Qibli has always wished that he had the powers of an animus dragon. And facing off against Darkstalker makes him wish that all the more. Instead he must rely on his wits and the few enchanted items that Turtle left with him to thwart the schemes of the most powerful animus dragon ever. With the help of his friends he comes to realise that while magic is useful, it has its downsides, and he doesn't really need magic to make his friends like him better. ( )

This series was good, but the ending was a little disappointing. Bypassing the animus soul curse made Darkstalker way too powerful, which made the plot struggle, especially in how they can satisfactorily get rid of him. Thus erasing his memory and changing who he was seemed hypocritical and antithetical to the moral, which was a bummer. I was ok with the Moon,Winter, Qibli love triangle, and glad Moon chose Qibli. Winter was a sympathetic character, and I liked his book, but he was still frequently a jerk, and that isn't something Moon should have to put up with. I did appreciate how well Darkstalker's "fall to darkness" was handled. That is a story line that isn't always easy to pull off believably. ( )

I was so stoked for Qibli's point of view, and my main man did not disappoint. While he has his own share of flaws to work through - specifically some insecurity and covetousness - he doesn't wallow in it or let it define him like what we saw with the Turtle and Winter POVs. Unlike Turtle, he is incredibly active and adept at problem-solving without being so good as to be a Gary Stu. Unlike Peril, he is able to connect the dots in a satisfying way. He still has to develop over the course of his arc, but he's an active protagonist throughout the book. The ending ties everything up pretty well. The epilogue is a victory lap without becoming the syrupy sweet mess we saw in the Harry Potter epilogue.

Regarding the Darkstalker plot:

Darkstalker embodies the idea of "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." There were a few moments that were predictable - NightWing super soldiers, for instance - but he manages to be sympathetic. His attempts to re-create Clearsight were chilling and almost reminded me of someone trying to out rules-lawyer a genie. Not a fight you're going to win, friend.

The resolution to Darkstalker is odd but clever, with Kinkajou using the last scraps of Darkstalker's Scroll to write a spell. The setup is much better than that in Brightest Night. (Yeah yeah, I know there's a throwaway line about the Eye of Onyx in The Dragonet Prophecy. That doesn't count.) It seems like they could have easily put him to sleep - except that risks him being able to wake up later. They could strip his powers from him like he did to Turtle - but I'd argue that would be cruel and still allow him to scheme about how to get the power back. They could remove his powers and kill him - and really, that'd probably be fine. Except his upbringing was so fraught you feel kinda bad for him. Their solution is essentially killing him and resurrecting him so he can have a second chance, growing up without any powers and in better circumstances. Is this killing him? Yes! But it also provides a way to let him redeem himself (albeit unknowingly) and contribute to the tribe he loved so much. I'm fine with this - although Phoenix would have been a better name than Peacemaker imo.


Regarding the love triangle:

Qibli gets the girl! Ideally, I would have preferred for Moon to end up with no one since their relationships feel horribly rushed. I was happy when Sunny gently rebuffed Starflight and was hoping for something equally reasonable here. Barring that, Qibli makes so much more sense than Winter. Winter just seemed to be crushing on the cute girl and that was about it. Qibli found her interesting, empathized with her, and didn't harbor any racism towards her people. Qibli turning down animus powers was him proving he was worthy of her love and shared her values.

Regarding dealing with Anemone:

I think her descent to foulness was well-done. Its believable for someone that young, spoiled, and immature to react that way, particularly when feeling rejected or jealous. By the end of the book, she isn't fully absolved - Darkstalker exacerbated things, but she made plenty of bad decisions of her own she needs to/needed to rectify. Her crush on Tamarin is adorable and welcome bit of inclusion. LGBTQ is found in humans and many/most other animals. Why not dragons?
( )

It's a very good book lots of interesting things. ( )

I listen to most of my books on audio- Including this entire series. Half way through I had to return it because it was due and then waited 2 whole...entire....days to get it back after someone else returned their copy. I had 3 other books on audio to listen to, but I was in book withdrawl. I NEEDED to finish this book. NOW the next book, is not in audio! Is there such a thing as book depression? Because I have it now. ( )