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Wings of Fire #9
Talons of Power
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Middle Grade & Children's (2017)The New York Times and USA Today bestselling series soars to even greater heights with a new prophecy and five new dragonets ready to claim their destiny! For every villain, there is a hero . . . Turtle isn’t one of the heroes he reads about in stories. If he were, he’d use his animus powers to help Pyrrhia -- instead of keeping his abilities a secret, even from his own sister. Now that Darkstalker, the sinister and impossibly old dragon from Pyrrhia’s most notorious legends, has returned, Turtle knows his own role is hide. And stay hidden.The other dragons at Jade Mountain Academy, on the other hand, think Darkstalker is fascinating. He charms everyone he meets, including Turtle’s most skeptical friends. They all seem convinced that the ancient dragon has changed.Turtle isn’t so sure. The more he watches Darkstalker from the shadows, the more Turtle knows that someone needs to stop the powerful dragon. A real hero. But Turtle is running out of time to find one, which mean . . . he might have to try to save the day himself.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published December 27, 2016
2086 people are currently reading
11468 people want to read
About the author
Tui T. Sutherland
202 books6,319 followersOkay, I know what you’re thinking. Tui? What kind of name is that? Is it short for something?
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,011 reviews
January 1, 2017
My final book of 2016! I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience of Talons of Power, never finding myself uninterested. That being said, I think this is definitely the weakest book in the second arc and most of the book can be classified as filler. 3 ½ stars
Before I get into my issues, let me preface this by saying I adore the Wings of Fire books and consider this one of my all time favorite middle grade series. My critiques of this book do not change that, and 3 ½ stars is a positive rating for me.
Other than the last 20 pages or so, this book is the same thing happening over and over again. Turtle follows Darkstalker, waiting for him to do something evil, Darkstalker doesn’t. Repeat for 200 pages.
Turtle is a very…passive character. He spends nearly the entire book “invisible” and just hanging out observing everyone else. He rarely takes matters into his own hands, which I recognize is part of his character but it makes him so much less interesting compared to the other main characters like Moon or Peril.
Turtle is so infrequently involved in the story that he didn’t even feel like the main character. Most of this book is slow and repetitive. A lot of the plot serves to bridge the gap to the series finale.
Though I was let down by this penultimate novel, I still enjoyed reading it. I love this series and world. The characters of this arc are extremely endearing. I’ve been reading Tui’s writing since I was very young, so I’m always happy to jump into her stories.
I’m still super hyped for the finale (which I hope is the actual finale; this series does not need another extension). There are so many ways this could go, and I can’t wait to see. Not to mention I think Qibli is the main character of the final book, and he is one of my favorites!
Before I get into my issues, let me preface this by saying I adore the Wings of Fire books and consider this one of my all time favorite middle grade series. My critiques of this book do not change that, and 3 ½ stars is a positive rating for me.
Other than the last 20 pages or so, this book is the same thing happening over and over again. Turtle follows Darkstalker, waiting for him to do something evil, Darkstalker doesn’t. Repeat for 200 pages.
Turtle is a very…passive character. He spends nearly the entire book “invisible” and just hanging out observing everyone else. He rarely takes matters into his own hands, which I recognize is part of his character but it makes him so much less interesting compared to the other main characters like Moon or Peril.
Turtle is so infrequently involved in the story that he didn’t even feel like the main character. Most of this book is slow and repetitive. A lot of the plot serves to bridge the gap to the series finale.
Though I was let down by this penultimate novel, I still enjoyed reading it. I love this series and world. The characters of this arc are extremely endearing. I’ve been reading Tui’s writing since I was very young, so I’m always happy to jump into her stories.
I’m still super hyped for the finale (which I hope is the actual finale; this series does not need another extension). There are so many ways this could go, and I can’t wait to see. Not to mention I think Qibli is the main character of the final book, and he is one of my favorites!
January 14, 2019
I actually finished this book a while ago but forgot to update my progress.
I'll review it now, but make it brief.
*spoilers*
The book really made me wonder about the truth of the relationship of animus magic to a dragon's soul. Does using animus magic really make one's soul deteriorate? Only if the intention is bad? If one is using their animus magic for a good intention, does that not deteriorate their soul as much? Well, I certainly believe now that the magic does have a negative impact on the soul - but not always. If it's used for a good intention, then it does not. Which makes sense, because it wouldn't be logical for a dragon full of goodness just abruptly turning evil (losing their soul).
Anyway. Moving on.
I loved this book since it was from Turtle's (the humble son of Queen Coral) point of view. How he hides his magic, how he feels about being an animus, what he has enchanted so far with his gift and a secret about Anemone. Oh, and yeah, his feelings about Kinkajou, which I thought was adorable. <3
Okay, I'll just say it, since I already warned y'all of spoilers above.
Turtle gave Anemone her animus powers, to hide his own.
This book follows the dramatic scene where Peril burns Darkstalker's scroll and sends all his magic back to him, so that he could use it to escape his underground mountain prison that had him imprisoned for over 2000 years. The reason why there is such a massive cliffhanger between the previous book and this one is because Darkstalker finally gets freed, and you never know what he will do...
Until you read this book.
In the end, there's an epic battle between two animus siblings: Turtle and his sister Anemone.
And they both get kidnapped by Darkstalker, who (UGHGHGHHHH!) takes Turtle's animus powers away.
Turtle, on the whole, was an interesting character. From book 6, he was pretty shady overall and you don't get to see inside his head because of his skyfire, so Moon can't read him.
His design is amazing, too. Love how he has green scales like his father and blue bioluminescent stripes like Coral. Beautiful indeed.
Just wanna give Turtle a big hug. He's deserving of that..
All right, that was not brief.
I'll review it now, but make it brief.
*spoilers*
The book really made me wonder about the truth of the relationship of animus magic to a dragon's soul. Does using animus magic really make one's soul deteriorate? Only if the intention is bad? If one is using their animus magic for a good intention, does that not deteriorate their soul as much? Well, I certainly believe now that the magic does have a negative impact on the soul - but not always. If it's used for a good intention, then it does not. Which makes sense, because it wouldn't be logical for a dragon full of goodness just abruptly turning evil (losing their soul).
Anyway. Moving on.
I loved this book since it was from Turtle's (the humble son of Queen Coral) point of view. How he hides his magic, how he feels about being an animus, what he has enchanted so far with his gift and a secret about Anemone. Oh, and yeah, his feelings about Kinkajou, which I thought was adorable. <3
Okay, I'll just say it, since I already warned y'all of spoilers above.
Turtle gave Anemone her animus powers, to hide his own.
This book follows the dramatic scene where Peril burns Darkstalker's scroll and sends all his magic back to him, so that he could use it to escape his underground mountain prison that had him imprisoned for over 2000 years. The reason why there is such a massive cliffhanger between the previous book and this one is because Darkstalker finally gets freed, and you never know what he will do...
Until you read this book.
In the end, there's an epic battle between two animus siblings: Turtle and his sister Anemone.
And they both get kidnapped by Darkstalker, who (UGHGHGHHHH!) takes Turtle's animus powers away.
Turtle, on the whole, was an interesting character. From book 6, he was pretty shady overall and you don't get to see inside his head because of his skyfire, so Moon can't read him.
His design is amazing, too. Love how he has green scales like his father and blue bioluminescent stripes like Coral. Beautiful indeed.
Just wanna give Turtle a big hug. He's deserving of that..
All right, that was not brief.
February 9, 2017
Finally, the ninth book is out! Woohoo!
If you're wondering if you should read this: a huge YES, bearing in mind that it is the ninth book of the series, but beware it's just as much a cliffhanger as the last one.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
The book starts out right after the last one. Pearl unwittingly freed Darkstalker after she burned his scroll of power, and now all his powers have flowed right back into him. Right after he's freed, Turtle enchants a stick to hide him from Darkstalker, because Turtle can smell evil intentions a mile away.
So now we have an invisible Turtle and a freed Darkstaker. Now that he's freed, he doesn't want a repeat of last time (read Darkstalker Legends if you haven't already) so he decides to enchant everyone he meets to be friends with him. We get a bit of Darkstalker's 2,000 year old hugeness inhabiting Jade Mountain and giving the Nightwings there trinkets that grant powers (such as mind reading and super strength) which are referred to as the 'Talons of Power'. He spends some time magnanimously forgiving everyone who attacks him and acting like a saint while Turtle watches, as well as acting the tiniest bit evil to put us on edge. Oh, and he gets Anenome on his side too, and since they both have soul protectors, the spells are a-flyin'. (Psssst, Anenome's bracers control the weather. How cool is that? Of course, we only see them once in the entire book, grumble grumble.)
Then Darkstalker decides he still wants his kingdom, so he travels over to Gory's part of town, enchanting everyone he meets. Now the Nightwings there are actually having a pretty neat time of things, so Darkstalker postpones his "join me underlings!" speech in favour of making everyone like him. Of course, the passive "everyone must adore me" spell is going on in the background, but Darkstalker goes above and beyond by giving away more 'Talons of Power', while we get some quality Turtle Time. Darkstalker can sense animus uses now, so Turtle pretends to be a lil weakling and asks the Great Anenome to heal Kinkajou. Anenome heals her, but also puts a love spell on her. Now we've got the setup for a "spell gets broken, turns out she really loved him all along moment". But I digress. So Darkstalker's mass charming everyone. If I were Darkstalker, I'd think a bit (REMEMBER CLEARSIGHT?!) and try being honest for once, but noooooo. Ahem.
So Darkstalker gets his adoring fans—I mean, kingdom of Nightwings—and goes soaring off into the sunset. Turtle, Moon, and Kinkajou fly after to prevent evil horribad things that will happen because Sutherland just couldn't let Darkstalker be a good guy. LIKE SERIOUSLY, WHY. I WAS LIKE CRYING ONCE I UNDERSTOOD THE PLOT. At least let him be a "oh I'm sorry I understand I was a bad boy I'll be good now" character after he's inevitably defeated in the next book.
The Nightwings reach the ancient kingdom of the night soon enough, and Anenome turns naughty and knocks poor Moon about because she's jelly over Darkstalker's mooning over Moon. So Darkstalker flies into a rage and banishes Anenome to the sea kingdom, telling her to go kill anyone who gets in her way. Because reasons. Now Turtle gets scared (And yes, I know scared's his default state. I mean scarder) and races after Anenome. Then we find out that, OH MY, Turtle was the one who gave Anenome her powers in the first place, because he wanted to not be noticed. Then Turtle finishes his flashback and actually finds Anenome. The odds look to be in his favour, because he finds her right before she's about to enchant a knife to kill her family. Awesome right? Well, if you like the royal Seawing family. I think it's about getting the readers to think NOOOO, BABY AUKLET, but anyway.
So we have an epic animus battle between Anenome and Turtle, where he accidentally turns himself invincible forever (but not immortal) and actually wins without killing Anenome, because of Plot Armour. And somehow he turns her into a good guy. Yay? I bet she'll never have to own up to beating Moon about with a mop. And also we get told that souls don't matter, it's pretty much just a "power corrupts" type thing.
But, OH NO, Darkstalker senses the huge animus battle going on, but only conveniently after the fight's finished, of course. He summons all the animus dragons in the world to his throne room, including an unknown Sandwing who teleports away in a split second before he even notices. Only THEN does he put a spell preventing other animus dragons in the room from using their power. Honestly, his brains must've partially frozen during his sleep. He could've done that BEFORE summoning everyone there, or even extended the spell to stop every other dragon from using animus powers, REGARDLESS of their location. Ugh. Moving on, he is smart enough to realise Turtle's there and Anenome wasn't just having a tantrum, but instead of saying "Make all spells from an animus dragon other than me stop working," he just brings in "a dragon important to the animus hiding in the room." I ask you...
Still, Darkstalker's incompetence is (somehow) greatly exceeded by the incompetence of every other dragon in the world, and he does reveal and then remember Turtle... but was too stupid to remove spells other than his in the throne room, so Turtle throws his invisibility stick to Anenome, who escapes. Through a window.
Meanwhile, Darkstalker goes all muahahaha, gotcha, but I would never really harm Kinkajou cause she's Moon's friend. Then he says the same of Turtle. After trying to burn him to death because Fathom, but invincibility spell. And then says his resemblance to Fathom is causing him to want to murder him, so Turtle's gotta go into the dungeons. And on the way Darkstalker zaps Turtle's animus power. So that's a bummer, Turtle's normal now. Sheesh, animus dragons can do anything, can't they. Makes me long for the sensible magic of Brandon Sanderson books...
But hey! At least Turtle's still invincible, right? Because Darkstalker wouldn't even THINK of removing animus enchants from a former animus. So we've got to wait for Anenome to inevitably save the day.
BUT WAIT!!!! Before you go. Let's show some scenes from around the world! So... Uh... Sand Kindom, we've got terrorist dragons with black hoods (yeah, I don't know how they'd wear 'em either) and golden bird medallions blowing things up. Over in the Sea Kingdom, we've got the ghost of Albatross haunting people(?!?!?!), and in the Ice Kingdom everyone's caught a disease and is dying horribly. Queen's already dead too.
So. Loved the book, but yet ANOTHER cliff-hangar makes me mad, so 4 stars for you. Also, while character stupidity continues to irritate me, it IS a children's book, so I'm letting it slide. ;)
You can read this review on my blog at https://xilandre.wordpress.com
If you're wondering if you should read this: a huge YES, bearing in mind that it is the ninth book of the series, but beware it's just as much a cliffhanger as the last one.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
The book starts out right after the last one. Pearl unwittingly freed Darkstalker after she burned his scroll of power, and now all his powers have flowed right back into him. Right after he's freed, Turtle enchants a stick to hide him from Darkstalker, because Turtle can smell evil intentions a mile away.
So now we have an invisible Turtle and a freed Darkstaker. Now that he's freed, he doesn't want a repeat of last time (read Darkstalker Legends if you haven't already) so he decides to enchant everyone he meets to be friends with him. We get a bit of Darkstalker's 2,000 year old hugeness inhabiting Jade Mountain and giving the Nightwings there trinkets that grant powers (such as mind reading and super strength) which are referred to as the 'Talons of Power'. He spends some time magnanimously forgiving everyone who attacks him and acting like a saint while Turtle watches, as well as acting the tiniest bit evil to put us on edge. Oh, and he gets Anenome on his side too, and since they both have soul protectors, the spells are a-flyin'. (Psssst, Anenome's bracers control the weather. How cool is that? Of course, we only see them once in the entire book, grumble grumble.)
Then Darkstalker decides he still wants his kingdom, so he travels over to Gory's part of town, enchanting everyone he meets. Now the Nightwings there are actually having a pretty neat time of things, so Darkstalker postpones his "join me underlings!" speech in favour of making everyone like him. Of course, the passive "everyone must adore me" spell is going on in the background, but Darkstalker goes above and beyond by giving away more 'Talons of Power', while we get some quality Turtle Time. Darkstalker can sense animus uses now, so Turtle pretends to be a lil weakling and asks the Great Anenome to heal Kinkajou. Anenome heals her, but also puts a love spell on her. Now we've got the setup for a "spell gets broken, turns out she really loved him all along moment". But I digress. So Darkstalker's mass charming everyone. If I were Darkstalker, I'd think a bit (REMEMBER CLEARSIGHT?!) and try being honest for once, but noooooo. Ahem.
So Darkstalker gets his adoring fans—I mean, kingdom of Nightwings—and goes soaring off into the sunset. Turtle, Moon, and Kinkajou fly after to prevent evil horribad things that will happen because Sutherland just couldn't let Darkstalker be a good guy. LIKE SERIOUSLY, WHY. I WAS LIKE CRYING ONCE I UNDERSTOOD THE PLOT. At least let him be a "oh I'm sorry I understand I was a bad boy I'll be good now" character after he's inevitably defeated in the next book.
The Nightwings reach the ancient kingdom of the night soon enough, and Anenome turns naughty and knocks poor Moon about because she's jelly over Darkstalker's mooning over Moon. So Darkstalker flies into a rage and banishes Anenome to the sea kingdom, telling her to go kill anyone who gets in her way. Because reasons. Now Turtle gets scared (And yes, I know scared's his default state. I mean scarder) and races after Anenome. Then we find out that, OH MY, Turtle was the one who gave Anenome her powers in the first place, because he wanted to not be noticed. Then Turtle finishes his flashback and actually finds Anenome. The odds look to be in his favour, because he finds her right before she's about to enchant a knife to kill her family. Awesome right? Well, if you like the royal Seawing family. I think it's about getting the readers to think NOOOO, BABY AUKLET, but anyway.
So we have an epic animus battle between Anenome and Turtle, where he accidentally turns himself invincible forever (but not immortal) and actually wins without killing Anenome, because of Plot Armour. And somehow he turns her into a good guy. Yay? I bet she'll never have to own up to beating Moon about with a mop. And also we get told that souls don't matter, it's pretty much just a "power corrupts" type thing.
But, OH NO, Darkstalker senses the huge animus battle going on, but only conveniently after the fight's finished, of course. He summons all the animus dragons in the world to his throne room, including an unknown Sandwing who teleports away in a split second before he even notices. Only THEN does he put a spell preventing other animus dragons in the room from using their power. Honestly, his brains must've partially frozen during his sleep. He could've done that BEFORE summoning everyone there, or even extended the spell to stop every other dragon from using animus powers, REGARDLESS of their location. Ugh. Moving on, he is smart enough to realise Turtle's there and Anenome wasn't just having a tantrum, but instead of saying "Make all spells from an animus dragon other than me stop working," he just brings in "a dragon important to the animus hiding in the room." I ask you...
Still, Darkstalker's incompetence is (somehow) greatly exceeded by the incompetence of every other dragon in the world, and he does reveal and then remember Turtle... but was too stupid to remove spells other than his in the throne room, so Turtle throws his invisibility stick to Anenome, who escapes. Through a window.
Meanwhile, Darkstalker goes all muahahaha, gotcha, but I would never really harm Kinkajou cause she's Moon's friend. Then he says the same of Turtle. After trying to burn him to death because Fathom, but invincibility spell. And then says his resemblance to Fathom is causing him to want to murder him, so Turtle's gotta go into the dungeons. And on the way Darkstalker zaps Turtle's animus power. So that's a bummer, Turtle's normal now. Sheesh, animus dragons can do anything, can't they. Makes me long for the sensible magic of Brandon Sanderson books...
But hey! At least Turtle's still invincible, right? Because Darkstalker wouldn't even THINK of removing animus enchants from a former animus. So we've got to wait for Anenome to inevitably save the day.
BUT WAIT!!!! Before you go. Let's show some scenes from around the world! So... Uh... Sand Kindom, we've got terrorist dragons with black hoods (yeah, I don't know how they'd wear 'em either) and golden bird medallions blowing things up. Over in the Sea Kingdom, we've got the ghost of Albatross haunting people(?!?!?!), and in the Ice Kingdom everyone's caught a disease and is dying horribly. Queen's already dead too.
So. Loved the book, but yet ANOTHER cliff-hangar makes me mad, so 4 stars for you. Also, while character stupidity continues to irritate me, it IS a children's book, so I'm letting it slide. ;)
You can read this review on my blog at https://xilandre.wordpress.com
February 6, 2017
This will be awesome! I can just tell!
October 16, 2018
Talons of Power was a really interesting book, it revealed so many secrets about the characters that kept them and the storyline fresh and engaging!
February 5, 2019
Rated by my 12 year old son who said this book was his favourite so far, but he loves them all. A great series for kids his age.
April 8, 2017
I read in an interview by the author last summer that this one was going to be the book in the series where the story "rips your heart out and stomps on it". I didn't really find that in here, but the ending is a major cliff-hanger! Darkstalker has definitely gotten on my nerves, even though he does have a sad background for why he does what he does.
Turtle, every once in a while, annoyed me with his "maybe someone else will save the world while I go hide safely in a corner!" bit. Okay, so he's terrified of Darkstalker discovering his powers, but his reactions sort of irked me.
On the other hand, I was drawn in to this story from the first page! I did feel sorry for Turtle, though. He was teased and criticized when he was younger. There is no doubt that I found this to be thoroughly engaging and the characters feel very real! I love the detail, and the suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat.
I cannot wait to read the last book!
Turtle, every once in a while, annoyed me with his "maybe someone else will save the world while I go hide safely in a corner!" bit. Okay, so he's terrified of Darkstalker discovering his powers, but his reactions sort of irked me.
On the other hand, I was drawn in to this story from the first page! I did feel sorry for Turtle, though. He was teased and criticized when he was younger. There is no doubt that I found this to be thoroughly engaging and the characters feel very real! I love the detail, and the suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat.
I cannot wait to read the last book!
April 16, 2024
I did not expect to like Turtle so much. That was an INTENSE ride. I am still reeling.
I can’t really say anything about this book because it would be so many spoilers. But WOW I loved that
I can’t really say anything about this book because it would be so many spoilers. But WOW I loved that
May 29, 2018
Wowww. This is probably one of my favorites in the entire series—definitely my favorite in the second part of the series so far. I absolutely loved Turtle, and I was rooting for him the entire time. The pacing was super fast; I blasted through the pages of this one. I CAN NOT wait until the finale and I CAN NOT believe I still haven’t ordered it yet !!!
January 2, 2023
Quick paced with lovable characters. Especially turtle. Turtle is supreme.
February 9, 2017
I feel like nothing big was resolved in this book other than some events Tui planned to happen.
So before I start my review, I'll just say I'm not expecting very much of Book 10.
NOT because this book sucked (part 1 was boring, though)
NOT because it's from Qibli's point of view (it's bound to be interesting)
BUT it's because of the very abrupt way Tui ends her book series.
The Brightest Night was a very abrupt ending in which Tui got rid of two sisters hurriedly in one chapter (they've lived for 20 years of war! Their abrupt deaths are just so forced.)
And Tui's got a LOT of things to resolve in just one book, which means defeating Onyx, Darkstalker and crowning the new IceWing queen.
It's an amazing series but things are always resolved at the last minute!
So, Turtle.
("......the most boring prince on the planet." -Anemone)
It is actually half true since he was following Darkstalker around invisibly for the whole part 1. Continue for half of part 2.
Kinkajou is back and I'm so happy about that. I ship her with Turtle but then I realised the ship is quite similar to Starflight and Sunny(timid male dragon likes cheerful female dragon)
I hope Turtle and Kinkajou will happen, though.
Then we have the epic animus battle, Turtle is finally revealed, he loses his animus power (and I hate that part).
Now I have heard that some people ship Moon with DARKSTALKER.
Darkstalker is creepy and honestly I don't think he deserves Moon because he is just plain evil and he shows absolutely no sign of remorse for his actions. So no offense but I think Moon is happier and better off with Winter or Qibli (personally I ship Moon with Winter)
Characters are well-developed
I liked Anemone in book 2, she was so adorable back then and I was very disappointed to find that she is now a spoiled, bratty princess.
Kinkajou is my favourite character and I hope there will be a Winglets for her at least about her detailed experience in the Night Kingdom, how she persevered from the torture of being imprisoned and experimented on in such a horrible place.
Review Conclusion: actually my least favourite book in the second arc, though better than books 4 and 5.
So before I start my review, I'll just say I'm not expecting very much of Book 10.
NOT because this book sucked (part 1 was boring, though)
NOT because it's from Qibli's point of view (it's bound to be interesting)
BUT it's because of the very abrupt way Tui ends her book series.
The Brightest Night was a very abrupt ending in which Tui got rid of two sisters hurriedly in one chapter (they've lived for 20 years of war! Their abrupt deaths are just so forced.)
And Tui's got a LOT of things to resolve in just one book, which means defeating Onyx, Darkstalker and crowning the new IceWing queen.
It's an amazing series but things are always resolved at the last minute!
So, Turtle.
("......the most boring prince on the planet." -Anemone)
It is actually half true since he was following Darkstalker around invisibly for the whole part 1. Continue for half of part 2.
Kinkajou is back and I'm so happy about that. I ship her with Turtle but then I realised the ship is quite similar to Starflight and Sunny(timid male dragon likes cheerful female dragon)
I hope Turtle and Kinkajou will happen, though.
Then we have the epic animus battle, Turtle is finally revealed, he loses his animus power (and I hate that part).
Now I have heard that some people ship Moon with DARKSTALKER.
Darkstalker is creepy and honestly I don't think he deserves Moon because he is just plain evil and he shows absolutely no sign of remorse for his actions. So no offense but I think Moon is happier and better off with Winter or Qibli (personally I ship Moon with Winter)
Characters are well-developed
I liked Anemone in book 2, she was so adorable back then and I was very disappointed to find that she is now a spoiled, bratty princess.
Kinkajou is my favourite character and I hope there will be a Winglets for her at least about her detailed experience in the Night Kingdom, how she persevered from the torture of being imprisoned and experimented on in such a horrible place.
Review Conclusion: actually my least favourite book in the second arc, though better than books 4 and 5.
April 9, 2017
UNENDING SCREECHING.
UNENDING SCREECHING.
I AM MADE OF UNENDING SCREECHING.
CAN THE LOST BE SAVED? WILL ANYONE SURVIVE? SANDWING? WHAT HAPPENED TO CLEARSIGHT?WIZARD Vs. WIZARD? FOE-SLAYER? WHAAAAAAAAAT WILL HAPPPENNNNN. PLAGUE? SEA GHOST? SAND INTRIGUE?
I AM MADE OF UNENDING SCREECHING.
UNENDING SCREECHING.
I AM MADE OF UNENDING SCREECHING.
CAN THE LOST BE SAVED? WILL ANYONE SURVIVE? SANDWING? WHAT HAPPENED TO CLEARSIGHT?WIZARD Vs. WIZARD? FOE-SLAYER? WHAAAAAAAAAT WILL HAPPPENNNNN. PLAGUE? SEA GHOST? SAND INTRIGUE?
I AM MADE OF UNENDING SCREECHING.
October 14, 2023
This one was better than the last two, but still had that strange personality flip where the last half of the book ads a LOT of interesting character development while the first half is just set up. I like turtle, not a huge fan of Kinkajou, and Darkstalker is fantastic. He’s a very good villain, classic old guy with too much power. He’s made a couple classic villain mistakes, but oh well. The random sand wing at the end with magic is a great foreshadowing, and I’m glad they left because introducing a new character along with everything that happened would’ve been too much. I wish Turtle had just taken Anemones powers after the fight, so much easier, and given the stick to Kinkajou. I honestly feel like that would’ve been just as exciting but a bit more logical. I liked anemone before she was like defined by her power and status, now she’s just a spoiled child type of character, and I hope she improves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2023
4⭐️
[possible spoilers]
this series is super entertaining, and this one was no exception (except that it wasn’t as good as the others).
turtle was an okay narrator. he was very relatable with all the anxiety and worrying, but he was a bit annoying at parts (as was anemone).
darkstalker was a bit of a let down ngl. i really loved his story and character in “legends of darkstalker” and was looking forward to getting the big scary villain. he was big but not very scary.
i completely understand his plan and why he tried to make everyone like and trust him (as it’s a lot easier to take over a country when people like and trust you), but maybe i wanted him to pop out of the ground and kill a bunch of dragons.
i was considering giving this book 3.5 stars, but the last 50 pages had me on the edge of my seat, so a 4 will do :)
[possible spoilers]
this series is super entertaining, and this one was no exception (except that it wasn’t as good as the others).
turtle was an okay narrator. he was very relatable with all the anxiety and worrying, but he was a bit annoying at parts (as was anemone).
darkstalker was a bit of a let down ngl. i really loved his story and character in “legends of darkstalker” and was looking forward to getting the big scary villain. he was big but not very scary.
i completely understand his plan and why he tried to make everyone like and trust him (as it’s a lot easier to take over a country when people like and trust you), but maybe i wanted him to pop out of the ground and kill a bunch of dragons.
i was considering giving this book 3.5 stars, but the last 50 pages had me on the edge of my seat, so a 4 will do :)
January 1, 2017
Again hence I read a book in this superbly crafted series and wonder why it's not more popular. Why is this kids series my favorite series WHY IS IT SO GOOD.
So here, none of my fave characters died WAHOOIIII LIKE BOI I WAS STRESSSED NO SERIOUSLT WHY GLORY HAVE ALL DA ENEMIES AND DARKSTALKER DIDNT •REALLY• DO ANYTHING •BAD• PER SE I MEAN LIKE HE DID WHAT HE SAID BUT THIS GIRL IS SUPSICIOUS IF U WANNA KNOW WHY I HAVE SUCH A SUSPICIOUS STREAK •BOOKS•!!!!!!! Anyways my Kinkajou is still a glorious little smushface, Glory's still alive, Glory still hasn't had dragonets (a secret and futile hope of mine, seriously i'll take anything) and still no Ripnami in sight (yea yea I know Tsunami (also a fave of mine) is from the old series BUT I MEAN SERIOUSLY-), so nothing new. Anyways I always found Turtle kinda bland but he's grown on me GO TURTLEJOU WHATEVER THEIR SHIP NAME IS YEA YEA AND STUFF!!! Anemone is a brat. She is a spoiled little princess brat snob selfish spoiled PRINCESS who is still adorable somehow. Um PROPHECY STILL MAKE NO SENSE ISH I DUNNOOOOOOOOO STUFFS I LOVE DADKSTALKER CEPT HE IS EVIL CEPT HE IS AWESOME AND SWEET EXCEPT HES EVIL READ DARKSTALKERS BOOK HIM AND CLEARSIGHT ARE SO SWEET EXCEPT HES EVILL ARRRGGHHHHHH WHAT IS LIFE. Hm what else..........
CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK YO.
ALSO THE LOST CITY OF NIGHT IS FOUND YO AND JADE MOUNTAIN ISNT FALLEN BENEATH THUNDER AND ICE SO......(and that rhymes)
My thoughts on the prophecy
Beware the darkness of dragons (the darkness in the souls of animuses? Animi?)
Beware the stalker of dreams(Queen Scarlet. But there's another dreamvisiter being used DUN DUN DUN)
Beware the talons of power and fire(ok last time I was like OMG TURTLE AND PERIL but they are good guys.... Also Talons of power just means animus... Animi bad here huh. But is it animus who is firey? Or is peril bad)
Beware the one who is not what she seems(not many main females whose intents we should question.... I always thought pyrite. Does this prophecy go in order of bewares? Should we beware of hailstorm?)
Something is coming to shake the earth(yahooi, Darkstalker has risen...)
Something is coming to scorch the ground(no seriously, major wild fires?)
Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice(still same old hypothesis. Icewings and ....Thunderclan will dramatically battle out everything. I guess Thunder is Nightwings. Or it will just be randomly snowing that night)
Unless the lost city of night can be found( BUT ITS ALREADY BEEN FOUND HUH anyways I was always like "major secrets will be uncovered here TAHT will explain everything yay")
So here, none of my fave characters died WAHOOIIII LIKE BOI I WAS STRESSSED NO SERIOUSLT WHY GLORY HAVE ALL DA ENEMIES AND DARKSTALKER DIDNT •REALLY• DO ANYTHING •BAD• PER SE I MEAN LIKE HE DID WHAT HE SAID BUT THIS GIRL IS SUPSICIOUS IF U WANNA KNOW WHY I HAVE SUCH A SUSPICIOUS STREAK •BOOKS•!!!!!!! Anyways my Kinkajou is still a glorious little smushface, Glory's still alive, Glory still hasn't had dragonets (a secret and futile hope of mine, seriously i'll take anything) and still no Ripnami in sight (yea yea I know Tsunami (also a fave of mine) is from the old series BUT I MEAN SERIOUSLY-), so nothing new. Anyways I always found Turtle kinda bland but he's grown on me GO TURTLEJOU WHATEVER THEIR SHIP NAME IS YEA YEA AND STUFF!!! Anemone is a brat. She is a spoiled little princess brat snob selfish spoiled PRINCESS who is still adorable somehow. Um PROPHECY STILL MAKE NO SENSE ISH I DUNNOOOOOOOOO STUFFS I LOVE DADKSTALKER CEPT HE IS EVIL CEPT HE IS AWESOME AND SWEET EXCEPT HES EVIL READ DARKSTALKERS BOOK HIM AND CLEARSIGHT ARE SO SWEET EXCEPT HES EVILL ARRRGGHHHHHH WHAT IS LIFE. Hm what else..........
CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK YO.
ALSO THE LOST CITY OF NIGHT IS FOUND YO AND JADE MOUNTAIN ISNT FALLEN BENEATH THUNDER AND ICE SO......(and that rhymes)
My thoughts on the prophecy
Beware the darkness of dragons (the darkness in the souls of animuses? Animi?)
Beware the stalker of dreams(Queen Scarlet. But there's another dreamvisiter being used DUN DUN DUN)
Beware the talons of power and fire(ok last time I was like OMG TURTLE AND PERIL but they are good guys.... Also Talons of power just means animus... Animi bad here huh. But is it animus who is firey? Or is peril bad)
Beware the one who is not what she seems(not many main females whose intents we should question.... I always thought pyrite. Does this prophecy go in order of bewares? Should we beware of hailstorm?)
Something is coming to shake the earth(yahooi, Darkstalker has risen...)
Something is coming to scorch the ground(no seriously, major wild fires?)
Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice(still same old hypothesis. Icewings and ....Thunderclan will dramatically battle out everything. I guess Thunder is Nightwings. Or it will just be randomly snowing that night)
Unless the lost city of night can be found( BUT ITS ALREADY BEEN FOUND HUH anyways I was always like "major secrets will be uncovered here TAHT will explain everything yay")
December 4, 2024
December 2016 Oh. My. Goodness. What.
This book is probably the best Wings of Fire book yet; so many things happened, and almost all of them were unexpected. Darkstalker was written so well! Whenever I wasn't feeling sorry or crying for him (because I've read Darkstalker and that is one tragic book), I was hating that he couldn't just not be evil. I want so much for him to be happy, because for some reason, that dragon deserves it. Darkstalker aside, Turtle was way more than I expected. When I realized that he had turned Anemone into the animus she is, I literally covered my mouth in shock and stared at the pages for a whole minute. Not only that, but Turtle made for a very good protagonist, and I look forward to seeing what happens to him.
So back to Darkstalker. I cried so much when he was talking to Clearsight. I wish Clearsight actually could come back, because I believe that she would be the best solution to the big problem of, well, Darkstalker. Plus, I love Clearsight.
I just barely finished reading this book, so my thoughts are all over the place; my apologies (although they're not very sincere). I'm just... OMGoodness-ing right now. I CAN'T WAIT to read Darkness of Dragons, because I have to see how this is resolved. I could go on and on about Talons of Power, but considering the fact that this is already the most scatterbrained review I've ever written, this is probably enough. Tui T. Sutherland has really outdone herself with this latest Wings of Fire book, and I have great expectations for book 10.
This book is probably the best Wings of Fire book yet; so many things happened, and almost all of them were unexpected. Darkstalker was written so well! Whenever I wasn't feeling sorry or crying for him (because I've read Darkstalker and that is one tragic book), I was hating that he couldn't just not be evil. I want so much for him to be happy, because for some reason, that dragon deserves it. Darkstalker aside, Turtle was way more than I expected. When I realized that he had turned Anemone into the animus she is, I literally covered my mouth in shock and stared at the pages for a whole minute. Not only that, but Turtle made for a very good protagonist, and I look forward to seeing what happens to him.
So back to Darkstalker. I cried so much when he was talking to Clearsight. I wish Clearsight actually could come back, because I believe that she would be the best solution to the big problem of, well, Darkstalker. Plus, I love Clearsight.
I just barely finished reading this book, so my thoughts are all over the place; my apologies (although they're not very sincere). I'm just... OMGoodness-ing right now. I CAN'T WAIT to read Darkness of Dragons, because I have to see how this is resolved. I could go on and on about Talons of Power, but considering the fact that this is already the most scatterbrained review I've ever written, this is probably enough. Tui T. Sutherland has really outdone herself with this latest Wings of Fire book, and I have great expectations for book 10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2019
Turtle is a sweet heart, humble, and sincere. He's insecure, hiding his magic so he can avoid the negative attention that comes with it. He doesn't want to be a hero, and he doesn't see himself as special or courageous. Yet, his spying skills set in motion a lot of other actions elsewhere. As a reader, you are like Turtle, unaware of what is happening behind the scenes while he's on the secret mission. That's what makes the book after this one more intriguing. You get the fulfillment of characters and timelines overlapping and coming together. Turtle's reluctance makes the pace of the plot seem casual, but the climax is SO worth it!
This part of the series also develops lots of crushes between dragons. It's adorable how they admire each other for different character traits. Anemone, Turtle's sister, is a stereotype of a spoiled, prideful entitled princess, so we aren't meant to like her; however, she will probably redeem herself as she matures. The jury is still out on Darkstalker because he abuses magic when he puts spells on people without telling them, so they become puppets instead of thinking clearly for themselves. It's understandable to want people not to judge you, especially if you've already been betrayed by your closest friends. Do the ends justify the means? Is Darkstalker "evil" or is he manipulating events to create an outcome that he believes is the best? Moon has some kind of charisma that gains loyalty, trust, and a desire for her approval, similar to Glory.
This part of the series also develops lots of crushes between dragons. It's adorable how they admire each other for different character traits. Anemone, Turtle's sister, is a stereotype of a spoiled, prideful entitled princess, so we aren't meant to like her; however, she will probably redeem herself as she matures. The jury is still out on Darkstalker because he abuses magic when he puts spells on people without telling them, so they become puppets instead of thinking clearly for themselves. It's understandable to want people not to judge you, especially if you've already been betrayed by your closest friends. Do the ends justify the means? Is Darkstalker "evil" or is he manipulating events to create an outcome that he believes is the best? Moon has some kind of charisma that gains loyalty, trust, and a desire for her approval, similar to Glory.
September 26, 2018
Holy animus magic, Batman! I think the use of animus magic is getting a bit out of talon (ha, see what I did there), but I loved Darkstalker in this book, and can't wait to read his backstory next! Absolutely loving and flying through these audiobooks.
November 6, 2024
this wof book was great, but the pacing was a bit too rollercoastery for me. the ending went so quick but it leaves with a great cliffhanger, especially with that epilogue!
turtle needs to see a therapist tho xoxo
turtle needs to see a therapist tho xoxo
September 6, 2020
I really enjoy the Wings of Fire series. I liked this story because it was about a Seawing, and about the prince.
August 26, 2021
if plot twists are baseball bats then tui t sutherland is swinging at my head
🎵Green Jewels — Kriill🎵
🎵Green Jewels — Kriill🎵
Read
March 12, 2020the ending was nice
February 26, 2019
Just this was amazing
October 10, 2018
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. SUTHERLAND IS SUCH AN AMAZING AUTHOR! How does she constantly add books to this series that:
1: Don’t seem forced
2: Don’t all seem the same
3: Have CRAZY verity in each character, yet the new traits in the characters don’t seem forced
Each book is so different, each character is so different, and, like I said, their differences don’t seem forced. I’ve heard of book characters (not of this series) that have quirks that are forced, when these aren’t at all! The story line is fresh in each book and so lively! There are so many plot twists and new things added to the story that keep the story alive and new and moving.
Also, each book being of the perspective of a different character is so awesome. You get the insight of how hat character feels about events and how they look at life, as well as seeing their fears and likes.
It is also so cool that in this book, we got to explode Turtle’s life as an animus! It was just as cool as exploring Moon’s mind reading or Peril’s firescales! Sutherland also explores some things people might deal with. Like social anxiety with Moon or not feeling accepted with Peril or not feeling loved or not wanting attention, with Turtle, who also almost seemed to have OCD to me. I don’t know.
Now about this book specifically.
First of all, this book seemed so... off. There wasn’t necessarily anything happening that was bad, you just KNEW something was happening and you couldn’t figure it out! It was so crazy to have Anemone go bad. She was such and innocent and lovable character in Tsunami’s book.
I almost felt that her atonement was a little too quick, however, Turtle’s atonements did not seem too forced.
But that fight scene was so epic! Two animus against each other was so awesome.
There was also some weird air of darkness and sadness in this book. For some reason there were parts that were just stressful! And they don’t usually give me that feeling. It was almost like the last couple Harry Potter books. I mean, nothing about that is bad, it was just weird . Because stressful things happened in the other books too. I don’t know. I think a good comparison would be the 6th Harry Potter book. It just kinda ended... off.
Once again, the plot twists!! Crazy. There was so much going on in the end!
1: Don’t seem forced
2: Don’t all seem the same
3: Have CRAZY verity in each character, yet the new traits in the characters don’t seem forced
Each book is so different, each character is so different, and, like I said, their differences don’t seem forced. I’ve heard of book characters (not of this series) that have quirks that are forced, when these aren’t at all! The story line is fresh in each book and so lively! There are so many plot twists and new things added to the story that keep the story alive and new and moving.
Also, each book being of the perspective of a different character is so awesome. You get the insight of how hat character feels about events and how they look at life, as well as seeing their fears and likes.
It is also so cool that in this book, we got to explode Turtle’s life as an animus! It was just as cool as exploring Moon’s mind reading or Peril’s firescales! Sutherland also explores some things people might deal with. Like social anxiety with Moon or not feeling accepted with Peril or not feeling loved or not wanting attention, with Turtle, who also almost seemed to have OCD to me. I don’t know.
Now about this book specifically.
First of all, this book seemed so... off. There wasn’t necessarily anything happening that was bad, you just KNEW something was happening and you couldn’t figure it out! It was so crazy to have Anemone go bad. She was such and innocent and lovable character in Tsunami’s book.
I almost felt that her atonement was a little too quick, however, Turtle’s atonements did not seem too forced.
But that fight scene was so epic! Two animus against each other was so awesome.
There was also some weird air of darkness and sadness in this book. For some reason there were parts that were just stressful! And they don’t usually give me that feeling. It was almost like the last couple Harry Potter books. I mean, nothing about that is bad, it was just weird . Because stressful things happened in the other books too. I don’t know. I think a good comparison would be the 6th Harry Potter book. It just kinda ended... off.
Once again, the plot twists!! Crazy. There was so much going on in the end!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2017
Loved the book! I think that Turtle's POV has probably been my favorite so far because we know so little about him and his history in all the other books and once you actually get to know him it just seems so right! I thought the connection between him and Anemone was so weird but interesting and how his view on animus' was so different than any other dragon in two thousand years (I think I agree with him though). Anyways, great book! I'm going to refrain from writing a super long review because it's late and I'm tired. I can't wait to read the Darkstalker Legend! I also want to read the Winglet series. And of course I can't wait until book #10! Keep up the awesome series Tui! It really just lets my imagination run free!
May 17, 2017
3/5 It was okay.
I wasn't as compelled to this as i was to the other books in this second series. But, it was still better than the first book of the first series. I found Turtle a really boring character and he's such a coward that it hurts. He's just watching everything happen from the sidelines and it's like -_- "DO SOMETHING." Darkstalker will always be my favorite character istg. I'm only reading for him now.
I wasn't as compelled to this as i was to the other books in this second series. But, it was still better than the first book of the first series. I found Turtle a really boring character and he's such a coward that it hurts. He's just watching everything happen from the sidelines and it's like -_- "DO SOMETHING." Darkstalker will always be my favorite character istg. I'm only reading for him now.
Want to read
July 24, 2016THE COVER IS OUT AND ITS TURTLE GUYS! I actually quite liked Turtle and I'm interested on how things will turn out in Turtles point of view. Also the cover is beautiful love the colours on it!
July 25, 2024
WHAT OMG OKAY
SPOILER
WHAT DO YOUR MEAN SHE'S DEAD HOW DID WE HEY TO THAT
THIS IS LIKE THE FIRST BOOK TO END ON A CLIFHANGAR
SPOILER
WHAT DO YOUR MEAN SHE'S DEAD HOW DID WE HEY TO THAT
THIS IS LIKE THE FIRST BOOK TO END ON A CLIFHANGAR
November 9, 2020
So I get why people might have a harder time with this one, since Turtle is a little more passive than the other dragons and a little more timid. But I'm writing this one after I just finished book ten (I'm a little behind) and I think I understand now why he's written this way. I did not find this one boring at all, but he was definitely a hide and think and watch kind of character. And I think it really comes into play with how things resolve in book #10. I'm not gonna give anything away, but if you're a fan of the series, be patient. Turtle might be quiet and not impulsively exciting like some other characters, but he has definite worth. And there are some gems of scenes in this book that tickled me pink. I try not to expect anything out of these characters, and in doing so, am always pleasantly surprised by the plot twists. Not my favorite out of the series, but still worth the read.
November 18, 2023
I liked Turtle’s perspective, and learning more about good backstory as a SeaWing prince was cool. My favorite part was when Anemone and Turtle fight in the Sea Kingdom, and the part that surprised me the most was when Turtle revealed that he was the one who gave Anemone her powers. I also wonder what happened to Foeslayer, and what she will do with Darkstalker, and who the SandWing animus is. Overall, I enjoyed this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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