Do Not Disturb The Dragons (Wondermere #1) by Michelle Robinson

Book Review Jan 28, 2024

My review

3/5 stars

My son borrowed this out of the library because he liked the idea of it being about dragons. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was also about a strong-willed Princess called Grace.

Grace was a fun character, struggling with her restricted role at court when she knows she's capable of more. While she is a female character, I feel like her appeal is universal, as all kids can relate to wanting to break free from the rules their parents set for them. The message of the book is that not all rules are right to follow, and sometimes good can come from exploring a new way to do things - just because it's always been done that way doesn't mean that there isn't a better to do things.

From a parental point of view, I'm not sure I entirely appreciated the delivery of that message. It felt a little like an open invitation to defy the will of your parents without any real consequence. I'm sure my son loved it, but there has to be a balance to be struck around no one being 100% right all the time, instead of just making the poor King out to be useless at setting discipline, or as someone to be inherently ignored at all times.

Grace's relationship with her sister Portia, and the relationship that develops with her friend Bram, are both lovely to read - entirely supportive and fun. Bram was a favourite character of mine as I was reading; he was entirely non-judgemental, caring and warm, as well as having a sense of humour and a dash of cheekiness about him.

The fairytale aspects of the tale drove the underlying plot-line, but felt a little under-utilised within the plot in my opinion. I know my son would have enjoyed learning more about the dragons and the unicorns.

My boy really enjoyed this story and we've moved straight on to the second in the series (he borrowed all three at the same time). It has been decent enough as a bedtime read, but I'm a little wary of what he is taking away from the stories.

Book blurb

Two intrepid girls go from ladies-in-waiting to knights-in-action when they rip up the rule book and go searching for adventure!

Wondermere is the luckiest kingdom in the land, all thanks to the dragons that nest on top of the castle. Nobody wants them to fly away, so everyone has to FOLLOW THE RULES and make sure everything STAYS THE SAME to keep the dragons HAPPY.

Princess Grace HATES the rules. They stop her doing everything she loves, like PLAYING TROLL-O and WEARING TROUSERS and training to be a BRAVE KNIGHT. Why do boys get all the FUN!

Determined to prove that the rules are a LOAD OF OLD SWAMP ROT, Grace and her sister Princess Portia secretly enter the year's BIGGEST TROLL-O TOURNAMENT. A couple of rule-breakers couldn't possibly disturb the dragons . could they?