Tag: Rachel Swirsky

Caramel is a young bunny who loves dragons. In these last couple years, he has gone through all fifteen books of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series, and reviewed most of them. (His review of the fifteenth book, The Flames of Hope, contains links to all his reviews of the previous books.) He also loves graphic novels. So it was totally expected that when the graphic novel version of the sixth book in the series (Moon Rising) appeared, he just had to get his paws on a copy. Today, for his first review for the new year of 2023, he chose to talk about this book, written by Tui Sutherland, adapted by Barry Deutsch and Rachel Swirsky, with art work by Mike Holmes, and color by Maarta Laiho. As always, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

[You can see Caramel’s reviews of the graphic novel versions of the first five books here: The Dragonet Prophecy,  The Lost Heir,  The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night.]

Sprinkles: So here we are, Caramel, back from our January break, and you have yet another Wings of Fire book to talk about!

Caramel: Yes! This is Moon Rising, the sixth book of the series. It is the first book of the second arc, Jade Mountain.

S: You reviewed the original version of Moon Rising for the blog before. And I know it was one of your favorites in the series.

C: Yes, I think it is my favorite after the fifteenth, fourteenth, and the tenth.

S: Well, that means it is one of your top three. That is neat. It means you really liked the book. How is this one?

C: Good. But different. The graphic novel versions are all really really different from the actual books.

S: How so?

C: I guess they have similarities, I mean the characters, the main plot lines, and so on, but the original books, they have so much more detail, it feels like you are there.

S: Well, the graphic novel usually does not have as much room for as many words, but the images can help you see the story, perhaps?

C: Yes, I like the pictures in the graphic novels.

S: Does how they depict the characters visually fit your view of them?

C: I guess. You mean do they look like what I think they should look like?

S: Yep.That’s what I mean.

C: Then yes. They do kind of look like what I think they should look like.

S: And since you have read the first five graphic novels before moving into the actual series, maybe they already set some of the imagery in your mind.

C: Maybe.

S: So let us come back to Moon Rising. Can you remind our readers what the plot line is?

C: This is about Moonwatcher, who is a NightWing, and she has a dark secret. She has three dark secrets actually, but I will only tell one.

S: Okay, do tell.

C: She can read minds!

S: Oh yes, I seem to remember that from your review of the original version of the book.

C: Well, the story is the same as that one. With few minor differences. In the original book, there is a little bit more said about MoonWatcher’s secret, and there are more clues to her other dark secrets. But I won’t tell you more about those!

S: I guess I will have to wait and see for myself when we get to the book in audio. Perhaps this is a good time to tell our readers that we as a household are listening to the Wings of Fire books as audio books, and we are only in the third book (Hidden Kingdom).

C: Yes, but we are going kind of slow.

S: I know. We only listen to one chapter a night, and that is optimistic, some nights we don’t listen at all.

C: That happens way too often.

S: I know you like these books a lot, and listening to them, I can actually see why. The characters are all so vividly developed, though so far I only really met Clay, Tsunami, and Glory as the main narrators of the first three books, and the latter two are both too sure of themselves. Not like confidence isn’t nice, but theirs is more like, I know how to do all things and I don’t need help.

C: Yes, but both of them learn that they do need their friends.

S: I guess I can see that happened to Tsunami in the second book and might eventually happen to Glory in the third. So how about the central character of Moon Rising? Is Moonwatcher also very confident?

C: No she is the complete opposite. She doesn’t believe she can ever do anything right. But she is actually pretty awesome too.

S: Okay, so you liked this book!

C: Yes, I liked the original too, but the graphic novel is also pretty great. I already read it like fifty times.

S: I’d not doubt that. I have been seeing it in your paws for a while now.

C: Yep. I like reading it and rereading it. And I can’t wait till the seventh book comes out as a graphic novel.

S: I know! You do love these books. I think it might be time to wrap up this review though. What would you like to tell our readers as we do that?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has already reviewed the graphic novel versions of the first four books of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series; below he shares his thoughts on the fifth book in the series, published recently as a graphic novel: The Brightest Night. As in the first four graphic novelizations, this book is adapted by Barry Deutsch and Rachel Swirsky, art work is by Mike Holmes, color is by Maarta Laiho.

In the following Sprinkles is taking notes and is asking questions.

You might like to check out Caramel’s reviews of  The Dragonet Prophecy,  The Lost Heir,  The Hidden Kingdom, and The Dark Secret before moving forward.

Sprinkles: Okay, Caramel. You finally got your paws on the fifth graphic novel based on the Wings of Fire series.

Caramel: Yup. I had told you I was waiting for it for a while when we were talking about the original version of the Dragonet Prophecy.

S: So was it all that you hoped for?

C: Yup. This is the fifth and last book of the prophecy series. So that was cool! Sunny found her mom and dad, and a lot of things are now clear.

S: Tell me about that. So does the prophecy story tie up well?

C: Yes. All the dragonets are well and things are all tied up well. They even set up a school at Jade Mountain.

S: So the five books tell a good story all together, right?

C: Yes.

S: Now that you read all five as graphic novels, will you go back and read the original five as well?

C: I am more curious about the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth books!

S: Hmm, maybe you should read the original books before we dive into the full series?

C: It is so hard to wait though…

S: Okay, we can talk about that later. For now, tell me if the author leaves any doors open for the following books.

C: Yes. I think the next five books are about Jade Mountain.

S: Hmm, I see. Wikipedia tells us that the second story arc is called the Jade Mountain Prophecy.

C: Yes, I want to read those too!

S: Okay, so then we an conclude that you liked this fifth book.

C: Yes.

S: So what three words would you use to describe it?

C: Colorful, exciting, and NightWings. Those are all over the place in this book.

S: Okay, I guess we can accept that. So who is your favorite character in the book?

C: Well, I like all of them. Thorn, Sunny, Clay, Tsunami, Glory, and Peril. All the main dragons. And Starflight. He is also a main character, and I like him too.

S: Hmm, so that is not being too selective.

C: Well, I do like all of them. They are all so interesting!

S: Okay, then. I guess we will let that be. And probably this is a good place to wrap things up. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has already reviewed the graphic novel versions of the first three books of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series. (See Caramel’s review of The Dragonet Prophecy here; his review of The Lost Heir is here; and finally his review of The Hidden Kingdom is here.) Today, for his last review for 2020 (and the last review of the book bunnies until February 2021), he decided to review the fourth book in the series that appeared (just yesterday!) as a graphic novel: The Dark Secret (adapted by Barry Deutsch and Rachel Swirsky, art work by Mike Holmes, color by Maarta Laiho). As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions as needed.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I saw you were so eager to get your paws on this book as soon as possible. Was it worth the wait?

Caramel: Yup. Most definitely.

S: So you have read it once so far. What happens in this book?

C: In the beginning Starflight finds himself in the Night Kingdom because some NightWings have kidnapped him.

S: Oh then, the rest of the book is him trying to get back?

C: Nope. There is that but there are a lot of other things happening, too. They run to the rain forest and have other adventures.

S: Do we learn more about the prophecy in this book?

C: Yes, apparently, it’s … oops, I should not spoil it for the readers. But yes, we learn a lot of new things that I didn’t know.

S: At least tell us: are they interesting and surprising?

C: Yep yep yep!

S: Tell me more about Starflight. Did we meet him before in one of the earlier books?

C: Yes, of course. He is one of the five dragons the prophecy says will save the world. Remember, he is a NightWing but cannot tell the future or read minds like most others can.

S: So each of the books tells the adventures of one of these five dragons, right?

C: Right. The first one was about Clay, the MudWing. The second was about Tsunami, the SeaWing. The third was about Glory, the RainWing. And this is about Starflight, the NightWing. Then of course the fifth one should be about Sunny, who is a SandWing.

S: That seems to me to be a good narrative strategy for series. I do hope you will some day read the books these graphic novels are based upon, too. I expect those will have a lot more details about these characters and their world.

C: Yes, I think I will some day. But for now I want to read the graphic novels over and over again.

S: Okay then. We can wrap up this review so you can read it again.

C: Sure.

S: We should also remind our readers that we will be off for January 2021, and we will be back in February 2021.

C: Yes! Happy new year everyone! And stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has already reviewed the graphic novel versions of the first two books of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series. (See Caramel’s review of The Dragonet Prophecy here; his review of The Lost Heir is here.) Today he reviews the third book in the series that appeared as a graphic novel: The Hidden Kingdom (adapted by Barry Deutsch and Rachel Swirsky, art work by Mike Holmes, color by Maarta Laiho). As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions as needed.

Sprinkles: So this is the third book of the series you have read, right, Caramel?

Caramel: Yes. But I am not done. I’m still keeping busy flipping through the pages.

S: But you have read it at least once all the way, right?

C: Yes, I have. But I like reading these books over and over again.

S: Why is that?

C: I think these Wings of Fire books are really awesome. I love the pictures, the books are really very colorful.

S: What about the story? What is happening in this third book?

C: All of the books are about the five dragons we met in the first book. But of course there are always some new characters.

S: Tell me more. Who is the central character of this book?

C: Glory. She is a RainWing. They are supposed to be lazy and almost stupid, but Glory is smart. RainWings have venom, and can camouflage. They can also turn invisible.

S: So what is happening to Glory in this book? Is she also destined to be the queen of her tribe, like Tsunami from the second book?

C: She is.

S: So is trouble awaiting her when she comes home, like it did Tsunami?

C: Yes and no. Not quite trouble but there are some challenges she has to face.

S: Like what?

C: She has to find a specific flower in a flower hunt. They go through these challenges in teams.

S: So does Glory also make some good friends along the way?

C: Yes. Glory makes at least two good friends. One of them is Kinkajou, who is at some point in this book kidnapped, but they eventually find her. And another new friend is Mangrove. He is grumpy at first because his partner is missing.

S: So some RainWings are going missing. And Glory and her friends try to find them, right?

C: No, Glory has to do it alone. And she has another friend, too. I forgot. Her name is Tamarin. She is blind, but she wins the flower hunt. She has a very good sense of smell.

S: These books seem like a lot is going on in each of them. Lots of action, lots of mystery, right?

C: Yup. Do you want me to tell you who is kidnapping the RainWings?

S: No! We should not spoil it for our readers!

C: Well, ok. Then I guess we can just wrap things up. Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!