Published: 2008
It's about: Creel's aunt has the brilliant idea of sending her niece to the local dragon, so that perhaps some noble prince or knight will come and rescue Creel and marry her, thus resulting in the entire family living with them and ending their poverty. Creel has other ideas and befriends the dragon and convinces him to give her something from his hoard, which particular hoard contains shoes. She finds a comfortable pair that fits her and goes to the city in hopes of starting a dress shop. On the way, she befriends more dragons, and when she gets to the city, her shoes begin to cause more trouble than she ever bargained for.
I thought: Although slow for the first few pages, the moment Creel befriends the first dragon, the story takes off. It's remarkably engaging, although not perfect. The plot was interesting and the world intriguing, but the prose was flawed and a little trite. Not all of the characters were as well-rounded as I would have liked, but I was so absorbed by this book that I didn't let it get to me until I read the sequels. The dragons were probably the most interesting characters, but Creel was just as good. I got strong Goose Girl vibes from this, but in a good way. I really did like this book.
Verdict: Sure, we can stick it on the shelf.
Reading Recommendations: It's a YA fantasy novel, so I'm not sure how many people on here are interested in it. I, however, loved it, and recommend it to anyone of any age. It makes for a good fluffy read.
Warnings: Nothing. It practically squeaks, it's so clean.
Favorite excerpts: "Glass. Everywhere I looked there was glass. I had had no idea that there were so many colors in the world, let alone that glass could be made in such hues. The cave was filled with stained glass windows of every size, and depicting every beast and god and legendary hero imaginable. They hung from the ceiling on fine silver chains, and somehow, despite the fact that we were deep in a hill in the middle of Rath Forest, light shone through them."