Wings of Fire Book Series Review

 Hey everyone. I'm still planning on continuing my Monsterverse movie review series at some point, but for now I want to do another book review instead. The only book I ever reviewed on this channel was a book called Dragons in our Midst: Raising Dragons, which was a Christian book I reviewed a very long time ago. This time however, I want to review a more secular but good book series that I got into a year ago. The books that I am going to be reviewing today are the Wings of Fire books by Tui T. Sutherland. 

Let me just say that Wings of Fire is probably in my top 5 favorite book series somewhere, next to Narnia, Goosebumps, The Inheritance Cycle, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Deltora Quest. I would have loved Wings of Fire when I was a kid. These books are after my time though. By the time Wings of Fire came out, I was already a senior in high school, so I was past the intended age for these books. These books are intended for kids in upper elementary school or middle school. But you know what, despite me being a grown man, I think these books are very well written for children's books. It has a very good story with likeable characters and lots of intrigue. There's also so much suspense that will make you want to keep reading. 

I have 16 different Wings of Fire books in my collection. Here I've got the first five books which is the first arc in the series, the next five books which are the second arc in the series, and all five of the graphic novel adaptations for the first arc in the series, which are pretty decent for people who want to look at pictures rather than focus on words on a page. I also have this spin off book called Legends: Darkstalker, which is my favorite one, but it's best not to read it until after you read the first arc. The first arc of books is my favorite. It's about a land of dragons called Pyrrhia, and there are seven tribes. Mudwings, Seawings, Rainwings, Skywings, Nightwings, Sandwings, and Icewings. And all these tribes are at war and fighting with each other. But there is a prophecy meant to bring peace that involves five dragonets, who are the main characters, and the prophecy is meant to bring peace. There's Clay, a silly Mudwing who's always hungry, Tsunami, a seawing with an abrasive personality, Glory, a rainwing who's sarcastic and also smart, Starflight, basically just an insecure bookworm, and Sunny, a cheery and fun loving dragon who takes the prophecy the most seriously. In a sense, Sunny is a lot like Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony. I really like all these characters, and I think they're the best main characters that the series has to offer. The first five books I would say are the most cohesive. It's just these five dragonets on an epic adventure to bring peace, and they work together to overcome obstacles and survive in a world of evil villains that want them dead. It's the heroes' journey trope. but executed very well. It also brings up the question of fate vs free will. 

The setting is pretty similar to the Warriors series by a team of writers that go by Erin Hunter. Tui Sutherland has also wrote a couple of Warriors books on the Erin Hunter team. Warriors is a series about cats that are separated into clans and the clans fight with each other and also have political systems. So in a sense, Wings of Fire is a lot like Warriors, but with dragons instead of cats. It's also sort of like Avatar The Last Airbender and Raya and the Last Dragon with people separated into nations and fighting with each other. 

Now the second arc of Wings of Fire books I think is a mixed bag. It's centered on a new cast of characters that go to a school for dragons and I personally don't think it's as cohesive. It's centered very heavily on how much you like the new cast of characters, which I don't think are as good as the original cast. I think a weakness of this series is that each book is dependent on how much you like the book's main character. Each book's arc also has a similar storyline with a prophecy centered around it. But Arc 2 has my favorite villain in the whole series which is Darkstalker, and I think Darkstalker has the most complex and interesting backstory behind him, with people debating over whether or not he's really a bad guy. I love Darkstalker's book for that, and what I also love about Darkstalker is that the writing styles switches between three different characters in the same book, unlike the other books which are focused only on one character's point of view. It serves as a very good read either after book 5 or after book 8, but before book 9. There is also a third arc of books which takes place on a new continent and once again is centered on a new cast of characters. I don't really recommend the third arc of books. I haven't read the third arc in its entirely, but I spoiled myself on the Wings of Fire wiki pages and, I didn't feel intrigued and didn't enjoy what I read. 

This series also does have a magic system, but it's a very soft magic system. The magic system in this series is called animus magic, and only certain dragons called animus dragons can use it. It's like how only unicorns in my little pony can use magic and it's also kind of like X-Men where only children who are born different have superhuman powers. It is also suggested by the characters that took much use of animus magic makes dragons go insane and cause them to lose their souls. So it seems like that animus magic actually has a consequence. There are also rules and limits, such as not being able to use animus magic to bring back the dead. I think it's a much better and well handled magic system than what you might see in Harry Potter and books similar to it 

So, overall, I think this is a good book series. I would give this series an 8/10. These are well written books with good role models for children in the form of likeable dragon characters. Also, if you like dragons, the Warriors books or if you like Avatar The Last Airbender, then this book series is for you. God bless.