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A review by faeonyx
The Brightest Night by Mike Holmes, Tui T. Sutherland
5.0
This book is almost entirely Sunny's story, which was an interesting take on things since Sunny is typically one of the background dragons. She gets pushed back to a position where she is almost ignored, and the other dragons think that she is cute and helpless because she doesn't have the barb on her tail. She certainly doesn't look like other SandWings and there seems to be no real explanation for that. Sunny often wonders about it herself, but she doesn't find herself any less important because of it. Her story starts off with an attempted kidnapping and her cleverly escaping. Instead of getting the others, however, she decides to follow the three NightWings on her own and they lead her on a journey across the sands.
The one thing that Sunny does know about her story is that her egg was found far away from everything else, near the Scorpion Den and hidden away. She never thought to ask much about what was going on, but fortunately she discovered the NightWings were heading to the Scorpion Den to get a message to Queen Burn about knowing where the dragonets of destiny were. They also had the advantage of an onyx mirror that allowed them to see conversations between dragons they knew. Sunny gets something in her scales and successfully steals this. It gives her the ability to keep track of them from a distance, but even all of that ends when she gets close to the Scorpion Den. The leader wants to talk to all of them, including her.
Fortunately for Sunny, this is just the stroke of luck she really needed. The leader of the Outclaws just happens to be her mother, and she takes the NightWings prisoner (after killing one of them). Unfortunately, not everyone in the Scorpion Den is thrilled to have a dragonet of destiny in their midst and one takes her to Queen Burn's castle after an underhanded trade. Burn isn't there, but her brother is more than happy to take matters into his own claws, even though he is a much gentler soul. He has no choice. Sunny's mom, Thorn, isn't far behind, however, and makes an effort to storm the castle and save her. The day is saved by Peril, who has come to rescue the only mother she has ever known, Scarlet. That part of the story falls to the background as Thorn and Sunny finally make their escape, but Sunny must leave. She returns to the rain forest with a plan of attack.
With a comet growing closer and expanding in the sky, the dragonets form a plan to get the three sisters together to try and end this peacefully. Burn and Blister don't see things that way, and Burn ends up dying to a snake bite. It was a little scavenger that ended up getting the item required for the queen, and Sunny chooses to hand that over to Thorn. Blister dies in an attempt to take it, but Blaze swears allegiance to this new queen to keep herself alive. With the entire situation resolved, it seemed like this would be the perfect end to the series, but there are plenty more books to come.
This book was interesting because it showed the immense strength of the dragon that everyone underestimated. Sunny was really the only one out of her group that got the homecoming she had longed for, and she learned that she was a hybrid dragon. Her mother was a SandWing and her father was a NightWing, which is why she ended up with no real powers of her own and had the missing barb on the end of her tail. Her mother had been looking for her for years, even going so far as to offer a reward. Her parents wanted her. She was loved and desired. It was the best homecoming she could have asked for, and maybe that was part of what gave her the courage to speak her mind and bring her plan to fruition. With everything wrapped up so nicely, it seemed like a good end, but there were more stories to be told.
The one thing that Sunny does know about her story is that her egg was found far away from everything else, near the Scorpion Den and hidden away. She never thought to ask much about what was going on, but fortunately she discovered the NightWings were heading to the Scorpion Den to get a message to Queen Burn about knowing where the dragonets of destiny were. They also had the advantage of an onyx mirror that allowed them to see conversations between dragons they knew. Sunny gets something in her scales and successfully steals this. It gives her the ability to keep track of them from a distance, but even all of that ends when she gets close to the Scorpion Den. The leader wants to talk to all of them, including her.
Fortunately for Sunny, this is just the stroke of luck she really needed. The leader of the Outclaws just happens to be her mother, and she takes the NightWings prisoner (after killing one of them). Unfortunately, not everyone in the Scorpion Den is thrilled to have a dragonet of destiny in their midst and one takes her to Queen Burn's castle after an underhanded trade. Burn isn't there, but her brother is more than happy to take matters into his own claws, even though he is a much gentler soul. He has no choice. Sunny's mom, Thorn, isn't far behind, however, and makes an effort to storm the castle and save her. The day is saved by Peril, who has come to rescue the only mother she has ever known, Scarlet. That part of the story falls to the background as Thorn and Sunny finally make their escape, but Sunny must leave. She returns to the rain forest with a plan of attack.
With a comet growing closer and expanding in the sky, the dragonets form a plan to get the three sisters together to try and end this peacefully. Burn and Blister don't see things that way, and Burn ends up dying to a snake bite. It was a little scavenger that ended up getting the item required for the queen, and Sunny chooses to hand that over to Thorn. Blister dies in an attempt to take it, but Blaze swears allegiance to this new queen to keep herself alive. With the entire situation resolved, it seemed like this would be the perfect end to the series, but there are plenty more books to come.
This book was interesting because it showed the immense strength of the dragon that everyone underestimated. Sunny was really the only one out of her group that got the homecoming she had longed for, and she learned that she was a hybrid dragon. Her mother was a SandWing and her father was a NightWing, which is why she ended up with no real powers of her own and had the missing barb on the end of her tail. Her mother had been looking for her for years, even going so far as to offer a reward. Her parents wanted her. She was loved and desired. It was the best homecoming she could have asked for, and maybe that was part of what gave her the courage to speak her mind and bring her plan to fruition. With everything wrapped up so nicely, it seemed like a good end, but there were more stories to be told.