dragons – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell

A while back Caramel read and reviewed Katherine Rundell’s book titled Impossible Creatures. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about the sequel, The Poisoned King, published originally in 2025.

Sprinkles: You reviewed Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell a while ago. So we are finally ready to talk about the sequel, The Poisoned King.

Caramel: Yup, it is also just as good as the first one.

S: I love it when that happens! So tell me a bit about this book. You had said that the previous book had ended a bit sad. Does this one pick up where that one ended and maybe things get happier?

C: No, I think it’s a little later, maybe a year or so.

S: The same characters?

C: Yes, some of them are the same.

S: Great! So there is some continuity. That is good. So tell us about the story.

C: Yeah, so in the beginning, there is a girl named Anya who is a princess, and her grandfather is killed. So Anya tries to figure out who did that.

S: So is Anya’s grandfather the poisoned king in the title?

C: Yes.

S: So how does Christopher from the other book show up?

C: He doesn’t show up for a while. But we are in the same world and same archipelago.

S: Ooh, and are the same magical creatures from that book still here?

C: Yes.

S: Is the whole book about Anya trying to find who poisoned her grandfather?

C: Sort of. But there are also dragons dying from the same poison.

S: Hmm, kind of like the first book where the magical creatures were in danger.

C: Yeah, except the dragons’ gold is also being stolen.

S: That is interesting! So multiple mysteries all at once.

C: Yeah, but all connected.

S: That makes sense.

Caramel is reading The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell. — Caramel is reading *The Poisoned King* by Katherine Rundell.

S: So in the first book there were a lot of illustrations and you really liked them. Are there any in this one, too?

C: Yeah, it’s like the first one where the pictures are shown only when an important event is described. They are done by the same person, Ashley MacKenzie, and they are just as good. But again, it could have been nice to have more of them.

S: Yeah, I see. Did the book end in a cliffhanger?

C: Yes, it sort of did so there has to be a third book and I have to read it!

S: Yes, apparently there is a third book and it is coming out this September. Its name is The Neverfear.

C: That is a strange title. The other two titles were more regular titles. I wonder what Neverfear means. But yay! I really have to read that book!

S: I am glad you liked this book that much Caramel. So it was fun to read?

C: Yes! I mean, they have magic and they have dragons! Who wouldn’t like that?

S: I know, right? Okay, so before we wrap up this review, tell me if a reader could read this second book before reading the first one. Would it still work? Or should they read the first book before diving into this one?

C: it would be good to have read the first one. You’d have a better understanding of the world. And the characters and the stories from the first book come up here, too, so this second book would not make as much sense to someone who has not read the first book.

S: I see, thank you Caramel, that makes sense. So let us wrap it up then. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell and is looking forward to the third and last installment of this trilogy. — Caramel enjoyed reading *The Poisoned King* by Katherine Rundell and is looking forward to the third and last installment of this trilogy.

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 Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker

Caramel has always been an avid fan of Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series. He is also a lover of graphic novels. So he has already reviewed the graphic novelizations of the first eight Wings of Fire books (The Dragonet Prophecy, The Lost Heir, The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, The Brightest Night, Moon Rising, Winter Turning, and Escaping Peril) for the book bunnies blog. Today he reviews the graphic novel adaptation of Darkstalker, published just yesterday! As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: Here we are with a brand new Wings of Fire graphic novel! I knew you would be happy to get your paws on this book!

Caramel: Yes, you know I had to get my paws on it.

S: Well, it was just published yesterday, and here you are, ready to talk about it already. I am guessing that is a good sign.

C: Yep, it sure is. I’m very lucky to have it, and I’m glad we are talking about it.

S: Okay, so you had already read and reviewed the original Darktstalker.

C: Yep, I have, and both are awesome.

S: So can you remind our readers a bit about what the deal is with the Wings of Fire books and this book especially, given how it is not one of the standard series, but rather belongs to the associated Legends series?

C: Ok, so the Legends, the Winglets, and the Wings of Fire are all different series. The Wings of Fire are the original books; there are fifteen of them and they are about many different dragons who live on different continents on a planet and have many different adventures and challenges. The Legends are more sort of books that fill in gaps in knowledge missed in the original series, about historical and legendary events and characters. And the Winglets books are like that, too, but they are more about some of the side characters from the main series.

S: Alright, that is a good summary I think.

Caramel is reading Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker. — Caramel is reading *Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel* by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker.

S: So then this book is a graphic novel adaptation of one of the Legends books, about a historical character named Darkstalker, right?

C: Yep, but he also shows up in the Jade Mountain story arc. That is the story arc that covers books six to ten.

S: Wait, so he is historical in a way because he is really old and ancient, but he is still affecting the main story line?

C: Yes, this book is basically his origin story.

S: I see. That’s cool.

C: And this also contains the thoughts and storyline of him and two other characters, Clearsight, and Fathom, his friends who were forced to go against him..

S: They also show up in the original version though, right?

C: Yep, but I was sort of wanting to see what they looked like, this being a graphic novel and all. And this was very close.

S: That is so neat! So why don’t you tell me a bit more about the graphic part of the graphic novel? I noticed that the main illustrator is Jake Parker, and not Mike Holmes, who was the one from the graphic novelizations of the main series.

C: Yeah, but it’s still good; I like this artist’s style too.

S: I am guessing the other books kind of set up a standard, a set of expectations for the reader, and this book is in line with those expectations.

C: I guess you could say it that way. I just say I liked them both.

S: Okay, sounds good to me.

C: Somehow, his style is familiar to me. Not sure why?

S: It might be because you already read some of his other work. Remember Kepler’s Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships?

C: Oh, yeah! That was a cool book! I told you somehow his style felt familiar.

S: Good for you! By the way, did you know that there will soon be a book sixteen for the original Wings of Fire series?

C: Yesss! I heard that a fourth arc is starting and I really really can’t wait! I really want to read it.

S: It is apparently titled The Hybrid Prince and will come out some time in March 2026.

C: It is so hard to wait!

S: It is apparently about a MudWing brother of Clay named Umber.

C: Really, ooooooooooooo, now I really need to read it.

S: I love your enthusiasm Caramel. I think it is certain that you will read and review it when it comes out.

C: Yay!

S: Okay, I think this is a good time to wrap up this review. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews! And I can’t wait till March!!

Caramel loved reading Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker and can't wait for more Wings of Fire books! — Caramel loved reading *Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel* by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker and can’t wait for more Wings of Fire books!