This is a comic fantasy in which the fairy tale princess runs away to live with a dragon. Surely anything is better than the boring required princess lessons. But then, how does she convince all the princes and knights to leave her and her dragon alone? Why won’t her parents just settle down and realize she enjoys being chief cook and bottle washer to a dragon?

In this book are typical fairy tale princesses pining away for rescue. Cimorene sends her unwanted princes their directions. When she meets the wizard, he’s not bent on helping her and she is intent on not letting him help her or anything else. When the new King of the Dragons is being chosen, Cimorene has to foil an attempt to stack the results. She succeeds and her friend ends up living happily ever after, while she becomes the royal librarian and chef.

It is a light hearted tale that pokes fun at fairy tales. Good guys win and bad guys lose though, so it is still a fairy tale itself.

In this the wizards do not have to be bad, but they all are. Magic is an inherent part of life. There is no religion other than good guy/bad guy morality based choices.

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

reviewed by me on a disappearing website