I'm not quite sure how I feel about this story. I did not love it or enjoy it the way I have other Levine titles and have been having some trouble nailing down why.The book has characteristics that usually make a good read. The plot follows a series of problems that should have been interesting, but failed to rouse my interest until halfway through the story. I grew to like the talking, miserly dragon obsessed with deduction and induction; I grew to somewhat like the ogre hated by all; I even grew to like the dog, Nesspa, of whom we see very little.
The person I did not grow to like and still did not like at story's end was the protagonist, the main character in whose head we are stuck for the whole book. The specific reasons why elude me, but I believe part of it may have been her tendency to follow the path before her, as set in motion by others. She was not very independent, and her fascination with "mansioning" (a word I came to severely dislike; why not say "acting/pretending/imagining/performing?") to the exclusion of more important/interesting devices became bothersome.
Perhaps I might enjoy this story better were it written in third person and not so tied to Elodie and her thoughts. As it stands, not a horrible read, good for fans of Levine, but not her best work in my opinion.
Side note: watching "Princess Bride" while writing this and wondering, with all the other cliches, tropes and stereotypes it hit, why it didn't have a dragon. Random thoughts.