Tag: Wings of Fire

Though still quite a little bunny, Caramel has been reading bigger and longer books these days. As a dedicated fan of all things dragon, he got into the Wings of Fire series of Tui Sutherland via 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). Then he began to read the original books. You can read his review of the very first book (The Dragonet Prophecy) and the sixth book (Moon Rising) before diving into this review, which is of the seventh book: Winter Turning. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions. (After all, Caramel is still a very little bunny.)

Sprinkles: So Caramel, this is book seven. What is going on in this one?

Caramel: This one is about a new dragonet named Winter. We met him before, in Moon Rising. That is the sixth book.

S: Okay, so I am guessing this book is centered around Winter then, given the title of the book.

C: Yes. But he is not turning anywhere. Or at least he is not turning bad.

S: Is someone trying to turn him bad?

C: No not quite. Well, there is Scarlet who is kind of trying. And Winter has a sister, named Icicle, who is already bad. And maybe I guess you could say she tries to turn Winter evil too.

S: I see.

C: But Winter has some classmates from Jade Academy. They call them clawmates, and Moonwatcher is one of them. Remember she was the main character from Moon Rising. Winter thinks that his kind of dragons, IceWings, are superior to the others, and thinks he does not need anybody’s help. But his friends try to help him anyway.

S: That is what friends are for, right?

C: Yes. But unfortunately they find themselves facing Queen Scarlet who is pretty bad. And dangerous. And then eventually Winter is alone and has to continue the path almost alone, he does have his brother with him. Hailstorm. And Hailstorm is good. But he has been transformed into a Skywing, named Pyrite, who is annoyingly loyal to Queen Scarlet.

S: Wait. I am confused. First how can one type of dragon be transformed into another? And you said Scarlet is evil. So if Pyrite, or Hailstorm is actually good, how is he so loyal to this evil queen?

C: One word. Darkstalker. And some of that is in the previous book.

S: Oh, so is Pyrite the one that is not what she seems in the prophecy?

C: I think so. Pyrite is definitely not the female SkyWing that she seems to be. She is actually a male IceWing named Hailstorm.

S: Oh, did we give away a lot here?

C: No, this comes up soon in this book. So not too much of a spoiler really.

S: So okay, maybe we can leave the plot aside because I’m afraid we will give away some vital information. But it seemed to me that you really enjoyed this book too. Is that true?

C: Yup. The books are all very very exciting! Icicle tries to kill Winter and then —

S: Wait, no more of the plot! I want to hear more general things. So tell me for example your three words to describe the book.

C: Exciting!

S: What else?

C: Confused.

S: You mean confusing?

C: No, I mean confused. Winter is confused. He is in love with Moon but he is not supposed to love a NightWing.

S: Okay, but you are getting awfully close to giving away more plot clues! What is your third word?

C: Funny! Qibli is really funny! He makes lots of jokes. And he is the friend of both Winter and Moonwatcher. We met him first in Moon Rising actually.

S: I see. So is he your favorite character then?

C: I think so.

S: That is cool. Are you ready to dive right into the next book then?

C: YES!

S: Okay. Let us wrap up this review then so you do just that. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel reviewed the graphic novel versions of the first five books of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series: you can see these reviews here: The Dragonet Prophecy,  The Lost Heir,  The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night. He also reviewed the original version of the first book (The Dragonet Prophecy). Then he jumped ahead a bit and reviewed Book Eleven: The Lost Continent. At first this made some sense as the eleventh book starts a new story arc, the Lost Continent Prophecy arc. But it seemed very likely that skipping the second story arc (the Jade Mountain Prophecy arc) all together might lead to some difficulties. So he finally decided to go back and read the Jade Mountain books from the beginning. This is the review of the first book of that series: Moon Rising. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, we are back in Pyrrhia, the continent of the dragons in the Dragonet Prophecy books, right?

Caramel: Yes.

S: Are any of the characters from the first five books in this sixth one?

C: Yes, in fact Tsunami is more or less the principal of Jade Academy. Remember that she was the main character in The Lost Heir, the second book of the series. Now she is the headmistress of the new school they founded in Pyrrhia, to protect the peace they built in the first five books. And apparently she has thirty-two brothers. That is a lot of siblings!

S: I see. And I agree that is a lot of siblings!

C: But the main characters are actually new dragonets, who we have not met before. And the real main character of this book is Moonwatcher. She is a NightWing and she does not want to go to school.

S: Wait, so the “Moon” in the title “Moon Rising”, is that this dragonet?

C: Yes. I think so. The book is definitely about her, and she has some powers that she is trying to keep hidden.

S: That sounds intriguing.

C: There is an attempted murder which ends up killing someone else and Moon tries to help find the killer. And she is the one who receives the new prophecy: The Jade Mountain Prophecy.

S: Ooh, of course this is a new story arc, and there’s got to be a new prophecy. Can you tell us what it is?

C: Sure. Here you go:

Beware the darkness of dragons,
Beware the stalker of dreams,
Beware the talons of power and fire,
Beware one who is not what she seems.

Something is coming to shake the earth,
Something is coming to scorch the ground.
Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice
Unless the lost city of night can be found.

S: Oooh, that is kind of creepy!

C: Yes, I’m not sure about what any of this means.

S: I am really curious to see how the author will make these things happen. Do you think Moonwatcher is the one who is not what she seems?

C: I don’t think so. I think it is probably someone else, because I think the person who is not what she seems is probably not a good person. And I think Moon is a good person.

S: Hmm, that is an interesting conjecture Caramel. So tell me, was this book as exciting as you hoped it to be?

C: Yes. I can’t wait to read the next one.

S: Okay, then let us wrap up this review so you can dive right into Book Seven. But before that, tell me three words you’d use to describe this book.

C: It is exciting, and thought-full.

S: What do you mean by “thoughtful”? How can a book like this be thoughtful?

C: Well, it is full of all kinds of thoughts of all kinds of dragonets, and Moon can hear all of them! So thought-full, you see?

S: I see. I’m not sure I’d call that thoughtful, but okay. What is your third word then?

C: It’s funny too.

S: Okay, that is cool. Alright, maybe it is time to say your usual closing words then.

C: Yay! Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has been infatuated with the Wings of Fire series for a while now. He has already reviewed the graphic novelizations of the first five books for the book bunnies blog. You can check out his reviews of The Dragonet Prophecy,  The Lost Heir,  The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night. But then he could not stop himself from wanting to read more. As the rest of the series has not been published in graphic novel form just yet, Caramel has been looking into the original series more carefully these days. Earlier this year he reviewed the first book The Dragonet Prophecy. And today he jumps ahead and talks about Book Eleven: The Lost Continent. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel I know you really wanted to talk about this book. So let us do that.

Caramel: Okay. This is about a new continent on the same world that we were in in the first five books. That continent was called Pyrrhia. Apparently the first ten books are there. But this eleventh book takes us somewhere new. A new continent named Pantala.

S: So is Pantala the lost continent in the title?

C: Yes.

S: How is it lost?

C: Dragons in Pyrrhia and dragons from Pantala have not seen each other for thousands of years. So Pantala is kind of lost to Pyrrhia.

S: I see.

C: The dragons in Pantala are different. They have four wings instead of two, like the ones in Pyrrhia. They also don’t breathe fire or venom or ice, unlike the dragons in Pyrrhia. There are seven tribes of dragons in Pyrrhia: MudWings, SandWings, RainWings, SkyWings, IceWings, SeaWings, and NightWings. But in Pantala, there are only three: HiveWings, SilkWings, and LeafWings.

S: I see. Now I understand why you could jump right ahead and start reading this book before reading books 6-10.

C: Yes. But I do want to read those too. Some time. It’s just that it was easier to get my paws on this book. My school library had a copy.

S: I know. Aren’t school libraries awesome?

C: YES!!!

S: Okay, so Wikipedia tells me that there are three different story arcs in the Wings of Fire series. The Dragonet Prophecy was the one involving the first five books. That ended with a view towards Jade Mountain, and the next five books belong to the Jade Mountain Prophecy arc. And then this book, The Lost Continent, starts a third arc, around the Lost Continent Prophecy. You told us what the Dragonet Prophecy was in your review of the very first book. Can you tell us what the Lost Continent Prophecy is?

C: Sure. Let me read it to you:

Turn your eyes, your wings, your fire
To the land across the sea
Where dragons are poisoned and dragons are dying
And no one can ever be free.

A secret lurks inside their eggs.
A secret hides within their book.
A secret buried far below
May save those brave enough to look.

Open your hearts, your minds, your wings
To the dragons who flee from the Hive.
Face a great evil with talons united
Or none of the tribes will survive.

The Lost Continent Prophecy

S: Oooh, that is interesting! What do you think it means?

C: I don’t know really. But I’m pretty sure the Hive and the talons united are talking about the HiveWings. They enslaved the SilkWing and most likely killed off the LeafWings. And it seems like the prophecy is telling the dragons of Pyrrhia to come save the oppressed dragons of Pantala.

S: Hmm, that will be neat. I can see why you might be so intrigued by these books. Okay, so tell me about some of the dragons in The Lost Continent. Are there some that you liked?

C: Yes. I liked Cricket and Luna. Cricket is a HiveWing, and Luna is a SilkWing. I also like Blue and SwordTail. They are both SilkWings. They are all friends. There is a queen, Queen Wasp, and she is the leader of all dragons of Pantala, and the four friends want to get rid of her, because she is evil. She can control the minds of all HiveWings, except for Cricket, and I don’t know why. But that is why I like Cricket.

S: That is interesting.

C: Also I want to explain something about SilkWings called flamesilk. SilkWing can make silk webs and even clothing and bridges with their silk. And some of them are mutated and their silk is red and glows and can sometimes burns things. That is called flamesilk. Queen Wasp uses their flamesilk to create light bulbs.

S: Very creative! This was a pretty big book too, and yet you read it twice already and are itching to read the next ones in the series. But I think it might be a good idea to slow down a bit and go back to the second arc before diving into the twelfth book. At least it seems like that might be prudent, from the things I am reading online.

C: I know. It seems that some dragons in Pyrrhia know about Pantala and that comes up in those books. But I am not sure I can wait!

S: You might have to. We will see. So coming back to The Lost Continent, what three words would you use if you wanted to describe the book?

C: Exciting, suspenseful, and intriguing.

S: Three good words Caramel. I can see you really liked this book. So let us wrap up this review so you can continue rereading it. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!