"The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" (aka the "Dealing with Dragons" series) by Patricia C. Wrede (series; 1985-1993)

 **Simply put, some of the best children's fantasy out there.  And with an all-time great main character**

Long before "Shrek" came along, Patricia C. Wrede's fantastic (and funny) Enchanted Forest chronicles was playfully mocking the tropes of Western fairytales--while simultaneously being a fantastic story of magic and adventure

Amusingly, even fans that grew up with the series might not realize that Book 4 "Talking to Dragons" was actually the first book written, published a solid 5 years before "Dealing with Dragons", the first book in chronology and now considered the first book of the series

Apparently, Jane Yolen (I don't know if you all know her name, but in addition to being a very well-respected editor, to me she'll always be the author of the truly fantastic "Commander Toad" series of children's books) wanted a short fantasy story.  She told Wrede, "well, what about the mother character in 'Talking to Dragons'?  She seemed interesting.  Maybe write a story about her."  Wrede presumably replied, "I mean, she was in like a chapter and a half of the book, but I'll see what I can do . . ."

Said story was called "The Improper Princess" and was quite nice, detailing a young woman who despaired of learning nothing but etiquette and protocol (not to mention being married off to a neighboring prince).  Bored, she bullies (Wrede's words, not mine) the armsmaster into teaching her how to fence.  When the king discovers that and stops her, she goes and learns magic from the court magician, Latin from the court philosopher, cooking from the castle chef, economics from the court treasurer . . . discovered and stopped by her father every time.  And when she realizes that they plan to marry her off to this cute enough but completely airheaded prince from the neighboring kingdom, she decides she's had enough and runs off to become a dragon's princess--which sounds a lot more fun, now doesn't it?  Great little story, good for her

It might have ended there, if not for Yolen liking the story to the point that she asked Wrede to expand it into a novel (the short story is the first roughly chapter and a half of "Dealing with Dragons").  And it might have ended there if not for Yolen saying, "not only will we buy 'Dealing', but we'll reprint 'Talking' and we'd like to pay for a third book to connect the two".  And it might have ended there if not for Wrede herself saying, "listen, I tried, but I need more than one book to connect 'Dealing' to 'Talking'.  Will you pay for two more, and we'll turn it into a quartet?"

What I'm trying to say is that this is a series about a young woman named Cimorene, who showed up as a minor background character, and managed to elbow and shove her way into forcing her author to write three more books

Oh, and along the way she's often been hailed as a feminist character, an icon of a strong woman.  Wrede herself had something to say about that:

Explaining this occasionally confounds people who think that I wrote Cimorene as some sort of feminist statement about what women can achieve. I find their surprise hard to understand. My real-life family and friends are full of women like Cimorene, from my twin cousins, who have been fur trappers in the Alaskan bush for most of their lives, to my mother, who became an engineer long before women’s liberation officially opened “nontraditional careers” to women, to my grandmothers, aunts, and cousins, who were office managers, farmers, nurses, nuns, geologists, and bookkeepers, among other things. None of these women takes any guff from anyone. They aren’t proving a point about what women could, should, or can do; they are ignoring that whole question (which none of them considers a question worth asking at all) and getting on with doing the things that interest them most.

And yup, that's why Cimorene works as a character.  Yes, she does save the day, wields a magic sword and casts spells and defeats wizards and monsters.  But in the end, she's not doing it to try and be a hero, she's just being practical and dealing with the job at hand

(she also foils the wizards solely because they assume she's an airheaded young princess and she deliberately doesn't correct them; advises a giant who's getting too old for marauding to get into consulting; comes up with some creative ideas for a dwarf who knows the secret of spinning straw into gold; and similar things.  Again, she's not trying to make a statement, just sees problems and fixes them)

And yes, these books are charming and delightful and frequently hilarious.  There are elements of fairy tales mixed in across the world, sometimes they appear exactly as we expect them, others less so (one of the fan favorite characters is the witch Morwen, who has bright orange hair, likes to keep her house clean, and refuses to walk with a hunch because she's short enough and wants to look people in the eyes)

Really, that's the theme of the entire series.  So many of the characters and entities in this book are told that they have to act in a certain way--either directly by other characters; or simply indirectly by the pressures and tropes of fairy tales.  Princesses must be airheaded ornaments, giants must be angry marauders, dwarves must follow the strictures of their ancient crafts.  And then each of them is given the opportunity to ask, "but what if I don't do that?  What if i just live my life the way I want to?"  Some of the characters are content the way they are.  Others seize the opportunity.  Oh, and then there are the cats, who don't ever have to be told they're allowed to do what they want:

“He doesn’t seem very impressed,” Cimorene commented in some amusement.

“Why should he be?” Kazul said. 

“Well, you’re a dragon,” Cimorene answered, a little taken aback. 

“What difference does that make to a cat?”

I loved this book, however, for Cimorene first and foremost.  Because she's just fun to read.  I don't even know if Wrede, you know, the author, realized what happened here.  She wrote a story about Cimorene, a young woman who was told she had to be a "proper" princess and decided instead to run away and become a dragon's princess and learn swordfighting and spellcasting and save at least one kingdom (no spoilers).  But more than that, Cimorene was told that she was a minor background character in her son's story, and she said, "nope.  I have more to say."  She bullied (again, Wrede's words, not mine) the armsmaster, she bullied the court magician . . . and in the end, it turned out that Cimorene managed to bully her own author into writing three books she'd never planned to write

Cimorene is a badass.  We all need more Cimorene in our lives

I loved these books