120:120 Wings of Fire: Talons of Power by Tui T. Sutherland

Book 9 of the Wings of Fire series.  Only a few dragons know that Turtle is an animus and thankfully, the big scary dragon, Darkstalker, that his friends just woke up is not one of them.  Darkstalker is definitely up to something but Turtle is having the hardest time figuring out what since every time someone meets Darkstalker, they take an instant liking to him.  Turtle finally figures out the magic Darkstalker is using but every time he uses his own magic, he risks Darkstalker figuring out there is another animus around so he must be careful, more careful and more brave than he has ever been before in his life.  He has never wanted this power, has really just always wanted to be part of the background scenery, but he no longer has that choice as Moon's prophecy points towards very dire things coming if they can't stop it.

This one was really repetitive with Turtle's thoughts and while the plot was ok, I still slogged through it for that reason.  Not the best installment.


Page count: 336p/22,618p ytd/293,021p lifetime

56:120 Wings of Fire: Winglets #4 Runaway by Tui T. Sutherland

Another short story in the Wings of Fire series. This one tells the story of how Darkstalker's parents met.  Prince Arctic of the Icewings was not enjoying being a prince or an animus. He couldn't stand the dragon that had been chosen as his fiance or his mother telling him what the big thing he will make for the tribe with his animus powers will be.  He wants to make his own choices and he is fuming about this when he runs into one of the Nightwing representatives, Foeslayer. All of a sudden, here is a dragon who doesn't care that he is a Prince or how he is supposed to behave or the ranking boards or anything else he has been told is all that should matter. How can he not fall in love?

A basic star-crossed lovers story although in this case, we know the lovers end up together with children in the future but it does provide some interesting history for Darkstalker.


Page count: 52p/11,898p ytd/285,902p lifetime

37:120 Wings of Fire Legends: Darkstalker by Tui T. Sutherland

Taking place 2000 years before the War of the Sand Queens, we get the tale of Darkstalker and how he became the most feared dragon on Pyrrhia.  We see his parents meet and the obstacles they had to overcome to be together. We see him born under the light of a triple full-moon.  We see his love Clearsight always trying to find a better path for all of them and his friendship with the Seawing, Fathom, who is always trying to dissuade him from using his powers.  So what goes wrong with all these people who love and care about him in his life?  It's the sort of tale that has perplexed so many people throughout history looking back at those who have done monstrous acts so it's interesting to see such a deep issue dealt with in a children's fantasy novel.  I commend Ms. Sutherland for handling such a weighty and nuanced issue so well in such a setting and I'm interested to see how my son will react in a year or so when we study someone like Hitler in history if he will draw any parallels.

Page count: 400p/7,458p ytd/281,933p lifetime

47:120 Wings of Fire: Winglets #3 Deserter by Tui T. Sutherland

The tale of Six-Claws, a happy and loyal Sandwing, and of three Sandwing princesses and the war that tore apart the Sandwing kingdom for many years. An interesting look into not just his past but the personalities of the Sandwing sisters and how events brought us to where the series starts.


Page Count: 48p/12,688p/262,765p lifetime

43:120 Wings of Fire: Winglets #2 - Assassin by Tui T. Sutherland

We finally get some of the backstory of Deathbringer and how he came to be in the Ice Kingdom and why he would choose to follow Glory to end the war.  It also gives us more backstory on how the Nightwings were trying to manipulate everything to their own advantage with the prophecy, including interfering with the other tribes via assassination in order to prolong the war for their "prophecy" to come true.  I can see why this information didn't work itself easily into the books but it's nice to have these short stories to add to the world.


Page count: 51p/11,835p ytd/261,912p lifetime

36:120 Wings of Fire: Escaping Peril by Tui T. Sutherland

The 8th book in the Wings of Fire series.  Now that Queen Scarlet has revealed herself to still be alive and out for vengeance, Peril has decided that she is the only one who can stop her and protect Clay.  Turtle, a Seawing prince, decides that since his friends are already off on a dangerous mission he should join up with Peril to try and stop Scarlet and help Queen Ruby.  Once they get separated though, that's when Peril's father shows up, in the employ of Queen Scarlet.  He is able to give Peril the one thing she wants above all else, the loss of her fire-scales, but it comes at a cost that may be more than she is willing to pay.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous installments.  I wanted to know more about Peril because I think she is one of the more interesting characters that we met in the first five books.  I get that Peril is a broken character but being inside her mind was boring and repetitive.  While she did grow a bit as a character by the end of the book, it was only a little.  The fact that most of the book was very predictable, much like Peril's thoughts, didn't help either.  The end looks promising for the next book so here's hoping this one was just a fluke.


Page count: 336p/9,898p ytd/259,975p lifetime

24:120 Winglets of Fire: Prisoners by Tui T. Sutherland

The first of a set of short stories set in the Wings of Fire series.  Here we get to hear Fierceteeth's side of the story which consisted of how she was such a better dragon and choice for the prophecy than her brother, Nightflight.  We get a bit of her history and more of how she and Strongwings became an item.  She is writing this down as letters to a guard she is hoping to convince to let her out.  We don't get much on the guard in this one but it does appear at the end that she has convinced him to her way of thinking.

A nice little story about a side character in the universe and it may end up foreshadowing what is to come.


Page count: 47p/6,714p ytd/256,761p lifetime

132:120 Wings of Fire: Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland

The 6th book in the Wings of Fire series.  In the last book, the war was won when the Dragonets of Destiny crowned a new Sandwing Queen.  Now they are pledged to try and make sure that was the last war ever by opening up Jade Mountain School, a school for dragons of all clans to come together in peace to learn more about each other, each other's clans, and how to get along.  It's an ambitious project to say the least.  Moon is one of the first dragons signed up by her mother but she is incredibly worried because as a Nightwing she is already held in contempt by pretty much every clan but on top of that, she was born with the gifts of mind-reading and prophesy, gifts the Nightwings used to have but lost several generations ago.  No one knows she has these gifts in order to protect her but how will she handle living in a cave system with so many other dragons?  Moon isn't sure she is going to survive without going crazy when one voice starts cutting in louder than the rest and giving her instruction on the use of her powers.  That helps her keep things at bay until she is hit with the horrible vision of a schoolroom about to explode. Her ability helped to save some lives but others were lost and now she has been outed to her friends and teachers.  They aren't sure what to think but when she foresees more death and destruction, they decide taking a chance on helping her stop it is better than nursing their grievances.

This is definitely the start of a new adventure for a new group of dragons where the Dragonets of Prophecy from the first five books play a more background role.  Ms. Sutherland continues focusing on a new dragon's point of view for each book which allows us to know the different dragons more thoroughly.  I'm still interested in the world but the plot of this adventure so far is not gripping me in the same way.  My 9yr old is still enthralled, however, so I'll probably continue reading.

Page count: 336p/33,732p ytd/248,648p lifetime

124:120 Wings of Fire: The Brightest Night by Tui T. Sutherland

The 5th book in the Wings of Fire series.  Morrowseer's revelation that the prophecy was false and just made up to help the Nightwings has shaken Sunny's belief in everything to it's core.  Now a trio of Nightwings want to make off with her to buy their way into Burn's good graces but Sunny finds resilience and a resourcefulness she never knew she had to not only get away from them, but to then follow them to The Scorpion Den.  There she finds the mother she had always longed to know and more than that, she found her strength and purpose to actually fulfill the prophecy, even if the Nightwings thought it was made up.

This did a nice job of really allowing Sunny to grow a lot while still maintaining her more innocent voice but with strength when she feels it's needed.  It also did a nice job of wrapping up the War and allowing that story arc to resolve fairly naturally instead of finding ways to stretch it out.  It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.


Page count: 336p/31,940p ytd/246,856p lifetime

111:120 Wings of Fire: The Dark Secret by Tui T. Sutherland

Wings of Fire #4.  Starflight now knows how to find his tribe but the implications terrify him.  To learn that the Nightwings have been capturing and experimenting on the Rainwings is bad enough but now with Glory in charge of the Rainwings, it looks like a war may be brewing between the tribes which leaves Starflight in the position of having to choose between his tribe and his friends.  That is a hard enough decision under the best of circumstances but when Starflight ends up on the Nightwing island, he can see the starvation and suffering of his tribe and realizes they are only trying to survive in the only way they can think of.

The books continue to entertain and I enjoy the fact that there is character growth and bigger picture stuff that the characters are coming across and having to deal with.  While the writing is on the simpler side, I feel like the complex emotions being portrayed definitely elevate this series above much of the typical children's books.


Page count: 336p/29,302p ytd/244,218p lifetime

102:120 Wings of Fire: The Hidden Kingdome by Tui T. Sutherland

The 3rd book in the Wings of Fire series.  The dragonets of prophecy have still not found what they are looking for after visiting the Mudwings and finding Clay's parents and then with the Seawings where they found out that Tsunami really is a lost princess so now they are searching out the kingdom of the Rainwings so Glory can feel more vindicated about her race.  Unfortunately for her, when they do find the Rainwings, many of the common complaints she has grown up hearing from the Talons of Peace guardians seem to be validated. However, after spending some time with them she does learn many of the reasons why and some of them even make sense.  Unfortunately, she also finds that some are all too true especially when she finds out that several Rainwings have gone missing and almost no one seems to be interested in doing anything about it. Glory can't stand for that so she and her friends take it into their own talons to go searching the forest for clue and what they find is nothing they could have expected and will change how they view many things.

Another good installment.  The characters are growing as they are exposed to the outside world and learn more about the people and themselves which I really like seeing in any book but seems to be especially missing from children's books.  Simplistic writing style but not overly so and good pacing which is good because my 9yr old is very insistent that I read the whole series.


Page count: 336p/27,106p ytd/242,022p lifetime

87:120 Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

The 1st in the Wings of Fire series.  The Queen of the Sand Wings died and now her three daughters, Burn, Blaze, and Blister, are in a war to become the next Queen of the Sand Wings.  Almost every other group of dragons has chosen sides but there is a prophecy that 5 dragonets born on a certain night will bring about peace.  The contenders for queen have tried to stop the prophecy but the Talons of Peace have managed to get 4 of the 5 eggs having to substitute only the Sky Wing egg with a Rain Wing egg and are now trying to raise the dragonets in secret.  The only problem is that the dragonets are getting to the age where they want to see something besides the inside of their cave so when Marrowseer, the Night Wing dragon that had the prophecy, comes to visit and declares that Glory, the Rain Wing, must be killed the dragonets band together to escape.  They manage but are almost immediately caught by Queen Scarlet of the Sky Wings who is allied with Burn, the queen contender that killed the dragon that was to bring the Sky Wing egg to the Talons of Peace.  Now the dragonets are in the sort of trouble they have only read about in scrolls and have to try and figure out how to escape and even if they can do that, now that their guardians are dead or done with them, they must find new allies to help them survive.

I got this for my 9yr old because it looked like a fun series and he has devoured all of them and is now impatiently waiting for the next one.  He has also insisted I read the series as well.  I've been trying to be particular about which series of his I will read because he would be very happy to see me read everything he does and mommy needs some adult reading time.  I love dragons and this series looked interesting enough for me to give it a go.  The writing is not overly simplistic, plot is complex enough to keep me from being bored, and it looks like there will be actual character growth and development which is something that I find to missing all too often.  This had enough going on that I'll go ahead and give the second book a go.


Page count: 304p/22,916p ytd/237,848p lifetime