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Wings of Fire #15
The Flames of Hope
The #1 New York Times bestselling series is hotter than ever, and this thrilling conclusion to the Lost Continent Prophecy arc is a must-read!
In the last installment of the third arc of the Wings of Fire series, tensions are higher than ever as we prepare for a fight for the survival of all dragonkind!
In the last installment of the third arc of the Wings of Fire series, tensions are higher than ever as we prepare for a fight for the survival of all dragonkind!
330 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2022
About the author
Tui T. Sutherland
143 books5,473 followersOkay, I know what you’re thinking. Tui? What kind of name is that? Is it short for something?
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 654 reviews
April 8, 2022
Rating: 4 out of 10
If I close my eyes and concentrate very hard, I can almost believe this was just a late April Fools’ joke and the actual book is going to come out any day now.
What a disappointment.
If you want to enjoy this book, I’d say just don’t go with any expectations whatsoever. Because all those things you think are going to happen and are so excited about? Nah. They just don’t.
The thing about this book is that nothing that does happen in it is necessarily bad, it’s what doesn’t happen that bothers me so much. Blue is almost nonexistent in this book, Luna doesn’t use her flamesilk for anything more useful than making lights, and worst of all, there’s no big battle at the end! (there is a battle, but it happens pretty much off-screen and doesn’t last that much). It’s all just too easy!
It wasn’t all bad, though. I enjoyed the bits about the Scorching, some of the new characters (love you Dusky), the friendship between Luna and Cricket, etc. The overall idea for the book was good: it just wasn’t right for the ending of this arc.
And I think that’s my main problem with The Flames of Hope: it’s not a bad story, but it is a bad conclusion. It doesn’t tie up any loose ends and at times it just pretends that previous books or characters never existed or had any relevance at all. For example, while Freedom’s (who was just recently introduced) character arc was great, Wasp (who was the main villain for the first half of the arc) didn’t even have a proper ending to her character (she was literally just sent to jail. Offscreen. It still hurts to think about).
This arc was decidedly the messiest Wings of Fire’s ever had. The first three books established a clear plot, villain, and objective, but then the fourth one came out and it seemed like one very long spin-off. I enjoyed it, though, despite the fact that I knew it would only further complicate things for the arc going forward. And turns out I was right! ‘Losing’ that book really took a toll on the overall arc quality; the ending was rushed and did a terrible job at closing any previous plots.
And now here’s the part where, despite everything I’ve talked about, I explain how excited I am for the next arc anyway. Because I can’t stop myself.
But really, this is just Darkness of Dragons all over again. All I can hope for is that these disappointing arc endings don’t end up becoming a habit.
If I close my eyes and concentrate very hard, I can almost believe this was just a late April Fools’ joke and the actual book is going to come out any day now.
What a disappointment.
If you want to enjoy this book, I’d say just don’t go with any expectations whatsoever. Because all those things you think are going to happen and are so excited about? Nah. They just don’t.
The thing about this book is that nothing that does happen in it is necessarily bad, it’s what doesn’t happen that bothers me so much. Blue is almost nonexistent in this book, Luna doesn’t use her flamesilk for anything more useful than making lights, and worst of all, there’s no big battle at the end! (there is a battle, but it happens pretty much off-screen and doesn’t last that much). It’s all just too easy!
It wasn’t all bad, though. I enjoyed the bits about the Scorching, some of the new characters (love you Dusky), the friendship between Luna and Cricket, etc. The overall idea for the book was good: it just wasn’t right for the ending of this arc.
And I think that’s my main problem with The Flames of Hope: it’s not a bad story, but it is a bad conclusion. It doesn’t tie up any loose ends and at times it just pretends that previous books or characters never existed or had any relevance at all. For example, while Freedom’s (who was just recently introduced) character arc was great, Wasp (who was the main villain for the first half of the arc) didn’t even have a proper ending to her character (she was literally just sent to jail. Offscreen. It still hurts to think about).
This arc was decidedly the messiest Wings of Fire’s ever had. The first three books established a clear plot, villain, and objective, but then the fourth one came out and it seemed like one very long spin-off. I enjoyed it, though, despite the fact that I knew it would only further complicate things for the arc going forward. And turns out I was right! ‘Losing’ that book really took a toll on the overall arc quality; the ending was rushed and did a terrible job at closing any previous plots.
And now here’s the part where, despite everything I’ve talked about, I explain how excited I am for the next arc anyway. Because I can’t stop myself.
But really, this is just Darkness of Dragons all over again. All I can hope for is that these disappointing arc endings don’t end up becoming a habit.
August 21, 2022
It seems golden days of the series are long gone. I feel that over time story focused on younger and younger audience, until it ended up being hug story with silly dialogues without any tension.
Remember how in arc one dragons were being stabbed through head, burned to death, and locked in neverending war?
Remember how in arc one dragons were being stabbed through head, burned to death, and locked in neverending war?
April 14, 2022
"The sky was full of dragons."
Give me a minute while I go scream into a pillow.
Okay, I'm back now.
I am so sad. So sad. But everything's fine. It's fine. It's not like I've lived vicariously through these fictional dragons for the last seven years of my life.
Hah.
This book was just really good. All of the classic Wings of Fire elements were there for me. Did I think it lived up to my other favorite Wings of Fire books? No. Nothing can beat Moon Rising, Darkness of Dragons, or Darkstalker. This was like 2nd tier WoF book. The Dangerous Gift was a massive fluff book before this, and it was sooooo worth it though.
I would say that this book is a really solid Wings of Fire book, but not a great Wings of Fire conclusion. I personally would rather Sutherland merge books 14 (the fluff book) and 15, then give us one of her real conclusion novels like The Brightest Night and Darkness of Dragons. I would have really like to see more plotline merging and epic battle royale like from her other books.
Between the book right before this and the conclusion of the previous arc, I think it's safe to say that one of Sutherland's greatest and most prominent theme was empathy. At the end of Arc 1, Tui created such an action-packed, adventure-filled series about inherently violent creatures. In Arc 2 she took it a step further and created intertribal connections that dove her readers deeper into the world of Pyrrhia. With book 11, she gave us a new continent with new dragons, and deeper concepts. (I mean, how many children's fantasy books tackle slavery?) And with the final book of the Wings of Fire Saga, she wrapped up her incredibly complex worlds with 330 pages in promoting peace, love, and empathy.
Luna was the perfect protagonist to end this series on. It felt only fitting. She was one of the first rebellious Silkwings we got to know (RIP I still wish Swordtail got a POV), and the last to share her moments with us. The whole middle part of the book was just so fascinating and well executed, and the ending was lovely. I just wanted a longer epilogue like book 10, Darkness of Dragons) where Tui revisited all her characters before the end. I still hope we get a novella with more closure.
I have one thing to critique, and it's really small, but it really frustrated me. The ways Tui T. Sutherland has woven in LGBTQ+ representation in her novels in the past have flown really well and worked coherently with her world. Unfortunately, in this novel though, she wrote something that totally took me out of her world, which for a fantasy writer, is the greatest sin.
She writes,
"They use they and them pronouns. Like that travelling librarian we met, remember?"
Can I just say: that was THE most awkward and pop-culture-esque she could have possibly brought in non-binary individuals. I'm glad Sutherland found ways to have rep, but please articulate it like we're still in ancient dragon history, not someone's instagram bio.
Anyways, I would like to end on a positive note, by saying thank you. Thank you, Tui, for giving me such an imaginative, dragon-filled childhood. I'm honestly getting emotional typing this because this series has been everything to me, and I'm so sad it has come to an end. I will forever love the dragons that I was inspired into drawing, and the stories I was urged into writing. Thank you, Tui, for coming to my school and signing my book. I will forever remember this series as what made me a reader.
<3
~~edit 04/10/22~~
THIS IS IT. I'M STARTING MY fiNaL WINGS OF FIRE BOOK.
~~original~~
OMY WORD THE COVER RELEASE I AM SOOOO EXCITED.
*also high key depressed to see the conclusion of this series, but I'm here for it*
Give me a minute while I go scream into a pillow.
Okay, I'm back now.
I am so sad. So sad. But everything's fine. It's fine. It's not like I've lived vicariously through these fictional dragons for the last seven years of my life.
Hah.
This book was just really good. All of the classic Wings of Fire elements were there for me. Did I think it lived up to my other favorite Wings of Fire books? No. Nothing can beat Moon Rising, Darkness of Dragons, or Darkstalker. This was like 2nd tier WoF book. The Dangerous Gift was a massive fluff book before this, and it was sooooo worth it though.
I would say that this book is a really solid Wings of Fire book, but not a great Wings of Fire conclusion. I personally would rather Sutherland merge books 14 (the fluff book) and 15, then give us one of her real conclusion novels like The Brightest Night and Darkness of Dragons. I would have really like to see more plotline merging and epic battle royale like from her other books.
Between the book right before this and the conclusion of the previous arc, I think it's safe to say that one of Sutherland's greatest and most prominent theme was empathy. At the end of Arc 1, Tui created such an action-packed, adventure-filled series about inherently violent creatures. In Arc 2 she took it a step further and created intertribal connections that dove her readers deeper into the world of Pyrrhia. With book 11, she gave us a new continent with new dragons, and deeper concepts. (I mean, how many children's fantasy books tackle slavery?) And with the final book of the Wings of Fire Saga, she wrapped up her incredibly complex worlds with 330 pages in promoting peace, love, and empathy.
Luna was the perfect protagonist to end this series on. It felt only fitting. She was one of the first rebellious Silkwings we got to know (RIP I still wish Swordtail got a POV), and the last to share her moments with us. The whole middle part of the book was just so fascinating and well executed, and the ending was lovely. I just wanted a longer epilogue like book 10, Darkness of Dragons) where Tui revisited all her characters before the end. I still hope we get a novella with more closure.
I have one thing to critique, and it's really small, but it really frustrated me. The ways Tui T. Sutherland has woven in LGBTQ+ representation in her novels in the past have flown really well and worked coherently with her world. Unfortunately, in this novel though, she wrote something that totally took me out of her world, which for a fantasy writer, is the greatest sin.
She writes,
"They use they and them pronouns. Like that travelling librarian we met, remember?"
Can I just say: that was THE most awkward and pop-culture-esque she could have possibly brought in non-binary individuals. I'm glad Sutherland found ways to have rep, but please articulate it like we're still in ancient dragon history, not someone's instagram bio.
Anyways, I would like to end on a positive note, by saying thank you. Thank you, Tui, for giving me such an imaginative, dragon-filled childhood. I'm honestly getting emotional typing this because this series has been everything to me, and I'm so sad it has come to an end. I will forever love the dragons that I was inspired into drawing, and the stories I was urged into writing. Thank you, Tui, for coming to my school and signing my book. I will forever remember this series as what made me a reader.
<3
~~edit 04/10/22~~
THIS IS IT. I'M STARTING MY fiNaL WINGS OF FIRE BOOK.
~~original~~
OMY WORD THE COVER RELEASE I AM SOOOO EXCITED.
*also high key depressed to see the conclusion of this series, but I'm here for it*
April 18, 2022
If it was possible to rate a book zero stars, i would, but i cant, so one star will have to do. this book was a very disappointing conclusion that we had to wait forever for. It was very hyped, but in reality, it was terrible. the first few chapters were good, but there wasn't much action and it was mostly talking and understanding differences between races. The main character spent two thirds of the book in the same spot, and while they did see different areas in their mind, most of it was so boring. This book did not live up to the hype of the finale of the third arc and possibly the last wings of fire book. As i said, it was really boring except for a few parts and wasn't what i would expect from wings of fire, which always presented a lot of action and humor in an exciting plot. Overall, I found this book disappointing and boring.
May 5, 2022
This third arc has been pretty hit-and-miss with me, and the final installment was a definite "miss". It's a shame because I fell in love with the first series and the second series was just as amazing, even if the conclusion was a bit of a cop-out for the villains. But this one started off with an interesting idea and a truly terrifying villain, only to peter out at the last minute into this.
I think I've expressed enough times how disappointed I am that humans developed a large role in this series. It was a much more unique take to have them be pets or prey for the dragons. The way humans were involved in this last one had me rolling my eyes. I don't like to drop spoilers in my reviews, so all I have to say is how lackluster the final antagonist ended up being. We had so many great ones in the past two series. What was building up with the devil plant was much more interesting than what we ended up with.
This book also seemed to sideline the characters a lot. Our POV character is not active for most of the story, and she's separated from other characters for a large portion as well. We don't really get to know what those characters are doing, which is a shame because they were all built up either in past installments or in this one (in the case of Bullfrog) to have some great dynamics between them. But no, we get Luna with a brand new character and a lot of exposition dump. Thinking back on how the last two series had such epic final scenes, this one feels like it went out with a whimper instead of a bang.
I admit I did still end up crying, but in all honesty the character involved was so under-developed and annoying that what happened didn't feel entirely earned. If it was a character we knew and had followed along with for several books now (like Blue or Cricket) then I think it would've hit a lot harder. I refer back to the first series again where Starflight is permanently blinded and Clay was wounded so he walks with a limp. Characters were killed, tortured, burned, and the readers were treated like a mature audience. This series felt messy and this book particularly felt like it was preaching a certain message.
I'm not sure if I'll be coming back to this if there are more books. Especially if the human characters keep getting larger roles. I'll stick to the first two series, thanks.
I think I've expressed enough times how disappointed I am that humans developed a large role in this series. It was a much more unique take to have them be pets or prey for the dragons. The way humans were involved in this last one had me rolling my eyes. I don't like to drop spoilers in my reviews, so all I have to say is how lackluster the final antagonist ended up being. We had so many great ones in the past two series. What was building up with the devil plant was much more interesting than what we ended up with.
This book also seemed to sideline the characters a lot. Our POV character is not active for most of the story, and she's separated from other characters for a large portion as well. We don't really get to know what those characters are doing, which is a shame because they were all built up either in past installments or in this one (in the case of Bullfrog) to have some great dynamics between them. But no, we get Luna with a brand new character and a lot of exposition dump. Thinking back on how the last two series had such epic final scenes, this one feels like it went out with a whimper instead of a bang.
I admit I did still end up crying, but in all honesty the character involved was so under-developed and annoying that what happened didn't feel entirely earned. If it was a character we knew and had followed along with for several books now (like Blue or Cricket) then I think it would've hit a lot harder. I refer back to the first series again where Starflight is permanently blinded and Clay was wounded so he walks with a limp. Characters were killed, tortured, burned, and the readers were treated like a mature audience. This series felt messy and this book particularly felt like it was preaching a certain message.
I'm not sure if I'll be coming back to this if there are more books. Especially if the human characters keep getting larger roles. I'll stick to the first two series, thanks.
January 18, 2021
Hi. Im one of the first readers of this book. It has not been finished yet but there are going to be a lot of surprises. I have just read chapter 1 and it is amazing. The title has not been chosen yet. Even though I have read chapter 1, it is still not confirmed to be in the book and could change. Tui was just playing around with different ways of writing the book and the perspective has not yet been settled on. The original idea was for the protagonist to be Jerboa but we have noot seen a lot of her in the series so it might not work out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2022
Parents be warned. This book was very disappointing. I was saddened by the authors choice to indoctrinate children into all the woke talking points. The author promotes, gender fluidity, the use of plural pronouns for a singular individual, LGBTQ relationships, even touched on climate change, and a vilification of men as the root of evil.
This book was written as a pandering piece to identify the author's allegiances to wokism. This is evidenced by the use of plural pronouns when a character is introduced, but changing to singular pronouns later in the book when referring to the character again. It is very hard to use them and they pronouns and have the reader understand who is doing what in a scene. So, the author reverted back to normal writing and used he and she.
To be clear, I have no problem with an adult book having this content. The fact that this is a tween/teen, children's book is my problem. I have read all the wings of fire books up to this point, but I will never read another one because of the woke agenda.
This book was written as a pandering piece to identify the author's allegiances to wokism. This is evidenced by the use of plural pronouns when a character is introduced, but changing to singular pronouns later in the book when referring to the character again. It is very hard to use them and they pronouns and have the reader understand who is doing what in a scene. So, the author reverted back to normal writing and used he and she.
To be clear, I have no problem with an adult book having this content. The fact that this is a tween/teen, children's book is my problem. I have read all the wings of fire books up to this point, but I will never read another one because of the woke agenda.
Want to read
April 5, 2022Edit: 4/5/2022
OMFG.
OMFG.
OMFG.
OMFG
It came out today!!!
… and I still haven’t gotten it yet :(
but I will soon!!
Edit: 10/10/2021
OMG OMG OMG OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAW THE COVER!! IT IS GORGEOUS!!!
And THE FLAMES OF HOPE?? O.M.G. AND IT'S LUNA.
WHEN IS THE BOOK COMING OUT WHEN IS THE BOOK COMING OUT????
*checks date online*
APRIL 5, 2022? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? TUI, HURRY UP.
Characters-I-Think-Tui-Might-Use-For-the-Final-POV
1. Jerboa (she's an important character, but there's nothing else we as readers can get from her)
2. Sky (he's flying to Pantala, but I have a feeling Tui might not pick him)
3. Wasp (what if we find out more about Wasp's backstory?)
4. Luna (she might not be the most interesting narrator)
5. Swordtail (he might not be the most interesting narrator)
6. Kinkajou (lots of fans have been anticipating for a Kinkajou book, but Tui's already moved on from her)
7. Rowan (we won't learn much from Rowan either)
Tui, you're an excellent writer... please hurry up and get the fifteenth book published (haha, no pressure there, totally), but give us an epic ending!
I'm only kidding. You know what you need to do, Tui. We believe in you.
OMFG.
OMFG.
OMFG.
OMFG
It came out today!!!
… and I still haven’t gotten it yet :(
but I will soon!!
Edit: 10/10/2021
OMG OMG OMG OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAW THE COVER!! IT IS GORGEOUS!!!
And THE FLAMES OF HOPE?? O.M.G. AND IT'S LUNA.
WHEN IS THE BOOK COMING OUT WHEN IS THE BOOK COMING OUT????
*checks date online*
APRIL 5, 2022? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? TUI, HURRY UP.
Characters-I-Think-Tui-Might-Use-For-the-Final-POV
1. Jerboa (she's an important character, but there's nothing else we as readers can get from her)
2. Sky (he's flying to Pantala, but I have a feeling Tui might not pick him)
3. Wasp (what if we find out more about Wasp's backstory?)
4. Luna (she might not be the most interesting narrator)
5. Swordtail (he might not be the most interesting narrator)
6. Kinkajou (lots of fans have been anticipating for a Kinkajou book, but Tui's already moved on from her)
7. Rowan (we won't learn much from Rowan either)
Tui, you're an excellent writer... please hurry up and get the fifteenth book published (haha, no pressure there, totally), but give us an epic ending!
I'm only kidding. You know what you need to do, Tui. We believe in you.
Read
November 9, 2020If there is another tribe of new dragons it wouldn’t make sense since we haven’t gotten past the problem of queen wast so introducing more dragons so soon would throw off the balance of the books and making the quality go down. Also stop rating books before they come or before you reed them especially when the book doesn’t even have a name or cover page. I’m sorry If this comment offends anyone
April 14, 2022
I want to begin this review by saying I am trans. I bring that up because I don’t want anyone giving me crap for loving a book that features a nonbinary character and a gay character. If you are homophobic please leave your bigotted, ignorant comment and then leave.
With that out of the way, let’s begin the actual book review. I adored this novel. But I did have a few issues with some minor writing details. Seawing blood has now retconned to be blue, which irritates me. For one, The Lost Heir graphic novel was illustrated with sea wings having red blood. If Sutherland was going to change her mind she probably should have told the illustrators that. I just don’t see why sea wing blood has to be blue now when it was red for every other book in the series. I was also confused as to why Sutherland threw in two random side characters into the story. We may have met Pineapple before, but if we have, I do not remember that. But I don’t mind Pineapple’s inclusion because he had a fair amount of involvement in the story, and ended up playing a fairly major part in the finale. Bullfrog on the other hand did absolutely nothing. He had maybe two pages of dialogue, and zero personality. I don’t even remember if he helped save the day in the end or not. I had to look at my copy because I kept calling Bullfrog Crocodile. These were the only issues I found throughout the entire book.
Moving on to what I enjoyed in the novel. Luna’s struggle with her mental health spoke to me, at a level beyond what it might say to other readers. I have suffered from depression and anxiety since 5th grade. Having a character like Luna deal with her emotions the way she does felt like a reflection of myself. Hiding your sadness behind a smile is something we both do. Luna as a character overall was amazing. She hit that perfect sweet spot between Tsunami, Sundew, Blue, and Cricket.
I loved the fact that Tsunami once again came back to save the day, she is my favorite character and can do no wrong. I can’t get enough of her.
Spoilers after this point.
Before I picked up this book I was thinking we would find out what happened to Queen Monarch, find her descendants and make one of them queen, make Luna queen, or maybe even make Blue the king. I also thought that we would get confirmation that hivewings are not descended from Clearsight. I was wrong because none of that ended up happening. I was hoping that we would find out Snowfall is a poly lesbian, or that Sky is trans but none of those ended up happening either. So until Snowfall is confirmed as a poly lesbian or Sky is confirmed as trans I will continue to believe them both to be true.
Freedom’s story was deeply disturbing to me. This little dragonet is trapped in purgatory with the human that murdered her for thousands of years. Imagine having your entire life stolen from you, forced to watch everyone around you have something you’d kill for. Now Freedom is obviously a beetlewing. Judging from Freedom’s description, she can only be a beetlewing as Luna describes her as not looking like any other living dragon species. Freedom’s origin is fascinating because it implies that the Pantala dragon tribes originated from Pyrrhia. If the Pantala tribes do come from Pyrrhia this means that either Hivewings, Silkwings, and Leafwings are descendants of beetlewings, or they also come from Pyrrhia. Finding out how the Scorching happened hit me out of left field, as I thought that Sutherland was just going to do a Legends book on it. The Scorching playing into how the climax occurred was in no way what I ever thought would happen.
I want to end with how I adore the inclusion of Axolotl and Pineapple. Their inclusion in no way feels like pandering, or to make Sutherland look good. The queer characters in Wings of Fire feel natural. I would die for Axolotl, they are my sweet little human pet that I want to dress in tiny hats. Pineapple is my sweet gay boi, just give him all the naps! Throughout the entire novel, I imagined Axolotl wearing an axolotl hat, and wearing axolotl-themed clothing. Sutherland outdid herself with this book. The Flames of Hope is by far the best arc finale so far. The writing felt solid, the characters were such a treat, and the climax was well crafted. I do wish little details like some tribes having better hearing, higher stamina, or better vision than others that existed in the first arc existed in this one. I want to know how hivewings fly, are Silkwings slower than other tribes? But those are little things from me that I want. If Sutherland continues with this level of quality I know Wings of Fire will continue to pick up more devoted fans and please established fans.
With that out of the way, let’s begin the actual book review. I adored this novel. But I did have a few issues with some minor writing details. Seawing blood has now retconned to be blue, which irritates me. For one, The Lost Heir graphic novel was illustrated with sea wings having red blood. If Sutherland was going to change her mind she probably should have told the illustrators that. I just don’t see why sea wing blood has to be blue now when it was red for every other book in the series. I was also confused as to why Sutherland threw in two random side characters into the story. We may have met Pineapple before, but if we have, I do not remember that. But I don’t mind Pineapple’s inclusion because he had a fair amount of involvement in the story, and ended up playing a fairly major part in the finale. Bullfrog on the other hand did absolutely nothing. He had maybe two pages of dialogue, and zero personality. I don’t even remember if he helped save the day in the end or not. I had to look at my copy because I kept calling Bullfrog Crocodile. These were the only issues I found throughout the entire book.
Moving on to what I enjoyed in the novel. Luna’s struggle with her mental health spoke to me, at a level beyond what it might say to other readers. I have suffered from depression and anxiety since 5th grade. Having a character like Luna deal with her emotions the way she does felt like a reflection of myself. Hiding your sadness behind a smile is something we both do. Luna as a character overall was amazing. She hit that perfect sweet spot between Tsunami, Sundew, Blue, and Cricket.
I loved the fact that Tsunami once again came back to save the day, she is my favorite character and can do no wrong. I can’t get enough of her.
Spoilers after this point.
Before I picked up this book I was thinking we would find out what happened to Queen Monarch, find her descendants and make one of them queen, make Luna queen, or maybe even make Blue the king. I also thought that we would get confirmation that hivewings are not descended from Clearsight. I was wrong because none of that ended up happening. I was hoping that we would find out Snowfall is a poly lesbian, or that Sky is trans but none of those ended up happening either. So until Snowfall is confirmed as a poly lesbian or Sky is confirmed as trans I will continue to believe them both to be true.
Freedom’s story was deeply disturbing to me. This little dragonet is trapped in purgatory with the human that murdered her for thousands of years. Imagine having your entire life stolen from you, forced to watch everyone around you have something you’d kill for. Now Freedom is obviously a beetlewing. Judging from Freedom’s description, she can only be a beetlewing as Luna describes her as not looking like any other living dragon species. Freedom’s origin is fascinating because it implies that the Pantala dragon tribes originated from Pyrrhia. If the Pantala tribes do come from Pyrrhia this means that either Hivewings, Silkwings, and Leafwings are descendants of beetlewings, or they also come from Pyrrhia. Finding out how the Scorching happened hit me out of left field, as I thought that Sutherland was just going to do a Legends book on it. The Scorching playing into how the climax occurred was in no way what I ever thought would happen.
I want to end with how I adore the inclusion of Axolotl and Pineapple. Their inclusion in no way feels like pandering, or to make Sutherland look good. The queer characters in Wings of Fire feel natural. I would die for Axolotl, they are my sweet little human pet that I want to dress in tiny hats. Pineapple is my sweet gay boi, just give him all the naps! Throughout the entire novel, I imagined Axolotl wearing an axolotl hat, and wearing axolotl-themed clothing. Sutherland outdid herself with this book. The Flames of Hope is by far the best arc finale so far. The writing felt solid, the characters were such a treat, and the climax was well crafted. I do wish little details like some tribes having better hearing, higher stamina, or better vision than others that existed in the first arc existed in this one. I want to know how hivewings fly, are Silkwings slower than other tribes? But those are little things from me that I want. If Sutherland continues with this level of quality I know Wings of Fire will continue to pick up more devoted fans and please established fans.
April 9, 2024
Alright, this is gonna sound crazy but I think this book should be in the perspective of the missing Queen Moorhen sent. I feel like Mudwings have the least amount of representation in the whole series. The book in the perspective of a mud wing is the first one and after that we hear very little about mudwings. And this mudwing is the only one of the journey who we know nothing about. Pls tell me if this sounds crazy or if you think it’s actually a good idea.
April 16, 2022
I'm… not sure what emotion this was supposed to invoke?
Like, I'm really not clear on how to feel so instead I just, don't feel.
For one the pacing GOOD GOD THE PACING the pacing was awful and I can't really recall what direction things were going for large chunks of the story. Annnnnd… not a lot… happened? It feels like more stuff should've happened?
And none of the plot was twisty. Y'know? Like, every time a conflict would come up I could see what the result would be, yeah, but that isn't the problem: the problem is that I could also see immediately how things would get there, before the characters themselves saw it, and it just GRATED ON MY NERVES because the next course of action seemed SO OBVIOUS and the characters were all "Oh nooooo what am I gonna doooo??" which made THEM consequentially come off as idiots.
Furthermore there was noooooooo tone carryover from the previous few books. It seemed as if this book belonged to a different series with exactly the same plot but a more rugged, sorta, uh, blocky feel? Like a hissing noise? Picture a hissing noise of like, an upset snake or a pipe with a leak in it, but then the rest of the arc is closer to the sound of clockwork from the inside? Does that make ANY sense whatsoever? I don't know how to convey it.
Uh, some bits and pieces seemed cool at first but upon closer examination and as the plot unfolded they just didn't spark anything. Ooooh, creepy spider-crawling person with a murderous smile? Interesti- oh, it's uh, the Guardian of the Large Hole. It's being mind-controlled, it's back to normal now, it's talking with its friends, no lingering psychological disturbances, okay. I felt like that could've gone somewhere more interesting, and held up a more distinct tone, like uh, maybe like the tone I get from the Tokoroth in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series? Or from like, Vaal Hazak in Monster Hunter: World? I'm awful at explaining these tone-things, but clearly not as awful as Tui T. Sutherland!
Lizard/Freedom seemed like a… lopsided attempt at creating a certain character type, uh, one that I can only describe as like, Agatha Prendergast from Paranorman? But uhm, so, this character was built on the same idea but then it just didn't… hit the uh… emotional buttons? I mean, when I first watched Paranorman, I cried at the part with Aggie's conversation with Norman. And the second time I watched it, I cried. And the third time. And so on. I read this and I felt nothing. Like, yeah, the concept is loaded with potential tragedy but you did it wrong and it failed to become kinetic tragedy, and instead it just sorta fizzled out like a failed baking-soda volcano and everyone left the science fair disappointed and awkward. My explanation of this sounds like a mess but the story itself is a mess. I don't- I don't know what to describe it as?
Like, I'm really not clear on how to feel so instead I just, don't feel.
For one the pacing GOOD GOD THE PACING the pacing was awful and I can't really recall what direction things were going for large chunks of the story. Annnnnd… not a lot… happened? It feels like more stuff should've happened?
And none of the plot was twisty. Y'know? Like, every time a conflict would come up I could see what the result would be, yeah, but that isn't the problem: the problem is that I could also see immediately how things would get there, before the characters themselves saw it, and it just GRATED ON MY NERVES because the next course of action seemed SO OBVIOUS and the characters were all "Oh nooooo what am I gonna doooo??" which made THEM consequentially come off as idiots.
Furthermore there was noooooooo tone carryover from the previous few books. It seemed as if this book belonged to a different series with exactly the same plot but a more rugged, sorta, uh, blocky feel? Like a hissing noise? Picture a hissing noise of like, an upset snake or a pipe with a leak in it, but then the rest of the arc is closer to the sound of clockwork from the inside? Does that make ANY sense whatsoever? I don't know how to convey it.
Uh, some bits and pieces seemed cool at first but upon closer examination and as the plot unfolded they just didn't spark anything. Ooooh, creepy spider-crawling person with a murderous smile? Interesti- oh, it's uh, the Guardian of the Large Hole. It's being mind-controlled, it's back to normal now, it's talking with its friends, no lingering psychological disturbances, okay. I felt like that could've gone somewhere more interesting, and held up a more distinct tone, like uh, maybe like the tone I get from the Tokoroth in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series? Or from like, Vaal Hazak in Monster Hunter: World? I'm awful at explaining these tone-things, but clearly not as awful as Tui T. Sutherland!
Lizard/Freedom seemed like a… lopsided attempt at creating a certain character type, uh, one that I can only describe as like, Agatha Prendergast from Paranorman? But uhm, so, this character was built on the same idea but then it just didn't… hit the uh… emotional buttons? I mean, when I first watched Paranorman, I cried at the part with Aggie's conversation with Norman. And the second time I watched it, I cried. And the third time. And so on. I read this and I felt nothing. Like, yeah, the concept is loaded with potential tragedy but you did it wrong and it failed to become kinetic tragedy, and instead it just sorta fizzled out like a failed baking-soda volcano and everyone left the science fair disappointed and awkward. My explanation of this sounds like a mess but the story itself is a mess. I don't- I don't know what to describe it as?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2022
For the first half of the book it was good, and then once Luna goes into the abyss I was absolutely bored by this. Luna isn't even IN the main action, she just watches it. And the main villain reveal was pretty lame, it turned out to be some random scavenger who doesn't even do much... and the big dramatic defeat of the othermind was extremely anticlimactic. Tui made high stakes feel excruciatingly low, somehow.
Half of the characters in this arc get completely sidelined, Wasp does absolutely nothing other than get Queen Scarlet-ed, Blue has been basically nonexistent books 14-15, and Queen Snowfall (despite being a main PoV character of book 14) has NO appearances other than that one book. Cricket does exist but she's not very important.
Tons of stuff goes unexplained. Why were Sundew and Lynx held up for so long? Why did Lynx decide to reverse the invisibility spell randomly? What even happened to Katydid and Cricket's grandparents? Why were Queen Wasp's SISTERS arrested? It's all very confusing. And there are some blatant errors in this book, such as Tsunami's blood described as being blue.
However, there were some redeeming qualities of this book.
Freedom's sacrifice was very sad to me. The backstory of the Scorching was also interesting (although the flashback was way too long). I also love Dusky and am so glad he found his mother! And also I'm glad of the inclusion of Pineapple and Jambu. They are so cute together!
Overall I think this arc as a whole had a strong start but really fell by the end.
Half of the characters in this arc get completely sidelined, Wasp does absolutely nothing other than get Queen Scarlet-ed, Blue has been basically nonexistent books 14-15, and Queen Snowfall (despite being a main PoV character of book 14) has NO appearances other than that one book. Cricket does exist but she's not very important.
Tons of stuff goes unexplained. Why were Sundew and Lynx held up for so long? Why did Lynx decide to reverse the invisibility spell randomly? What even happened to Katydid and Cricket's grandparents? Why were Queen Wasp's SISTERS arrested? It's all very confusing. And there are some blatant errors in this book, such as Tsunami's blood described as being blue.
However, there were some redeeming qualities of this book.
Freedom's sacrifice was very sad to me. The backstory of the Scorching was also interesting (although the flashback was way too long). I also love Dusky and am so glad he found his mother! And also I'm glad of the inclusion of Pineapple and Jambu. They are so cute together!
Overall I think this arc as a whole had a strong start but really fell by the end.
December 26, 2023
3.5
The plot wasn’t that great throughout the book, and the ending was kind of loose and not that exciting, but I liked Luna’s perspective. The whole othermind thing was also confusing on who was controlling what, and I didn’t like the Cottonmouth person or how a lot of the book was just Luna watching things in the mindspace. My favorite character was probably Dusky and I liked that Luna looked after him underground, and my favorite part was when Luna snapped the breath of evil. Altogether, I thought this book could’ve been better.
The plot wasn’t that great throughout the book, and the ending was kind of loose and not that exciting, but I liked Luna’s perspective. The whole othermind thing was also confusing on who was controlling what, and I didn’t like the Cottonmouth person or how a lot of the book was just Luna watching things in the mindspace. My favorite character was probably Dusky and I liked that Luna looked after him underground, and my favorite part was when Luna snapped the breath of evil. Altogether, I thought this book could’ve been better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2022
My 12 yr old daughter has adored this book series. We were both so disappointed to see the woke liberal agenda sneaking in with the use of they/them pronouns for the human. This is just another sad way that our children are being groomed to believe that gender doesn’t matter.
April 11, 2022
It was a pretty good book and I am hoping for more wings of fire book to come after.
May 31, 2022
I'm giving this a spiteful two stars out of pure spite and dissatisfied disappointment.
November 10, 2023
Hello! I came to write a review on this book, obviously, as I am a kid who has been forever obsessed with this series, but I also came here to argue against other reviews! You’ll see what I mean in a moment.
If you were to summarize this book, I personally would say: “Dragon flies across ocean with one dragon from each tribe, as they believe this is the cure to the war coming to their continent. They get separated along the way, leading to confusion and chaos. As part of the group ventures into a cave, they find clusters of dangerous plants, the plant that brought them here in the first place, covering up some skeletons. These skeletons have manipulated plants into doing what they want. One skeleton finds herself warming up to Luna, the MC, and this leads to the skeleton telling Luna how to save the world”
Now, in NO PLACE, does this summery or ANY OTHER summery go into detail how there are gay dragons or non-binary people or the “woke” (which there is none) things in this book. You know why?? BECAUSE IT DOESNT MATTER THATS WHY! Those gay dragons and non-binary people are just people.
The “Woke” Things: Idk if you’ve got my jist yet, but I’m LIVID at the people naming one star reviews cause “GAY? THEY THEM? OH GOD NO”:
Hon, trust me, your 10 year old child is not whining and crying and running to you because someone uses they/them pronouns or a boy has a boyfriend. Cause that just wouldn’t make sense, would it? You’re talking about how your child shouldn’t know these things, but… they do? That’s why they came “crying” to you about people’s pronouns or partners. So clearly you taught them SOMETHING. And in NO WAY is being non-binary or gay “woke”, that’s just called having regular people in a book, or acceptance. Wokeniess would be Luna and Moon bring Donald Trump and politics into the book, or showing the discrimination that minorities face. That’s not what’s happening here. If you think accepting regular people is “woke” and “bad” and how you need to teach your child your own opinions on people of different races or LGBTQ+, I mean, I guess you do you. I’m not a parent… but I do have parents! That’s right! I’m not fatherless. My dad actually loves me as his kiddo. Same with my mom! As a younger child, I’m a teen now, I remember not knowing any politics, cause my parents weren’t gonna bring that into my life, and I agree with them on that. But, I remember having LGBTQ+ people in my life from an early age, and still now! Didn’t mess me up, if anything, I’m more open-minded and accepting. Which also brings me to another question on LGBTQ+ being “woke”. What are you gonna do when your child turns out to be LGBTQ or sees a LGBTQ person out in public, OR, their parents are LGBTQ+? Do we all just pray that doesn’t happen? Do you lie and say, even though it’s not your place, that that gay couple or trans person isn’t trans or aren’t a couple. End of this segment, woke doesn’t equal acceptance and regular day-to-day people.
My PERSONAL Opinions: Now, of course I won’t and can’t stop you from not showing LGBTQ people or POCs to your kid, because that’s your parenting style, I guess. But it won’t harm the kid. There’s 4-6 of us (I have three siblings and others I live with), and we all have known about LGBTQ+ people and people who differ from us from a young age, yet we’re still just normal people. Nothing bad happened to us because we accepted them from a younger age. We’re still regular people. I understand if you don’t wanna worry your child about being pressured to “find themselves” but they’re gonna at some point in life lol. And they need to know that being not straight or cis is OKAY. You do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt others. And in this case, it doesn’t hurt ANYONE to tell your child about LGBTQ and other people’s existence. Of course, you have the rights to your own child and you teach them what you want. I have no parenting experience (other than my bearded dragon who I love more than myself) but I do have parents and of course have lived through how they parented me. And if you don’t wanna teach your child LGBTQ+, that’s fine! But then don’t be telling them about beauty expectations, cause that’ll definitely get into their heads.
Grammatically Correct?: Guys, Parents, people of all ages, I’m pretty sure, if a book has been written by a professional who knows more than your basic 4th grade knowledge on They/Them pronouns, has been published/reviewed by a professional publisher, has been read by hundreds of beta readers, and gone to kids and teens like me, who understand when the they/them pronouns are being used for a singular person, you can too. It IS grammatically correct for they/them pronouns to be used a singular person, has been for a while now lol. The proof for you is all around you, in dictionaries, books, shows/movies, and even dates back the 1375s. I’m like 99.9999% sure it makes sense and is grammatically correct.
It’s “Inappropriate”: Love is not inappropriate in a kid’s book. SEX is. That’s probably where you’re getting confused. No Wings of Fire books have sex, the worse relationship thing they have is tail touching.
Conclusion (sorta): I had more segments planned, but I cant exactly remember any of the segments or my points in them. So this is what you get. I am not discriminating on anyone, unless you are homophobic, racist, ect, nor am I discriminating on your opinions! I am merely angry at the reasons why you think LGBTQ is wrong for kids.
Edits: Cleared up some things in Parenting Passage and Conclusion, added “It’s Inappropriate” segment and “Grammatically Correct?” Passage.
My thoughts on the book: Why did I rate it two stars? I HATED THE PLOT. The main vIlLiAn for four books was mentioned maybe twice or three times if we’re lucky. Luna wasn’t as interesting as I thought she would be because her thoughts kept getting interrupted by yarn and stuff. The thing that saved this from a one star review was the really nice bond forming from Cricket and Luna (:
(Sorry if any or all of this has grammatical errors, obviously I’m not a professional lol)
If you were to summarize this book, I personally would say: “Dragon flies across ocean with one dragon from each tribe, as they believe this is the cure to the war coming to their continent. They get separated along the way, leading to confusion and chaos. As part of the group ventures into a cave, they find clusters of dangerous plants, the plant that brought them here in the first place, covering up some skeletons. These skeletons have manipulated plants into doing what they want. One skeleton finds herself warming up to Luna, the MC, and this leads to the skeleton telling Luna how to save the world”
Now, in NO PLACE, does this summery or ANY OTHER summery go into detail how there are gay dragons or non-binary people or the “woke” (which there is none) things in this book. You know why?? BECAUSE IT DOESNT MATTER THATS WHY! Those gay dragons and non-binary people are just people.
The “Woke” Things: Idk if you’ve got my jist yet, but I’m LIVID at the people naming one star reviews cause “GAY? THEY THEM? OH GOD NO”:
Hon, trust me, your 10 year old child is not whining and crying and running to you because someone uses they/them pronouns or a boy has a boyfriend. Cause that just wouldn’t make sense, would it? You’re talking about how your child shouldn’t know these things, but… they do? That’s why they came “crying” to you about people’s pronouns or partners. So clearly you taught them SOMETHING. And in NO WAY is being non-binary or gay “woke”, that’s just called having regular people in a book, or acceptance. Wokeniess would be Luna and Moon bring Donald Trump and politics into the book, or showing the discrimination that minorities face. That’s not what’s happening here. If you think accepting regular people is “woke” and “bad” and how you need to teach your child your own opinions on people of different races or LGBTQ+, I mean, I guess you do you. I’m not a parent… but I do have parents! That’s right! I’m not fatherless. My dad actually loves me as his kiddo. Same with my mom! As a younger child, I’m a teen now, I remember not knowing any politics, cause my parents weren’t gonna bring that into my life, and I agree with them on that. But, I remember having LGBTQ+ people in my life from an early age, and still now! Didn’t mess me up, if anything, I’m more open-minded and accepting. Which also brings me to another question on LGBTQ+ being “woke”. What are you gonna do when your child turns out to be LGBTQ or sees a LGBTQ person out in public, OR, their parents are LGBTQ+? Do we all just pray that doesn’t happen? Do you lie and say, even though it’s not your place, that that gay couple or trans person isn’t trans or aren’t a couple. End of this segment, woke doesn’t equal acceptance and regular day-to-day people.
My PERSONAL Opinions: Now, of course I won’t and can’t stop you from not showing LGBTQ people or POCs to your kid, because that’s your parenting style, I guess. But it won’t harm the kid. There’s 4-6 of us (I have three siblings and others I live with), and we all have known about LGBTQ+ people and people who differ from us from a young age, yet we’re still just normal people. Nothing bad happened to us because we accepted them from a younger age. We’re still regular people. I understand if you don’t wanna worry your child about being pressured to “find themselves” but they’re gonna at some point in life lol. And they need to know that being not straight or cis is OKAY. You do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt others. And in this case, it doesn’t hurt ANYONE to tell your child about LGBTQ and other people’s existence. Of course, you have the rights to your own child and you teach them what you want. I have no parenting experience (other than my bearded dragon who I love more than myself) but I do have parents and of course have lived through how they parented me. And if you don’t wanna teach your child LGBTQ+, that’s fine! But then don’t be telling them about beauty expectations, cause that’ll definitely get into their heads.
Grammatically Correct?: Guys, Parents, people of all ages, I’m pretty sure, if a book has been written by a professional who knows more than your basic 4th grade knowledge on They/Them pronouns, has been published/reviewed by a professional publisher, has been read by hundreds of beta readers, and gone to kids and teens like me, who understand when the they/them pronouns are being used for a singular person, you can too. It IS grammatically correct for they/them pronouns to be used a singular person, has been for a while now lol. The proof for you is all around you, in dictionaries, books, shows/movies, and even dates back the 1375s. I’m like 99.9999% sure it makes sense and is grammatically correct.
It’s “Inappropriate”: Love is not inappropriate in a kid’s book. SEX is. That’s probably where you’re getting confused. No Wings of Fire books have sex, the worse relationship thing they have is tail touching.
Conclusion (sorta): I had more segments planned, but I cant exactly remember any of the segments or my points in them. So this is what you get. I am not discriminating on anyone, unless you are homophobic, racist, ect, nor am I discriminating on your opinions! I am merely angry at the reasons why you think LGBTQ is wrong for kids.
Edits: Cleared up some things in Parenting Passage and Conclusion, added “It’s Inappropriate” segment and “Grammatically Correct?” Passage.
My thoughts on the book: Why did I rate it two stars? I HATED THE PLOT. The main vIlLiAn for four books was mentioned maybe twice or three times if we’re lucky. Luna wasn’t as interesting as I thought she would be because her thoughts kept getting interrupted by yarn and stuff. The thing that saved this from a one star review was the really nice bond forming from Cricket and Luna (:
(Sorry if any or all of this has grammatical errors, obviously I’m not a professional lol)
June 10, 2022
The Final book in the Wings of Fire series was both excellent and a highly satisfying ending. After a long-awaited interim, this book did not disappoint. Excitement, action, and fantastic conclusions to all story lines left me feeling bereft, but still content. My son and I often talked about which dragon we were most like and I struggled with all the heroes and heroines of the books until this one. I am, without a doubt, Luna. My favorite dragon by far, her periods of self-doubt, depression, and her constant need to help in a non-violent way was something I could completely relate to. In her own way, she was the ultimate hero of the story, bringing everyone together at the end to do what was needed, and even going to far as to (almost) sacrifice herself for the greater good. Sutherland did an amazing job of reminding us of all the characters and their individual personality traits, even though there were so many, that we couldn’t fault her for such a long wait between books. I had forgotten much but was easily drawn back into the story with the subtle reminders of the storyline and where we left off. My most favorite part of the whole book, was the end, not the resolution per say, but the overall feeling of kindness and goodwill. Sutherland is an expert at addressing the issues of racism and hatred when we examine the differences between us, and showed this problem expertly, and even gave ways and ideas to deal with these problems, starting with looking into ourselves. We can see how Luna feels about Cricket, the Hivewing. How at first she almost despises her, because her people/dragons hurt so many of those that she loved. But through her thoughts and feelings, she can see her work through these feelings throughout the book, in the end, overcoming the hate and replacing it with love and friendship. Cheezy, yes, but so very much needed in today’s world. Whether it be race or gender or religion or political beliefs, this book showed that differences can be overcome and even result in positive outcomes so matter what those differences are. A message that I wish all children and adults could learn. So a lesson wrapped up in a phenomenal story, that was very well written. I highly recommend this series, for children, and for parents, to read with their children. It could be a great conversation starter.
August 24, 2022
GOSH I HATE WHEN I PRESS THE BACK BUTTON AND THAN IT GOES TO THE (wtf is it called?) HOME SCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!
😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠🚮🚮‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️
(but also: 🏳️🌈😊😊JAMBU x PINEAPPLE😊😊🏳️🌈)
vERy DiSSApOinT
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️
This book had some good parts.
But I don't feel like listing them.
T.T.Y.L. 🤪✌
sorry idk
ALSO WE ALL SHOULD BE FREEEEEEEEEEAKING OUT RIGHT NOW CUZ THIS IS THE LAST AND FIINALE BOOK IN WINGS OF FIRE BYE 4EVER I WILL MISS GLORY AND DEATHBRINGER I EXPECTED THEM TO GET MARRIED AND WHY.
DIDN’T.
THEY???????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!
I WANNA STUFF MY HEAD INTO A PILLOW AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRY
AND CRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WILL FUCKING MISS CLAY AND TSUNAMI AND MOST IMPORTANTLY GLORY AND STARFLIGH (YES, INCLUDING SUNNY... maybe) AND MOON AND (maybe dat bi- NOT A BITCH (he is, tho) of an ice prince) AND PERIL AND TRUTLE AND KINKAJOU AND QIBLI AND BLUE AND CRICKET AND SUNDEW AND SNOWFALL AND LUNA AND SCARLET'S DEATH AND MORROWSEER'S AND BLISTER'S AND DARKSTALKER AND DARKSTALKER TURNING INTO PEACEMAKER AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OF THE FUCKING PROPHOCIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay..... ceremony time.
The Dragonet Prophecy:
WHEN THE WAR HAS LASTED TWENTY YEARS...
THE DRAGONETS WILL COME.
WHEN THE LAND IS SOAKED IN BLOOD AND TEARS...
THE DRAGONETS WILL COME.
FIND THE SEAWING EGG OF DEEPEST BLUE.
WINGS OF NIGHT SHALL COME TO YOU.
THE LARGEST EGG IN MOUNTAIN HIGH
WILL GIVE YOU TO THE WINGS OF SKY.
FOR WINGS OF EARTH, SEARCH THROUGH THE MUD
FOR AND EGG THE COLOR OF DRAGON BLOOD.
AND HIDDEN ALONE FROM THE RIVAL QUEENS,
THE SANDWING EGG AWAIT UNSEEN.
OF THREE QUEENS WHO BLISTER AND BLAZE AND BURN,
TWO SHALL DIE AND ONE SHALL LEARN
IF SHE BOWS TO A FATE THE IS STRONGER AND HIGHER,
SHE'LL HAVE THE POWER OF WINGS OF FIRE.
FIVE EGGS TO HATCH ON BRIGHTEST NIGHT,
FIVE DRAGONS BORN TO END THE FIGHT.
DARKNESS WILL RISE TO BRING THE LIGHT.
THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING...
The Jade Mountain Prophecy:
BEWARE THE DARKNESS OF DRAGONS,
BEWARE THE STALKER OF DREAMS,
BEWARE THE TALONS OF POWER AND FIRE,
BEWARE ONE WHO IS NOT WHAT SHE SEEMS.
SOMETHING IS COMING TO SHAKE THE EARTH,
SOMETHING IS COMING TO SCROCH THE GROUND.
JADE MOUNTAIN WILL FALL BENEATH THUNDER AND ICE
UNLESS THE LOST CITY OF NIGHT CAN BE FOUND.
And lastly -- and... lastly --
The Lost Continent Prophecy:
TURN YOUR EYES, YOUR WINGS, YOUR FIRE
TO THE LAND ACROSS THE SEA
WHERE DRAGONS ARE POISONED AND DRAGONS ARE DYING
AND NO ONE CAN EVER BE FREE.
A SECRET LURKS INSIDE THEIR EGGS.
A SECRET HIDES WITHING THIER BOOK.
A SECRET BURIED FAR BELOW
MAY SAVE THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO LOOK.
OPEN YOUR HEARTS, YOUR MINDS, YOUR WINGS
TO THE DRAGONS WHO FLEE FROM THE HIVE.
FACE A GREAT EVIL WITH TALONS UNITED
OR NONE OF THE TRIBES WILL SURVIVE.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHY DID THIS WONDERFUL SERIES HAVE TO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD???????????????!!!!!!!???????? AND ON SUCH A DISSAPOINTING RATE, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM LITERALLY ABOUT TO CRY HERE COME THE TEARS I AM BLINKING TO MAKE SURE THE ROLL DOWN MA FACE BUT THE ARE NOT AND YOU KNOW WHY?
BECUZ
THE
ENDING
WAS NOT
GOOOOOOOOOOD.
LUNA GARCIA OOOOOOOOOUT.
i wuv u wings of fi-er so vewy much u donot know how much times i have cried over this whole fucking series and I will miss u.
WE WILL ALLLLLLLLLLLL MISS U.
but siriusly (NO WE AIN'T TALKIN BOUT HIM (love you sirius (xoxoxoxox))) i (WE) hope dare is another ark OR ELSE ALL OF THE FUTURE WOF BOOKS WILL BE FANFICS!!!!!
DO YOU HERE ME TUI T. SUTHERLAND?
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN-
FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
i don't know how to say goodbye
😭😭😭😭😭👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋
bye
Also wtf: When Tsunami was bleeding Tui said that her blood was BLUE! Only ICEWING blood is blue, Sutherland!!!!!! Apparently I know more about the book then the author herself!
(Wow now I know why people don't like on my reviews )
😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠🚮🚮‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️
(but also: 🏳️🌈😊😊JAMBU x PINEAPPLE😊😊🏳️🌈)
vERy DiSSApOinT
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️‼️
This book had some good parts.
But I don't feel like listing them.
T.T.Y.L. 🤪✌
sorry idk
ALSO WE ALL SHOULD BE FREEEEEEEEEEAKING OUT RIGHT NOW CUZ THIS IS THE LAST AND FIINALE BOOK IN WINGS OF FIRE BYE 4EVER I WILL MISS GLORY AND DEATHBRINGER I EXPECTED THEM TO GET MARRIED AND WHY.
DIDN’T.
THEY???????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!
I WANNA STUFF MY HEAD INTO A PILLOW AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRY
AND CRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRYANDCRY
AND CRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WILL FUCKING MISS CLAY AND TSUNAMI AND MOST IMPORTANTLY GLORY AND STARFLIGH (YES, INCLUDING SUNNY... maybe) AND MOON AND (maybe dat bi- NOT A BITCH (he is, tho) of an ice prince) AND PERIL AND TRUTLE AND KINKAJOU AND QIBLI AND BLUE AND CRICKET AND SUNDEW AND SNOWFALL AND LUNA AND SCARLET'S DEATH AND MORROWSEER'S AND BLISTER'S AND DARKSTALKER AND DARKSTALKER TURNING INTO PEACEMAKER AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OF THE FUCKING PROPHOCIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay..... ceremony time.
The Dragonet Prophecy:
WHEN THE WAR HAS LASTED TWENTY YEARS...
THE DRAGONETS WILL COME.
WHEN THE LAND IS SOAKED IN BLOOD AND TEARS...
THE DRAGONETS WILL COME.
FIND THE SEAWING EGG OF DEEPEST BLUE.
WINGS OF NIGHT SHALL COME TO YOU.
THE LARGEST EGG IN MOUNTAIN HIGH
WILL GIVE YOU TO THE WINGS OF SKY.
FOR WINGS OF EARTH, SEARCH THROUGH THE MUD
FOR AND EGG THE COLOR OF DRAGON BLOOD.
AND HIDDEN ALONE FROM THE RIVAL QUEENS,
THE SANDWING EGG AWAIT UNSEEN.
OF THREE QUEENS WHO BLISTER AND BLAZE AND BURN,
TWO SHALL DIE AND ONE SHALL LEARN
IF SHE BOWS TO A FATE THE IS STRONGER AND HIGHER,
SHE'LL HAVE THE POWER OF WINGS OF FIRE.
FIVE EGGS TO HATCH ON BRIGHTEST NIGHT,
FIVE DRAGONS BORN TO END THE FIGHT.
DARKNESS WILL RISE TO BRING THE LIGHT.
THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING...
The Jade Mountain Prophecy:
BEWARE THE DARKNESS OF DRAGONS,
BEWARE THE STALKER OF DREAMS,
BEWARE THE TALONS OF POWER AND FIRE,
BEWARE ONE WHO IS NOT WHAT SHE SEEMS.
SOMETHING IS COMING TO SHAKE THE EARTH,
SOMETHING IS COMING TO SCROCH THE GROUND.
JADE MOUNTAIN WILL FALL BENEATH THUNDER AND ICE
UNLESS THE LOST CITY OF NIGHT CAN BE FOUND.
And lastly -- and... lastly --
The Lost Continent Prophecy:
TURN YOUR EYES, YOUR WINGS, YOUR FIRE
TO THE LAND ACROSS THE SEA
WHERE DRAGONS ARE POISONED AND DRAGONS ARE DYING
AND NO ONE CAN EVER BE FREE.
A SECRET LURKS INSIDE THEIR EGGS.
A SECRET HIDES WITHING THIER BOOK.
A SECRET BURIED FAR BELOW
MAY SAVE THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO LOOK.
OPEN YOUR HEARTS, YOUR MINDS, YOUR WINGS
TO THE DRAGONS WHO FLEE FROM THE HIVE.
FACE A GREAT EVIL WITH TALONS UNITED
OR NONE OF THE TRIBES WILL SURVIVE.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHY DID THIS WONDERFUL SERIES HAVE TO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD???????????????!!!!!!!???????? AND ON SUCH A DISSAPOINTING RATE, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM LITERALLY ABOUT TO CRY HERE COME THE TEARS I AM BLINKING TO MAKE SURE THE ROLL DOWN MA FACE BUT THE ARE NOT AND YOU KNOW WHY?
BECUZ
THE
ENDING
WAS NOT
GOOOOOOOOOOD.
LUNA GARCIA OOOOOOOOOUT.
i wuv u wings of fi-er so vewy much u donot know how much times i have cried over this whole fucking series and I will miss u.
WE WILL ALLLLLLLLLLLL MISS U.
but siriusly (NO WE AIN'T TALKIN BOUT HIM (love you sirius (xoxoxoxox))) i (WE) hope dare is another ark OR ELSE ALL OF THE FUTURE WOF BOOKS WILL BE FANFICS!!!!!
DO YOU HERE ME TUI T. SUTHERLAND?
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN-
FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
i don't know how to say goodbye
😭😭😭😭😭👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋
bye
Also wtf: When Tsunami was bleeding Tui said that her blood was BLUE! Only ICEWING blood is blue, Sutherland!!!!!! Apparently I know more about the book then the author herself!
(Wow now I know why people don't like on my reviews )
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2022
While this book had some good things about it, overall, it wasn’t the climatic ending it could have been. I really like how Sutherland follows character situations to the end, even if the end is ugly (for example, seeing that Freedom has a twisted view of justice even up until the very end was cool and added angst to the story).
I got frustrated near the conclusion because Luna’s power wasn’t used until the last minute. She’s in a dark cave, stumbling about, trying to find the core of the Breath of Evil…but her whole power is she can create glowing silk from her wrists! That next to last scene frustrated me so much and took me out of the story.
What I also hated about this book was it lacks the complexity of the previous story arcs. For example, in the other story arcs, we find that the dragon tribes that were perceived as evil we’re not all necessarily evil. Some of these dragons were wrapped up in something they didn’t understand or know about by proxy. None of that grace was given to the humans in the story. It was just, “there are multiple militaries throughout the world kidnapping, dragon eggs, and so therefore the entire civilization needed to be burned down, including the civilian population that probably had no idea what was going on.” I hated how the human view that the dragons were monsters raining down from the sky was completely discarded as a “lie,” because a few military people decided to enraged the dragons. To the majority of the population, who probably had nothing to do with stealing eggs, it would have seemed like suddenly they were giant flying monsters coming to kill them all. It felt like a forced political statement instead of good story. My favorite part of the series had been the complexity and gray areas it showed, but this honestly left that and I think that’s why I found this book disenchanting.
I got frustrated near the conclusion because Luna’s power wasn’t used until the last minute. She’s in a dark cave, stumbling about, trying to find the core of the Breath of Evil…but her whole power is she can create glowing silk from her wrists! That next to last scene frustrated me so much and took me out of the story.
What I also hated about this book was it lacks the complexity of the previous story arcs. For example, in the other story arcs, we find that the dragon tribes that were perceived as evil we’re not all necessarily evil. Some of these dragons were wrapped up in something they didn’t understand or know about by proxy. None of that grace was given to the humans in the story. It was just, “there are multiple militaries throughout the world kidnapping, dragon eggs, and so therefore the entire civilization needed to be burned down, including the civilian population that probably had no idea what was going on.” I hated how the human view that the dragons were monsters raining down from the sky was completely discarded as a “lie,” because a few military people decided to enraged the dragons. To the majority of the population, who probably had nothing to do with stealing eggs, it would have seemed like suddenly they were giant flying monsters coming to kill them all. It felt like a forced political statement instead of good story. My favorite part of the series had been the complexity and gray areas it showed, but this honestly left that and I think that’s why I found this book disenchanting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2022
Not as good as her others. Political jargon made the story line choppy and rushed. The characters didn’t seem as real as in the rest of her books
April 22, 2023
This book was such a disappointment :(
Tui draws on themes she has already used heavily in the last (not great) book as a sort of hod-shod way to create a solution to the very huge problem of the Othermind. It doesn't feel like any of the characters have worked for anything. In fact, the solution is pretty much just handed to Luna. Literally.
Othermind is a powerful, complex problem. To defeat it, a powerful, complex solution that the characters gradually work toward achieving is needed. That is... not what we get.
Honestly, looking back on this book, pretty much nothing happens. It's a lot like Book 14 in that sense. All of the action and plot twists that fill the previous 13 books completely vanished in this one.
I think one of the big problems is that in the past, Tui gradually revealed world-building elements and plot "secrets." She made characters active agents in the discovery of those secrets. Here, the big reveals are thrown at the reader in really lengthy chunks. Like, certain segments are basically a history book. Where's the plot? Tui has become to reliant on visions of other dragons to tell the story. A lot of the interesting things that happen have nothing to do with Luna at all, which really weakens the plot and the connection the reader feels with it. It's a lot less gripping to experience a scene through Luna's vision than through actually being there.
I'm so sad that the series ends like this. I wish there were a more rewarding conclusion to this arc. Honestly, it doesn't make sense to read past Book 13.
Tui draws on themes she has already used heavily in the last (not great) book as a sort of hod-shod way to create a solution to the very huge problem of the Othermind. It doesn't feel like any of the characters have worked for anything. In fact, the solution is pretty much just handed to Luna. Literally.
Othermind is a powerful, complex problem. To defeat it, a powerful, complex solution that the characters gradually work toward achieving is needed. That is... not what we get.
Honestly, looking back on this book, pretty much nothing happens. It's a lot like Book 14 in that sense. All of the action and plot twists that fill the previous 13 books completely vanished in this one.
I think one of the big problems is that in the past, Tui gradually revealed world-building elements and plot "secrets." She made characters active agents in the discovery of those secrets. Here, the big reveals are thrown at the reader in really lengthy chunks. Like, certain segments are basically a history book. Where's the plot? Tui has become to reliant on visions of other dragons to tell the story. A lot of the interesting things that happen have nothing to do with Luna at all, which really weakens the plot and the connection the reader feels with it. It's a lot less gripping to experience a scene through Luna's vision than through actually being there.
I'm so sad that the series ends like this. I wish there were a more rewarding conclusion to this arc. Honestly, it doesn't make sense to read past Book 13.
August 5, 2021
Hey! So I'm like, Tui's biggest fan- and I would really like to know when/if this book is actually coming out? I'm only in fifth grade, but I've read ten of these books so far and I'm actually obsessed with them. I have the other four books coming today, and the twelfth one here at my house, and I'm so close to reading them all and I want more to come out! These are literally the best books I've ever read in my entire life. And actually, I read a LOT of books. These books inspire me a lot too, but Wings of Fire got me into dragons more, and I really enjoy reading the series.
I also have a few perspective ideas! Like, maybe one of the queens? Ooo, Queen Thorn would be amazing! And I'd really like another MudWing perspective, because the only MudWing perspective we've gotten is the first book. And if you haven't already, Kinkajou's perspective? She's my favorite character in the books, I love her energetic and happy personality. Anyway, thanks for reading! Bye!
I also have a few perspective ideas! Like, maybe one of the queens? Ooo, Queen Thorn would be amazing! And I'd really like another MudWing perspective, because the only MudWing perspective we've gotten is the first book. And if you haven't already, Kinkajou's perspective? She's my favorite character in the books, I love her energetic and happy personality. Anyway, thanks for reading! Bye!
April 8, 2021
If you did not read the book do NOT look at this.
What shocked me the most in this (so far) book and warnings. ;)
1. Snowfall being good? I used to think she was evil...
2. Peril's brother is alive!? I thought he was dead... (Sky) he got a scavenger (human) to name him! He would make great friends with Winter. :D
3. Scavengers could read and talk! :O
4. Snowfall always talks WITH LOTS OF CAPS. Which gets VERY annoying. (But it shows she is SARCASTIC)
5. Snowfall's older sister (Crystal) is in love with a MudWing!
6. Boa (Jerboa |||) technically killed her mother!
Warning!!!
If you get disgusted very easily. Do NOT read this book. I really liked it but in it... there is talking about talons disappearing lots of blood. And... you get it.
Lily, I do not know how to help you... Sorry.
Tom and Jerry 😋
What shocked me the most in this (so far) book and warnings. ;)
1. Snowfall being good? I used to think she was evil...
2. Peril's brother is alive!? I thought he was dead... (Sky) he got a scavenger (human) to name him! He would make great friends with Winter. :D
3. Scavengers could read and talk! :O
4. Snowfall always talks WITH LOTS OF CAPS. Which gets VERY annoying. (But it shows she is SARCASTIC)
5. Snowfall's older sister (Crystal) is in love with a MudWing!
6. Boa (Jerboa |||) technically killed her mother!
Warning!!!
If you get disgusted very easily. Do NOT read this book. I really liked it but in it... there is talking about talons disappearing lots of blood. And... you get it.
Lily, I do not know how to help you... Sorry.
Tom and Jerry 😋
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2021
I haven't read this book yet but i am SOOOOOOOOO exited. Whenever i am bored (or anytime really haha) i make up a wings of fire dragon and be him/her. i read the first 8 books in less than 3 months or so and i loooove them! Tui T Sutherland, your books are AMAZING and i don't want to say i am your biggest fan bc that might not be true and i am only 10 but i and probably one of your biggest fans! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BOOKS! :DDDDD
Merged review:
I haven't read this book yet but i am SOOOOO exited. Whenever i am bored (or anytime really) i make up a wof dragon and be him/her. i read the first 8 books in less than 3 months or so and i loooooove them! Tui T Sutherland, your books are AMAZING and i don't want to say i am your biggest fan bc that might not be true and i am only 10 but i and probably one of your biggest fans! THANK YOU FOR THE BOOKS! :DDDD
Merged review:
I haven't read this book yet but i am SOOOOO exited. Whenever i am bored (or anytime really) i make up a wof dragon and be him/her. i read the first 8 books in less than 3 months or so and i loooooove them! Tui T Sutherland, your books are AMAZING and i don't want to say i am your biggest fan bc that might not be true and i am only 10 but i and probably one of your biggest fans! THANK YOU FOR THE BOOKS! :DDDD
October 2, 2022
This was objectively the worst wings of fire book I have read - what a shame. I do not have a high standard of reading - I enjoy a lot of books. Wings of fire has been my favorite book series for 3 years. I started reading it when the 13th book came out and my favorite books are in the third arc, however this one was scattered and random and I didn't enjoy it that much. Overall, it was bad, but I still think if you are a fan, you should read it once for the sake of closing the series
July 19, 2022
Welp. I did indeed finish it. I saw it through? Was it worth it? Did I gain anything, closure, satisfaction? I’m not sure. I don’t know if I wanna answer those questions. But it’s done now.
February 3, 2023
What I Liked:
Awareness:
For a young children’s book, this novel has some very ambitious goals about raising awareness—which I think it meets pretty well. For starters, Luna gives the readers thoughts about the inherent wrongness of racism and promotes ideas of equity, all through the lenses of SilkWing oppression and the Pantala dragons meeting the Pyrrhia dragons. Also, the friendship with humans.
Additionally, Luna (and perhaps Cricket) battles with depression (as much as a MC in a children’s novel can), covering symptoms, small methods of treatment, and how subtle and often unrecognized mental disorders are to both friends and family. Another plus to this book, especially since mental health has had a long history of being intentionally unrecognized and ignored—much the same with racism. I think Sutherland is doing an amazing job teaching young readers how to better the world we live in. I have a lot of respect for her because of this.
Identities:
Sutherland has shown that some changing ideals, such as what the sexual orientation norm is, are healthy and good through her supporting cast of gay and trans characters. Another example of how she is pushing for equality and freedom of choice herself. (Although that one mention of the person who used they/them pronouns felt very awkward and on-the-nose).
Luna and Cricket:
While Luna as a MC fell a little flat for me, I loved her interactions with Cricket, a HiveWing dragon whose race enslaved Luna’s SilkWings. Out of all the dragons in her party, Cricket—the least threatening—is the one Luna feels threatened by the most, which makes SO MUCH sense, especially when you look at Luna’s aspirations for a world of equity. From that standpoint, her fear, distrust, and hatred (at times) of HiveWings—Cricket specifically—starkly contrasts her beliefs and goals for unity. And that is GREAT! As humans, we can relate the most to complex characters whose actions and thoughts are changing—and, naturally biased (because we all are, let’s be honest). Luna’s interactions with Cricket push her aspirations for the future into direct conflict with the traumatic past of the SilkWings, creating for contrasting feelings and stereotypes. It makes Luna much more relatable, especially when she and Cricket work past this boundary and become friends.
What I Disliked:
Unfortunately, this book felt like a rather anticlimactic ending for the third series of Tui T. Sutherland’s, especially in comparison to her other two (Sunny’s and Qibli’s books), for various reasons.
The Scorching:
I was honestly excited when we began to learn more about the Scorching. It has been prevalent throughout all three of Sutherland’s series, a piece of background information I didn’t give much thought to until—well, this book. And therein is one of my issues with it. While I loved the mystery of the Scorching and figuring out what happened exactly, from both human and dragon perspectives, I think a few more Easter eggs could have been scattered about the looming history throughout this whole Lost Continent Arc. It would have made the buildup much greater and more impactful; it would feel more world-changing. But that’s rather small compared to my glaring issue of what the Scorching actually was.
Here is your general summary: King Cottonmouth of one of the three human kingdoms hates/fears dragons so he goes to one of their nests and steals all their eggs to try and enslave them. The other two kingdoms, who are all at war btw, learn of this and copy him to try and level out the advantage. Unfortunately, the dragons began to kill all the humans as more eggs were stolen, eventually causing Cottonmouth and some others from his kingdom to flee across the sea from Pyrrhia to Pantala. He took one dragon egg with him—Lizard—and searched for a way to control dragon kind on Pantala. He found a weird plant that could control the minds of anyone who eats/inhales the fumes of it, and goes underground into a gorge the humans call the Abyss to study said plant. He takes Lizard with him. Somehow they die down there, and somehow both dragon and man’s consciousnesses are shared with the plant’s… But everyone forgot they existed, and they lived together for 5,000 years tormenting the Pantala dragons through Queen Wasp… so yeah….
Main issue with the Scorching? It was human caused. Why is that an issue? Because throughout the entire series we’ve thought that humans (or scavengers, as they’re called) are little more than a rare source of food. Not once until this series have we delved into humans in the dragon world. In fact, that idea is one of the main building blocks of this Arc—specifically a world where humans and dragons can live together in peace. To find out that the destruction of the human race was the fault of the humans (or one man, actually), felt rather dull. And sure, the dragons then genocided the human race—which was over dramatic and as wrong as stealing dragon eggs and such—but the book scarcely covers that perspective (probably because dragons thought humans to be stupid and harmless). STILL. I felt that it gave more light to the dragons’ perspective in general. That, for me, made the whole goal of human-dragon friendship feel counterintuitive, rather one-sided, and not beneficial to the dragons at all. It would have felt more equal if both sides’ wrongdoings were highlighted to the same degree. (This being said, Luna does a good job of trying to give each side their equal blame. However, at times her opinion can feel a little skewed, which makes sense given she’s a dragon and not a human…) I don’t know. Do my thoughts here make any sense?
The Ending:
The ending to this series felt rushed and weak, and that is the fault of (I believe) Cottonmouth and Lizard/Freedom (and the plant, too, I guess). In contrast to Queen Wasp, who we had been building up to for five books, these three are the Holy Trinity of Blandness. My strongest issue with them is that they (save the plant) were not introduced or so much as foreshadowed in the previous books, which is an instant red flag. Suddenly there are these new characters from out of the blue that I’m supposed to mark as the perpetrators and masterminds behind all the horror in Pantala? How am I supposed to believe in their evilness if I didn’t even know they existed??
Also, each character from the three were annoying in general. Cottonmouth was your generic, one-dimensional villian who we did very little digging into besides, “ah yes, let’s kill the dragons before they kill us because they are big, evil monsters!! Never mind that we’ve had next to no dragon sightings ever! And certainly, once we find the one(1) dragon nest in our area, stealing ALL the dragon’s eggs and trying to enslave them once they hatch won’t anger their parents!!” And so on and so forth. This person, this supposed king of a country, has no brains whatsoever. You would think he’d have a higher education since he is a king, or a basic common sense—but no, all of those go flying out the window due to a hatred and fear of the dragon race that spawned from nowhere.
Also, he has a brother—Coyote—whom he basically just abandons on Pyrrhia once he discovers he went missing defending the humans from dragons. There were no feelings here; not a lick of concern. I mean, seriously, throw the guy a bone!
So basically, to sum him up, he makes no sense and exists just so that the reader can feel like a villain actually got vanquished compared to the heartthrob that was Lizard/Freedom.
Lizard (or as she is renamed before her death, Freedom), is basically a 5,000 year-old temperamental child of a dragon whom died with Cottonmouth and has since been sharing the same brain-space with him. Almost instantly upon meeting her, I knew that 1) She was going to experience Some Feelings, and 2) she was going to ‘tragically’ die afterwards. There was no way around it; the book had simply written itself into that hole. AND guess what? I was spot on. Essentially, because Cottonmouth raised(?) her, Freedom grew up believing that dragons were monsters, which would be a cool sort of complex to delve into if the character didn’t have the mindset of a child despite being over 5,000 years old, and if she wasn’t set to die. This led to her seeking out the memories of other dragons (which none of them have ever given her in all her 5,000 years alive—something I find rather hard to believe)—in order to confirm the beliefs imposed upon her from Cottonmouth that dragons are monsters. All in all, very interesting. Much more so than Cottonmouth. But what happens next is exactly what you’d expect: Moon uses her mind-reading abilities to get the whole crew to share their memories with Freedom. In a sudden whiplash of feelings, Freedom gives them the key to destroying Cottonmouth and her consciousness (and the plant’s too? I’m still kind of confused about that.) and save everybody.
I had PROBLEMS with this scene. The consciousness of a dragon who hates the very fact that she is a dragon—has been hating herself and dragon kind for 5,000-some years—suddenly flips a switch due to the memories of ten or so dragons. And it happens in the span of five chapters. COME ON! And then Luna, classic hero move, tries to save Freedom’s consciousness but not Cottonmouth’s… but it obviously won��t work because the scene needs to be tragic and moving. Which it was—a little. But not enough for a character I’ve literally just met. And renaming her from Lizard to Freedom was so corny; it felt like a repeat of Darkstalker to Peacemaker (which I guess could have been a potential issue the author realized when writing, and thus another reason Freedom was set to die).
Also, another issue I had was the fact that out of the three (but honestly two since the plant doesn’t count) consciousnesses of the evil beings we only got to see the dragon truly developed as a character—not a one-dimensional villain. Why did this irk me? Because the whole book was supposed to be about human-dragon relationships and friendships. That feels rather counterintuitive if we only focus on Freedom’s reasons for being evil rather than those of Cottonmouth’s. And yes—I understand he began to hate dragons because of the Scorching and how they killed 99% of humankind, and that the Scorching was basically his fault for stealing dragon eggs (and setting an example for the other kingdoms to do the same). But STILL. His character could have been so much better, along with his reasons for causing the Scorching, than what they were. He could have learned some big lesson at the end that left him trusting dragons a little bit more than he used to for his 5,000 years of existence. But nope. He’s denied even that much.
And thirdly, what was going on with the plant? I was kinda confused. It had a consciousness?? I honestly didn’t get it.
Oh—the actual ending of the book was a letdown too. Queen Wasp, the villain we’ve been squaring up to defeat was literally imprisoned. Offscreen. Then, the author tried to consolidate this new world within one final chapter, leaving the rest unsaid with the classic “but there was still a lot to be done.” There wasn’t even a cliffhanging epilogue which Sutherland is so good at; nothing hinting towards the next series (if there will be one?) It feels rather open-ended. The author is at a good enough place to stop but if she wants to continue, she can. Which is fine… it just leaves me feeling way to unfulfilled.
Pacing:
Sutherland has always been good at throwing curveballs at her characters and keeping her readers on their toes. For the first third of this novel, that much was true for me. In a dangerous mission she found a way to remove all the fighters—those who held an advantage over Luna, and who she relied (perhaps too heavily) on. This was the perfect setting for forcing Luna to come out of her shell and grow as a character. Except…
Luna didn’t really do. Anything.
The next 2/3 of the book consisted of Luna slowly learning more about the Scorching and trying to find humans so she could go the Abyss—prophecy stuff. But NOTHING happened. I never once felt any fear for Luna’s situation. Not once. Not even when she went into the Abyss to save Dusky.
And ohhhh boy, the Abyss. The longest thing I’ve ever read which felt so, so pointless. Basically, while Luna’s body was touched and held captive by the mind-controlling plants, her mind was conversing with Lizard and Cottonmouth for. Around. Ten. Agonizing. Chapters. Agonizing because of what I’ve said above.
And also, it turns out that while Luna is with the two villains in the mind-space, she gets to watch all of her friends continue the journey and fight to get away from Wasp and save the world (and her, btw, because she isn’t dead yet). She watched. As a spectator. And was USELESSSSS. It was SO BORING, and a letdown. Couldn’t she have done more??
Neutral view: humans
At the beginning of the series, as humans slowly gained more involvement, I was initially confused (specifically the first time we met Raven). I didn’t realize we were having a scavenger’s POV until much later, which signaled greater human involvement in the series. And honestly? I was worried about this. Since the beginning, it was such an interesting take to see humans as the crazy little animals; as pets and as food. But overall how they developed wasn’t too bad in the book—not as bad as I thought it would end up. I think it will be intriguing to see how certain characters (such as Winter) or those who have eaten scavengers deal with knowing humans are intelligent beings in the future. That being said, having humans defined as humans felt a little self-insertish to me. Don’t hate it, but don’t love it.
I was really hoping for more from this book, if I’m being honest. But that’s okay—I haven’t lost any faith in Sutherland’s ability to tell a gripping story, nor do I actually hate this book. For me, it was just too bland. This being said, I will always be on the lookout for another one of Sutherland’s novels because she is still a great author and I respect her books so much that I, a reader far outside the age the book is zoned for, criticize it as much as any other book. It’s tough love.
Also, let me add that I did not mean for anything here to be a personal attack on the author. I was just expressing my feelings about the book, as I feel I am entitled to my own opinions. However, if anything I said was offensive, please know you have my sincerest apologies.
Lastly, please do not let my review stop you from picking up this book. While it has flaws, it balances those with amazing character building and informative lore. If anything, pick up the book to support the author!
Awareness:
For a young children’s book, this novel has some very ambitious goals about raising awareness—which I think it meets pretty well. For starters, Luna gives the readers thoughts about the inherent wrongness of racism and promotes ideas of equity, all through the lenses of SilkWing oppression and the Pantala dragons meeting the Pyrrhia dragons. Also, the friendship with humans.
Additionally, Luna (and perhaps Cricket) battles with depression (as much as a MC in a children’s novel can), covering symptoms, small methods of treatment, and how subtle and often unrecognized mental disorders are to both friends and family. Another plus to this book, especially since mental health has had a long history of being intentionally unrecognized and ignored—much the same with racism. I think Sutherland is doing an amazing job teaching young readers how to better the world we live in. I have a lot of respect for her because of this.
Identities:
Sutherland has shown that some changing ideals, such as what the sexual orientation norm is, are healthy and good through her supporting cast of gay and trans characters. Another example of how she is pushing for equality and freedom of choice herself. (Although that one mention of the person who used they/them pronouns felt very awkward and on-the-nose).
Luna and Cricket:
While Luna as a MC fell a little flat for me, I loved her interactions with Cricket, a HiveWing dragon whose race enslaved Luna’s SilkWings. Out of all the dragons in her party, Cricket—the least threatening—is the one Luna feels threatened by the most, which makes SO MUCH sense, especially when you look at Luna’s aspirations for a world of equity. From that standpoint, her fear, distrust, and hatred (at times) of HiveWings—Cricket specifically—starkly contrasts her beliefs and goals for unity. And that is GREAT! As humans, we can relate the most to complex characters whose actions and thoughts are changing—and, naturally biased (because we all are, let’s be honest). Luna’s interactions with Cricket push her aspirations for the future into direct conflict with the traumatic past of the SilkWings, creating for contrasting feelings and stereotypes. It makes Luna much more relatable, especially when she and Cricket work past this boundary and become friends.
What I Disliked:
Unfortunately, this book felt like a rather anticlimactic ending for the third series of Tui T. Sutherland’s, especially in comparison to her other two (Sunny’s and Qibli’s books), for various reasons.
The Scorching:
I was honestly excited when we began to learn more about the Scorching. It has been prevalent throughout all three of Sutherland’s series, a piece of background information I didn’t give much thought to until—well, this book. And therein is one of my issues with it. While I loved the mystery of the Scorching and figuring out what happened exactly, from both human and dragon perspectives, I think a few more Easter eggs could have been scattered about the looming history throughout this whole Lost Continent Arc. It would have made the buildup much greater and more impactful; it would feel more world-changing. But that’s rather small compared to my glaring issue of what the Scorching actually was.
Here is your general summary: King Cottonmouth of one of the three human kingdoms hates/fears dragons so he goes to one of their nests and steals all their eggs to try and enslave them. The other two kingdoms, who are all at war btw, learn of this and copy him to try and level out the advantage. Unfortunately, the dragons began to kill all the humans as more eggs were stolen, eventually causing Cottonmouth and some others from his kingdom to flee across the sea from Pyrrhia to Pantala. He took one dragon egg with him—Lizard—and searched for a way to control dragon kind on Pantala. He found a weird plant that could control the minds of anyone who eats/inhales the fumes of it, and goes underground into a gorge the humans call the Abyss to study said plant. He takes Lizard with him. Somehow they die down there, and somehow both dragon and man’s consciousnesses are shared with the plant’s… But everyone forgot they existed, and they lived together for 5,000 years tormenting the Pantala dragons through Queen Wasp… so yeah….
Main issue with the Scorching? It was human caused. Why is that an issue? Because throughout the entire series we’ve thought that humans (or scavengers, as they’re called) are little more than a rare source of food. Not once until this series have we delved into humans in the dragon world. In fact, that idea is one of the main building blocks of this Arc—specifically a world where humans and dragons can live together in peace. To find out that the destruction of the human race was the fault of the humans (or one man, actually), felt rather dull. And sure, the dragons then genocided the human race—which was over dramatic and as wrong as stealing dragon eggs and such—but the book scarcely covers that perspective (probably because dragons thought humans to be stupid and harmless). STILL. I felt that it gave more light to the dragons’ perspective in general. That, for me, made the whole goal of human-dragon friendship feel counterintuitive, rather one-sided, and not beneficial to the dragons at all. It would have felt more equal if both sides’ wrongdoings were highlighted to the same degree. (This being said, Luna does a good job of trying to give each side their equal blame. However, at times her opinion can feel a little skewed, which makes sense given she’s a dragon and not a human…) I don’t know. Do my thoughts here make any sense?
The Ending:
The ending to this series felt rushed and weak, and that is the fault of (I believe) Cottonmouth and Lizard/Freedom (and the plant, too, I guess). In contrast to Queen Wasp, who we had been building up to for five books, these three are the Holy Trinity of Blandness. My strongest issue with them is that they (save the plant) were not introduced or so much as foreshadowed in the previous books, which is an instant red flag. Suddenly there are these new characters from out of the blue that I’m supposed to mark as the perpetrators and masterminds behind all the horror in Pantala? How am I supposed to believe in their evilness if I didn’t even know they existed??
Also, each character from the three were annoying in general. Cottonmouth was your generic, one-dimensional villian who we did very little digging into besides, “ah yes, let’s kill the dragons before they kill us because they are big, evil monsters!! Never mind that we’ve had next to no dragon sightings ever! And certainly, once we find the one(1) dragon nest in our area, stealing ALL the dragon’s eggs and trying to enslave them once they hatch won’t anger their parents!!” And so on and so forth. This person, this supposed king of a country, has no brains whatsoever. You would think he’d have a higher education since he is a king, or a basic common sense—but no, all of those go flying out the window due to a hatred and fear of the dragon race that spawned from nowhere.
Also, he has a brother—Coyote—whom he basically just abandons on Pyrrhia once he discovers he went missing defending the humans from dragons. There were no feelings here; not a lick of concern. I mean, seriously, throw the guy a bone!
So basically, to sum him up, he makes no sense and exists just so that the reader can feel like a villain actually got vanquished compared to the heartthrob that was Lizard/Freedom.
Lizard (or as she is renamed before her death, Freedom), is basically a 5,000 year-old temperamental child of a dragon whom died with Cottonmouth and has since been sharing the same brain-space with him. Almost instantly upon meeting her, I knew that 1) She was going to experience Some Feelings, and 2) she was going to ‘tragically’ die afterwards. There was no way around it; the book had simply written itself into that hole. AND guess what? I was spot on. Essentially, because Cottonmouth raised(?) her, Freedom grew up believing that dragons were monsters, which would be a cool sort of complex to delve into if the character didn’t have the mindset of a child despite being over 5,000 years old, and if she wasn’t set to die. This led to her seeking out the memories of other dragons (which none of them have ever given her in all her 5,000 years alive—something I find rather hard to believe)—in order to confirm the beliefs imposed upon her from Cottonmouth that dragons are monsters. All in all, very interesting. Much more so than Cottonmouth. But what happens next is exactly what you’d expect: Moon uses her mind-reading abilities to get the whole crew to share their memories with Freedom. In a sudden whiplash of feelings, Freedom gives them the key to destroying Cottonmouth and her consciousness (and the plant’s too? I’m still kind of confused about that.) and save everybody.
I had PROBLEMS with this scene. The consciousness of a dragon who hates the very fact that she is a dragon—has been hating herself and dragon kind for 5,000-some years—suddenly flips a switch due to the memories of ten or so dragons. And it happens in the span of five chapters. COME ON! And then Luna, classic hero move, tries to save Freedom’s consciousness but not Cottonmouth’s… but it obviously won��t work because the scene needs to be tragic and moving. Which it was—a little. But not enough for a character I’ve literally just met. And renaming her from Lizard to Freedom was so corny; it felt like a repeat of Darkstalker to Peacemaker (which I guess could have been a potential issue the author realized when writing, and thus another reason Freedom was set to die).
Also, another issue I had was the fact that out of the three (but honestly two since the plant doesn’t count) consciousnesses of the evil beings we only got to see the dragon truly developed as a character—not a one-dimensional villain. Why did this irk me? Because the whole book was supposed to be about human-dragon relationships and friendships. That feels rather counterintuitive if we only focus on Freedom’s reasons for being evil rather than those of Cottonmouth’s. And yes—I understand he began to hate dragons because of the Scorching and how they killed 99% of humankind, and that the Scorching was basically his fault for stealing dragon eggs (and setting an example for the other kingdoms to do the same). But STILL. His character could have been so much better, along with his reasons for causing the Scorching, than what they were. He could have learned some big lesson at the end that left him trusting dragons a little bit more than he used to for his 5,000 years of existence. But nope. He’s denied even that much.
And thirdly, what was going on with the plant? I was kinda confused. It had a consciousness?? I honestly didn’t get it.
Oh—the actual ending of the book was a letdown too. Queen Wasp, the villain we’ve been squaring up to defeat was literally imprisoned. Offscreen. Then, the author tried to consolidate this new world within one final chapter, leaving the rest unsaid with the classic “but there was still a lot to be done.” There wasn’t even a cliffhanging epilogue which Sutherland is so good at; nothing hinting towards the next series (if there will be one?) It feels rather open-ended. The author is at a good enough place to stop but if she wants to continue, she can. Which is fine… it just leaves me feeling way to unfulfilled.
Pacing:
Sutherland has always been good at throwing curveballs at her characters and keeping her readers on their toes. For the first third of this novel, that much was true for me. In a dangerous mission she found a way to remove all the fighters—those who held an advantage over Luna, and who she relied (perhaps too heavily) on. This was the perfect setting for forcing Luna to come out of her shell and grow as a character. Except…
Luna didn’t really do. Anything.
The next 2/3 of the book consisted of Luna slowly learning more about the Scorching and trying to find humans so she could go the Abyss—prophecy stuff. But NOTHING happened. I never once felt any fear for Luna’s situation. Not once. Not even when she went into the Abyss to save Dusky.
And ohhhh boy, the Abyss. The longest thing I’ve ever read which felt so, so pointless. Basically, while Luna’s body was touched and held captive by the mind-controlling plants, her mind was conversing with Lizard and Cottonmouth for. Around. Ten. Agonizing. Chapters. Agonizing because of what I’ve said above.
And also, it turns out that while Luna is with the two villains in the mind-space, she gets to watch all of her friends continue the journey and fight to get away from Wasp and save the world (and her, btw, because she isn’t dead yet). She watched. As a spectator. And was USELESSSSS. It was SO BORING, and a letdown. Couldn’t she have done more??
Neutral view: humans
At the beginning of the series, as humans slowly gained more involvement, I was initially confused (specifically the first time we met Raven). I didn’t realize we were having a scavenger’s POV until much later, which signaled greater human involvement in the series. And honestly? I was worried about this. Since the beginning, it was such an interesting take to see humans as the crazy little animals; as pets and as food. But overall how they developed wasn’t too bad in the book—not as bad as I thought it would end up. I think it will be intriguing to see how certain characters (such as Winter) or those who have eaten scavengers deal with knowing humans are intelligent beings in the future. That being said, having humans defined as humans felt a little self-insertish to me. Don’t hate it, but don’t love it.
I was really hoping for more from this book, if I’m being honest. But that’s okay—I haven’t lost any faith in Sutherland’s ability to tell a gripping story, nor do I actually hate this book. For me, it was just too bland. This being said, I will always be on the lookout for another one of Sutherland’s novels because she is still a great author and I respect her books so much that I, a reader far outside the age the book is zoned for, criticize it as much as any other book. It’s tough love.
Also, let me add that I did not mean for anything here to be a personal attack on the author. I was just expressing my feelings about the book, as I feel I am entitled to my own opinions. However, if anything I said was offensive, please know you have my sincerest apologies.
Lastly, please do not let my review stop you from picking up this book. While it has flaws, it balances those with amazing character building and informative lore. If anything, pick up the book to support the author!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2022
I couldn’t like this book. For other parents who want to know about the “I almost didn’t let my child finish the series because of concerning content”, I’ll get to that. Granted, I only read aloud half of book 13 (to edit out some things) and this one for the entire series, but the writing style and dialog was not my cup of tea. Then again, it is written for tweens, so I will give it space for writing in a manner that appeals to this demographic. My 10 year old loved it. I am an avid reader and I felt like there was great confusion in the description of dragon fights and weird mindspace versus reality so I couldn’t grasp what was going on, and then it all ended too neatly and easily. Kind of disappointing. Anyway…
…I read this book aloud because I still hold to the fact that I get to decide what my children are introduced to and when and that will be when they demonstrate maturity and understanding appropriate for the topic. I hold with Corrie ten Boom’s father’s wisdom of deciding what is and is not “too heavy for their suitcase”. So, here’s why I read it aloud. There is a human character introduced (Axolotl) who goes by the “they” pronoun. This character, in my opinion, had basically zero point other than helping through a cave. And wanting to learn to read and speak dragon. But Axolotl is a filler character and in the book for no reason. And the entire use of the pronouns “they” or “them” is incredibly confusing as a reader! Words mean things and should add clarity to a story. I just changed the pronouns to “she” and “her” as I read aloud. Helpful to know that only one person is pinned under dragon claws and not two or more…
Also, in chapter 23, we get an introduction to the male dragon, Pineapple’s, boyfriend Jambu. Nothing really happens but some cuddling and pet talk, but I changed that up and moved along in the reading aloud.
People will disagree with me and might have some things to say about my opinion, but that’s okay. I’m the parent of my kids and no one else’s, but people should know to make their own decisions.
…I read this book aloud because I still hold to the fact that I get to decide what my children are introduced to and when and that will be when they demonstrate maturity and understanding appropriate for the topic. I hold with Corrie ten Boom’s father’s wisdom of deciding what is and is not “too heavy for their suitcase”. So, here’s why I read it aloud. There is a human character introduced (Axolotl) who goes by the “they” pronoun. This character, in my opinion, had basically zero point other than helping through a cave. And wanting to learn to read and speak dragon. But Axolotl is a filler character and in the book for no reason. And the entire use of the pronouns “they” or “them” is incredibly confusing as a reader! Words mean things and should add clarity to a story. I just changed the pronouns to “she” and “her” as I read aloud. Helpful to know that only one person is pinned under dragon claws and not two or more…
Also, in chapter 23, we get an introduction to the male dragon, Pineapple’s, boyfriend Jambu. Nothing really happens but some cuddling and pet talk, but I changed that up and moved along in the reading aloud.
People will disagree with me and might have some things to say about my opinion, but that’s okay. I’m the parent of my kids and no one else’s, but people should know to make their own decisions.
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