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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Po raz kolejny się nie zawiodłam! Uwielbiam tą serię, a w tym tomie nawet łezki były w oczach przy końcu książki
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was very enjoyable, the ending was very surprising! Starflight's character arc was a bit repetitive at first, but I love that he was slowly able to become braver for himself and his friends.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After a lifetime of being told that fighting and killing are equivalent to bravery and strength and watching the rest of his friends naturally be brave in their own ways, it's Starflight's turn to discover that being brave doesn't mean not being afraid. It means being afraid and doing the right thing anyway! At the end of the day, he provides a valuable element of his own to their team in the form of diplomacy and thinking smarter instead of bloodier to outwit his opponents.
Learning more about the NightWings shows us that not only is desperation no excuse to toss aside your humanity by treating other living beings like objects but bigotry and self-supremacy is a learned bias, not an inherent truth.
Learning more about the NightWings shows us that not only is desperation no excuse to toss aside your humanity by treating other living beings like objects but bigotry and self-supremacy is a learned bias, not an inherent truth.
While the solution was always going to be a lesson in how coexistence and working together is possible if you are willing to try, given that this is a very bold allegory for racism and colonialism, it was pretty difficult for me to digest back in 2022 when I first read it. But viewing it from a different perspective in 2024, it seems to be saying that civilians are not responsible for the actions of their government and therefore should be afforded the opportunity to learn and grow. Some digs are still thrown at RainWings, but at least now it seems like that's more an effort to show that learned biases take time to correct than an attempt to still be racist in spite of knowing better.
For a middlegrade book, The Dark Secret does a decent job of showing that war criminals should take responsibility for their actions, accept the punishment they deserve for their crimes, and then make reparations and do better. Plus, it certainly doesn't try to paint the situation as black and white. Meeting others with hatred instead of understanding breeds more war and we certainly don't need anymore of that!
For a middlegrade book, The Dark Secret does a decent job of showing that war criminals should take responsibility for their actions, accept the punishment they deserve for their crimes, and then make reparations and do better. Plus, it certainly doesn't try to paint the situation as black and white. Meeting others with hatred instead of understanding breeds more war and we certainly don't need anymore of that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Abandonment
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay this one left on a slight cliff hanger I think?
Must know
Must know
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After having a break from the Wings of Fire series while I waited for it to be added to Libby, I think I enjoy them less now. I still enjoy it but not as interested as I started off.
I enjoyed finding out more about the Nightwings this time, and have accepted the split up premise of each of these books, though it does make me miss the rest of the Dragonets. I think having Clay be the first main character has left me wishing for more of him each book.
The plot was good and very adventurous like the other WoF books, though I'm still struggling to remember the differences between Burn, Blaze and Blister. Maybe by book 5 I'll get it.
I'm looking forward to book 5 to get to know Sunny now.
Listened at 1.5x speed on the Libby app through my local library.
I enjoyed finding out more about the Nightwings this time, and have accepted the split up premise of each of these books, though it does make me miss the rest of the Dragonets. I think having Clay be the first main character has left me wishing for more of him each book.
The plot was good and very adventurous like the other WoF books, though I'm still struggling to remember the differences between Burn, Blaze and Blister. Maybe by book 5 I'll get it.
I'm looking forward to book 5 to get to know Sunny now.
Listened at 1.5x speed on the Libby app through my local library.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Dark Secret was the book I was equally most/least excited for in this series; on one talon, the curiosity of the mysterious Night Wing tribe was almost too much to bear (leaving out my dislike for Morrowseer), but on the other, Starflight just isn’t that interesting or likable of a character, and if each new book was to focus on one of the 5 dragonets, than this one was certain to be a drag. The reader was already prepped for the Nightwings to be something other than they seemed in Glory’s book, but I was excited and saddened by turns and I read more about the tribe’s plight. I am interested in the ways the author is drawing on experiences that seem heavy for a children’s series- racism, disability, climate change- and exploring these themes from the safer fantasy perspective. Starflgiht was still pretty disappointing as a protagonist, but I really enjoyed Fatespeaker, and I did think it positive that Starflight learned he doesn’t have to be brave in the same way as his friends. After all. Not everyone is like able and brave. The big reveal was fairly obvious to be about halfway through the book (there were certain numbers that kept being reference, and if you can math, you might put things together) and the moving of a whole tribe’s location in a few minutes in the middle of a natural disaster felt unbelievable in a negative way, but I am excited to get back to Team Glory, and find out exactly how Queen Oasis was hoodwinked.
PS: Sunny & Fatespeaker being interchangeable is gross. Why should Starflight get two love interests. Eww. Do we really need a middle grade dragon love triangle? No. The answer is no. I can just see the f boi instincts an indecisive and weak character like Starflight would have.
PS: Sunny & Fatespeaker being interchangeable is gross. Why should Starflight get two love interests. Eww. Do we really need a middle grade dragon love triangle? No. The answer is no. I can just see the f boi instincts an indecisive and weak character like Starflight would have.