Caramel’s reviews – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews Redshirts by John Scalzi

Today Caramel reviews Redshirts, a book by John Scalzi first published in 2012. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about a space story, right?

Caramel: Yes, today we are talking about Redshirts, which is a story that is in a Star Trek-like universe. The book never comes out and says Star Trek of course, but you know it.

S: True. Even the title is a throwback to Star Trek. Redshirts are the ensigns and other members of the crew who wear red uniforms, and if you watch enough Star Trek episodes, at some point it becomes clear that whenever a team goes down to a planet with some of the main characters and a few crew members wearing red, the dangers in the planet would kill off at least one of those redshirts.

C: Yes. The book is really about that. The main character is this guy named Andrew Dahl and he is himself a redshirt. He joins the Universal Union, which is like the Federation in Star Trek, and is serving on the flagship. He realizes at some point that his friends keep dying. But none of the main crew dies. So the redshirts start getting suspicious.

S: I think that is a really smart plotline.

C: Yes, I think so too. But it gets even better. They realize that they do not really have memories beyond the ship they are on and so on, and they eventually discover that there is a real weird reason for everything.

S: Yep!

C: But I am not telling. I think it would be a big spoiler.

Caramel is reading Redshirts by John Scalzi. — Caramel is reading *Redshirts* by John Scalzi.

S: Yes, you do have a point there. Okay, so let us stop talking about the plot then and begin to talk about other things about the book. Actually I read Redshirts first and could not stop myself from laughing all the time. I thought you would enjoy it, too. Was I right?

C: Yeah, it was pretty good. I laughed a lot, too.

S: I also found the plot twists pretty neat.

C: Yeah, me too. But again, no spoilers! And I kind of guessed some of them.

S: Good for you! I did not. But you and Marshmallow are getting pretty good at guessing narrative arcs.

C: Well, we do read a lot of books.

S: That’s true.

C: Yeah, so the book starts out with a guy on an away mission, for lack of a better term, and he is eaten by land worms, I have no idea what those could possibly be. But they sound just about right for the kind of weird monsters that appeared in the original Star Trek series. And so we immediately get some action and some weirdness, and it is all fun from that point on.

S: I mean, I guess a lot of redshirts did die, I think, and death is not really funny, if you think about it, but in the storyline they were all quite absurd, and you could not help but laugh.

C: Yeah, the setups of the away missions were all weirdly amusing, but the actual plot of the book was awesome. Kind of mind-boggling and mind-twisting, but also funny. And awesome!

S: I am so glad you enjoyed it. But I am wondering. Do you think someone would still enjoy this book if they did not watch any Star Trek?

C: Yes, yes, the plot can still stand alone, but knowing Star Trek sort of just makes it better.

S: I think I agree. For a Star Trek fan like me, there were a lot of inside jokes, but if you are not a Trekkie like me,,I think it is still a great read. Lots of fun and also some things to think about after you are done.

C: Yep.

S: Okay Caramel. I think this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Let’s do that.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Redshirts by John Scalzi and recommends it to all bunnies looking for some funny space stories. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Redshirts* by John Scalzi and recommends it to all bunnies looking for some funny space stories.

Caramel reviews Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Caramel reviews the graphic novel version of Talons of Power, the ninth book of the Wings of Fire series, by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes.

After waiting for it for over three years, Caramel was able to read and review book sixteen of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series last week. This made him realize that he had not yet reviewed the graphic novel adaptation of book nine, Talons of Power, which had come out in December 2025. He now talks to Sprinkles about this book below.

Caramel reviews Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel reviews *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about the graphic novel version of Book Nine of the Wings of Fire series. Right, Caramel?

Caramel: Yes, technically we could have talked about this before the sixteenth book, but we forgot to review, but I’m happy I got my paws on this book.

S: Yes, this came out at the end of 2025, and you read it all the way back then, but then we had a couple other books you were planning to review, and then we took January off, and then we basically forgot.

C: Yeah, we should have reviewed it earlier, but at least we remembered.

S: You had read and reviewed the original version of the ninth book before. And you loved that book.

C: Yeah, and I love this one too, it’s awesome.

S: So if I recall correctly this one has Turtle as the main character.

C: Yeah, Turtle is a self-proclaimed coward, but he’s also among the strongest characters in Wings of Fire, because he’s an animus, just like his sister, Anemone. That means he has magic.

S: Ooh, cool! I think you had mentioned that in your review of the original book. You also had used “treacherous”, “revelation”, and “reluctant hero” to describe the book and its themes.

C: Yeah, so he sort of has to save the day from Darkstalker, but he’s a scaredy cat so he sort of doesn’t want to.

S: So there is a lot of his internal struggle in the original book, I think. How does all that internal struggle work out in the graphic novel format?

C: Well. It works out well.

S: So you enjoyed reading this book, then.

C: Yeah, it was very fun to read, and like the other graphic novels, the art was very cool and colorful.

S: It is after all the same art team, led by Mike Holmes who drew them and Maarta Laiho who worked on the colors. I am glad you liked the art.

C: Well, that explains why it was so good.

S: Yes. And looking through the book I am quite impressed by how the faces of the dragons are so expressive, I mean dragons are lizard-like creatures, it is hard to create expressions for them without making them look too human- or bunny-like. The artist does a great job with that.

C: Yeah, the art is very expressive.

Caramel is reading Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel is reading *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

S: Did reading this graphic novel make you want to go back to the original book and read that one again?

C: Yeah, so I did, though I probably would have done that anyways.

S: That’s true. I know how you like to go back and reread your favorites over and over again. That is something I never do with my books, but I know both you and Marshmallow love doing it.

C: Yeah, you’re weird for not rereading. I know Midnight also likes to reread.

S: Yeah, I mean I can see the appeal of reading a good book, you know it is good, and sometimes it is like you are reconnecting with old friends, and sometimes you probably catch things you might have missed in your first reading, and so on. Do you think you like rereading because of any of these reasons?

C: No, I just like rereading my favorite books.

S: And I like discovering new books, and there are so many books out there! I know I won’t be able to read all the books I want to read in one lifetime, so I often do not want to reread. I guess we are kind of different that way.

C: True, I guess we like different things about books, but let’s get back to this book.

S: Good idea Caramel. Thanks for redirecting us and getting us to focus. So what do you wish to add about the book?

C: It contains all the important things from the original book. You always want to know if the graphic novel version of a book is missing anything. So no, the graphic novel version has pretty much everything one needs to move to the next book.

S: That is neat. And good to know. So this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Sounds good.

S: What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes and is excited to have many more Wings of Fire books to read these days. — Caramel loved reading *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes and is excited to have many more Wings of Fire books to read these days.

Caramel reviews The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

Caramel was delighted to finally get his paws on the sixteenth book of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series: The Hybrid Prince was published on March 3, 2026. Below you will find him discussing this long-awaited novel with Sprinkles who is taking notes and asking questions.

In case you are wondering, Caramel has read and reviewed almost every book in this series. Here are his reviews of the books of the original series: The Dragonet Prophecy (book 1), Moon Rising (book 6), Winter Turning (book 7), Escaping Peril (book 8), Talons of Power (book 9), Darkness of Dragons (book 10), The Lost Continent (book 11), The Hive Queen (book 12), The Poison Jungle (book 13), The Dangerous Gift (book 14), and The Flames of Hope (book 15).

He also reviewed the graphic novelizations of the first eight books: The Dragonet Prophecy (book 1), The Lost Heir (book 2), The Hidden Kingdom (book 3), The Dark Secret (book 4), The Brightest Night (book 5), Moon Rising (book 6), Winter Turning (book 7), and Escaping Peril (book 8).

He has also read and reviewed the two books in the Legends series (Darkstalker –also see its graphic novelization, and Dragonslayer) as well as the first book in the Winglets series (The Winglets Quartet: The First Four Stories).

Besides all these, he has also reviewed Wings of Fire: A Guide to the Dragon World.

Caramel reviews The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel reviews *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you are finally ready to talk about the sixteenth book of the Wings of Fire today, right?

Caramel: Yes, yes we are! We finally got a new one.

S: I know you were so looking forward to this book. Was it worth the wait?

C: I mean I’d prefer to not have had to wait, but yes, it’s a great thing.

S: Okay, so is the story good? Tell us a bit about it. Do we know any of the main characters in it?

C: Yes, Umber and Sora. Umber is the main character, and is the brother of Clay from the first trilogy. Sora is their sister. Remember we first met Clay in the Dragonet Prophecy?

S: Yes, I do remember Clay.

C: And we have seen both Umber and Sora before. They are mentioned in many of the earlier books.

S: Hmm, that is neat. Alright, so then are we continuing any of the previous story lines?

C: Not quite. This starts a new narrative arc. Umber and Sora are now refugees from Pyrrhia, as Sora is an attempted murderer.

S: Wait, so she tries to kill someone?

C: Yep, In Moon Rising, she tries to kill Icicle who was Winter’s older sister, because Sora believes that Icicle was the one who killed her sister. So she blows some stuff up, tries to impale Icicle, yada yada, and Sora and Umber have to run away. This book is where we learn about what has happened to them.

S: I see. So tying some loose ends, kind of, but also starting something new?

C: Yeah, I do think there will be more books to follow. This one is a bit strange. They both find partners, and then they find dragon eggs, and they raise the dragonets.

S: But you said they left Pyrrhia? Where are they?

C: In the middle of the ocean, in Dungeon Isle, which is kind of like a penal colony. There are dragons from all tribes there, and many hybrid ones as a result. There are some called the WildWings that are so mixed that you cannot tell the different tribe origins they might have.

Caramel is reading The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel is reading *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

S: Okay, so the book is called The Hybrid Prince. But Umber is not hybrid, he is a MudWing, so who is the Hybrid Prince?

C: The hybrid prince is his new love interest.

S: Ooh, that is interesting. You did say they find partners. I see. Okay, then is the book more about partnering up and family troubles and so on? Any other adventures?

C: Yeah, Umber and Sora get trapped in this magical prison, then Umber finds this hybrid guy, and he develops a crush on him, and they are now sort of entangled in a mess involving betrayal, murder, more murder, and more attempted murder.

S: Okay, that sounds … lively?

C: Or deadly, we could say.

S: Oh, I see what you did there! That’s funny.

C: Well, yes, I am funny, but the story is not completely funny. Some people get un-alived, some are captured and exiled, though they’re all trapped in this prison island, so the exile is within the prison island. So it is complicated.

S: I see. It sounds like maybe this book had a slightly different feel than the other fifteen? Or maybe not?

C: It did feel a little different, but it’s still just as awesome. I have already read it a few times.

S: That is cool! I know you were so excited to get your paws on this book after waiting for it for such a long time. For a while we did not even know if there would be a sixteenth book. Now that this is out, you can expect to get at least one more, probably.

C: Yeah, I hope there’s way more than just one though.

S: I guess we will see. Okay, this might be a good place to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Let’s do that so I can go back to rereading my book.

S: Okay. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is thankful that it is finally out! — Caramel loved reading *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is thankful that it is finally out!

Caramel reviews Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe

Today Caramel reviews a neat picture book first published in 2019: Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I see we have a neat picture book to talk about today.

Caramel: Yes we do! It is about a frog named Pokko.

S: Okay, so tell us a bit about Pokko.

C: Pokko is a frog who was gifted a drum by her parents (bad idea on their part).

S: Why would that be a bad idea? And I think that is actually the very first sentence of the book, right?

C: Yeah, it was something along the lines of “The biggest mistake Pokko’s parents made was giving her a drum”. And it is later said (two pages later) that the reason is because the drum kept them from focusing, or really doing anything.

S: So the mom keeps trying to read, right? And a drum would be kind of loud I suppose. Remember how you played the trumpet for a while. That was loud.

C: I at least had a thingy to make it quieter. I don’t think you can make drums quiet.

S: That is true. Okay, so she is loud and so her dad suggests that she take it outside, right?

C: Yes. And she does. But then she starts making some noise,or music I suppose. Then another animal joins her, and she plays louder. Then another joins her, again, and again, and by the time the sun sets, she has a whole band of animals following her and making music together, and they are so loud, the noise reaches her parents, all the way back in their home.

S: That sounds cool! So she makes friends with her music, right?

C: Yeah, it sounds cool, until a band member, a wolf, eats another one, a bunny.

S: Wait, that sounds kind of worrisome.

C: Yes, it could be but in the book it is rather funny. Pokko scolds the wolf, saying that he can’t keep eating band members. The book is really funny.

S: Wait, a wolf eats a bunny and you find that funny?

C: Hmm, when you put it that way, as a bunny I should feel a bit concerned about the bunny who is eaten. But in the book Pokko scolds the wolf and the wolf behaves after that. And we move on.

S: I see. I guess bad things happen in other books, too, and this is meant more as a funny thing rather than a tragedy..

C: Yep.

Caramel is reading Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe. — Caramel is reading *Pokko and the Drum* by Matthew Forsythe.

S: Alright. So I read in another review that this book was about the power of “marching to the beat of your own drum”. Do you agree?

C: Yeah, I could see that. She is after all playing her own drum as she likes, and she keeps walking, and others join her beat. It is exactly like that actually!

S: So do you think there is a moral to the story?

C: I did not read it for a moral, it is really funny, and I did not tell you half of all the funny lines. But if I need to think about a moral, hmm, let me think… Maybe it is like you said, march to the beat of your own drum and you will find your friends and your own place in the world?

S: That makes sense.

C: And maybe your parents might try to hold you down, and just don’t let them?

S: Okay, maybe that is going a bit too far. After all the parents were the ones who got her the drum.

C: Yeah, you’re right, that was maybe a little ridiculous.

S: But then again, they did try to suppress her music, so you do have a point Caramel. Sometimes even usually supportive parents might feel the children are going too far, making too loud music, and so on. And then maybe it is okay to push a little. Maybe.

C: Maybe. And she does not disrespect the parents. Just continues to play her drum. She is making music. And music is beautiful.

S: Yes. Agreed! Okay, so you thought this was really funny, you even read some of the lines out loud to me. Tell me now a bit about the illustrations. It seems the author is also the person who illustrated the book.

C: Yes. They are really funny. And they are very good at showing the characters’ feelings. You see how happy Pokko is when she gets the drum, for example.

S: I looked through the pages of the book, and thought the illustrations were funny and very lively. The colors are warm, and each page is quite a lot of fun to look at. So all in all, you enjoyed this book, right?

C: Very much so. I don’t get to read too many picture books anymore, but when I do, this is the kind of book I love. Funny and fun!

S: Okay, Caramel. I think this is a good place to end our review.

C: Sure.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe and recommends it to all little bunnies looking for a fun story about a little frog who loves music. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Pokko and the Drum* by Matthew Forsythe and recommends it to all little bunnies looking for a fun story about a little frog who loves music.