difficulties like a faulty carpet, a leaking magical sword and evil wizards who were actually the mastermind behind the whole thing. However, they too met kind people like Morwen and magician Telemain to help them out and to complete their mission. The team of four fought bravely with the wizards with magical swords and buckets of soapy lemon water.

    Eventually, the managed to save Kazul and punish the wizards for kidnapping him and stealing magic from the Enchanted Forest.
 
The story ended with a joyous occasion of King Menanbar and Princess Cimorene getting married and having blissful lives ahead of them.

Setting
Enchanted forest/Mountains of Morning/Flat Top Mountain Cave of Stone Icicles
    The setting created in the book is truly fantastical and brimming with magic. The strange castle, which isn’t exactly in the center of the Enchanted Forest, is one example. Strands of magic were floating everywhere and every time, all you have to do is to gather the magic and create spells out of it.

    The setting is a very exciting one too as nobody can expect what would appear next in this forest. Moreover, the story goes beyond the boundaries of the forest into other magical places like the Mountains of morning.

    The setting allows the reader’s imagination to expand, urging the reader to read on to find out what will happen next. In a magical place like that, it also makes readers wonder how far can the magic go and how many more places like this are there.


Quotes
 <<For a moment, nothing happened. Then Mendanbar felt a tentative swelling of magic around the window. “I think it needs a boost,” he said.>>

 <<Power surged around the window, and the glass went milk-white. “What did you do?” Mendanbar said, impressed.>>

 <<“It’s a dragon spell,” Cimorene told him, keeping her eyes fixed on the window. “It’s easy to remember, and it’s not hard to adapt it to do just about anything. I found it in Kazul’s – look!”>>

 <<The window glass had cleared. Through the circular plane, Mendanbar could see the inside of a large cave. A sphere of golden light, like a giant glowing soap bubble, covered half the cave, and inside the glow was a dragon. In front of the bubble stood two tall bearded men in long robes, carrying staffs of polished wood.>>

 <<“Wizards,” Cimorene said angrily. “I knew it!”>>


Author's Background
    Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her second book at once, having become permanently hooked on writing by this time.

    Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.
Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).
In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.

    Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.

    She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cats, Merlin, Brisen, and Nimue. She has no children, but as of this writing, she does have four nieces and four nephews ranging in age from seven months to twelve years old and in geographical location from Maine to Alabama.

She has published twelve and a half books:
Shadow Magic, Daughter of Witches, The Seven Towers, Talking to Dragons, The Harp of Imach Thyssel, Caught in Crystal, Snow White and Rose Red, Dealing with Dragons, Mairelon the Magician, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, The Raven Ring, and a collaboration with fellow Minneapolis author Caroline Stevermer, Sorcery and Cecelia, as well as a collection of short stories titled Book of Enchantments. She is also part of the Liavek shared-world anthology.

Mood and Atmosphere
    The atmosphere in this book is generally harm-hearted. Several ridiculous situations occurred in the novels which lightens up the mood and crates a pleasant atmosphere for the plot to carry on. Love also develops between the king and the princess which brings much joy to the readers and the magical happiness is created.

Style of Writing
     The journey to search for the King of Dragons also creates an air of suspense and excitement in the story. Obstacles they met and overcame were thrilling and fun.

    This is indeed a good book and has a very happy ending, which provides the reader a sense of satisfaction and joy for the characters in the book as the style of writing carries a light tone and happiness is always around the corner.

Characters
    The interesting characters in the book came in all sorts and of all kinds. The muddle-head giants and intellectual magician and many others added lots of fun in the book. The King of Mendanbar is truly a wonderful character. He isn’t perfect, which makes his role in the book real and easier for me to relate to his feelings. Characters like Cimorene are truly different from the normal stuck-up and brainless princesses you would expect.


Opinions
    This is a generally warm-hearted, humorous and fun book. The interesting characters in the book came in all sorts and of all kinds. The muddle-head giants and intellectual magician and many others added lots of fun in the book. This book is also written with a little reference with Jack and The Beanstalk and that created laughter in me. Methods used to destroy wizards and ideas in the books are hilarious and totally out of the world.

    The King of Mendanbar is truly a wonderful character. He isn’t perfect, which makes his role in the book real and easier for me to relate to his feelings. Characters like Cimorene are truly different from the normal stuck-up and brainless princesses you would expect. Thus, an introduction to a new character also creates a pleasant surprise for the reader, urging him to read on to discover more of them.


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