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A review by faeonyx
The Dark Secret by Mike Holmes, Tui T. Sutherland
4.0
Yet again, this book takes readers to a new location in the world and focuses on a different group of dragons. This time, the primary narrator is Starflight, the NightWing of prophecy, and he is home with his tribe on the horrible volcanic island they have been living on. Perhaps the most interesting discovery is that the NightWings, for all their mystery and study and mystical powers they try to push, are little more than vultures. The vast majority of them eat carrion and have bacteria in their mouths that cause terrible infections to the living creatures that have been bitten. Starflight and Fatespeaker seem to not have this ability because they were not fed a steady diet of rotting carcasses as they were growing up, lending them to fall ill if they were to eat the same food that the other NightWings do.
The previous books had a lot of talk about the NightWings being insufferable and believing themselves to be better than all of the other dragons in the world. This book proves that to be painfully true in a way that almost makes it difficult to read. Starflight has been captured and is being held prisoner, sort of. That has more to do with the fact that he is too frightened to try and escape than anything else, so he goes along with Morrowseer's tests and doesn't really get along with anyone. This is also the first time that any of the TRUE dragonets of destiny have discovered that there is an alternate group lying in wait. Starflight's disappointment in his tribe is multiplied when he learns about the cruel experiments on RainWing dragons and figures out the reason behind those experiments. The NightWing's live on a dangerous, dying island, and they need a new territory. They support Blister because she has (in Starflight's best guesses) decided to give them the territory in the rain forest, but the RainWing's have a very dangerous venom. Starflight's own father is the dragon researching that and trying to model something to protect the dragons from it so they can take the rain forest by force once the war is finished.
Even with that knowledge, Starflight still refuses to act or risk anything to get the information back to his friends. He does find one of the fabled dreamvisitor stones and tries to use that to communicate with a dragon. It doesn't work, but he does get to stick around long enough to find out Glory believes he has gone back to betray them and warn the NightWing's of her plan of attack. In the meantime, he is subjected to even more of Morrowseer's tests and even more of simply floundering around while being too afraid to do anything for himself. He does seem to have found a friend in Fatespeaker, especially since both of their lives are on the line considering this whole prophecy thing.
This book is the first one that hints that the "scavengers" might be more important than the dragons are willing to admit to themselves. It also shows that the NightWings do hold a significant amount of knowledge that they have been keeping back from the other dragon tribes. The NightWings seem to be painted as the true villains here, even more than any of the others. They know things that others don't. They have an extremely detailed map of the world. They are cruel and hard and not really up to listening to anyone for any reason, but all of this may have been the subtle push Starflight needed in the right direction to become something better than what he was, something stronger.
The characters make it really difficult to know who to trust, and it is hard to see where the story might be heading. The second you think you can trust someone, it turns out not to be quite what you expected. Occasionally, those that seem like they might not be trustworthy turn out to be much better than you expected. It's interesting to see how that works within the tribes and with how the tribes act with each other. As always, things get worse before they start to get better.
The previous books had a lot of talk about the NightWings being insufferable and believing themselves to be better than all of the other dragons in the world. This book proves that to be painfully true in a way that almost makes it difficult to read. Starflight has been captured and is being held prisoner, sort of. That has more to do with the fact that he is too frightened to try and escape than anything else, so he goes along with Morrowseer's tests and doesn't really get along with anyone. This is also the first time that any of the TRUE dragonets of destiny have discovered that there is an alternate group lying in wait. Starflight's disappointment in his tribe is multiplied when he learns about the cruel experiments on RainWing dragons and figures out the reason behind those experiments. The NightWing's live on a dangerous, dying island, and they need a new territory. They support Blister because she has (in Starflight's best guesses) decided to give them the territory in the rain forest, but the RainWing's have a very dangerous venom. Starflight's own father is the dragon researching that and trying to model something to protect the dragons from it so they can take the rain forest by force once the war is finished.
Even with that knowledge, Starflight still refuses to act or risk anything to get the information back to his friends. He does find one of the fabled dreamvisitor stones and tries to use that to communicate with a dragon. It doesn't work, but he does get to stick around long enough to find out Glory believes he has gone back to betray them and warn the NightWing's of her plan of attack. In the meantime, he is subjected to even more of Morrowseer's tests and even more of simply floundering around while being too afraid to do anything for himself. He does seem to have found a friend in Fatespeaker, especially since both of their lives are on the line considering this whole prophecy thing.
This book is the first one that hints that the "scavengers" might be more important than the dragons are willing to admit to themselves. It also shows that the NightWings do hold a significant amount of knowledge that they have been keeping back from the other dragon tribes. The NightWings seem to be painted as the true villains here, even more than any of the others. They know things that others don't. They have an extremely detailed map of the world. They are cruel and hard and not really up to listening to anyone for any reason, but all of this may have been the subtle push Starflight needed in the right direction to become something better than what he was, something stronger.
The characters make it really difficult to know who to trust, and it is hard to see where the story might be heading. The second you think you can trust someone, it turns out not to be quite what you expected. Occasionally, those that seem like they might not be trustworthy turn out to be much better than you expected. It's interesting to see how that works within the tribes and with how the tribes act with each other. As always, things get worse before they start to get better.