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Fantasy. Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML: A thrilling new series soars above the competition and redefines middle-grade fantasy fiction for a new generation!The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy â?? a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice.Five dragonets are collected to fulfill the prophecy, raised in a hidden cave and enlisted, against their will, to end the terrible war.But not every dragonet wants a destiny. And when the select five escape their underground captors to look for their original homes, what has been unleashed on the dragon world may be far more than the revolutionary planners intended . . .… (more)
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This series flew off my shelves this year, and I can totally see why. There is just enough violence to make it interesting, just enough mystery to make you want to keep turning the pages, and just enough heart to make you want them to succeed.
Clay and his friends have lived
Will Clay and his friends escape from Scarlet's prison before they are forced to fight to the death in the gladiator arena? Will they be able to find their families? And how will they stop the war?
This book is a fantastic start to the Wings of Fire series. I can't wait to read the sequels.
Clay is one of five dragonets raised in isolation by the Talons of Peace. There is a prophecy that five dragons will rise up to end the awful war that has been raging for years between the seven Dragon Tribes. Clay (MudWing) has been raised in relative isolation along with four other dragonets; Glory (RainWing) , Sunny (SandWing), Starflight (NightWing), and Tsunami (SeaWing). When Clay and his friends get sick of their isolation they venture out to see for themselves the horrors and betrayals that are part of this dragon war.
This is a well written book. It reminds a bit of the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. You basically have tribes of dragons that have allied with each other and struggle for dominance of the region. Creatures called scavengers are mentioned (which seem to be humans). The background makes it seem like in this world humans are close to extinction and dragons rule. There is a lot of fighting between the dragons, also lots of betrayals.
Sutherland does a good job of naming the dragons so that they represent their clan. For example Clay is a MudWing and Tsunami is a RainWing. This definitely helps readers to remember which dragon belongs to which caste when the story starts out.
Clay is your all around good boy, he is the one that keeps the group together and tries to settle differences...although he is a bit clueless when it comes to the girl dragons. In this book the dragonets confront the Queen of the AirWings, Queen Scarlet, and also journey in search of Clay’s parents. It seems like each book is being setup so that each Dragonet journeys in search of their families in a separate book.
I really enjoyed the way the book was written. It is easy to read, flows well, and there is some humor in here too. I can really see how kids love these books; the dragons are interesting and intriguing and go on lots of adventures. In addition to that the dragons act a lot like kids and deal with a lot of the same problems kids do (fitting in, getting along with their companions, etc).
I love how the dragon tribes all have very different abilities and personalities; this was very well done and made for a good story.
The story was a bit more violent and vicious than I expected. Dragons are viciously killed and die in massive numbers, the dragonets are suitably horrified at some of the things they see. Which leads to the only thing I didn’t really like about this book.
I didn’t like that every single one of the adult dragons our Dragonets deal with was conniving, evil, and mean..or at best indifferent. I hate it when adults are portrayed as universally evil in kids’ books. I don’t think it’s a great message for kids. Hopefully in future books our Dragonets will meet some mentors or at least some adults who don’t try to manipulate or kill them.
Overall this book was better than I thought it would be. The format reminds a lot of The Warriors series by Erin Hunter. That being said I liked this book a lot better than the Warrior books; there was more humor and the dragons were more interesting and underwent more interesting adventures. However, I think this is a series that will engage kids better than it will adults. Sutherland’s Menagerie series is a better series for a wider range of ages, I think both adults and kids can enjoy that series. I will be reading the next couple books in the series because my son is begging me to and they are pretty quick reads.
This is the story of all 5, but it is mostly about Clay, the MudWing. When the Tsunami, the SeaWing, is chained, it’s up to Clay to find a way out via the river as MudWings are able to hold their breath for up to an hour according to the scrolls they have been learning from.
They all make it out but are immediately captured and held prisoner by Queen Scarlet, the SkyWing who is entertained by Roman style gladiator fights between captives. Her champion is Peril who has too much fire in her so burns anything she touches. While Glory, the “extra” dragonet questions if Peril may be the missing dragonet of the prophecy, this is not make clear by the end of the story. The five original dragonets are able to escape from the SkyWings and after finding Clay’s family or siblings they head on out to find Tsunami’s family. The story ends with the murder of one of the caretakers which means the plot has thickened for the next book in the series as the dragonets try to fulfill the prophecy and end the war.
Unlike other dragon books I’ve read, this one does NOT have people who ride the dragons. The few people in the story are scavengers which try to kill the dragons and are eaten if caught. I was unaware when I started that it would be part of a series, but it does indeed say book one on the spine. These dragons are much more violent than other dragon stories, but I guess there the people are fighting and the dragons get stuck in the middle. Here it is three SandWing dragon sisters who started the war when their mother was killed by a scavenger leaving none of them as the leader as they didn’t kill her and win the right to be the new leader. The prophecy says one of the three will learn a lesson and be the leader and the other two will die, but we don’t know if it’s Blister, Blaze, or Burn.
Students who like dragon stories would like this, maybe. With a book level of 5 it is a good stretch for them but much of it would be the weird names. Once the story starts, it is pretty easy to follow, but I wasn’t always remembering which tribe was allied with which. The 5 dragonets cross the alliances which I’m sure is part of the reason they will be able to stop the war eventually.
This fantasy story shows the importance of friendship, determination in the face of adversity, and the senselessness of war. It also has some strong undertones of racism and stereotyping that the dragonets do not “see” as they get to know and appreciate each other.
Illustrations at the front of the book show the eight different species of dragon that are mentioned in the story, along with descriptions of their unique abilities and alliances in the war.
It starts well, but the tones keep switching back and forth. From cutesy bonding to gladiator violence to royal court intrigue. And the author does not maintain distinguishable character voices for everyone (and there are a lot for a MG book). And what’s worse, they don’t sound like dragons. Now, I understand that dragons aren’t real so no one knows what they sound like. But my point is the dialogue lacks species characterization. They sound like humans, not four-legged flying carnivores. If you didn’t know they were dragons, this could be any YA novel.
It’s a strange little book with a lot of cliches (like a Chosen One Prophecy and five-man band) but at least it doesn’t condescend. I guess if you like dragons, it might be worth looking through. But it’s definitely not the new Harry Potter. It’s not even the next Divergent.
The student who recommended the series said that it is a story where dragons are the main characters. It appears to be a great series for fantasy fans. I'm looking forward to finishing the series myself.
Dragons are divided into 7 different tribes, suited to their natures, each led by a queen. The queen of the Sandwing dragons of the desert has been killed by a scavenger (human) and her three daughters - Blister, Blaze and Burn -
Clay, solid and dependable, is a Mudwing; Starflight, who likes learning, is a Nightwing, their Seawing is Tsunami, small Sunny is a Sandwing and instead of the foretold Skywing they have Glory, a multihued Rainwing.
However, the dragonets feel restricted by not knowing about the outside world from personal experience and the story begins with them plotting to leave their hiding place and what happens when they do. They find that the world isn’t quite what they expected.
I quite liked this story although sometimes the dragons acted more human-like so it was a bit harder to envision them as dragons and the illustration on the cover didn’t help. I would put the reading age at around 8-12 years old; there is some fighting and killing but it’s not heavily focused on.
This was an e-book I borrowed from the library for holiday reading and I’m looking forward to borrowing more in the series.
3.5***
I enjoyed
I particularly loved Clay, the Mudwalker. This seems to be his story. He is not what the others think nor what their instructors believe him to be. The others also are more than their instructors believe about them.
This is an interesting group of characters and I cannot wait to continue the series