I always forget how funny these books are until I start one and then suddenly I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. Snowfall needs a nap omg. But while thiI always forget how funny these books are until I start one and then suddenly I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. Snowfall needs a nap omg. But while this was clearly mostly just a setup for the next book, I loved Snowfall's character development and to be back on Pyrrhia (and it was also interesting to see dragons we knew from Snowfall's suspicious, largely-in-the-dark POV). I also liked how the characters from Dragonslayer came into play, and I do appreciate knowing where the the final book is going and how such conflicts are going to be resolved (considering how incredibly confused I was after The Poison Jungle)....more
So I listened to the audio and I thought the narrator was really good - the voices were all different enough that I didn't get the characters mixed upSo I listened to the audio and I thought the narrator was really good - the voices were all different enough that I didn't get the characters mixed up most of the time, and she even had just a slightly different voice for when Cricket was thinking first-person thoughts to herself that would be italics in print. And the deadpan way with which the humor was delivered was almost as good as the humor itself. Tui Sutherland's descriptions are so well-written that I can actually imagine what the narrator reads as she reads it - since I have an unfortunate habit of accidentally-on-purpose skimming large bits of description, having it all read to me at a constant pace allowed me to visualize everything much better.
I love Sundew so much. She is angry all the time and she cares about all of them but absolutely will not admit it under any circumstances whatsoever. (view spoiler)[When she was all like "I do not like small children" at the end with Bumblebee I was like meeeee and generally she just made me laugh. (hide spoiler)]
Cricket is super relatable at all times - I mean, the love of books thing is obvious, but also that she has a hard time reading other people's expressions and wishes she could open their heads up and read them like books instead of having to interact. (There was one quote at one time where she was trying to blend in at a party and it was like "Social interaction. That is a thing I like to do" (except with better words; I'm paraphrasing cuz audio does not let me go back and read the transcript) and like honestly that's me in public always when I have to pretend to be social. And the deadpan delivery by the narrator was good good good.) Cricket's not always brave and she's scared sometimes but she can move beyond it.
Blue was very irritating because he seemed to be perfect in every way and everything he said was the "right" thing to say and the right idea. I wasn't sure if he just had such an irritating personality naturally or if it was just because Cricket is so infatuated with him (which is kind of ridiculous - I could very much do without most of the time she admires how smart or empathetic or noble or humble or (worst of all) incredibly handsome he is). Honestly I would not mind if Blue made a mistake every once in a while or got them into incredible trouble due to his sense of nobility or whatever else makes him seem perfect and always-right.
Lady Scarab is great in general, and I also liked her interactions with her daughter Jewel - (view spoiler)[prediction right now is that Jewel will end up being the queen at the end of the series. But who knows, maybe someone will be introduced in the future and Jewel will not actually be a viable option anymore. (hide spoiler)]
I guessed that (view spoiler)[the queen was doing the mind control things to the dragons when they were eggs LONG before Cricket did but also that was a reasonable explanation so I wasn't upset or anything. I'd rather guess a logical reason and then have it be the actual reason than be surprised because it's a completely random, completely unhinted thing that makes no sense whatsoever. Also the explanation for Cricket not being mind-controlled also made sense. (hide spoiler)] It's very satisfying when explanations make sense and you don't (immediately) find seventeen holes and some fraying strings that if you pulled hard enough would open some more.
The ending was rushed though? (view spoiler)[Like they guess the plant has something to do with the mind control but they have no idea how and I know they were pressed for time but literally they decided those were the only reasons and jumped to all those conclusions. And at one point in the greenhouse someone (Blue?) was like "shouldn't we destroy it all so she can never mind-control the HiveWings again" when Sundew took a clipping but like it's not likely this is the only place this plant grows, or that the queen wouldn't have extra someplace, or secret seed stashes, or idk but really? All her mind control capabilities in one spot? Destroyed completely in one singular fire? Really?(hide spoiler)]
Oh and the epilogue. (view spoiler)[I didn't really like how the Pyrrhian dragons just seemed to be showing up and involving themselves. I'd rather they not, honestly? They've had their arcs and now they get to come back on a continent they know nothing about? First Turtle and Tsunami just decide to swim there and manage it successfully, and they're actually there, and then Moon forsees the Pantalan dragons showing up in Pyrrhia? How many? Who? Why? I mean, fine, and I know huge fans of the original series will love their favorites interacting with Pantala and being involved in all of this mess. But this arc is the Pantalan dragons' story and problem they need to solve. I sincerely hope that while the Pyrrhian dragons may play a small role, they're not the deus ex machina that magically somehow solves the problem.
Also, a note on the prologue: I get why we want animus magic to disappear, since it kinda is all-powerful (especially now that they can use it without their souls disappearing), but what's happening to it? The Qibli-broke-it thing would make sense, but evidently that is not the case. Though also the Qibli-broke-it thing would not completely annihilate animus magic for good so that would probably be a poor final reason. (hide spoiler)]
Either way, I liked this one better than the first one (whether that because the plot was better, or everything was more interesting or the stakes were higher, or because Cricket is an infinitely more interesting narrator/person in general than Blue (which is truth, whether or not it is the reason), I could not tell you)....more
I remember the first time I read this I had so many things I wanted to say but no way to articulate so i just ended up not writing a review at all. I I remember the first time I read this I had so many things I wanted to say but no way to articulate so i just ended up not writing a review at all. I feel similarly now. This book is incredible and I'm in awe of the nuance in every aspect. Rachel Hartman writes beautifully....more
So this one is my least favorite of the three, but that absolutely does not mean I dislike it.
But. There is so much deadpan hilarity and that is my faSo this one is my least favorite of the three, but that absolutely does not mean I dislike it.
But. There is so much deadpan hilarity and that is my favorite type of hilarity. It is delivered like it is not humorous at all and it's so smart* and I love it.
Well, I like this series, but I know it's definitely not for everyone by any means. I'm not here for the serious and in-depth plot (because there isn't one); I'm not here for the intense thought that needs to go into reading it (there is not a lot of that). I like it because this is a brand of humor I love and it is unselfconsciously employed. The entire series is unselfconscious. That's honestly the best word to describe it. You can't really critique the book with "Jennifer is way too mature for a sixteen-year-old this is unrealistic" or "the humor is so stupid it doesn't even make sense" or any of that because the book is very much aware of that and absolutely does not care what you think of it at all. You just get that vibe that it is grinning at you in a very unnerving way the entire time you complain about it because it knows these things and is enjoying laughing at the fact that you haven't realized it knows these things.
Do you need to suspend your disbelief? Absolutely. Personally, I like to suspend my disbelief every once in a while; hang it from the rafters, let it air out. It's cathartic.
*I say "smart". Others say "stupid". To each their own, I guess....more
--15 July 2024 i enjoy qibli pov and to some degree his character arc, and of course the writing style is wonderful and funny, but i think this book dr--15 July 2024 i enjoy qibli pov and to some degree his character arc, and of course the writing style is wonderful and funny, but i think this book dropped the ball a lot with the themes. qibli's arc/plot didn't fit into the "forcefully changing or controlling others/taking away choices" thread that all the others dealt with, and it focused so much on moon and romance (to its detriment!). (speaking of the love triangle, i thought this book also did winter a disservice and i'm mad about it.) i suppose qibli's angle was that he wanted to have animus powers or power to control others and doesn't, and realizes he could have fallen into the same traps as darkstalker and ultimately that it isn't good to control others like that, but it didn't feel as strong as the other arcs and the way it was framed did make it seem that qibli was doing this mostly based on what he thought moon wanted rather than truly learning/changing because of the concept itself.
re: the ending, i don't really see how else anyone could have defeated darkstalker (though to be fair i haven't sat down to trace possibilities), but i do think it undermined themes, which was disappointing because they've been so strong and consistent the entire series so far. i also don't think it really drove home any sort of point with the souls, and whether it's animus power that corrupts it or what people do with the power. i'm fine with ambiguity and think this even could have been done ambiguously in a satisfying way, but it just was not....more
--13 July 2024 turtle is my favorite <3 maybe he's not the "hero" material but he's trying, and what he did (with the stick, and saving anemone) truly --13 July 2024 turtle is my favorite <3 maybe he's not the "hero" material but he's trying, and what he did (with the stick, and saving anemone) truly was what saved the day in the end bc he always made someone a wildcard.
going back to the themes about changing the way people think without their knowledge, that's big with darkstalker here and his "make everyone like and trust me" spell and it's neat how qibli (and glory, to some extent) were able to feel the dissonance between what they feel and their logic. and i also liked the element that also ties into here that turtle was the one who had made anemone an animus. it changed the trajectory of her life in a huge way and that was turtle. (and is a bit of a counterpoint/parallel to darkstalker giving all the nightwings powers, selectively.) and his arc also fit well with these themes because he has those same animus powers as darkstalker and the same ability to change things, but he doesn't.
--21 July 2021 i don't understand how these books are so good like. how are they so good.
i love turtle as a character and, of course, as with all of these books, his character development was absolutely on point and so believable and just,,, really good lfksjdfd. turtle's family dynamics, especially with his sister anemone, were complex and messy like real sibling relationships and i loved watching it unfold. i wish we saw more of turtle's relationship with his brothers as well, since he obviously cares about them even though the flashbacks we got were mostly of them teasing him.
the tension absolutely amped up, even though one could argue turtle is pretty passive at first, which is points to ms sutherland's writing ability (though that has never been in doubt). i remembered very little from this arc from the first time i read it, but something that had stuck with me was (view spoiler)[from anemone and turtle's confrontation on the beach to the end (hide spoiler)], and reading it again was even better.
i enjoyed the extra details you could catch from reading Darkstalker. even beyond the details there were a lot of subtle parallels between things that happened here and things in the past? and with regards to details specifically i about lost my mind over the freaking (view spoiler)[connection to clearsight's vision of darkstalker sitting on the throne with a crown of spiked metal... (hide spoiler)] like ms sutherland maam i cannot handle this i cannot handle the details you threw into every book in this series and how they connect to Literally Everything and how much more i'm catching reading them all in a row (instead of 6 months between new releases) and having already read the future books....more
--19 July 2021 i think i appreciated this book much more this time than the first time i read it. clearsight and darkstalker's relationship is >>> and --19 July 2021 i think i appreciated this book much more this time than the first time i read it. clearsight and darkstalker's relationship is >>> and it's just? so unique? like they've known each other for years before they met each other and it's as if they'd known each other for many more and very intimately before actually meeting because of the visions and i just. think that's cool kfjsdf.
darkstalker's descent into evil was very well done imo. like we know he'll end up being bad bc this is a prequel but like,, you can't help but root for him, if not for his own sake then for clearsight's.
clearsight is my favorite and i think her powerful visions and the way they're set up and the way "telling the future" as a whole is framed in this book/world are so cool and just,, how clearsight bases her life around them? even decisions a few moments into the future. and all her conflicting thoughts about darkstalker and how she can see those horrible futures and still have to choose to love him and how far is too far etc etc.
also whiteout is very fun i wish we saw more of her
i also thought it was interesting to see the state of the world 2000 years prior to the events of the main arcs and how fundamental things were different and then further how things referenced in the "future" actually played out in the past and how they line up and how they differ. also i've been LOSING MY MIND this entire reread at all the details planted throughout the series and how they connect to past things and foreshadow other things and just,, all the details are so tight and everything connects to something else it's just so neat to go through knowing what happens and see all that planted i'm So impressed...more
--8 July 2024 once again, i love you peril and your weird thought processes. you are trying so hard <3
the way she constantly thinks things about, like,--8 July 2024 once again, i love you peril and your weird thought processes. you are trying so hard <3
the way she constantly thinks things about, like, killing people to solve her problems but then almost every time stops herself and does the better or kinder thing adds to one of the themes from moon's book, about how people can think terrible things but that doesn't matter because they haven't done them! and moon can see futures about people doing bad things but that doesn't mean they will do it.
the theme i've been most focused on in the series this read, however, and that is highlighted pretty strongly in this book, is around personal autonomy and self-determination and messing with other people's minds. this happens with moon debating whether it's morally correct to judge people based on their thoughts or what they might do, and then with winter and hailstorm. here, peril's own mind is altered, and it's different because peril is constantly thinking that she wants someone to tell her what to do because that's all she's been used to! but then it happens without her consent, and it happens to others without their consent, and it's violating and wrong.
and the way scarlet has fucked peril up even without magic! by treating her as a weapon and convincing her she needs the black rocks to survive and that scarlet is the only one who will love her (even though she doesn't) and the way peril is trying to break free of that but keeps circling it! (similar to winter in some ways, with the way his family/the people around him treated him growing up.)
ruby's an interesting datapoint because she wanted to go back to being ruby, just with all her memory of both lives. and she was ruby for so long she managed to break through the spell that said she was never to be queen or challenge scarlet.
anyway! unrelated - my favorite peril being peril moment: “I don't have an evil plan!” said Peril, panicking. “All my evil is spur of the moment! Turtle, tell them how bad I am at planning.”
--8 July 2021 peril is hilarious and i do think, though the audiobook narrator did a great job, that this is one time you're missing out on the print book's comedic effect when peril will go suddenly and alarmingly into all caps. anyway if i wanted to pull the best quotes i would pull like,, half of the book
also the character development >>> i should just stop saying this every time bc it's always good but oh well...more
--1 July 2024 i love you characters who have always been treated as weak or a disappointment learning that in fact these traits can be a strength and m--1 July 2024 i love you characters who have always been treated as weak or a disappointment learning that in fact these traits can be a strength and meeting people who actually care about you and show you this <3 winter himself doesn't change as a person so much as his perception shifts - his softheartedness and curiosity and willingness to work with other dragons is not a weakness! he doesn't deserve to be treated how his parents treat him! he has real friends now who care about who he is!
also winter's arc reminded me SO strongly of delo skyfish in furysong. everyone should read the aurelian cycle actually.
--1 July 2021 how does tui sutherland manage to make Every book have great character development i would like to know! winter constantly thinking about moon was irritating but i did love his developing friendship with qibli. it was also very satisfying to see pieces of winter's plot connect with the overarching plot in unexpected ways and how the overarching plot is building in also unexpected ways....more
--12 Dec 2023 while i technically do agree with what i said about this not being my favorite of the first arc, it's still so good and we get so much...--12 Dec 2023 while i technically do agree with what i said about this not being my favorite of the first arc, it's still so good and we get so much... forward plot? like, nightwing plan revealed! nightwing plan foiled! the prophecy is FAKE! what does this all mean for the war! not to mention the fun epilogue montage of all three queens deciding to prioritize finding and killing the dragonets, love a fun anticipation of danger (also! it's just tilting them all towards collision! they are all aimed at the same target! this was in no one's plan!).
and maybe this is k's fault but i am so obsessed with the prophecy and how it's actually happening even though it's fake. and how the dragonets' actions have set it all up even though they weren't trying for it. is that fate? is it coincidence? is it just the natural course of things? who's to say!!!
also i love glory.
--25 June 2021 hmm probably my least favorite of the first arc but still solid! all the povs in this series have good character development during their books and starflight is no exception...more
--21 Dec 2023 my favorite parts are still how sunny is different in her head than how others see her (she's ridiculously competent!) and how the prophe--21 Dec 2023 my favorite parts are still how sunny is different in her head than how others see her (she's ridiculously competent!) and how the prophecy came true even though it wasn't real to begin with. the talons made it happen by raising the dragonets together the way they did so that they cared about each other more than anything else, morrowseer made it happen by making everyone else believe the prophecy, and the dragonets made it happen by simply. deciding to. even knowing it's not a "real" prophecy. no one else is going to do it. why shouldn't they?
and this is very related to how sunny herself makes things happen. her faith in the prophecy is shaken and she can't rely on everything going well because it has to go well, and she thinks this means everything she does is in doubt. but sunny's ultimate approach to everything ("well, logically, why wouldn't this work") is actually closer to how the dragonets DO fulfill the prophecy (ie simply deciding to, and that's enough), which i think is very neat.
--26 June 2021 just as clay was definitely the best choice to start the series, sunny was definitely the best choice to close it. she's so different in her head than her friends see her but somehow still also essentially the same and i loved how finally people saw her the way she wanted to be seen and took her seriously! i also love how much the five dragonets care for each other. i was a little hmst about (view spoiler)[the magical eye of onyx that just,,, solved their problems but at least it was only the very last problem and they DID have to do everything they'd done prior in order for it to have happened. (hide spoiler)]
this series reread took (alarmingly) less time than i'd anticipated and i think i'm going to continue with the second arc!...more
--6 Dec 2023 so you know how there's the interpretation of the tempest as prison literature and counting the number of prisons it contains etc. well i --6 Dec 2023 so you know how there's the interpretation of the tempest as prison literature and counting the number of prisons it contains etc. well i think we should do that for this series too. how many different prisons have the dragonets been thrown in. if we're counting literally it's like, five, and it's only book 2.
also you've got tsunami constantly thinking unfavorable thoughts about all of her friends abt how annoying they are but she also does spent the entire book trying to be a better person for them. oh tsunami.
--21 June 2021 look i'm not THAT fast of a reader i just went on a bike ride and then had Many Chores and the audiobooks aren't that long
but also i liked tsunami's character development! i only remembered (view spoiler)[the plot with the statue killing the eggs (hide spoiler)] where i remembered a lot more of the first book so that was fun. was sad the rest of the dragonets weren't really in this one as much. but i do enjoy how even in just two books the dragonets have shown remarkable talent for accidentally ruining the plans literally every side and individual dragon has for them and *especially* how a lot of that comes from how much they care about each other before everything else, which no one ever seems to expect....more
--7 Dec 2023 deathbringer my favorite <3 he's ridiculous. anyway i loveee being in glory's head. she's got such an interesting pov on everything becaus--7 Dec 2023 deathbringer my favorite <3 he's ridiculous. anyway i loveee being in glory's head. she's got such an interesting pov on everything because she's the only one who is very clearly not in the prophecy-as-stated, and i'd argue she's also the most traumatized (which manifests in interesting ways and is most clear from her pov even when she herself doesn't frame it like that). i especially like her dynamic with tsunami and how they snipe at each other constantly but really they love each other and know exactly how far to push the other without taking it personally and are, of course, always on the same side.
also re: nightwings having vaguely british accents, the narrator made kinkajou affect a bad british accent when she was pretending to be a nightwing which is a GREAT voice acting decision
--24 June 2021 the audiobook narrator gives all the nightwings british accents which is funny in itself but it also makes deathbringer, who is funny anyway, absolutely hilarious i love it...more
--4 Dec 2023 it's finals week let's see how many wings of fire i can get through before i collapse! (i bet the answer is a whole lot. i started this on--4 Dec 2023 it's finals week let's see how many wings of fire i can get through before i collapse! (i bet the answer is a whole lot. i started this one yesterday)
peril is so unhinged i can't wait to get to her book <3 also even sooner than that i just want deathbringer to show up i love him he's so funny. about this book, though: wings of fire does like everything well, but this time i especially appreciated how it's so significant that these five were raised together and learned to care about one another above anyone else. like, clay doesn't totally realize it, but THIS is why the prophecy works! the talons of peace thought they were just holding the dragonets in reserve until it was time to set them loose on the world, but it was the act of keeping them together that ultimately let them stop the war and change the world.
it's so clear that dragon tribes know very little about each other. even the talons of peace, a cross-tribe organization, doesn't know things like mudwing blood eggs and social structures in order to teach clay about his own tribe. the dragonets didn't even have academic resources about most tribes. this is a way for readers to learn about the broader world along with the dragonets as they muddle through it, but it's also significant for what's wrong with pyrrhia and what's important about the dragonets. and clay barely understands that! he's focused on his own knowledge gaps and what he personally cares about (his friends) simply because he cares about them. but it's all there!
--20 June 2021 it's so fun going back to the beginning when we're currently on book 14 (or book 4 of the third arc, or book 16 in the series not counting the novellas,,, there are a lot of wings of fire). clay is such a good choice for the first narrator and i'm so impressed with the worldbuilding the author manages to sneak in so naturally right away.
i don't think i have any more thoughts about this book alone that aren't colored by my fondness for the characters developed over later books? anyway i had a good time! let's see how far i get with this series reread i have apparently spontaneously initiated (and how long it takes me lol)...more
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