Review – Wings of Fire: A Winglets Collection The First Three Stories by Tui T. Sutherland (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 144 pages
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1338126198
Stand Alone or Series: Companion to the Wings of Fire series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Collects three Wings of Fire short stories:

#1: Prisoners: Fierceteeth knows she could have been a dragonet of destiny. She’s a much better NightWing than that weird brother of hers, Starflight. Her dreams of glory have been painfully scorched, though, and now Queen Thorn is holding her and Strongwings, waiting to put them on trial. Fierceteeth just wants a chance to tell her side of the story — before it’s too late.

#2: Assassin: Before the brightest night, the NightWings were plotting . . .

Deathbringer is ready to be the next assassin for the NightWings. If he can just convince them to send him along on one mission with his mother, Quickstrike, he’ll prove that he can help the NightWings decide who wins the war between the dragon tribes of Pyrrhia.

But when their mission takes an unexpected turn, Deathbringer has a terrible choice to make . . . one that will change his path forever, and perhaps alter the course of the entire war . . .

#3: Deserter: Six-Claws is a happy and industrious SandWing, always working hard and loyally for his queen. So when the youngest SandWing princess, Blaze, wanders off during a sandstorm, Six-Claws doesn’t think twice before trying to rescue her. But it turns out that loyalty isn’t always enough to stay safe in the Sand Kingdom…

Before the war of SandWing succession, there were three SandWing princesses… and a queen.”

This book consists of three short stories from various times in Wing of Fire world, all of them take place before the War of the Sand Queens. My nine year old son has loved this series for years and after reading the first few books I also grew to really like it.

I didn’t enjoy the first story all that much; this one was all about Starflight’s sister Fierceteeth as she languished in a SandWing prison. Fierceteeth was immature and unlikable and I didn’t find her story to be at all interesting.

I really enjoyed the second story that gave Deathbringer’s background. He has been such a mysterious dragon in this series and I loved hearing about how he was raised and how he became the assassin dragon he was in the Wings of Fire series.

The last story was another good one. This one was about Six-Claws (the dragon who Sunny thought was her father early on in the Wings of Fire series). This gives excellent insight into how The War of the Sand Queens began and the toll it took on the dragons.

Overall it was nice to have all three of these short stories in one book. I enjoyed it and think it was a good expansion on the WIngs of Fire series. I would recommend to Wings of Fire fans. I think middle grade age kids might enjoy this as a stand alone, but the writing is aimed at a easier reading level so I am guessing adults won’t enjoy this much unless they are a huge fan of the series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge