Reviews

Winter Turning by Tui T. Sutherland

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faeonyx's review against another edition

5.0

This book brings us into the story about how Winter realizes that he isn't actually doing the best on his own, and that dragons from other tribes aren't necessarily the enemy. The interesting thing about this book is that it really starts to explore the way each tribe feels about themselves in comparison to everyone else. It shows how this strange sort of tribe loyalty is hidden away inside of the teachings of every tribe. Everyone knows that the NightWings believed themselves to be superior to all of the other tribes, and that went unquestioned because of their abilities to read minds and see the future. What is discussed less is that all of the other tribes also believe they are better than everyone else. We don't actually see a lot of that until we really get into Winter's head. Fortunately, even though Moon has given her friends the rocks to block her out, Winter is the one telling this story so we don't lose the insight into his inner thoughts. We spend a lot of time in his head as he examines his conflicted teachings versus what he knows to be true about the dragons with him and what he has been told over the years.

IceWings are superior to all the other races, and Winter should have either been able to simply help his sister complete her goals to bring their brother back, or he should be able to do it on his own without any help whatsoever. What he does end up learning is that the IceWing way of thinking may not always be the best. His initial plan was to head back to the Ice Kingdom and ask others for help to go after his brother, but the dragonets in his winglet suggested that they might have better luck if they went to the rainforest to look for Icicle. After all, she was the best lead they had to finding Scarlet and Winter's brother. It made sense that she would head to the rainforest because Glory was the dragonet that Scarlet hated most after what she did to her face. Winter hated to admit it, but it did make the most sense. He spent most of the flight there trying to figure out how to make himself hate Moon and how to slip away from his unwanted friends once everything was said and done.

They found the rainforest already on high alert after Moon had warned Sunny and Sunny had passed the information on to Glory. Deathbringer tried to arrest Winter, but Glory stepped in and welcome Winter like visiting royalty. It was unexpected and he was quite taken aback by the way he was spoken to. However, Glory still recognized that they were dragonets and ordered them into hiding while her dragons looked for the threat. Once again, Winter's winglet figured out a way to escape so they could find Icicle first. They did, and she was in incredibly bad shape. Icicle had not slept in days for fear of Scarlet visiting her in her dreams and telling her that Hailstorm had been killed for her failure. The RainWings tranquilized her and before she fell asleep, Winter promised to kill Glory and get their brother back. Moon later discovered this plot during Scarlet's visit in Icicle's dreams, but she didn't believe Winter would do it. Instead, they set out (against Glory's better judgment) to find Scarlet and bring Hailstorm home without killing anyone.

Moon had gotten a glimpse of the location that Scarlet had been hiding in the dream visit, so she sketched it out and Deathbringer suggested they talk to the Talons of Peace. They did, and that was where they managed to pick up Pyrite. Pyrite was an enormous oddity of a dragon, and Moon even mentioned that Pyrite's thoughts were rather dull and a little disturbing, always circling back on the same loop of loyalty to Scarlet. Her guidance, however, was what helped them find the place where Scarlet had been. Unfortunately, she'd moved her camp after being alerted to their arrival, probably through Pyrite's dreams. She then visited Winter in his dream, alerting the dragonets to the fact that she had seen him, and that let them find her hiding place. Without getting too close, Moon was able to read her thoughts and everything came back to Pyrite. They assumed that Pyrite had something to do with it, but it turned out that the pouch held magic that turned Hailstorm into Pyrite. It was unlike anything that Winter had ever seen, but at least they could go home.

The book ends with Hailstorm facing Winter in the Diamond Trial, which only one of them could survive. After facing off and deciding that neither of them could kill the other, Hailstorm leaves to claim victory and Winter hangs back so he can escape at a later time, but he decides to wake their foe and take her with him. Foeslayer was found in the cave, and she said that she and Prince Arctic had fallen in love, not that she had stolen him away. As the mother of Darkstalker, and a useful ally that might be able to help him, he frees her and decides to go back and find his friends.

This book was glorious in the sense that it gave us a lot more information about Darkstalker from a different perspective, but it is still incredibly hard to read his motives because Moon can't see as deeply into his thoughts as he can hers. However, Winter's capacity for forgiveness has grown immensely, which is especially shown in the fact that he is willing to give Foeslayer the benefit of the doubt without even really knowing her. He is changing, and it is this kind of change of heart that is the only thing that will keep the peace between dragon tribes for longer than a few years. He seems to be laying the sort of foundation for a generation of dragons that might be willing to start looking at the world a little differently. Peace is better than war, but it is difficult to forgive the crimes that were committed during those years. It will take a lot of dragons like Winter to make that a reality, on all sides.

ccpprrjj's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Another fantastic entry in the second Wings of Fire arc. I loved getting to see more of IceWing culture, which isn't something that we'd seen prior to this book. I also loved how the book tied in to Darkstalker's book. There were lots of fun revelations about the things that happened 2000 years before the events of this book that are still impacting characters to this day. My only complaint would be that, while I enjoyed Winter's character development, I would have liked to see a bit more of a change in him and

I would have liked that change to last beyond the end of this book. Because it didn't really.