Ha'ani

This is the best Fantasy book Ihave read in a long time, and I am eager to consume more.

The Dragons of Time: The Fifth evokes such a strong feeling of adventure and...heart. I don't know what else to call it; this book is 100% heart. I can tell how much the author loves the world, the characters, the lore. This book really sucked me into the world and characters with this passionate atmosphere.

All of the characters were so fun and likeable. I typically loathe books with more than three POVs, but I loved the way this book made all these characters converge neatly into one epic tale. Lily, Signet, Eso, Polara, Benkem...they are all so memorable and written with such heart and care. I really cannot criticize the high number of main characters since they are executed so well.

And the art is so cool. I really wish I had gotten a paperback version of this book; that's how special it feels to me. I read this with my Kindle unlimited trial, but I will definitely buy it in support of the author.

I can't wait to read the rest of the series. If you're looking for an epic adventure about fantastical creatures with lots of heart and lovable characters, this might be your jam. I highly recommend you give it a whirl.

Sometimes, I just need to sit down, forget about the world, and read an old kids' book. A kids book, because if it's a well-written one, it will cheer me up or at least make me smile. An old one, because new kids books are cringey and often have the most unfunny jokes in existence.

And by kids book, I don't mean a picture book necessarily, I mean a middle grade kind of thing, like Land of Stories or Harry Potter. Something light and cheerful and fun.

This book is from 2013, and wow—the humor is soooo 2013. Strange to think that it was only 11 years ago, but the humor is so... Different. Relying on alliterations and tongue-twisters, metaphors and puns, and reversal of expectations really makes the style of humor stand out against modern kids books like, I dunno, Catwad (Okay, to be fair, I don't know a lot of ‘modern' middle grade books, so don't take me too seriously here; my sister reads Catwad), where the funniest bits are butt jokes, “trick bad words” (“what the fuuuuuungi?” [example, not a direct quote by the way]), and... Stuff.

Okay, point is, the humor is very different. Ah, and refreshing and nostalgic. I miss the cheesy alliterations of 2013 (“one of the Chompies sunk its long teeth into the Mabu's plump posterior. “) Alliterations aren't necessarily funny, but they add charm and a cheerful, lighthearted tone. Just what I needed today.

And reversal of expectations is one of the oldest methods for humour, but I like it. For example, near the end of the book, some scary librarian warriors arrive in a huge warship, and Hugo admits that they must have figured out that he has the 101 Ways to Get Rid of Sheep and Other Wooly Nuisances he stole years ago from the forbidden archives and never returned. Eon gets angry at poor Hugo and makes him return it to the librarian warriors. But, then it turns out the librarian warriors came to them for help, and had no idea the sheep book was ever missing. Again, this isn't automatically funny, but it made me smile because... I should have seen it coming, but I didn't.

Another repeated method of humor is joke set-up and, a paragraph later, joke pay-off, but I'm not gonna get into that, I've spent way too much time analyzing this old book for middle schoolers.

Okay, basically, this book's 2013 humor made me smile, maybe even chuckle, and feel immense nostalgia. And it was really short and just a nice relax-and-have-a-break-from-real-life book. Like, okay, it's a kids book, but when I'm stressed, I need to pretend I'm a kid again. And admittedly, at 16, I am still attached to the games, so reading this just... Made me happy for that reason. So, 5/5 for that.

But honestly, if I was gonna critique this book as if it wasn't written for middle schoolers in 2013, I would say it is really simple and pure commercial entertainment. Like, there's nothing deep or philosophical or intellectually stimulating in this book. The illustrations are really simple and don't add anything to the book. Except nostalgia—they smell like kool-aid in my mom's car when I was 9...Oops, getting off topic. Anyway, for the audience, I think the author did a great job. But if I was to critique it with the same standard I use for most books, I'd say it'd be a 3.5/5.

Therefore, I'll give this an overall 4/5, but my rating is biased. As you can clearly tell.

This one was actually good. I am surprised by the amount of development Nightheart and Sunbeam undergo. Nightheart is no longer the whiny little kit he was in book one. I actually like him! Better than Fireheart, that's for sure.

I like that this book had good placing. There is barely any filler. I'm aware of this mandatory rule that each Warriors book has to start with some exposition dump to fill in for previous books, in case the reader missed them. I hate these exposition dumps, but in this book, I like that the author got them over with really quickly. Like, 2 pages quickly, and then it's mostly over.
The action and progression of the story remains quick and smooth throughout. Nightheart and Fringwhisker's challenges, emotional conflict between Sunbeam and Nightheart, ShadowClan's meddling with a troubled RiverClan, and Frostpaw's internal conflicts all make for a delightfully bloated (in a good way) book. And it's short. Started it, finished it, all in the same day.

I thought Warriors books sucked nowadays. But I don't regret starting this arc. I am actually thrilled to read the next on

This graphic novel was amazing! I don't read a lot of graphic novels (in fact, I only ever skimmed/read the Wings of Fire graphic novels, and that was yeaaaars ago), but this was pure treasure.

I got it because of my Kindle Unlimited trial, but I'm thinking about buying it again–that's how good it is!

The writer & illustrator, the letterer and editor...everybody did such an awesome job on this book. And then it's on Kindle Unlimited–WOW. It is so good, I am wondering if it is really justified to read this book for free.

And all the characters–especially Kit–are very awesomely designed, very awesomely written. The environment of this book, with all its worldbuilding and color, was just rad. I don't fully get the way magic and auras and talents work in this universe, but hey, that's the beauty of free worldbuilding.

I wish it was longer, I want them to make another one–I would buy it! And physical copy, this time.

Mostly good. What I like about this book is that it taught me so many things I didn't know about deafness, being deaf, and deaf culture. For example, BSL—I didn't know that was a thing! And, best of all, the book has a really diverse cast of perspectives. One protagonist is a girl who has a cochlear transplant and struggled with both English and sign language, another is a deaf boy from a historically deaf family whose sister ends up hearing, another is a woman who is hearing but teaches at a deaf school because her mom is deaf. The variance of perspectives really spices things up.

However, I also feel that the book could have been better. Now that I think about it, the only interesting parts were when something was viewed from a unique perspective (like the way Charlie perceives music with and without her implant) or when I learned a “fun fact” (like the absence of the word “to be” in ASL). Everything else sorta...was mediocre.

For example, this book has many conflicts and arcs. Charlie wants to be accepted by her mom. Charlie wants to learn ASL. Austin wants his sister to be deaf like he is. February doesn't want her school to close. And so on and so forth...

Buuuuut, guess how many of these arcs actually get resolved? Zero. Okay, maybe one, since Charlie kinda gets good at sign language throughout the book. Or maybe two, as we kiiiinda get a hint that Charlie's mom will change. But again, these are kinda's. There are no absolute resolutions at all.

You can say the book had an open ending, I guess. But I think...eh, I guess so, but it wasn't a good open ending. A good open ending is an ending that makes you think, think, think. An open ending haunts a reader for a long time.

But this ending...was just abrupt and...honestly, kinda lame. I liked the book, I wanted it to have a good ending and I wanted the character's issues to be resolved. This book just threw me their problems and left me with them. And then it ended to leave me wondering...what was it all for?

And also, some of the book, I feel, is kinda random. Like, one deaf kid's traumatic backstory is this:

1. His father dies in a car crash2. His mother feels bad, so she joins a church and brings him with her.3. He thinks the church is ableist, but he keeps going because he likes a girl there.4. One day, during a service, the girl decides to pull him into a closet, and they make out.5. The pastor pulls him out of the closet and pours hot oil on his ear to “heal him”Yeah, that's the backstory. Is this kid important to the plot? No. Does this backstory add anything to the book? Not really. This information is interesting, I guess, but the characters gain nothing from knowing this. Like, I found it interesting, but if you're gonna spend twelve pages on a backstory like this, at least make it relevant! Those twelve pages were technically filler. It's interesting material, but why didn't the author find a way to connect it to the plot? Plus, the backstory itself is kinda random. What did the dad's death mean? What did the girl he made out with mean? Why didn't it just skip to the part with the church and the oil? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that some portions of the book are just random, and most of that random is technically filler. I'm thinking that this book could have been cut down to a good one-third of its size without some filler.

Overall, this book was good because of its insights into deaf culture and, best of all, it is an educational book. I learned from it, and that is great. Buuuut the actual story could have been better, I'm thinking. Still, the educational part was good enough for me to like it and want to recommend it to other people!

After the very-okay The Hive Queen and the pretty-close-to-being-bad The Poisom Jungle, this book was actually surprisingly good!

And, strangely, I remember, just two years ago, I read this and I hated it. I remember genuinely believing that this was one of the worst Wings of Fire books I had ever read. I hated that Tui brought Wren into the main books (okay, it still bugs me a little as a pet peeve, but I can see how this unforseen expansion into scavenger stories would help to progress the plot), I didn't like that the book wasn't set in Pantala, and I didn't like Snowfall as a character.

But, after re-reading it as a junior in high school, I see now that this is actually one of the best Wings of Fire books. Here's why:

1. 1. This is one of the few books in the series to actually give a character a full, complete arc. Snowfall grows from a paranoid, insecure, distrustful young queen to a wiser, more sympathetic, more confident ruler.


2. 2. The book contains a minimal amount of filler


3. 3. The characters in the book all written as very round, developed personalities. In some books such as The Hive Queen and the The Poison Jungle, it is very clear that characters have lost depth and become flat when compared to their initial introductions or previous appearances. In this one, however, Moon, Qibli, Winter, Luna, and Jerboa are their fully-rounded charming selves, and some of them are even develoepd further.


4. 4. Snowfall is a round, dynamic character with a well-developed arc and personality (discussed in number 1)


5. 5. The book actually moves the plot forward and builds up anticipation. This book is the start of the arc's premise: “face a great evil with talons united, or none of the tribes will survive.” The book builds on this by shifting focus from Pantala to Pyhrria, which has now been drawn into the conflict of the other continent. This book smoothly directs the arc along the prophecy and creates anticipation for a final battle between all tribes.

I don't know if it was because Tui used the chance to write about a Pyhrrian dragon again, but man, this book was really good, unlike the last two, which were either bad or meh.

But, yeah. Snowfall was awesome, Lynx and Mink and all the other characters were awesome. The book also expanded on IceWing customs and culture, which was, yes, very awesome. The visions made the narrative awesome and special.

And, I am still a bit mad about scavengers becoming major characters, ughhhh...but, I can see why Tui needed Wren in this book. The arc was meant to pit all the tribes, Phyrrian and Pantalan, plus the scavengers, against this really massive mysterious lifeform in an epic very-high-scale conflict. Ugh, makes me so disappointed in the succeeding book. This book sets it up perfectly. And yet...arghjjjjjlkfdjsflikdjf! I hope Tui rewrites Flames of Hope some day to live up to the high expectations that The Dangerous Gift set up.

But what is the “dangerous gift” in this book? The IceWing crown? Animus magic (hence, why Jerboa destroyed it, pretty much)? Maybe the animus bit.

It was really okay.

I didn't like Sundew in this one as much as I did in The Lost Continent. Willow was boring. Bumblebee was stupid and filler. Cricked was boring and did nothing. Blue was boring and sappy. Swordtail was useless filler.

None of these characters really did anything, except for Sundew. That bugs me. Never have useless characters in your book, I say!

This book was mostly boring and cringey—the romance, the drama and lack thereof, Sundew herself...

Egh. It's just okay.

But, in this book we learn some history about Queen Wasp's rise to power, some of Pantala's deadly lifeforms, the history of the LeafWings and how they split into SapWings and PoisonWings after the war, that the Tree Wars were only 50 years ago (wow), the Legend of the Hive, that the migrants to Pantala were refugees who couldn't return to Pyhrria, and that the Othermind can control lifeforms through a plant called the Breath of Evil. Also, we get to see that the plants are sentient, alive, and can talk in their own language, called Leafspeak.

So...it was cool. But it also wasn't great. I only re-read it to plan a fanfic, and because it was extremely forgettable (couldn't remember what happened from last time I read it).

Okay, I don't know why this one is called "Sky" instead of "Shadow", as it seemed ShadowClan was more relevant to the plot than SkyClan, but wow! This one is better than the previous book, "River".

Finally, there is action. And RiverClan's problems actually lead to very real consequences in this book. I actually liked Nightheart in this book—he was considerably less whiny. Frostpaw is still OK, but she is less annoying, yay. I actually kinda liked Sunbeam in this one as well.

This is the book where the author gives us what we want. Yes, we want RiverClan's internal conflict to spread to the other clans for action and drama and stuff. Yes, we want Nightheart to disown his clan... For more drama! We want Frostpaw to fail in choosing a leader... Again. Everything that can go wrong, we want to go wrong, because that means more action and drama. And Erin Hunter gives it to us! Woo.

And there are some illogical parts where I guess I'm supposed to turn off my brain and not question things... Like, come on Tigerstar, your acting a bit too obsessive and kit-like. Also, Nightheart and Sunbeam's romance really, really springs up out of nowhere. They only see each other like, three times, and then they are in love? Eh? Anyway:

It's still a mediocre book, but at least this one was a surprisingly compelling mediocre book. Maybe it's just that high from just having completed it, but I think this might be one of my favorite Warriors books so far. Not as good as Crookedstar's Promise (which is a masterpiece), but still, it's there on my top list!

How can I give this any rating lower than 100%? I enjoyed this book way beyond my expectations.

Sometimes, a book is so good, I don't even want to give it a review because I'll be analyzing everything that's good about for ten paragraphs.

Regardless, here's a list of what I enjoyed about Lessons in Chemistry:

- The repeated themes and symbols - chemistry, rowing, phrases like “each day is new”, words like “recommit” are all used as reoccurring symbols and themes throughout the book and—unlike in many books and films where there is theme for the sake of theme—they add so much to the story. Plus, they're fun when you recognize them.
- Time shifts, scene breaks - The narrative often cuts between scenes like a movie—I love it when books use this method and use it effectively.
- Likeable characters - I won't spend four paragraphs analyzing how the author makes you instantly like the main characters.
- Purpose and meaning - some books incorporate politics simply to appeal to a certain group or the publisher required it or yadda yadda. But, in this book, the political undertones have meaning to the story. It is tightly intertwined with and enhances the story. Also, unlike many modern works of fiction, it keeps the political points related to the the story and characters instead of randomly breaking off into preachy speeches every once and a while. This book uses political stances as a way to enhance the story rather than trying to force the reader to agree.
- Historical references - the book takes place in the 60s, and the references are fun. Makes ya really “feel” the era
- The stakes feel very real. That's why I couldn't put my book/eReader down.
- This book is pretty emotional, but the humor gives it a light, almost teasing tone. I wouldn't call it satire, but the combination of humor, injustice, wit, and struggles that each page communicates just...results in a really captivating “tone”. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, this book has a great “voice”.
- I could go on and on...


As for negatives...

Ehm. I don't really have negatives. As both a Christian and someone who is very into science, I see the complex design of the universe to be a very convincing indication that a God exists, or at least that the world was created because, cmon, there's no way all of this came out of an accident or randomness. Therefore, I think although the book accurately portrays the delusional attitudes of people, especially “religious” people during the 60's who claimed to know God and yet only did so because it was the societal norm, and couldn't answer basic questions about the Bible and science, it also neglects the alternate scientific viewpoint that neither idea disproves the other.

So, I guess, my only negative reading the book was that every character, both religious and non-religous, acted like God and science were contradictory, even though the latter can be seen as evidence for an intelligent creator.

But, that's more of a pet peeve, and plus, I know that's not really the view the author was focusing on, and that's okay. When I read a book, I wanna see both sides, and the author still did a pretty good job of doing that.

So, I am not changing my rating of 5/5.

An interesting introduction to the World of the Petrichor series. Although I wouldn't give it 5 perfect stars, I think this is a book worth reading.

The prose was well-written and descriptive, something I don't see in a lot of self-published books.

The world is also unique, and I am excited to see the kingdoms Hurricane will explore in the next books.

Speaking of, it's really hard not to like Hurricane. She works hard, endures a lot of suffering to provide for her family. She is a pretty likeable character

Overall, I enjoyed this book.

A few things didn't make sense, like...Hurricane and her mom don't get mad at Dust Devil / Dandelion for hoarding gold to pay for a transition surgery. Her family is poor and starving, but when they find out a child is hoarding funds, none of them get angry (except the dad) . Eh? I mean, I get that they accept Dust Devil and stuff, but also, ya can't just hoard money for cosmetic surgery when your family's starving, ya know? Er, and doesn't Dust Devil have a tumor on her tail? Why won't she save up for that instead?

Anyway, that aside, I want to read to the next book in the series! I recommend this book for dragon and wyvern enthusiasts.

Not as good as I hoped it would be, but enough to make me wanna read the next one. I guess.

Cats travel, deal with family drama, strive to prove their worth to their new clan, uncover secrets... The usual generic Warriors stuff, but this one still felt pretty fresh.

I couldn't put this book down until I finished it, and yet, looking back on the story, I'd say it actually wasn't that good, but it was exciting and engaging in the moment, and I suppose that's all that matters. It is commercial fiction.

Ya, know. Actually, this one wasn't so bad. I read it, I finished it. Didn't tear my eyes out, either.

It felt really odd to read, as the style differs greatly from Warriors books I have previously read.

The language feels really...I dunno, YA? Teenagery? Kinda un-warrior-like. For example:

Her unwanted sympathy shattered the last of Sunbeam's patience. “Keep your tail to yourself!” she snapped.
“Sor-reeeee.” Gullyswoop sprang backward, sounding not sorry at all. “I was only trying to help.”

“Okay, a WindClan patrol strayed into our territory when they were chasing prey,” Bramblestar meowed. “But it was Crowfeather who was leading it, so what's the big deal?”

“I couldn't believe my eyes when Hootwhisker leaped the stream,” she meowed. “Like, what are borders for?”

To be honest, Warriors has often annoyed me with the stiffness of their dialogue. But with this book, sometimes the more informal, slangy dialogue felt fresh; at other times, it really, really bothered me. I get it if the authors want to give newer characters a unique speaking style. But, when old characters like Mothwing and Bramblestar start speaking in a slangy way, I sorta cringe a bit. It's not always super slangy, but the change in style is really obvious.

So, that's one observation.

Anyway, moving on. I expected to hate this book. I was thoroughly convinced that all modern warriors books (those after the 6th arc with Darktail) are trash. Whatever arc A Silent Thaw is in (there are so many books, I'm losing track of arcs), the first book of that was terrible. Or I think it is. Couldn't get past chapter 3 with the stale writing and terrible 3-page prologue that was probably useless. The beginning of Squirrelflight's Hope sucked and the prologue spoiled the ending (like c'mon, it was so obvious how this book would end). I had given up on these ‘modern' books.

And I was about to give up on this one with the enormous plot dumping in the beginning (why do authors do that? They're either spoiling books I probably would have read otherwise, or they're over-explaining what I already know).

But, despite its lesd than perfect beginning, this book actually wasn't bad. The plot wasn't good. The characters weren't good. But the book wasn't bad! The author kept things moving forward. It wasn't that cheesy. The dialogue wasn't stiff in this one. The prose wasn't stiff. The book described things better than some other books (older books were annoying in that they would say, “there was gorse” instead of describing the gorse so that I can actually see the gorse [what is gorse, anyway?]).

So, it wasn't bad.

But it was also kinda stupid. I mean, this isn't a bad thing. I often like stupid books. Warriors: Into the Wild is pretty stupid, and I love that book.

First, the characters. Ugh. I don't feel like I really got to know the characters. Did they even have personalities, really? I mean, not gonna lie, Warriors isn't known for having deep, well-developed characters. But the ones in this book felt extra bland. Like plain, white bread. No seeds, no butter, no crust. Just bland bread, all of them.

Like, how can I describe them all in one word? Um, Flamepaw: whiney. Sunbeam: naive. Frostpaw: naive.

To be honest, Flamepaw's story made me cringe. First, it is very hard to believe he got held back such silly reasons. It is so weird to me that the other cats purposefully did that—shouldn't they be eager to get new warriors? Why hold one of them—agh, doesn't make sense, the more I think of it. Plus, Flamepaw didn't even handle it gracefully, he just whined. Which is a realistic reaction, not gonna lie, but it also did not do a great job of making me like him. His defining characteristic is his whining. Plus, FIRESTAR. AGHGHGH, cringe. Stop framing Firestar as the greatest cat ever, ergghghg. I can't place why I hate it, but I really hate it when they refer to Firestar as this great, legendary cat. So, Flamepaw is struggling under all the pressure, oh—I'm supposed to be the next Firestar, I need to live up to my family's name...Oh my whiskers, it's not a big deal! We don't actually see anyone pester him about Firestar until Flamepaw rejects his warrior name. I just–—arghghghghg. Cringey character.

Frostpaw was boring. She...does everything perfectly, I guess? She gets more visions and stuff than I remember other medicine cats getting? Aaaand, her mom is weird. Yeah, her relationship with her mom weirded me out. Aaaand, Frostpaw does barely anything. Her arc is either super stale or non-existent. She's boring. She also jumps to conclusions, which gives me the impression that she is naive.

And then Sunbeam is just—ARGHH. She's a warrior, but she acts like an apprentice. I mean, I've always been confused about the aging in Warriors. Like, technically apprentices are pretty close to being adults when they start, anyway. But throughout the series, warriors have always been portrayed as fully matured adults. In this book, young warriors like Sunbeam act like teenagers. Maybe this is more accurate? Maybe it is more realistic? I dunno, but it was a weird change.
Anyway, Sunbeam annoyed me sooo much. She is super naive, super clingy, has no life apart from her friends, and...what is her personality? The book keeps citing that she sticks to the rules, but I didn't really get that vibe from her. In fact, I can't think of any example of her “being a stickler to the rules” around her peers. She tells on her friend, but I don't think that counts. That's something anyone in her clan would do in that circumstance. Plus, she doesn't even have an arc. She sucks. Plus, why is her name Sunbeam? Sunkit, Sunpaw...Sunbeam? But that's a real compound word already? That's a noun. I guess, yeah, it's a valid Warriors name, but...it feels weird and uncreative that its an existing noun. Also, why would a ShadowClan cat be named Sunbeam? Kinda weird. Anywaaaaay...

The plot. Eh. What was the plot even? Um, RiverClan loses its leaders. That's the plot?
How about, RiverClan loses its leaders, then loses its candidate leader. Hm. RiverClan never really gets super chaotic, or anything. They struggle a little bit, but the struggle is always mental. There are no physical consequences to the absence of a leader, no clan takes advantage of their weakness, Mistystar's absence barely affects them aside from bringing them grief, sooooo...was kinda lame.

Then we have some useless subplots. Subplot 1: apprentice fails assessment twice and struggles to ‘live up to his ancestor's name'. Subplot 2: medicine cat apprentice must take a leading role because she is the only RiverClan cat who can speak to StarClan. Subplot 3: she-cat has drama with friends.

Um, how do these subplots tie into the main plot? To be honest, except for subplot 2, I seriously have no idea. The subplots felt kinda random.

Okay, summary: the book was random, predictable, uneventful, and bland, but not so much as to be bad. It is a neutral book, and it was interesting enough.

But seriously, I could have skipped this book and I wouldn't have missed anything. The authors probably info dump in chapter 1 of the next book, anyway.

This book was awesome! To me, Murtagh and Thorn felt much more likeable, tragic, and relatable than Eragon and Saphira. Both Murtagh and Thorn struggle with bugs from their past that continue to bite them. But in the end, of course, they both overcome their past and find a new confidence and identity in themselves. Oh, and they fight a witch and her cult army in order to prevent a giant dragon from eating the sun. Pretty epic.

I sorta read this one on and off in between other books, but still, now I want more of Murtagh! Ooh, and Uvek is my new favorite character. Never thought I'd end up liking an urgal so much.

It's just okay for a villain orgin story. Small weakling grows up underestimated, proves his worth by becoming a killing machine. We've all seen this story before.

But I liked the art and stuff. Tiny is so cute!

The characters weren't very in-depth or anything. Nor did I feel any kind of satisaction for Scourge. Ya know what, I don't feel like I understand Scourge any better from reading this. Maybe he's just not an interesting character.

Anyway, this book was fine.

Oh my goodness! This book is an amazing work of art!

It's so...perfect. This book is perfect. Sure, it starts out a little slow, but it picks up steam reaaal fast.

I couldn't stop reading near the end, when Addie's relationship with Luc is explored. Made me sprint-read to the end in one sitting from there.

Maybe the only thing I would call less than perfect about this book is the way it ends. Not gonna spoil, but I basically think that Addie underestimates Luc at the end.

That aside, I absolutely love this book! No regrets reading this! It was so emotional and perfect and sad and boy did it sap the FEELS out of me. In a good way, though. Glad I read the ebook version, because my tears would have ruined the pages.

This book is so sad! I love it, but it is so sad. The worst part is the ending. I think Charlie was better off before he became smart. And at the expense of getting smart, he throws his happiness, his humanity, and his life away.

This graphic novel was awesome! I don't haven't read many graphic novels in my lifetime, so I can't really compare this to anything. It is a bit similar to The Snowcat Prince, since it is about a small animal going on an adventure, learning important things, and returning to their home, a hero. Except this one's about a wolf.

I think I actually like the protagonist of this book more than the one in The Snowcat Prince; she is just more charming. And I also like the side characters in this book, but I like the foxshifter in The Snowcat Prince more.

This story is really epic; and also very cinematic. It's like watching a movie. Unsurprising, though, because I read that the author is also an animation filmmaker! That is so cool!

This and Snowcat Prince both really good, and I'm glad I bought the ebooks for both!

This book was okay. It was interesting enough, but not nearly as good as its predecessor The Lost Continent. I feel that Cricket was much more interesting in the last book, and likewise Blue, Swordtail, and Sundew have lost most of the charm and depth they showed in the last book as well. Sundew has been reduced to yelling, Blue has been reduced to sympathetic sappy-face, Swordtail has been reduced to I-need-Luna-or-I-will-die-waaah.

Jewel Hive was a very cool setting, the Chrysalis stuff was interesting, and the mystery of Cricket's origin was something we needed an answer to in order for the plot to move along. However, although this book is just fine, I feel that it was a waste. A lot more could have been achieved in this book, and I think that if Blue, Cricket, Sundew, and Swordtail had just fled straight to the Poison Jungle in this one instead of dwaddling in the Hives, the arc overall could have had more room for more interesting things, and perhaps the final book, Flames of Hope, wouldn't have been so hopelessly (ha, sad pun) rushed.

I'd say this is number 3 on the “worst books of the Lost Continent Arc” list. Flames of Hope (worst), The Poison Jungle, and The Hive Queen. Although, this book really wasn't bad. It was just really okay, Cricket was a pretty boring unrelatable character, and it felt like a waste of potential in a series where each arc is only allowed five books.

I avoided this book for a long time, because after Legends: Dragonslayer and The Dangerous Gift, I just had a feeling that the book would not be that good.

And I don't think 13-year-old Me's intuition was wrong.

Finally, I read it, and it was just okay. It felt bland and different and so much less epic than what I could envision when I read The Lost Continent. The ideas are cool, Lizard was really cool, but the book still sucked. Well, sucked is a strong word. The book simply wasn't that good.

And it's not just a change in my tastes; yeah, I've gotten older and more critical of commercial literature. But, when I go back to older books, such as Legends: Darkstalker, Talons of Power, and Escaping Peril, they are still good, solid books. This book is super forgettable.

Here are my main problems with the book:
1. Humans
2. Bad pacing
3. Boring characters
4. Lack of Epic-ness / the Conclusion

Humans
Ugh. I'm reading a book about dragons...I love Wings of Fire because it is about dragons! But, this book has too much human!

Maybe it's a pet peeve of mine, but I despise Wren. I want her and Sky to stay in their own separate universes, pretty much. Plus, if I hadn't read Dragonslayer, I would be so confused by their presence.

I feel like the humans break the immersion and believability of the books when they are speaking the same language so easily. Plus, Sutherland keeps changing the size of the humans. Are they small enough to fit in dragon claws? But big enough to hold a baby dragon efforlessly? How small are the dragon eggs if the humans can put them in boxes and carry them? In Moon Rising, it is shown that blueberries are bigger than humans. But then, a dragon egg must be smaller than a blueberry? It just makes no sense—I hate the humans, they confuse me too much!

And then, I don't like that in this book they are referred to as “humans”. I miss the term “scavengers.” Even “reading monkeys” is better. Outright saying “human” just breaks the feeling of immersion for me.

Bad Pacing
I know Wings of Fire has always had fast pacing. But this book feels waaaay too fast!
Also, I don't know how, but despite the fast pacing, it feels like barely anything happens. Luna and friends fly to Pantala, some friends get captured, Luna finds Silkwings hiding in a cave, Luna follows human into Abyss, Luna finds out how the mind-control works, Luna defeats mind-control plant. It happens really quickly...but it didn't feel like an adventure.

I wanted the last book to be an adventure, I guess. Like The Lost Continent and The Hive Queen were adventures. Those books had fast pacing, but the pacing was a tool to fit a lot of cool stuff into the narrative. In Flames of Hope, on the other hand, I feel like barely anything happened. I wanted to see Moon trick the HiveWings into thinking she was Clearsight. I wanted to see Queen Wasp get defeated in a real, epic fight. I wanted to see a real battle against the Hivemind, or Breath of Evil, or whatever.

But this book feels really limited and tame, even with the fast pacing. It is just...not exciting. Even when they win, it is done in such a lame way. It is such a downgrade from how this arc began, and I can tell that Sutherland is probably just tired of writing about dragons.

So, the fast pacing in this book, rather than allowing more stuff to happen, results in a choppy, limited, lame book. It feels only partially-done.

Boring Characters
This book has the absolute worst cast of main characters of any Wings of Fire book. The main cast in arcs 1 and 2 are very memorable and distinctive. This book's characters are boooring.

- Bullfrog - clumsy MudWing who doesn't talk

- Pineapple - innocent clowny RainWing

- Lynx - quiet, smart IceWing

- Sky - SkyWing babychild who comes along for no good reason

- Wren - feisty human who comes along for no good reason

These characters cannot really be expanded beyond these basic sentences.

And then we have our beloved Tsunami, Qibli, and Moon...and they are also written so...boringly. Tsunami is reduced to fighting and fierceness and no spark that made her special in previous books. Qibli is cocky and “funny”, but he is also missing something. Moon is fine. She's just fine.

I feel like these characters were not written as well as they were in previous books. It's almost like a different author wrote the book. Again, I think Sutherland is just getting tired of writing dragons—I'd get tired of it, too.

And then Luna...is the most boring of them all. Her personality is literally this: tapestry, fake-smile, girlfriend. She doesn't even have the spirit I thought she had in The Lost Continent. I didn't expect her to be a boring narrator, but she was.

Anyway, the characters are so boring. The new characters were useless, as Sutherland did not attempt to really expand or develop them enough to be likeable or add much to the book. Most of them are useless. Axolotle is most useless of all; I could cut him out of the plot summary, and it would not change a thing. I did not like these characters, and even old characters I already knew just weren't written the same.

Lack of Epic-ness / Conclusion
This book was so...not epic. It was not the satisfying conclusion I believe this arc deserved. There was no large-scale final battle with the LeafWings and Chrysalis pitted against the Hive armies. There was no battle against Queen Wasp, nor was there even a proper, epic villain defeat for her. Clearsight was barely mentioned, even though she is important to the 3rd arc. We don't get a glimpse of the New Pantala, only speculation as the characters talk about what it could be. Why couldn't I see, like, Moon's vision of what it could be, instead? That'd be much more epic!

Like, the thing with Lizard was cool...the thing with the evil human was not cool. He was so boring. The Scorching backstory was interesting, I guess...

But, there was so much potential wasted! There is no epicness in the conclusion of the arc. I am disappointed.

How This Book Can Be Fixed
- further develop side characters
- separate Luna from all her friends except Cricket. That way, irrelevant characters are cut out from the main plot.
- the sub-theme of Luna learning to let go of prejudices could be farther developed if Luna and Cricket were forced to work together alone.
- More Chrysalis for more epicness and adventure
- An actual mission against Wasp + an actual mission to rescue Luna's friends
- More conflict with Blue and Swordtail—Luna is forced to face her loved ones in combat.
- As the enemy closes in, Luna must fight her prejudices even harder and struggles to see the humanity in her enemies. She is confused about Cricket's alliance with her.
- The Abyss thing is a subplot under the main mission to kill Queen Wasp
- In an all-is-lost moment, in the battle against Wasp, Luna is separated from Cricket and plunges into the Abyss. Now, she is alone in a dark cave, and she knows Wasp is winning.
- ...then she discovers the ‘secret buried far below'. Lizard and human-guy.
- After a bit of Lizard and human-guy lore, and Luna must make the choice to kill the plant, even if it also means killing innocent Lizard. It isn't easy, though. She has to fight mind-controlled goons before she can reach the vines.
- She ends up killing Lizard without Lizard's consent (as it is the only way), but shows compassion to Lizard before she dies, giving the dragonet happy memories to experience during her final moments. Lizard does not want to die, but Luna cuts the vine anyways. Luna did what she had to do, but she also found it in her to be compassionate towards her enemy, and see Lizard like she did any other dragon. From Cricket, she has learned to show mercy to her enemies.
- Wasp's mind control stops working, and many confused and exhausted HiveWings flee the battle or collapse. Wasp is captured.
- Luna and her friends are reunited. Then, she sees Blue and Swordtail, and finally, when she looks into their eyes, she can see that they are themselves.
- Through Moonwatcher, we get a glimpse of the future of Pantala and Pyrhhia, and we see that it is the world that Clearsight would have wanted. And it is the world that the Silkwings and LeafWings have been waiting for.

I just thought that off the top of my head, and it is much more complicated to to turn that into a book. But, I think saving the Abyss for the climax would have been the better choice for this book.

Anyway, I think this would be something around 3.3 stars.

I have some problems with this book, and yet I could not put it down. It was captivating, it was a chore, it was beautiful, it was cliche, it was a work of art, it made me cringe.

Okay, first, the good:

1. ● The book was interesting. I was genuinely interested in where the characters and their games were going.


2. ● The drama forced me to keep turning pages in suspense


3. ● The book appealed to my emotional sensitivity

I don't think a book has ever made me feel more heartbroken.

Like, heartbroken is a pretty strong word, and yet that it what this book got me feeling. Poor characters. Poor Robin, poor Ramy, poor Professor Lovell, poor Griffin, poor Letty, poor Victoire...
The ‘poors' go on and on. Unfortunately, nobody in this book gets a happy ending.

And yet this book is soooo good! It reminds me of Charles Dicken's Great Expectations. The arc of Robin reminded me of that of Pip's: innocence, fall, redemption. Except, again, Pip gets a happy ending.

And then the magic! Kuang thought up a really unique and original magic system. Who else would have come up with the idea to link language and silver and turn it into magic?

I was disappointed when Ilse Dejima and Anthony and the others died. And poor Letty and Ramy.

But anyway, I think this book is serious movie material. If I owned Netflix, I would buy this immediately.



And, uh, I see some people hating on the book because it has themes of racism. I don't think the book was political or anything–why does racism always have to do with politics? Racism exists; it is a human trait.
I think this book handles the theme very well. It portrays everthing in a very historically-accurate way and doesn't get preachy–just shows what happened in history. Kuang leaves all interpretation to the reader, she is just presenting factual statistics and historically-accurate experiences for us to interpret.
Racism is a real problem–and the book isn't pushing the reader in one way or the other. Of course, the book is in favour of our socially=oppressed protagonists, but it doesn't get all...political, ya know?
I think Kuang handled it in the best way possible, and her book reflects ugly truths about reality. I think this book pushes us to examine not just racism, but prejudice in our societies, and challenges us to be leaders in the way our culture looks at other races and foreign cultures.

I kinda wanna give this two stars, but I'll give it three because overall, this is not a bad book. I kept reading it, so it was interesting. But also felt so...hard. Jan is so flat. He's like a piece of cardboard that ocassionally gets heated and does something interesting, but is otherwise just lying there being a boring piece of carboard. I feel like more stuff happens to him in this book rather than him doing things. He's boring.

Dagg is also one of the worst side protagonists I've seen. He's useless. He's the obligatory best buddy and nothing more. He has no personality other than being loyal to Jan and ocassionally silly.

Tek is more interesting than both of them, but she's nothing special either. I kept getting her mixed up with Tek and Teki. I can't even remember when the author introduced Teki? Also, her mom started to get annoying. She has a nice name though: Jah-Lilah.

So, the plot was kind of interesting. I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading this book. The unicorns are all sorts of crazy colors like blue and rose. That bothered me a bit, but that's nitpicking. Also, by the end of the book I realized that this world of griffins and unicorns, wryms and such exist side-by-side with our world? By that, I mean, earth, with plain old horses and humans. And one horse ends up crossing over into the unicorn world and becoming a unicorn I thought that was so weird.

But this book has charm to it. It has heart to it. It was just so hard to read. Some of the plot and character decisions are just ridiculous.
Like, Jan often gets emotional irrationally. “That dead renagade unicorn! We should bury her and give her the proper rites” And then his dad's like, “No, she's not in the Circle,” but Jan says, “I SAID WE SHOULD BURY HER AND GIVE HER THE PROPER RITES.” Like, dude. I get that he's very passionate about burying the corpse properly, but then he refuses to move when Tek, Dagg, and his father urge him to hurry up and follow the herd. That was kinda stupid, in my opinion. And then, we find out that the wyrm was giving Jan dreams in order to drive him to become a Renegade. What? The dreams were supposed to turn him against his herd? The dream about an egg in the sky? The dream of being chased by a serpent underwater (or something like that)? How was that supposed to make him want to become a renegade? I don't know about y'all, but to me, that makes zero sense.

Anyway, the book was okay. It was interesting enough, while being mercifully short. I probably won't read the rest of the trilogy, but this book was creative and interesting. My enjoyment rating is two stars, but I also respect the author and acknowledge that it's just not the kind of book I prefer, so I think, for an overall rating, this book deserves at least three stars.

Also, the ending was so predictable. Everyone knows that most colts and fillies are born brown.

This was an okay book. Firstly, the description had me hooked. Who can resist that description?
The story itself kept me entertained ‘till the end. In fact, I was so entertained that I finished it in 4 days.

But, the book was still mediocre. There are parts in which it disregards logic just to prolong or intensify the conflict. I mean, sure, I like conflict. But does it have to be based on misunderstandings and faulty logic? For example, Delilah does not call the police on Brandon because Brandon himself is a cop, and she believes that all the cops would defend him, and Brandon would punish her, and their community would shame her and her mother for falsely accusing him. To me, this reasoning makes no sense. Because Brandon is corrupt, she assumes all the cops are corrupt and somehow able to hide obvious evidence. All she had to was show someone the bruises on her and her mom! And Logan agrees with her, with the reasoning: You simply don't accuse a cop. What? Delilah is supposed to be smart. I guess, being abused would result in faulty thinking in that situation, but even Logan agrees with her. Huh?

I also don't like Aisha. She's the overused funny-quirky-loyal-best-friend archetype that I see in every single high school book with a female protagonist. She's literally that best friend girl from Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

But still, I think this is a good book because it has a simple, interesting concept and was entertaining. It was super predictable, but still—I enjoyed it.

This book was actually really good and enjoyable. Not only that, but the last page left my mind full of questions—in a good way.

Some of these questions include:

• Is June the bad guy, or is everyone else the bad guy?


• Does June have a point?


• Do June's haters have a point?


• Whose fault is it that things ended up so badly? Is it Athena's? June's? The book-writing business itself? The haters? All of them?

how

And we don't know if June ever breaks out of the loop of her mess. The ending makes it seem as if she never does.

Not anything special or amazing, but for commercial fiction, it was pretty great. It gave me what I wanted, fulfilled all the obligatory beats for a book of it's kind:
1. air-headed protagonist who is dumb and air-headed to make the mystery stuff last longer
2. romance, affair, yadda-yadda drama
3. suspense with fast pacing
4. fairly likeable protagonist
5. unexpected yet justifiable plot twist
The plot twist was well done because it was completely unexpected despite its being set up in prior chapters right under the reader's nose. It wasn't like the twist revealed some secret of the human nature to me or anything, nor did it have any deeper meaning under “cool plot twist”, but it was satisfying and, well, gave me that pleasant jolt of surprise that every commercial fiction plot twist should. I consider this a great book because it's the kind of story I can recommend to anyone. I could recommend this to my boss, my mom, my friends, my coworker. I think a really good book appeals to everyone, and this book certainly appeals to a general audience. It's also original enough, and it lives up to the expectations it sets for itself. Because of this, I think it deserves 4.8 stars.

Nothing literary by any means, but good entertainment.