"Wrede's strengths are numerous: sparkling dialogue, amusingly fractured fairy-tale conventions, solid characterization, plenty of action, and truly terrific chapter headings." -SLJ

In this adventure, wizards are draining the Enchanted Forest of its magic, and have even managed to steal King Mendenbar's sword. Queen Cimorene (now pregnant), Morwen the witch (and her cats), Telemain the magician, Kazul the dragon, and a rabbit-turned-blue-donkey called Killer all hare off on the quest to retrieve the sword and banish the wizards. ( )

I remember being so excited when this book came out. I had forgotten it had ended on such a bloody cliffhanger! My 12 year old self must have been devastated to have to wait yet again for the next book. Thankfully, I seem to recall it came out fairly soon after.

Okay, so much love for this book. Morwen's the POV character! Blue floating donkey with wings, named Killer! Cats being cats! Firewitch! And enough sly references to childhood stories to make me grin (Farmer MacDonald redoing the economic model of his father's farm, Rachel letting down her chair).

One thing that always bothered me... whatever happened to Killer? ( )

I probably would have enjoyed this MUCH more as a paper book. The full cast audio version just really didn't do it for me -- between the annoying character voices and the stunted plot, it left me feeling restless and irritated. I kept thinking, ok, I know they said this is why they are doing x..., but why are they doing that? Ugh, Telemaine is speaking again. Really? Nine cats and they all need separate actors? And I hate the ending. I've never much cared for books that don't resolve within their own boundaries -- even series books, which I like, need to resolve the immediate action or adventure within the book or I get really cranky. Liked the first 2 books. May try to read the 4th. ( )

Bringing this down to 4 stars because while I still find these books highly enjoyable I wouldnt call them 5 stars anymore (at least for me). ( )

This book is definitely the weakest in the series. Maybe it's because Mendanbar is largely a silent character. Maybe it's because it's hard for a 14-year-old to sympathize with a pregnant action-heroine, and maybe it's just slow... ( )