Review – Darkness of Dragons (Wings of Fire, Book 10) by Tui T. Sutherland (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 432 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0545685474
Stand Alone or Series: 10th book in the Wings of Fire series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Qibli knows Darkstalker must be stopped. And he knows he could stop him — if he had magic. With even a sliver of the ancient dragon’s all-powerful scroll, Qibli could rewrite history the right way: end war forever; make every dragon happy; perhaps even cast a very small spell so that everyone would like him . . .

Instead, as Darkstalker’s dangerous influence spreads across Pyrrhia, entrancing or killing every dragon in the seven tribes, Qibli can only grasp the small animus objects he’s borrowed from Turtle. With some clever thinking, Qibli’s talons finally hold the power to make a difference.

But prophecies are not easy to rewrite. Can Qibli be the magical force Pyrrhia needs, or will he be the one to bring Jade Mountain — and his family, his friends, his whole world — crashing down?”

This is the 10th book in the Wings of Fire series. This was a really excellent continuation of the series. This book ties up the story arc dealing with Darkstalker and starts up a new one. Sutherland has said that there are going to be another 5 books in this series (bringing it to a total of 15 books). I have enjoyed this series but mostly continue to read it because my 10 year old son adores this series and we talk to each other about it a lot.

This book centers around Qibli; the dragon who had a rough childhood and desperately wants animus magic. With most of the dragons enchanted to follow Darkstalker, Qibli is one of the few who can stop Darkstalker. Qibli uses his wits and intelligence (along with some magic objects from Turtle) to break Darkstalker’s enchantment on the other dragons and stop Darkstalker from taking over the world.

We learn a lot about Qibli’s past and there is a lot about his birth family as well. As with previous books there is a lot in here about using power responsibly and about the importance of friendship. Additionally Qibli realizes that even though his birth family is pretty horrible, he can create himself a new family out of the friends and dragons who support and love him.

I always think the topics and events covered in this series are a bit advanced for middle grade readers. However my son (who is 10 now) has been reading these books since he was seven or so and really loves them. These books are fun, interesting, and engaging. They also provide some food for thought.

Overall this was a fantastic continuation of the Wings of Fire series. I really loved how the Darkstalker storyline was wrapped up. These books are always easy to read, engaging, and well written. I would definitely recommend to middle grade and older readers who love dragons, adventure, war, and magic.

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