Caramel’s reviews – Page 43

Caramel reviews The Dangerous Gift (Book Fourteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

Caramel has spent most of this year reading and reviewing books about dragons. Today, for his last review before the bunnies take off for the month of July, he talks about The Dangerous Gift, the fourteenth and currently the penultimate book in the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: Book Fourteen. Here we are. What can you tell us about it?

Caramel: This one is about Queen Snowfall of the IceWings.

S: Is she the main character?

C: Yes.

S: But the queens are typically bad in this book series, no?

C: Not this one. Burn, Bister, and Blaze were bad, and so was Scarlet. But there is Ruby, and she is not that bad. And Snowfall is really not bad.

S: I see. So how does she fit into the storyline of the Lost Continent?

C: Some dragons from the tribes from the lost continent come over to the Ice Kingdom, though they were not intending to, and they ask for help. So the IceWings get involved.

S: I see.

C: Technically only about twelve IceWings get involved. Queen Snowfall orders ten guards to come with her, and Lynx, another IceWing, comes along, because she is not going to take no for an answer.

S: Hmm, is Lynx Snowfall’s friend?

C: They are technically enemies. Or they were, until Snowfall became the queen. Before her, the queen was Queen Glacier, who was Snowfall’s mother.

S: So what happened to her?

C: She died. Of a plague, sent by Darkstalker.

S: Oh, I remember Darkstalker, who was the bad guy from the second story arc, the Jade Mountain arc.

C: Yep.

Caramel is reading The Dangerous Gift (Book Fourteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel is reading *The Dangerous Gift* (Book Fourteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

S: Okay, so Snowfall is the main character of this book, right?

C: Yes. I like her. In the beginning she is kind of annoying but then you start to actually like her.

S: Do the IceWings decide to help the dragons from the other continent?

C: They have to. Because the new dragons have to get to the Sanctuary. That is the place that the Talons of Peace created after the war, at the end of the first five books. Did I tell you about the Talons of Power?

S: No, I don’t think so.

C: Well they come up in the tenth book.

S: Well the ninth book is called the Talons of Power?

C: Yeah, but you actually learn who they are in the tenth. They were created by Quibli’s grandpa who thought the Talons of Peace were too weak and so he created the Talons of Power.

S: I see.

C: But who is important in this book is the Talons of Peace, and the Sanctuary they created. The dragons from the other continent want to go there.

S: Why?

C: That is a safe place. They are running away the Hive Queen. That is Queen Wasp, who can control all the HiveWings. Remember?

S: Yes, I do. So our friends from the earlier books, Blue, Cricket, and Luna, are they among the dragons from Pantala who came over?

C: Luna had come over already in the tenth book. She was stuck in Pyrrhia, and when Queen Wasp attacked and took over a large part of the LeadWings, our friends escaped. It is now impossible to attack Queen Wasp because she now can control a lot of dragons.

S: I see. So does this book have a neat ending that ties things together? Or is everything going to have to wait till the fifteenth book?

C: It ends in a cliffhanger. I have to, have to, have to read the fifteenth book!

S: I know. Okay, let us wrap up this review so you can get your paws on the next one then.

C: Yay!

S: But our readers will have to wait till August for your review of it.

C: That’s true! This is our last review before we take off the month of July.

S: Yes. I hope we will be reading a lot this month, and by the time we get back to the blog, we will have a lot to talk about.

C: Yes!

S: So would you do the honors and say your words to the readers to wrap up the review?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews! Coming back in August 2022!

Caramel enjoyed reading The Dangerous Gift (Book Fourteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland, and is eager to dive into the fifteenth book. But the readers of the blog will need to wait until August to read his thoughts about that book. — Caramel enjoyed reading *The Dangerous Gift* (Book Fourteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland, and is eager to dive into the fifteenth book. But the readers of the blog will need to wait until August to read his thoughts about that book.

Caramel reviews The Poison Jungle (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

Today Caramel reviews the thirteenth book of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series: The Poison Jungle As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Before reading this review you might wish to check out Caramel’s reviews of the graphic novel versions of the first five books (The Dragonet Prophecy, The Lost Heir, The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night), as well as his review of the very first book (The Dragonet Prophecy, the sixth book (Moon Rising), the seventh (Winter Turning), the eighth (Escaping Peril), the ninth (Talons of Power), the tenth (Darkness of Dragons), the eleventh (The Lost Continent), and the twelfth (The Hive Queen).

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

Caramel reviews The Poison Jungle (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel reviews *The Poison Jungle* (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, this is the thirteenth book. Only two more left I think. Right?

Caramel: Yep.

S: So tell us about this one. Who is the main character this time?

C: Sundew. She is a LeafWing, and she has the strongest LeafSpeak in her tribe.

S: What was that?

C: Remember I told you about it when we were talking about The Hive Queen. Some of the LeafWing dragons can help plants grow faster or slow them down. And Sundew is really good at this.

S: So what is the main story this time? What does Sundew do with her powers?

C: Well, she doesn’t tell her friends about her powers at first. But Cricket asks her some questions and it comes out. And remember the last time, Cricket, Sundew and Blue and Swordtail got to the Poison Jungle to hide. So this is the story of them hiding there.

S: Tell me more. What happens? What is the main conflict in the book?

C: Queen Wasp actually attacks the jungle and takes over a lot of the LeafWing tribes. She also gets Blue and Swordtail.

S: Wait, that sounds like a big spoiler.

C: Yes I guess it is because it happens towards the end. But I could not hide it. It is a big deal. And it is terrible, because Queen Wasp can control people. And now she will control Blue and Swordtail too.

S: Hmm, we should probably put a spoiler alert to this post. But who is Swordtail? I do not remember you talking about that dragon.

C: Swordtail is another SilkWing, he is a friend of Blue. We met him actually all the way back in The Lost Continent.

S: I see. So he was also trying to help Cricket hide and help them all get rid of Queen Wasp?

C: Yes, exactly.

Caramel is reading The Poison Jungle (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel is reading *The Poison Jungle* (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

S: Okay, since we already gave away some big spoilers, let us move away from the plot line and talk about the rest of the book. Do you find Sundew an interesting character?

C: Yes, she is strong and also likes another girl dragon, Willow, another LeafWing.

S: I see. Does Willow like her back?

C: Yes. But they are not quite a couple.

S: I see. So does Sundew talk about Willow in the book a lot?

C: Not too much. She hides a lot of her feelings, and her powers, and so on. She does not seem to trust others too much.

S: I see. So on this continent who is your favorite dragon so far?

C: I’d say Willow, because she is the nicest person of them all. She is kind and always trying to help. I also like Blue and Cricket. Blue does not like violence, and neither does Cricket. But also Cricket is very curious, she asks questions all the time. So I like all three of them.

S: Those are very good reasons to like a character Caramel! So did you think this book was at the right tone for the series? Did you think it carried the story along well so you would want to continue to read on?

C: Yes. I think the whole series is very good, all the books are so good! And I definitely want to read the next two books! And soon!

S: Okay Caramel, I get the hint. Let us wrap this up then so you can move on to book fourteen. But before then, what do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Poison Jungle (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is ready to dive into the next book in the series. — Caramel loved reading *The Poison Jungle* (Book Thirteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is ready to dive into the next book in the series.

Caramel reviews Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao

Caramel has been reviewing book after book of the Wings of Fire series. Today he takes a break from the dragons and talks about a book about gaming: Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao, published in 2021. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel this book just appeared one day in your paws.

Caramel: Yes, I got it from my classroom library.

S: That is cool, that you have a classroom library and that there are books there that you find interesting.

C: Yep. I often find books there that I like to read.

S: Okay, so why did you pick up this one?

C: Because it looked interesting.

S: And did it turn out to be interesting?

C: Yes, why else would I be reviewing it?

S: Well, that is good. Tell us about it then.

C: This book is about Reyna Cheng, who is a Chinese-American gamer.

S: What does that mean?

C: She plays virtual reality video games.

S: What kinds of games?

C: The one she is playing is called Dayhold and she is very good at it.

S: Does Dayhold exist? Did you ever play it?

C: No, this is supposed to be in the future, it is 2064 or 2067 or something like that, and the video game is in virtual reality. And she is competing against other people as well as some artificial intelligence players. And people who are very good at gaming are like celebrities and there is a lot of money in gaming. So Reyna is not just playing, she wants to become a professional gamer.

S: I see. So she is young though, right?

C: Yes, she is twelve and just finished sixth grade. But most of the other people in the game don’t know who she is and she wants to keep it that way.

S: Why?

C: Because most gamers are boys or men and Reyna knows from experience that as a girl gamer, she will not be treated well.

S: Oh, that’s so not fair!

C: You’re right, and she is so much better than the other players.

S: Well, even if she weren’t, it would be better if people did not mistreat her just because she is a girl.

C: I agree.

Caramel is reading Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao. — Caramel is reading *Last Gamer Standing* by Katie Zhao.

C: She is very good though. She beats one of the best players and he was cheating and she still beat him.

S: Wait, I am worried you might be going into spoiler territory.

C: Possibly. but there is a lot more that happens in the book. So there is a troll for example who wants to dox her. And doxing we looked that up, it means that people make your identity public despite your wishes to remain anonymous. And a troll is “a person who intentionally antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content” according to a dictionary.

S: Oh that can be very dangerous!

C: Yes she could be in real danger, but she tries to save herself and the book is about that too.

S: I see. Does it also describe the game itself?

C: Yes a little. It seems interesting; you fight people with swords, spears and so on.

S: You did finish the book rather quickly. Was it an easy read for you?

C: Not always. I did not know about doxing and so I had to figure that out. By asking you, my very trustable source. But the book is written in Reyna’s voice and in first person, so that was good, it made it easier to read.

S: I see. If you were to try and find three words to describe the book, what would they be?

C: Descriptive, because there are a lot of descriptions of the game, funny sometimes, and exciting because I wanted to know what would happen to Reyna so I kept reading. It is attention-snatching, it kept my attention.

S: I can see that! Would you recommend the book to other bunnies like yourself?

C: Yup. Some boys think girls can’t be good gamers, so maybe it would be good for them to read this book. Because Reyna is a very good gamer but also it is not nice to mistreat people just because they are a girl.

S: Thank you Caramel, I totally agree. So let us wrap up this review then. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao and recommends it to all other little bunnies. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Last Gamer Standing* by Katie Zhao and recommends it to all other little bunnies.

Caramel reviews The Hive Queen (Book Twelve of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

Today Caramel reviews the twelfth book of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series: The Hive Queen. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, here we are, ready to talk about the twelfth book! Why don’t you start by telling our readers a bit about it?

Caramel: The Hive Queen is about Cricket, the HiveWing. We met her already in The Lost Continent, but in this book, she is the central character. And other dragonets we met in that book come up too, like Blue and Queen Wasp. She is the mean queen of the HiveWing who controls their minds and voices sometimes when she wants to. But not Cricket’s. Somehow she is immune to the queen’s powers. So she, that is, Cricket, runs away and hides, because she is afraid they will discover that she is somehow different.

S: That sounds scary. Like every other dragonet around her goes into a trance and says the same things and Cricket is there all alone, the only one not influenced.

C: Yes, exactly.

S: Do we learn eventually why she is immune to Queen Wasp’s powers?

C: Yes, we do. And in this book, but I’m not telling. You always tell me not to give too many spoilers.

S: That’a fair. What can you tell us about the events of the book then?

C: Blue is a flamesilk, and I told you about those earlier in my review of The Lost Continent. They are special SilkWong, whose silk is red and glows and sometimes can burn things. And there is Luna, who we also saw in Darkness of Dragons. And there is Sundew, who is a LeafWing.

S: You told me before that LeafWing did not probably exist anymore.

C: Yes, everyone thought they were extinct, but somehow they survived in the Poison Jungle. And that is the name of the thirteenth book so I am really curious to read that one. And some of the LeafWing have leafspeak. They can make trees grow, and so on, kind of like Isabella in Encanto. But Isabella can create flowers and stuff from nothing, but the LeadWing can only help plants that already exist. Or they can hurt the plants.

S: Hmm, I’d assume that in a place called the Poison Jungle, there might be plants you might want to not want to help.

C: Well, they live in there for protection. So I think actually they like the poisonous plants there because the plants protect them from the outside.

S: Oh, that definitely makes sense.

C: And let me tell you also that the LeafWing have themselves split into two tribes. Sundew is from the side that is called the PoisonWing. The other side is called the SapWings. They both call themselves LeafWings though. The other names are only used by the enemy tribe.

S: Hmm, so the LeafWings are hiding and in an ongoing conflict.

C: Well, they are not really fighting each other but don’t seem to like one another.

S: So what happens to Cricket, Blue, and Sundew in this book?

C: They hide in Jewel Hive. Hives are places the SilkWing make for the HiveWing to live in. SilkWing do all the work and the HiveWing get all the benefits. It’s not a good situation. But anyways they hide there and try to understand why Cricket is different before they can be discovered and Cricket gets into trouble.

S: Okay, that sounds like a lot.

C: Yep.

Caramel is reading The Hive Queen (Book Twelve of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel is reading *The Hive Queen* (Book Twelve of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

S: Okay, I think you have told us enough things about the plot. Can you tell me how it felt to be reading more about this new continent? Do you miss the characters from the first ten books?

C: Yes. But I think we will see at least some of them in the thirteenth book.

S: But in this book, we are always on the new continent Pantala, right?

C: Yes, except in the prologue and the epilogue, because in those, we see Moonwatcher, and Turtle, and Tsunami. Because Luna is telling them about the tribes in Pantala and asking them to help.

S: I see. So it is highly likely that in the next few books, all characters will come together in Pantala.

C: Well, not really. Actually I think some of the tribes from Pantala will try and escape to Pyrrhia. Still it is going to be very exciting to see them meet each other!

S: I can see your excitement Caramel. And I totally get your enthusiastic anticipation, it must be hard to wait to see how all these characters will interact when they get together.

C: Yes, I just can’t wait!

S: Okay, at least you can read the next book right after we wrap up this review.

C: Yep. So can we wrap it up now?

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

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Hive Queen (Book Twelve of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland, and is eager to dive into the next book in the series. — Caramel loved reading *The Hive Queen* (Book Twelve of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland, and is eager to dive into the next book in the series.