Yeah! Go dragonets! I really want to see Cricket get time to study the reading monkeys. :)

( )

A shot of whimsy and cuteness with a dark edge during this stressful time.

These books really do remind me of the Animorphs of my youth - 'teenagers' with powers fighting against massive forces of evil, hiding their identities, often with pretty awful horror - especially body horror. Heck, this one even has Yeerk-like mind control. This series is mostly 'clean' but the themes get so heavy sometimes - with this one touching on war, torture, genocide, slavery, and terrorism/guerrilla warfare.

Honestly the story for this one wasn't super-compelling. The new tribes are interesting but the solutions to the mysteries and most of the twists were predictable. Cricket does have an arc, and gains more confidence and assertiveness and social skills by the end, but her transformation doesn't quite feel complete. There's more growing to do. I was really surprised by the theft of the orphan egg from the nest and raising of a random, abandoned dragonet. It does make sense with Cricket's family issues and compassion, but it seemed really impulsive for an otherwise bookish and premeditating character. The baby talk is going to get old fast, but only appeared for a few pages at the end of this book.

While I might give the story 3 stars, I had to bump this up to 4 for Cricket. I absolutely adore her curiosity, her bookishness, her scientific approach to problems. I love her enthusiasm for learning. I love her honesty and how much she just cares about others, even when she's dealt a shit hand. I love her introspectiveness and efforts to identify her weaknesses, and her active pursuit of improvement. She's a delight.
( )

While this story is a continuation of the third arc of the Wings of Fire series, this book focuses mainly on the Hivewing, Cricket, who is shown on the front cover. Cricket and another dragon, Sundew, are waiting for their friend, Blue, who's going through "metamorphosis" like how a butterfly would. They are currently hiding from Queen Wasp's army, since they are all wanted for various reasons. Revealed in the previous book, Blue is something called a flamesilk, or a dragon who can produce a special type of silk from glands on their wrists. Sundew is a Leafwing, a species of dragons thought to be extinct, and are mortal enemies to Hivewings. Cricket is different from other Hivewings, whereas others can fall under the control of Queen Wasp, Cricket is immune to this. During the story, Cricket finds out truths she's been seeking about Queen Wasp. She also finds out the truthfulness of her actual family.

I personally appreciate this book because I find the characters enjoyable. I also find the story line and actual lore of the overarching story to be engaging. I remember being on the edge of my seat waiting for this book to come out because I loved the story. I am a big advocate on character development, so to see Cricket's character grow more after finding out multiple truths really engaged me. The world that the story takes place in is wonderful to me, since I find it important to build up a creative world. Sundew's interactions with the other two also entertain me, and her backstory draws me to the story even more. Blue also serves as a pillar for emotional support and a great friend for Cricket, and his trust towards her is, in my opinion, amazing. Overall, I would recommend this series to lots. ( )

This book starts out with Cricket, Swordtail, Sundew, and Blue hiding underground from all the of the Hivewings (except Cricket) that want Blue dead because he has flamesilk (a rare type of silk found in silkwings). However right now Blue is going through his metamorphosis (he is a butterfly dragon) and can’t move so Swordtail, Cricket, and Sundew have to find a safe place for his chrysalis. Where the Hivewings won’t . Cricket realizes that they can’t hide forever so they then she disguises Sundew as a hivewing and herself as a different hivewing. Once in the hive Cricket comes across her sister Katydid; the only person she loves and cares about besides Blue. However Katydid doesn’t want to see her for and when Cricket calls her sister Katydid tells Cricket that she isn’t really her sister.
Then Cricket goes to Lady Scarab’s hive because Cricket hopes she’ll have some answers, and she does. Cricket finds out that Katydid is really her mom. However at this moment all of the Hive becomes mind controlled again to look for Cricket, Blue, Sundew, and Swordtail. Because of this Cricket flies and hides in the royal hatchery where Cricket runs into; Queen Wasp. While hiding in the hatchery Cricket finds out that the reason she can’t be mind controlled unlike everyone else is that she was never injected by Queen Wasp’s venom like all the other hivewings were at birth, since she was kept secret and hid by Katydid. While Cricket is escaping she takes an egg with her and saves it from being injected. When cricket gets back to her friends Blue’s metamorphosis is over and he has wings now. When Cricket gets back the egg also hatches and Blue and her decide to name it Bumblebee, and raise it as their own Dragonet. However mind-controlled hive wings are attacking and they need to leave so, Blue grabs Bumblebee and Cricket, Swordtail, and Sundew take off to fly to the hidden leafwing jungle before they try to find Pyrriha where they think Blue’s sister might’ve gone.
I liked this book A LOT and I finished it in one day although it was like 350 pages. This book is the 2nd book in the 3rd arc of this series and was really good. I’ve been reading this series since 1st grade and they are still making more of them. This book was even better than the last even though I thought it was impossible to top the last book in the Wings of Fire series. If you need another book series to read I would highly recommend this book and this series just make sure to read them in order. However if you start reading this series waiting for the next book to come out will drive you insane until it comes out. I can’t wait any longer for the Poison Jungle to come out which is the next book in this series and comes out June 31st ( )

This is the twelfth book in the Wings of Fire series. This was a well done continuation of that series and I enjoyed it. My 11 year old son loves this series and rereads it constantly. I read it mostly because we have both been reading this series for years and it’s fun to talk to him about it.

We are on the Lost Continent, Pantala, again and our dragonets are in hiding and trying to solve the mystery of how Queen Wasp mind controls the HiveWings. Cricket and her friends are hoping to stop the mind control of the HiveWings and save the SilkWings from oppression. However, the LeafWings have their own rebellion planned...

The characters in here were great and I am still enjoying Pantala. Cricket is one of my favorite dragons yet! Reading about the new types of dragons and their abilities is still fresh and fun.

Some mysteries are solved and others are presented. The book starts a bit slow but picked up towards the middle.

Overall this was a good addition to the Wings of Fire series. I continue to enjoy this series and plan on continuing it. This whole series is recommended to those who enjoy fantasy adventure and dragons. ( )