Dragonslayer

Wings of Fire: Legends #2

by Tui T. Sutherland

This special edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars back in time to give readers a glimpse of Pyrrhia through new eyes. In the shadow of wings . . . humans fight for survival. Ivy doesn't trust the Dragonslayer. He may be her father and the beloved ruler of Valor, but she knows he's hiding more than the treasure from the sand dragon he killed two decades ago. Leaf doesn't trust dragons. They're the reason his favorite sister, Wren, is dead, and now he'll do whatever it takes to slay even one. Wren doesn't trust anyone. She swore off humans after her village tried to sacrifice her to the dragons. She only has one friend, a small, wonderful mountain dragon named Sky, and they don't need anyone else. In a world of dragons, the humans who scramble around underfoot are easy to overlook. But Ivy, Leaf, and Wren will each cross paths with dragons in ways that could shape the destiny of both species. Is a new future possible for all of them . . . one in which humans can look to the skies with hope instead of fear?

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Audiobook, Childrens

512 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2020

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

[Tj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I'm completely Surprised by this book. This is the second instalment of the Wings of Fire:Legends series and according to me this was one of the best books in the Wings of fire series!
The Idea of A girl talking in the dragon language and living with a dragon was just so awesome! Also each and everything in the plot fit together with the other books fantastically.
I never thought that the person(human/scavenger) who killed the SandWings Queen would be alive and living somewhere. The dragons thought that Humans were just stupid animals and the Humans thought that Dragons were just wild beasts who would eat anything. But this book changed it all!
A big shout-out to Tui T. Sutherland for a well planned and well executed book.

P.S : Remember the human that Smolder the dragon kept? Well she was the sister of the person who killed the queen!
P.S.S : Remember the fireless dragon(Peril's twin) who everyone had believed had died?
Well...she's Alive and living with a human!!

[Aҽɾιαʅ Dყɳαɱιƈ · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you think it's going to be a single book, but it ends with a savage cliff-hanger.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how you write a novel set in a world where you've already written books set in the future. *cough* Ballad *cough* This book wove into the original arc (the first 5 books) so well and added so many cool details that hadn't been explored at all yet.

If it's been a while since you've read that original arc like it has been for me, don't worry. The references and overlap are suuuper obvious. You're going to know exactly which original characters the new ones are interacting with. You may have a little trouble remembering some dragons' names because wow there have been so many now at 13 books and one other Legends novel. But you'll be able to remember the scenes and plot points. All the character cameos were so fun, and I know these new human characters and dragon character are going to pop into the future of the series. I can't wait!

I do think you should read this one before the 14th book in the series since I have a strong feeling that this book had to come out before it. Again, I think these characters will join the cast of the 3rd arc (books 11-15) at least in passing. This book, because it follows three human characters, implies that the political maneuverings of the humans are going to start affecting the dragons' situations, and I'm stoked to see the chaos unfold. Could you read it sooner? You could probably read this before the second arc (6-10), but I think it would make more sense to wait until the characters are about to be more relevant.

I had a blast reading this, and I can't wait until the next book of the regular series to come out! The Wings of Fire and Legends world continues to be one of my absolute favorite middle grade worlds of all time. Check it out!

[Mango · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book, absolutely loved it.

Characters: They were awesome! The book is written from 3 perspectives, Wren's, Leaf's, and Ivy's. They both have unique personalities and it was incredible to see them grow!

Wren: She was my favorite character in this book. Sassy, stubborn, courageous, and super loyal. In the beginning of the book, Wren was only seven years old. She was super stubborn and angry all the time. However, over the book, you could see how much she grew over the years. After she began understanding dragons, she began to open her heart more and it was really incredible to see her direct all her anger towards something and achieve her goal.

Leaf: He was awesome! In the beginning of the book, he was just a scared eight year old who did whatever he was told. But once he thought that Wren was dead, he started gathering his courage to break the rules in order to to slay a dragon to avenge Wren. He also grew incredibly. He grew from a timid child to a brave teenager, willing to do anything for his sister. Very heart-warming.

Ivy: Wow, Sutherland really nailed it with the characters! Ivy is a spectacular character I love too. She starts out as a ordinary child, growing up with her two best friends. She was the daughter of the Dragonslayer, whom everyone in her town worshiped. However, she knew something was wrong, and she disagreed with everything her father claimed. That dragons were ruthless? Nope she didn't buy it. That dragons were savage animals? Nah. She then, along with her friends start drawing dragons and start researching dragons on their own. Ivy's growth while researching and attempting to expose her father, was incredible. Ivy grew from an ordinary child, to a brave young lady, determined to seek the truth out of anything.

Writing: I absolutely loved the writing! The book covered several years, meaning that at first it wrote from the perspective of seven year olds, all the way to grown up teenagers. As you read through the book, Sutherland's writing is different as the children grow. In the first few chapters, the writing was quite immature, but as the characters grew it matured. Great touch to detail!

Plot: The plot was...wow. Amazing! Each of the characters have a different goal. One wants to slay a dragon, the other wants to stay away from civilization, and another wants to learn more about dragons. These characters may seem completely different, but Sutherland weaves their lives together so smoothly, it's incredible! And there are so many plot twists, which I did not see coming. It keeps you on the edge of your seat! And the ending...wow! I really hope Sutherland writes a sequel to this book. I NEED to know what happens.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book, I can see why it got the hype. Waiting excitedly for the next one!

[Eileen W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murderbasket :)

[Daelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mango · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun adventure which I really enjoyed! Great dialogue and loveable characters

[ramram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously this is automatically the best book in the world. Ranging from dragons hating humans to a dragon speaking English that is the best friends with a girl who speaks Dragon. It is the best book because there are so many funny parts lots of surprises, like when i discovered that Rose was still alive, and a lot of action. For example, Leaf was fighting a dragon and he hid in plain sight to the dragons. Another surprise was when Wren actually killed a dragon using mouse poison. Dragonslayer is the title of the book, but it is also the title of a person name Heath who hoarded all the treasure and said he was the Dragonslayer when his brother, Stone was the actual dragonslayer. A funny and surprising part was when Undauntable proposed to Wren. Like herself, she said no, never and ewwwwwww. A scary part was in the end, when the indestructible king found out that Undauntable was collecting dragons scales secretly from Wren. Dragonslayer, by Tui Sutherland is the last book i read in the wings of fire series. I hope it is yours too.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Wings of Fire: Legends series and takes place during the first book of the Wings of Fire series. I bought this book for my son.

Story (3/5): This basically tells the story of three different humans: Ivy, Leaf, and Wren. Their stories are fairly separate until very late in the book where they come together. I feel like this would have been better as three novellas because the stories were so separate for so long. I also struggled to remember all the way back to the first part of the Wings of Fire series; so I kept feeling like I was missing a lot of background context. I think this book would have had more impact on me if I had gone back and read the beginning of the Wings of Fire series again.

Characters (3/5): The characters were fine. I enjoyed Wren and Sky a lot but thought the others were ho-hum. You just jump between the characters so much that you don’t really get to know any of them that well. At times I also had trouble telling the difference between Ivy and Wren because their voices sounded very similar.

Setting (4/5): I enjoyed seeing the Wings of Fire world from the perspective of humans. It was highly entertaining and gave an interesting twist to this world.

Writing Style (3/5): I was a bit disappointed that the humans sounded exactly like the dragons in tone. I guess I expected the humans to sound more human rather than absolutely identical to how the dragons sound in the other books. I also didn’t like how the book was so broken up. You have very long chapters from one character’s perspective and then all the sudden you're listening to another character’s perspective. It just didn’t work well and this would have been better as three novellas, one for each character.

My Summary (3/5): Overall I thought this was a bit disappointing and just not as good as the other Wings of Fire books. I have been mainly reading these because my son wants me to and I normally find them pretty entertaining. However, neither of us liked this book as much. While it’s interesting to see this world from a human’s POV, this book was just too scattered and broken up to make a cohesive story. I also think you probably want to go back and read the early Wings of Fire books to remember all the background context of what’s going on with the dragons during this story about the humans. This was interesting, but definitely not my favorite.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The high rating is due to the fact that I can't get this book out of my head. I keep thinking about it and turning the plot over and over in my mind. For me, that is the mark of good fiction. (Note that it also has a lot to do with my personal taste and love of stories about dragons and humans riding dragons.)
It's also caused me to do quite a bit of research on animal communication due to the nature of Wren and Sky's relationship. To give some context to those not familiar with this series, this is the only book written from a human point of view in a series otherwise narrated by dragons. It operates as a companion to the series, but is not officially part of it. I think it would be hilarious if Sky is presented in the current arc of the series as the "dragon raised by humans" in the format of the "human raised by wolves" trope.
I'm not sure how the integration of human-dragon communications could work with the current conflict in the main series arc, but I'm hoping these characters, or at least Sky will reappear at some point. Whether that be in a direct sequel or at some point in the main series arc because I really want to know what happens next for Wren and Sky, and I'm beyond disappointed that the way the legend books are formatted seem to leave them without direct sequels.

[Heather Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything she writes. I'd read her grocery list tbh.

[₊˚ ⁀➴ kenzie ⠀❦ jacks’ version · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had great backstory, and I liked how the story of the humans tied into the actual wings of fire main story books where the dragons saw different scavengers. My favorite characters were Ivy, Rowan, and Wren, and I liked how confident Wren was. It was also really cool that she spoke Dragon, and I wonder if that will go along with the next wings of fire main story books. My favorite part was when Ivy flew on Sunny before she took the treasure. I also thought that the cliffhanger was good, and I wonder what Undauntable will do if/when he sees Ivy again. Overall, I think the backstory was great with all of the characters and was enjoyable.

[Emperor Ember · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I liked hearing about events from the humans/scavengers perspective. I also really enjoy Tui T. Sutherland’s writing style. Great book. If you are a fan of Wings of Fire I would definitely recommend this book.

[Lia Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

All I’m saying is that if I wanted to read about humans, I wouldn’t be reading Wings of Fire. :/

[Ambertheweirdo · Rating 1 out of 5]

omfg this book is so boring
can we just get to the dragon part already? I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE HUMANSSSS

[Darkling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time I "read" a full book entirely in audiobook form, and that might have an influence on some of my thoughts!

I never really had much of an interest in this book. I'm a longtime WoF fan, but the life of scavengers never really piqued my interest, so I figured a full book about them would boring. And in a way, I was right.

I enjoyed this book, but what I enjoyed about it was the fun character cameos and the lore tie-ins to the main series. Reading this while simultaneously re-reading The Dragonet Prophecy was serendipitous in that regard. There was a strange euphoria that came with seeing these familiar dragons from a scavenger POV! A conversation with Sunny speaking exclusively in roars and growls (which was narrated masterfully)? MURDERBASKET being commandeered by a human (and being narrated with a British accent for some reason!?)? These moments genuinely made me laugh, and that doesn't happen much when I read!

If I were to list my favourite characters and moments of this book, none of the human characters or drama would make that list. Ivy, Leaf, Wren, Heath... they all felt simple and juvenile. Well yeah, they're mostly kids, but they feel like kids written for kids (which suits the audience, but not my personal tastes). Many of the plot points were unsatisfyingly predictable, though granted there were a couple of isolated interesting moments too. Overall, most of the first half really dragged, and all the interesting moments were later on. The only new character I had any affinity towards was, unsurprisingly, the dragon. I would die for Sky and bring him all the snails in the world (maybe not in that order).

This was an interesting book, and I was tempted to rate it higher. But unlike the other Wings of Fire: Legends book, the only thing giving it strength is fanservice cameos. I don't think it holds up very well on its own.

[Ellie Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. That's the first word I can use to describe this book. I've been a huge fan of Wings of Fire for quite a long time, since the books first came out when I was in first grade. I remember the books being wonderful and funny when I was younger, but now, I find myself wondering where the charm went.
First off, I want to say I liked this book. I found the plot to be engaging and interesting, and the characters were mostly likeable. While some of it felt predictable or mundane, I thought it was overall quite exciting.
My main issue with this book was the dialogue. At the beginning of the book, the author puts a bunch of all-caps words and filler words such as "like" or "um", as well as common exaggerations like "literally" or "totally." Now, I know that this is probably meant to accentuate the characters' youth, which is fine, but I do think that as the book goes on, the dialogue should age more thoroughly with the characters. They sound like immature valley girls through almost the entire thing, which can get on my nerves a lot of the time.
I had a similar problem with the writing; while it was engaging, it felt as if the author was writing for a very young audience. I have many friends my age and older who have been reading these books since they first came out, and they agree that the writing should age with the majority of the audience. While there are lots of younger readers that are visiting these books for the first time, the older audience is still very much present, and in my opinion, the writing should at least match up with our maturity.
While I found this book to be a fun and fast read, I do think that the writing could use some more maturity for the veteran readers.

[Candria DSouza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comical and Engrossing

This gripping book will be “unputdownable", depicting the first book in Wings of Fire written by Tui T. Sutherland from the point of view of scavengers (the dragon word for humans). The three main characters (Wren, Leaf, and Ivy) take turns narrating each chapter in the book. Each main character doesn’t trust someone. Wren doesn’t trust anyone except her best friend, Sky, a dragon with whom she can communicate with despite having different languages. Leaf doesn’t trust dragons and has been out to slay one ever since he’d been told that dragons ate his favorite sister, Wren. Ivy doesn’t trust her father, the dragonslayer, because she (and her friends) believe that he is hiding something. My favorite part of the book is when Wren meets a Nightwing whom she incorrectly translates (from Dragon to Human) his name into Murderbasket. There are currently 13 Wings of Fire books, 4 winglets e-books (short stories from the point of view of side characters that aren’t very important), and 2 Wings of Fire; Legends books. Dragonslayer is the second, and Darkstalker is the first. This book is intended for ages 8-12. The number of pages for each chapter varies. The theme of the books are probably friendship and loyalty, or maybe how hard it is to make peace in war. These books are character-driven. On a scale of one through five, I would rate it five.

Cross-posted from my blog: Swirlingtides.blogspot.com

[Zoe Anastasia]

I tried something new today: I skimmed. I am vehemently AGAINST skimming and always read everything in books, but I’ll be honest I just picked this one up for Murderbasket, and what’s the point of reading 500 pages when I only came for 15?

And it’s always good to try something new, am I right??

So I skimmed everything that I didn’t find very interesting and dove into the scenes that captured me. It was fun. Not sure I’m going to count that Murderbasket scene as canon, because it felt so bizarre and funny and strange, but I’m glad I got a good laugh. Deathbringer, you and I can think of that as a weird hallucination or dream. XD

So yep—I skimmed a book for the first time in my life. Don’t know how I would have felt about the scenes I did skim if I’d read them, but mostly I found Ivy’s chapters to be boring and so pretty much ignored them. Wren’s were the best.

But oh my goodness—seeing my favorite characters from Wings of Fire again made my heart melt. <3

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing new story in the wings of fire universe that is told from scavenger/human perspective. The three protagonists of the story all have someone they can't trust. Wren doesn't trust anyone except her best friend Sky who may be the only Skywing that can't breath fire. Leaf doesn't trust the dragons because he was told they ate his favorite sister Wren. And Ivy cant trust her father, the dragon slayer because she knows he's not telling the whole truth..... In a world of dragons humans, scramble for survival. I found this book to be a thrilling story revealing even more about the continent of Pyrrhia and the world of wings of fire!

[Lizzie Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it soooo much. I read it in 24 hours of buying it, I loved it so much. I was going to borrow it from a friend but I decided to buy it. It's just a great book in the POV of SCAVENGERS a.k.a. humans! Normally these books are in the Dragons' perspective. I would definitely recommend reading it after the first arch in the regular series.

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how it 1: tied into the original series and 2: was in the perspective of the scavengers (humans if you did not know) I think that Tui. T. Sutherland did a great job (as usual) on this book, and I hope to see more like this from her.

[shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was cool! It was really unique to see human perspective on the wings of fire books.

[Lee Melton · Rating 2 out of 5]

horribly mid

[Aesthetic-Deccie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty Cool Just Think It Should Have Been A Dragon Book

[Random Spider (on a hiatus?) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The endearing quirk of the whole Wings Of Fire universe was that its books were focused on the dragon's perspectives. The Scavengers (Humans) were treated as an interesting and intelligent creatures at the background. Their whole charm lies on how they interact with the dragon protagonists despite the communication barrier. Now...reversing the roles would result into your generic human fantasy set on a dragon world. But if I would want something like that, then it's just infinitely better to read/watch How to Train Your Dragon instead of this piece of mediocrity.

"Underground villages!" Stone scoffed. "People living like scared rabbits because it's not safe anymore. The dragons are still angry with us, even twenty years later. They are still destroying any humans they can find to punish us for what Heath did."

Synopsis and/or Premise:
- Three siblings managed to infiltrate a Sand Dragon Palace, steal its treasures, and kill the Sand Dragon Queen, thus birthing the legend of the Dragonslayer. Two decades later, we follow three scavengers struggling on their owns ways to survive a world under corrupt societies and scavenger-snacking dragons.

Strengths:
1. Supplementary world building
2. Exceptional and daring
3. Full of Easter Eggs
4. Cute moments

Flaws:
1. Kiddy and amateurish writing
2. Annoying and meandering
3. Slow, stifled pacing
4. Mostly disunited plots
5. Confusing time skips
6. Superficial and redundant characters

Remarks and Rating:
- This was the total definition of DISAPPOINTING 👎.
- On the first few chapters, I thought each perspective would have their own signature children's personality. But nah — they degraded into insipidity once grown. Honestly, I would think this book would critically fare better if it stayed in a child's point-of-view instead of adolescents.
- MY GOODNESS!!! 😡 Violet and Daffodil were so annoying I can't stand them. Also, some side characters were legit unnecessary.
- My best times during reading was discovering Easter Egg events and characters from the base series, and our protagonists interacting with the dragons. It was fun, but it's sort of shameful for the book since my highlights were those instead of the scavengers and their 'mini' societies.
- Tui T. Sutherland tried to switch her series' formula, but she didn't made the scavengers and their strife much more intriguing/less banal. So yeah, I admire the effort and risk...but it's a good try at least 😏.
- I guess if I would rank POVs against each other, this it'll be:
1st place: Wren
2nd place: Leaf
3rd place: Ivy
- Being frank, Ivy sucks as a main character. I would actually prefer if it was Heath instead and explore more of the human society underground.
- It could have done better. 5/10



WINGS OF FIRE BOOKS RANKED:

1. The Dangerous Gift (9/10)
2. Moon Rising (8/10)
3. Legends: Darkstalker (8/10)
4. Talons of Power (8/10)
5. Winter Turning (7/10)
6. The Hidden Kingdom (7/10)
7. The Poison Jungle (7/10)
8. The Lost Continent (7/10)
9. The Dark Secret (6/10)
10. The Brightest Night (6/10)
11. The Dragonet Prophecy (6/10)
12. The Lost Heir (5/10)
13. Darkness of Dragons (5/10)

14. Legends: Dragonslayer (5/10)

15. The Flames of Hope (4/10)
16. Escaping Peril (4/10)
17. The Hive Queen (4/10)

[Mothlight · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, all of the POV characters were compulsively likeable. They have the disadvantage of not being dragons, but I suppose that's not their fault.

Sky is fascinating, and I really can't wait to see where that goes. What a great twist.

[JustAButterfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got the same feeling from Six of Crows on my first read-through as I did from this book: slow start but great payoff and characters, just not amazing enough for a five-star rating. I think the lack of dragons is to blame for me, as someone who reads these mostly for dragon main characters. The continuity nods were really neat, though, and getting to see how the dragon characters in palaces and towns operate and live is fascinating. I'd take a whole book detailing how dragons at each level of work go about their days in all of the kingdoms and what the interiors and exteriors of each palace look like, if a field guide were to be put out at some point. But that's my inner world-building nerd speaking. (Plus, the novellas exist.)
The slow start comes from three characters all having the beginnings of their arcs built up at the same time, so the start drags but the end is a lot quicker to read through. It's not painful, but it's not super entertaining, either. Some of the plot elements a lot of YA books have are hinted to in the background (revolution, an empire built on lies, stuff like that), but the main focus is the adventures of the three main heroes and their friends searching for each other, trying to survive, or going about their daily lives.

Quick Character Rundown:

Wren is a girl who befriends a dragon after being tossed out of her village as a sacrifice. Her chapters were the most interesting because of the dragon element. She learns to speak Dragon as well, so she's able to understand what the dragon characters say. She's resourceful and needs no one besides Sky, and the situations she gets into chasing after him are consistently interesting to read about.

Sky is Wren's dragon. He's really sweet. He seems to be Peril's brother, which makes him more interesting than having a random dragon character pair up with Wren. I liked his interactions with Wren.

Leaf is Wren's older brother, who takes a vow of revenge against the dragons for taking Wren away. He was probably the least interesting out of the three to read about, but his arc was well-handled.

Ivy lives in a different village, and is the daughter of the Dragonslayer. She loves dragons and has an artistic eye. She also has two friends, Violet and Daffodil, who are much louder than she is. I liked her arc too.

There are also a bunch of side characters, all of whom are surprisingly three-dimensional, along with present parents who are developed in Ivy's case but less so for Wren and Leaf, whose siblings and friends play larger roles in the story than their parents do.

Overall, solid book. I'm glad it exists, but I like Darkstalker and most of the main books more than this one. It does a lot of things well (the community aspect of the main characters' towns for example), but the dragon aspects are less prominent here. Go into the book expecting fewer dragons and you might like it more.

[Anne-Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book DEFINITELY lived up to my expectations!!! It had amazing characters, a great plot, and lots of suspense!
I also loved reading a Wings of Fire book from the POV of a human! It lets you see the Land of Pyrrhia in a whole new way.
A must-read for any Wings of Fire fan. Such a great addition to the series!

[Jaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my 12 year old summed it up - should have stuck to Dragons. An alright entry, but there simply wasn't enough Dragons in it for me.