Caramel reviews The Flames of Hope (Book Fifteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

And the book bunnies are back! Caramel starts the new season with the last book of Tui Sutherland‘s Wings of Fire series: The Flames of Fire. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Caramel reviewed the first fourteen books from the series for the book bunnies blog. Before moving forward with his review of this fifteenth book, you might like to check out his reviews of these earlier books:

Caramel reviewed both the original version (The Dragonet Prophecy) and the graphic novel version (The Dragonet Prophecy of the very first book. He reviewed only the graphic novel versions of the next four books: The Lost Heir, The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night. These five make up the Dragonet Prophecy story arc.

Here are Caramel’s reviews for the five books that make up the second story arc (the Jade Mountain): Moon Rising, Winter Turning, Escaping Peril, Talons of Power, and Darkness of Dragons.

Finally here are Caramel’s reviews of the first four books making up the third story arc (the lost continent prophecy): The Lost Continent, The Hive Queen, The Poison Jungle, and The Dangerous Gift.

Readers should be warned that there may be more spoilers in this review than usual. 

Sprinkles: So Caramel, here we are, about to start yet another school year, and another season of books and book reviews! You have in your paws the fifteenth and currently the last Wings of Fire book: Flames of Hope. Are we finally done with this series? 

Caramel: Hopefully not. 

S: You mean the book ends with a cliffhanger?

C: To me yes. I’m not sure others would see it as a cliffhanger. I want to see the new world that Luna and Swordtail live in. 

S: Wait, that sounds like a spoiler.

C: No, I think it is already obvious that they would win. But to Tui Sutherland: if you are reading this, please write a sixteenth book. I want to know what happens next. 

S: Okay, let us slow down a bit. I recall that this fifteenth book is the fifth and final book of the third story arch: the lost continent. So is that arc completed and tied up nicely?

C: Yes, I think so. But these dragons will go on and live and do other amazing things, and I want to see them! 

S:  I think you mean that you like this world that Sutherland created and you are not ready to let go. 

C: Yes, exactly.

S: That is sweet. We started listening to the series as an audiobook, and I am already quite amazed at how complete this world that the author has created seems to be. So I understand why you don’t want to leave it just yet. 

C: And you know, we just are listening to the first book, and it gets better and better.

S: Cool. So would you then say that this fifteenth book is just as good as all the previous ones? 

C: Yes. 

S: So tell me what happens in it. Who is the main character this time?

C: Luna. We met her a while ago, first in book 10, The Darkness of Dragons. She is a SlikWing from Pantala.

S: So what is the main narrative arc of this book? What is the main event or challenge or conflict?

C: The main thing is that she battles the Other Mind.

S: What is the Other Mind?

C: It is the Breath of Evil, who took over a dragon and a human, and is using their minds for planning and stuff. 

S: Is the Breath of Evil a plant? I seem to recall that on Pantala there were evil plants. 

C: Yes. Exactly. The Breath of Evil is one of them. It tries to take over the entire world and Luna has to fight it. 

S: She has help from friends too, no?

C: Yes, but only Luna can do the actual thing. Only she can defeat the Other Mind. 

S: This story line sounds a bit creepier than the previous ones. 

C: But it is just as funny. There is an entire page of comic relief. Complete funniness. Pure hilarity. 

S: I see.

S: So do we see our friends from the first books? Tsunami? Clay? Peril?

C: We don’t see Peril I think, but we see the others. 

S: So do you think this is a clean and tidy ending for the series? 

C: Yes but –

S: Of course I understand you want more …

C: Yes, please Tui Sutherland, please, please, please, write more books about these dragons and their world!

S: I don’t know if she reads our blog, but I can see you feel very strongly about this. That is really neat! I think these books will be with you for a while. 

C: Yes. I will keep reading and rereading and rereading them. For a long time. 

S: I can see that. But for now, this series is over. We are done. Now looking back would you recommend this whole series to other little bunnies? 

C: Yes, of course, without a doubt. I think the first few books have some violence here and there, but overall, I love the world and the characters and everything in these books. 

S: How wonderful to have such a series that you are so fond of! So overall what three words would you use to describe the full series?

C: Hilarious, dragon awesomeness, and adventure, and friendship, and pure amazingness. 

S: Those are a little bit more than three words, but then again, they are about fifteen books. So I guess that is fine. This seems like to good place to wrap things up. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!