4.5 - I'm continuously very impressed by the quality of these stories and again could not put this one down. Glory is a very interesting character and the pacing of having her as the third point of view in the arc was a great choice in my opinion - the series is gathering steam and becomes able to tackle the more serious aspects, such as the themes of parental/guardian abuse, as time goes on. Glory is the ideal candidate to reckon with that: she has slightly more complex feelings about the world and people around her than Clay or Tsunami previously, and that lends itself to a far more interesting internal monologue. Plotlines and structures are getting a little more complex too, with an entire B plot and B cast being gradually seeded and developed in the background. I felt that the pacing of the A plot suffered slightly for both this and the worldbuilding, but I'm happy to forgive that as the tribe we're introduced to in this installment are so unique and enthralling. The hook for the next book is absolutely tantalising and I can't wait to see where this goes. I'm still continuing in my opinion that this is some of the best kids xenifiction in recent years. ( )

Checked out by Derek

This book is from Glory’s viewpoint. Now the dragonets head into the rainforest kingdom. Again, nothing is as they expected. Really, there weren’t many expectations as nobody knows much about the Rainwing dragons, but Glory was hoping to find that the slanders she’s heard all her life about Rainwings being lazy were untrue. Unfortunately, it seems there was a reason for that stereotype. The rainforest dragons certainly are different, and have a very relaxed, unconcerned attitude about almost everything.... although the Rainwing dragons are beautiful and life in their kingdom seems easy, some of them have been disappearing- and nobody cares to find out why or look for them. Glory and her friends are appalled at this attitude, and take it upon themselves to solve the mystery and rescue the missing dragons. In the course of their investigation, they find hidden magic passages to other parts of the world, sneak into a Sandwing fortress in disguise, meet an assassin who has the most unlikely personality for that job ever, become acquainted with the third Sandwing queen Blaze (who is just as shallow and unintelligent as the rumors always said). Another big surprise in this book is that the Nightwing dragons don’t appear to be as all-knowing and dangerous as they’ve led others to believe. Some of the dragonets end up in the Nightwing kingdom, which is a dark and dismal place. Also conspiracies are coming to light- apparently the Nightwings and the Talons of Peace each have “replacement” dragonets they’d rather use to fulfill the prophecy, and some of our gallant young five are wanted dead. No surprise, there’s continued violence and threats in this book. Some of the dragons are downright cruel to each other. There are absolutely silly scenes too. It was at turns amusing and intriguing. I did really like reading Glory’s perspective- she realizes that some of her difficulties come from having grown up shut away in a cave, when Rainwing dragons thrive on sunshine (literally, they need to soak up sun to recharge their energy). She’s glad to finally experience the life she was supposed to have lived, but also unsettled by how, well, lazy and unproductive it seems. Among other things. This story kind of barrels through everything and pitches the reader into a cliffhanger, so I’m on to the next soon. ( )

Got moving in the second half - trademark dry humour. ( )

The books are still cute and charming, despite the level of violence they sometimes sport. Sutherland does a great job of giving each character a different voice and motivation, at making each 'tribe' stand out from the others without one being the clear favorite all-powerful group that you seem to find in every YA novel. Glory's perspective was well-handled - she's defensive and has a chip ob her shoulder, but isn't an emo mess. This book felt much faster then Lost Heir, and the ending was very sudden, unlike the other two that wrapped up more neatly with little bows. ( )