2026-04-20

Wings of Fire, Arc 2

Part 2 of my review of the entire Wings of Fire series. Same rules apply, spoilers ahead!

6. Moon Rising (Moonwatcher)

I was a bit worried there, about bringing the NightWing powers back immediately after saying they don't exist. Random ideas to further plot territory, but the author executed it extremely well (which is why I think she had this in mind way before.)

One gripe I had was that I realized the author was literally just telling us about the characterization. Not Moon's mind-reading, but Qibli's observations that Moon got secondhand. Most of Moon's mind-reading still only shows us things about the characters, but Qibli would make an extremely smart and to-the-point observation and Moon would hear that. Carnelian is insecure; Winter thinks he's not worth a lot to his family, Qibli thinks, and Moon hears. Darkstalker too. Qibli is desperate, he thinks, and Moon hears, and we read. It's more subtle, because putting the words "Winter thinks he's not worth a lot to his family" on the text would make any editor scream at you, but doing it in this roundabout way is seemingly fine. It's not completely obnoxious, though, as it does characterize Qibli as smart and observative, but it gets to a point.

What I really like about Moon's mind-reading, though, is that aside from portraying their thoughts as italicized dialog, she also senses vague things, like Sora's mud ritual, and abstract arms dealing abstract physics with thoughts, especially with how Flame's thoughts dragged her down and Darkstalker pulling her out of it. This is something that truly cannot be expressed to its fullest if not within a pure text medium. I may actually be curious about how the comic books handled this, but I take one more look at the ugly-ass pictures and I don't want to.

I also relate to Moon a lot, regretfully. The anxiety of thinking people won't like you is all too real. Too bad the book, despite trying to the entire time, failed to convince me that everyone thinks the same way and are too busy worrying about how others think of them to really think about others. I mean. I think about others a lot. How does their life look like. What made them that way. Like Blue. But I guess, I don't judge them a lot? I do judge some people admittedly. Well.

As for the main plot. Great. Layers of intents and schemes; it's like every students has an agenda. First Sora wanted to kill Icicle, but then she wasn't the dragon conspiring with Scarlet; Icicle was. Onyx is also plotting stuff of her own, though in this book it's only foreshadowed. Flame would also go ahead to cause shit later; all of these are already hinted at right here.

7. Winter Turning (Winter)

Okay so Hailstorm wasn't even captured in battle… He was captured while sneaking into the Sky Kingdom looking for scavengers. And the dragons still want him back bad. Perks of being the favorite child?

Also, the ranking wall must either be huge, or there aren't that many dragons in the aristocracy. But the Ice Palace is beautiful, with the blue glowy walls with snowflakes in them, and the gift of light sounds lovely.

I feel like this book spends more time setting things up for later than actually doing stuff, since technically Hailstorm's whole thing was a tangent and also just an intro to the dragon-changing magic, but Winter's personal development is great. He grapples with his feelings for Moon and learns to work with dragons from other tribes, and grows to unlearn what he had been taught as an IceWing. His whole "ugh I hate NightWings! Wait but I love Moon ugh" thing does get a little annoying though, but that's fine.

The effects of trying on the Pyrite spell, how Winter now feels the appeal of being a SkyWing now that he had experienced being one, is presented far more naturally than (at least in my memory) Blue. Winter was literally experiencing another tribe's dragon's thoughts, even for just a short while, and that challenged the notion of IceWing supremacy he had been taught since birth.

8. Escaping Peril (Peril)

Peril finally resolves things with Scarlet. Speaking of, despite this arc mainly being about Darkstalker, it does spend quite a bit of time doing other stuff, like the Hailstorm thing and the Scarlet thing. But they all have important personal development and set things up for the main plot. The important thing here is that Peril is finally free of Scarlet and can be the dragon she chooses to be, instead of who Scarlet wants her to be.

The conclusion with Scarlet is perfect. Peril frees herself from her, and aid Ruby while doing so, but Ruby gets to claim the throne in the proper manner too. She forgave Peril now that she knew she didn't kill Tourmaline, and understood her situation after Scarlet threatened to make Cliff another Peril.

And I like when Peril had her memories of Clay wiped, it was the memory of her new friend Turtle that helped her stay (a little) sane. But ultimately though it was still Clay that fundamentally changed her, the way Cliff changed Ruby. Also proving how it wasn't her firescales that made her dangerous, it was her loyalty to Scarlet, as even without her firescales, she was still a danger to other dragons as long as she worked for Scarlet.

I don't remember whether the MudWing in Ruby's guards and how Chameleon found Darkstalker's scroll was mentioned later, though.

9. Talons of Power (Turtle)

Well, there goes the naming pattern. But I guess "Turtle" isn't a good word to put in any book title.

This book is my favorite out of the five. I find it hard to rank the other four but this one is definitely at the top. Not only is Turtle relatable, this book also actually advanced the main Darkstalker plot for once.

First off we see the defining moment in Turtle's life, when he failed to find Snapper and that resulted in his little sisters dying. He gave up writing because he realized he would never be the hero the stories described. He's a failure, and he wouldn't even try to be anything else.

Until he went to Jade Mountain. You could say his bravery, at least initially, was only circumstantial. He got put on the spot as the only animus that Darkstalker could not yet control, and the only dragon that Darkstalker could not even see. But he did take the first step, by following Peril out. And then when he got to the Deep Palace, he found out the truth, that he couldn't have found Snapper anyways because she was away. It wasn't his fault. The defining moment of his life reversed.

There are so many epic scenes in this book. Or maybe just two, IDK, but I loved the scene where Turtle revealed his animus powers to Anemone, casting an array of spells to free her from Darkstalker and turn the dagger to sand, as Anemone watched in astonishment. I mean, just imagine the scene from Anemone's perspective. And when he threw the stick to Anemone. "A thousand futures must've flashed through his mind" (something like that), and then it was gone in a second as Anemone caught the stick, and Turtle had traded away his safety and invisibility for a chance at defeating Darkstalker.

Also have I mentioned that the author is really good? Maybe about a billion times but by making Turtle a stupid cowardly bundle of kelp, she solved a lot of questions involving "hey why didn't Turtle simply use his magic to solve this problem." Also, animus powers are way too OP anyways. Putting stuff like that in a story is quite risky, but she pulled it off simply amazingly. First she made the animus lose a bit of their soul every time a spell is cast. A somewhat abstract but ultimately compelling price. Then that sparked the whole debate about how power corrupts.

And then there's Darkstalker, the ultimate Mary Sue. Animus, strong mind-reading and prophecy powers, made himself invincible and immortal. How could they defeat such an overpowered dragon? To be revealed in the next book, LOL.

Also, remember when Darkstalker said "SandWings didn't have that much treasure in our time, they must've looted the old Night Kingdom after we left?" Gee, I wonder if it's because both you and the IceWings were giving them piles of treasure so you could fight in their territory.

10. Darkness of Dragons (Qibli)

Heh. Guess where my self-insert's name came from.

The beginning of the book with Winter tagging along Qibli actually evoked a bit of The Brightest Night in that it's a little awkward and forced. So for most of the first part, Qibli was there going through life-and-death circumstances while Winter just tagged along.

Qibli and Winter's mooning over Moon is actually one of the more entertaining romantic subplots in the entire series. The best one, I'd even argue. These two should stop looking at Moon and then looking at each other going "oh no he likes Moon too" and just start a polycule. No actually leave Moon out of it. Just Qibli and Winter, they should date.

But what I really liked about this book was how Qibli was not so different from Darkstalker. It's a little similar to The Dangerous Gift when Snowfall found her thoughts similar to Wasp's. The book was filled with Qibli thinking about what he could've done if he had animus magic, believing that he won't turn evil, that he can always do good things with it. He longs for power and to be loved, not knowing that he already has both.

And in the end, they defeated Darkstalker with his own magic, by the RainWing enchanted to be insignificant in his eyes and who had just learnt to write, with a spell written on Chameleon's chunk of Darkstalker's scroll. The conclusion was perfect, Darkstalker, without his powers, starting over as a dragonet again, with his mother. They get to live a new, normal life as mother and son. And every plot point builds up to this moment: Moon's prophecy (and arguably being Qibli and Winter's only will to live), Winter rescuing Foeslayer, Qibli's wits, Turtle's magic, Peril burning the scroll, Chameleon's greed also counts, and Kinkajou being Kinkajou. Perfect conclusion to an absolutely peak arc.

Legends 1: Darkstalker

Indigo made me feel weird. I like her character in itself, the mischievous dragon with a disregard for authority, but she's a commoner living in the palace surrounded by royalty. You'd think she'd be really careful so she doesn't get her head cut off, instead of goofing around annoying the queen.

Clearsight and Darkstalker has to be like one of the few tolerable romances in this entire series, maybe because this time it's a huge focus, and mostly because it's… how do I explain it. You know what's going to happen with this dragon. You know you're going to meet him, and together you will change this kingdom for better or for worse. More often worse than better but still. You see your future with him, a thousand different futures — you see your kids! Teenage dragons, talking about kids! You see all these, knowing you would one day have to make your choice, yet you haven't even seen him in person yet. (Or in dragon? Ugh.) Seeing them talk about all the alternative futures only made the impact of Clearsight's betrayal (I know Darkstalker likes touting this word around but technically it is indeed a betrayal) at the end more impactful, as in the split second Clearsight slid her bracelet on Darkstalker, he heard her thoughts for the first time in years, and the last thing he heard was how much Clearsight loved him. (NGL talking about their children helped a lot.)

And with the knowledge of Arc 3, you also get this: when Darkstalker's life had ended (kind of. Like temporarily suspended for 2000 years), Clearsight's had just begun. (Which is to say, mothering an entire tribe of Nazis. Seriously, how strong are those NightWing genes that every single HiveWing gets black scales? I'm thinking some HiveWings paint or tattoo themselves occasionally. But that's beside the point. The point is that Darkstalker's life ended when Clearsight's had just begun, free from her destiny with him, creating a lasting legacy of… uh, a tribeful of Nazis. I mean that's also beside the point, that's not Clearsight's fault! Gosh I should save this for the Arc 3 post.)

So yeah! A peak book to accompany a peak arc. Onto Arc 3 next!