Wings of Fire: A Winglets Collection: The First Three Stories

Wings of Fire: Winglets #1-3

by Tui T. Sutherland

Collects three Wings of Fire short stories:
#1: Prisoners, #2: Assassin, #3: Deserter

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Middle Grade, Fiction, Short Stories, Young Adult, Animals

144 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Okay, 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!

Reviews

[Blond_Superman · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were very interesting to read, with Fierceteeth, Deathbringer, and Dune

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid addition to the ongoing lore of Pyrrhia and essential for a completist, these stories add more sinew to the existing backdrop. They further show a textured element to characters that might seem to be only background initially, though some, obviously, build to impressive focus in the series. Still, for some readers, this might seem less an essential read than the main series. Still, my children (and I) found it fun to see the connective tissue fused and notes as we await the next book in the series and Sutherland's writing is still personalized to each "dragon," invoking a natural thought process and "voice" for each tale, even in these shorter stories.

If you love the world, this will be essential, but it is not where I would start. Still, for fans, you will find, as we did, that you felt new connective tissue in those previous novels through these short stories.

[Jasmine J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much and I think you should read it to.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Wings Of Fire, and this collection was no exception. I'll explain how I feel about each specific story:

1- PRISONERS: 3.5/5
Fierceteeth is an complicated character, and certainly not a likable one, but it was so interesting to actually get inside her head, and see what it was like to have been a NightWing growing up on the island. And even though she is incredibly horrible, she's a developed character who can actually be sympathised with, and the dynamic she has with Strongwings is so interesting. Also I really really need to know more about Saguaro. I'm docking a mark for that cliffhanger, and the half-mark just because Fierceteeth is such a repellent character.

2- ASSASSIN 4/5
Okay, so I love Deathbringer. I found this one a bit hard to get into for some reason, but I still enjoyed it. I really liked seeing a bit of how the war was going prior to the hatching of the DoD, and honestly, Gill sounds like such an excellent dragon, and I'm so sad that we lost him so early on. But what really sold the book is when Deathbringer said that if he ever found anyone to care about again then all the orders were going out the window and he would do anything to protect them at which point I could only respond with ASDFGHJKL;GLORYBRINGERILOVEITADFGHJKL because that's exactly what happens with Glory AND I FREAKING LOVE IT (cue quiet asdfghjk in the corner)

3- DESERTER 10/5
I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS ONE! It was SO GOOD. Six-Claws was such a good protagonist, and I loved how close we were to the beginning of the War of SandWing Succession and the Royal Sisters. Just everything was great! I am actually struggling to articulate into words exactly everything that I liked so I will give up on trying. SMOLDER BEING A DRAMA QUEEN! BACKSTORY! INFO ABOUT DUNE (now we know how he got injured and why they put him on dragonet minding)! THE TERRIBLE SANDWING SISTERS! HOW SIX-CLAWS MET HIS WIFE! JUST SIX-CLAWS IN GENERAL! (the quiet asdfghjk that had begun while writing about Glorybringer intensifies to a loud ASDFGHJKL;')

CW: Lots of death

[Josiah George · Rating 5 out of 5]

L

[Auryn Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of all three of these stories, I'm not sure which I enjoyed the best. I liked getting to know all three characters' backstories. It was nice seeing that Fierceteeth isn't actually all that bad, seeing a bit about why Deathbringer saved Glory from himself, and seeing more of Six-Claws, who previously I thought of as a random background character, who was only important because his daughter (who he must have named after his mother) was traded for Sunny in book five. I liked seeing Dune when he was younger, but it was sad seeing what happened to him. None of these stories are really important to the main books, but they were interesting, and worth reading if you have the time.

[Room14 · Rating 5 out of 5]

People! If you're looking for another great adventure series like "Harry Potter", then have I got the book for you. Once you finish the first book you just have to read the rest. This book is filled with the exciting adventure of some young dragonets with high expectations to create peace throughout Pyrah. There's a 99.9999 percent guarantee that you'll love this series. READ IT!!!

[Emiline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got to read it! All three stories were a little shorter than I expected, and Six-Claws was an interesting choice for the last one, but it was great to read about Deathbringer and Fierceteeth's past! Pretty good! I think my favorite character was Gill, even though he was only in Assassin for a little bit. A pretty good book!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read the little companion stories to any book series, but I am really really jonesing for the next Wings of Fire book, so meanwhile. I read this horribly short intro to the characters: Fierceteeth, Deathbringer, and Six-Claws. Epic, as all of Sutherland's work... Ugh, I need more!!!!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deathbringer’s story was awesome and so was six claws. Actually, it’s pretty interesting how Deathbringer affected the war and so sad about his mother. I didn’t care for the first story about the prisoners. I would like to know more about Prickle, though. I also liked learning more about the SandWings prior to the war.

[Elisa Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these stories aloud to my 10 year old. He loves the series. He hated when I had to stop reading when my voice was getting tired. He had so much fun discovery stories that were woven into his already loved books. It was a great opportunity to ask him questions about the other books he has been reading and his excitement was contagious.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the three stories was Deathbringer's, because he was really the only one of the dragons in the book that I wanted to know more about. The only thing that I didn't like about these stories was that they were so short.

[LaneJane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting addition to the main series. I loved getting more backstory and development for each of the characters.

Now, I love Deathbringer more, like Fierceteeth less, and have a newfound love for Six-Claws.

4 stars

[Ashlynn Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very easy and fast read, I read it while also reading the first Wings of Fire book and it weirdly helped me understand it a bit more. I definitely appreciated the extra background information throughout the series.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite series of all time and the Winglets are some of my favorite parts of the series! I love reading about things that were happening elsewhere during the series and even things that happened before. 100% recommend.

[Alpha Snowdust]

Is this ebook or hardcopy? Thanks!

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best book series I have ever read.

[Kelly Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the series. These do well when we're waiting in between book releases, even though they don't last for long.

[The · Rating 5 out of 5]

New info on awesome characters!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but short vignettes of events that happen outside the main novels.

[Rachel Schoenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories, but they were maybe a little too short.

[JustAButterfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for the four novella set, since I couldn't find it here. They're all good. If you like WoF already you'll enjoy these too.

[David Reaume · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was boring in the begging. It was getting better as it went. At the end it was good. After I read it , I saw it was a good book!!!

[Thomas C Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much!! Assassin was my favorite. I love Deathbringer.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun short stories, but not enough character development

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent little stories that bring a lot of worldbuilding and character to the Wings of Fire series.

[Oak F · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good! though I do wish there was a buyable book with all of the winglets

[Xwft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Might I just point out that Deathbringer is an absolute bean! He deserves nothing of what he gets and Glory and him and perfect and he is the best bean in the world and deserves hot chocolate blankets and protection.

[Arya · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of three short stories from various times in Wing of Fire world, all of them take place before the War of the Sand Queens. My nine year old son has loved this series for years and after reading the first few books I also grew to really like it.

I didn’t enjoy the first story all that much; this one was all about Starflight’s sister Fierceteeth as she languished in a SandWing prison. Fierceteeth was immature and unlikable and I didn’t find her story to be at all interesting.

I really enjoyed the second story that gave Deathbringer’s background. He has been such a mysterious dragon in this series and I loved hearing about how he was raised and how he became the assassin dragon he was in the Wings of Fire series.

The last story was another good one. This one was about Six-Claws (the dragon who Sunny thought was her father early on in the Wings of Fire series). This gives excellent insight into how The War of the Sand Queens began and the toll it took on the dragons.

Overall it was nice to have all three of these short stories in one book. I enjoyed it and think it was a good expansion on the WIngs of Fire series. I would recommend to Wings of Fire fans. I think middle grade age kids might enjoy this as a stand alone, but the writing is aimed at a easier reading level so I am guessing adults won’t enjoy this much unless they are a huge fan of the series.