After a shaky beginning, Calling on Dragons builds up enough excitement to earn a 4-star rating -- although it was very tempting to simply walk away and mark this one as DNF in the first chapter or two. The biggest flaw of this book is the overabundance of talking animals. We meet 12 talking cats in the first chapter, and it appeared that I was actually going to have to pay attention and sort out which was which. 
 Fortunately, only a few of the cats (plus a rabbit who's been turned into a seven-foot-tall, blue, winged donkey) are involved in the rest of the action, and the attention shifts back to familiar characters from the first two books in the series, Cimorene and Morwen. Someone has stolen the magical sword from the Enchanted Forest, and these two terrific women (along with the cats and donkey and the King of the Dragons) set off to reclaim the sword before disaster strikes. 
 The action becomes quite a lot of fun, with plenty of funny dialogue and situations to liven up the adventure. There are hints of danger - but it never ends up feeling particularly threatening. 
 This series is quite entertaining and a good pick for sharing with kids. My 12-year-old son is reading the books at the same time as I am, and he's enjoying it very much. We've both become involved with the characters and the story, and plan to start #4 right away.