Wings of Fire Review (edited)

#series

Feb 6

When I first picked up Wings of Fire, I was ten going on eleven and I wanted to hate it. I just- yeah. I thought the cover was… *pained sigh* dumb. “Wow! A dragon! Nobody cares.”

(I think most ten-year-olds are judgmental.)

However, I read it since I had nothing else to read, and oh my gosh. Tui T. Sutherland had me hooked by the prologue. The prologue! The story hadn’t even started yet. (Side Note: There’s a good amount of violence/aggression in this series. They are dragons, you know.)

The plot was so complex and intriguing; there’s a world war going on, everyone wants the main characters dead, and the main characters, Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Starflight and Sunny, are being held under a mountain to fulfill a prophecy when they’re older.

T.T. Sutherland did such an amazing job with her character development. When I read the books, even though they were in third person, I felt like I was Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Starflight and Sunny. And the dialogue was beautiful and organic, and they really felt like siblings. Well… sometimes. Sometimes they seemed like arch enemies- oh wait, that’s kind of what siblings are, sorry, I forgot for a moment. :)

Another thing I loved about the books was that T.T.S. didn’t info dump, and everything I learned about this fantasy world was relevant at the time it was shared. Something she did that I found super cute was the way she told us about the SandWing war. The main characters, AKA The Dragonets of Destiny, were told to study history, so Tsunami assigned them all roles and they acted it out. I absolutely loved that.

Another thing was the diversity and complexity of the different dragon tribes: MudWings, SeaWings, RainWings, NightWings, SandWings, IceWings, and SkyWings. They all have their own special powers and stereotypes, inter-tribe drama, and unique history. I’ve read all eighteen books- yeah, it’s a big series-and the first two arcs are good, even though the first will forever be the best. It was just, *chef’s kiss*.

In the end of the first arc, the war is resolved (in a good way or a bad way, I can’t tell you. Read the books for that!) and the main characters run away to start a school called Jade Mountain Academy, which leads us to the second series…

The second arc was about Darkstalker… he was/is a very evil, cruel, powerful, power-hungry, funny, and lovable villain. Man, I loved Darkstalker. He was so funny… and evil… and psychotic… Basically, he’d been trapped under Agate Mountain for… I think out was 1,000-2,000 years? His girlfriend, Clearsight, betrayed him a long time ago, took his magic away from him, put him into a permanent sleep, and buried him under an avalanche. Love… hurts. (Darkstalker found that out the hard way.) And he was just waiting to escape and take over the world… Darkstalker was an animus—the dragon version of a wizard, basically— a seer, and a mindreader. And he was immortal, which was, admittedly, a very bad thing, seeing as he was evil and all. But it’s not too bad, right? Since he’s trapped under the mountain??

Well. He got out, and he got his magic back, and then he put spells on all the dragons he met so they would love him and follow him blindly. He also sent a plague to the IceWing Kingdom, trying to kill them all. And, I cannot with a good conscience spoil this for people who haven’t gotten that far, but if you’re really curious about what I have to say about… what happened, read the spoilers. (Just scroll a bit.)

The third arc was a bit bland, in my opinion. The characters were sort of like knock-offs from the OC, and the whole plot was a little, “What in Phyrria?” (Anyone who’s read Luna’s book, you get me, right?)

The third and final arc takes place in a different continent. I give you: Pantala, the most corrupt dragon land ever. There were, emphasis on were, two dragon species in the beginning of time. And then, Clearsight showed up and had children with quote-unquote ‘BeatleWings’. (Ew, that name.) BeatleWings were dragons with four wings, colorful scales, and they could shoot silk out of their wrists like spiders. And then of course Clearsight had to go and make a whole new species called HiveWings: stuck up brats that thought they were above everybody else… (Much like their NightWing ancestors!) (Also, I love NightWings, don’t get me wrong, but they can be really… snobby.) Once there was a new species, the BeetleWings were renamed ‘SilkWings’. So now we have three dragon species: HiveWings, SilkWings, and LeafWings. None of which can breathe fire.

And then fast forward fifteen hundred or so years later, the HiveWing queen colonized the SilkWings and enslaved them. And they killed the entire LeafWing tribe because they wouldn’t submit to the HiveWings.

So while the third arc is taking place, the main-ish characters, Blue, Swordtail and Luna are basically earth scum. :( And the worst part was that Blue made excuses for the way the HiveWings treated him and his tribe. He was all like, “Oh, that HiveWing just beat me up for no reason, but he’s probably just having a bad day. Maybe he dropped his lunch! lol-” Like… what? Then Luna, Blue’s sister, is taken away because she’s special and Blue runs away…

Okay, I have to admit it, I don’t completely remember the third arc because I didn’t like it very much and mostly blocked it from my mind. But just imagine a very corrupt system, a little bit of mind control, racism, and there we go! Third arc. (And some very cringey romance.)

In summary, The third arc was kind of like a Wattpad fanfiction written by the original author. So, yeah. I’d reread the first ten books, plus the complimentary books, but not the third arc.

You can still turn back if you haven’t read the series yet!
In the tenth book, the main characters kill Darkstaler in a bloody, deadly battle…
No, 🤣 actually, they turn him into a baby… I just… what? They take away his memories and powers and just restart his life. I just… I have no words for this ending.
The villain in Luna’s book is a plant. A litteral plant. A plant that ate some dragon’s brains and possessed her. This was just- I mean, Tui T. Sutherland, WHAT?
The dragon who was giving life to the plant had been ‘alive’ for 1,000 years, depressed, and finally when she’s starting to be happy, she dies. She has to kill the plant but the plant is KEEPING HER ALIVE. It’s like an umbilical cord that goes through her head. So… yeah. Rest in peace, Lizard.

And, if Tui T. Sutherland should ever read this… wow, my blog is getting around, and also- I really do love your books! I’m just a very opinionated individual who likes to talk about… opinions.

So, yeah. If you like dragons, read Wings of Fire! And, if you read the books and LOVE the series, join the Fanclub! And I’ll see you next week. Bye!