The Hybrid Prince

Wings of Fire #16

by Tui T. Sutherland

The #1 New York Times bestselling series is back with a brand new arc! Discover what happens next in this thrilling addition to the Wings of Fire saga.Umber was never supposed to be a hero . . . .As the youngest sibling of his MudWing hatching, Umber doesn't have the responsibilities of his bigwings, Reed, nor the heroic destiny prophesied for his brother, Clay. He's always been content with his role as the cheerful, goofy, little brother. But when his sister, Sora, causes a tragedy at Jade Mountain Academy, Umber finds himself on the run and thrown into a whole new role--that of protector.Umber and Sora fly south in search of a place where they can live far away from other dragons . . . until a kind, hybrid dragon named Mulberry saves him from a kraken attack, and Umber realizes they don't have to survive alone after all. In fact, there's an entire community living on a forgotten island, full of dragons hiding from their own dark pasts.As the two MudWings settle into the Court of Refuge, they start to realize that nothing in this place is quite what it seems, and the protection it offers comes with a price. Even as Umber falls for Prince Mulberry, he learns he must find a way to unlock the past of this mysterious island to ensure he and Sora have a future. And when the dragons in power try to stop him, he'll have to decide what he cares about most . . . and whether he can be the hero these dragons need after all.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Middle Grade, Fiction, LGBT, Audiobook, Queer

341 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2026

About the author

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Tui? What kind of name is that? Is it short for something?

Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!

I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)

I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).

Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.

My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.

My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.

And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!

Reviews

[Camden Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Give Kinkajou a book!!! I know you said it is not happening but WHY?!

[✨Evangeline Fox✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! It was nice being able to get back into the WOF universe. The ending to this book was INSANE! Theories: Whoever stole the other egg is an Animus. He's the one who made the queens disappear. He didn't lose his power because the spell that Jerboa III cast to take away the magic can't reach those inside the island. I NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW

[Luci Arbon]

I'm DYING for this book to come out!
I was just minding my buisness, scrolling on Amazon when I saw this. Instant screams.
I NEED to preorder this!

[Carru · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/10

As it turns out, nine tribes once lived on Pyrrhia. This is complete nonsense. Tui suddenly decided to add BugWings to this continent too. These dragons don't look like the original tribes at all. I don't accept the changes the author suddenly introduces to the world-building after 15 years, claiming that this is where they originally came from, bullshit. And there are more of these changes.

Finding the way to another continent – maybe more of an island than a continent – is idiotic. (The very fact that there is yet another continent-island is idiotic!) The journey to Pantala (and I didn't even like Pantala anyway) was quite difficult. For an average dragon, not being a SeaWing, it was practically a suicide mission. Meanwhile, the route to the new island turns out to be very simple. Every so often, you stumble upon little islands with food that make the journey easier. The fact that no one had previously passed on the information that these islands were there is stupid. How do dragons even get there, besides that? We already have so many places where dragons run away from their problems, like the Scorpion Den, and there are others. So where do all these dragons come from? Do they all just decide to fly south just because?

The book mentions that dragons from both continents end up on the island, which again is nonsense. It's practically impossible—at least regarding Pantala, for them, such a journey would be basically unfeasible. But here it looks like some resort where dragons end up every now and then because they know where to fly.

Umber, Clay's brother, falls in love with a dragon named Mulberry who saved him. It's love at first sight, and their entire relationship is based on thinking about how beautiful, handsome, and noble Mulberry is. It's not built up or developed in any way. But maybe that's a plus? I'm not interested in reading a book about a gay protagonist. Making characters gay just to cheaply pander to an minority of people with a certain ideology. The vast majority of people don't want to read about it. (The gay protagonist has to choose between a newly met prince and doing what is right.)

I'd like to know why Umber and Sora, raised as typical MudWings by MudWings, don't act like MudWings. MudWings don't have partners! They meet for one night, do the deed with someone, and that's it! They shouldn't be interested in romance with anyone at all. They aren't Clay, who grew up away from his tribe. They also weren't in school or in contact with other dragons long enough to change their mindset. Tui created a tribe and its culture just to never actually show that culture.

In a way, the book feels more like fanservice, where „fans” can play around with shipping various characters together. There have to be a lot of relationships, just because. Sora finds a boyfriend because Tui thought she didn't have anyone and it'd be nice for her to have someone since people ship characters. A lot of dialogues are useless. The book reviews are high, people give 5 stars, on GR, just because the protagonist is either a lesbian or gay. And the plot and interesting side/supporting characters are suddenly irrelevant.

It is quickly revealed that the island is a magical prison created over 3,000 years ago by an animus named Precipice. It was built to isolate the dragons involved in a queen's assassination, but the punishment was also extended to their families and entire tribes that were deemed guilty of the conspiracy. In reality, the whole affair was a political intrigue: the queens, who had secretly ordered the murder themselves, betrayed the very dragons they had sent. They condemned them to imprisonment on the island solely to ensure that the truth of their own involvement would never come to light, allowing them to seize the territories of the exiled tribes without hindrance. Although the island has become a home for its modern-day inhabitants—who are multi-generational hybrids—they are, in truth, still captives. They are cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible, magical barrier that (with one exception) no one can cross.

Mulberry deceives the main character and hides the fact that you can't escape from the prison because magic prevents it. Umber, of course, isn't the least bit mad at Mulberry for the deception and luring him into a trap. Even though he previously declared in his thoughts that he wanted to return to his siblings, now he just claims he "can't be mad" at the object of his affection because it's not his fault. It's a fucking joke.

Tui just can't write such good books anymore. Since writing Darkstalker, her quality has started to drop, and it's been scraping the bottom of the barrel for years. Now, to show that characters are yelling, she has to use ALL CAPS BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. Something like this – YELLING – wasn't in the first, and even in the second arc. It started appearing in the third (I remember it especially from book 14), and now it's used non-stop by most characters.

I do appreciate, however, that in the face of danger, Umber becomes a soldier driven by instinct. At least it was shown that these dragons actually took part in a war and know how to fight. Umber doesn't kill anyone, but he effectively incapacitates his attackers. I liked that. Unfortunately, it never comes back again. It was probably his best scene in the book.

I almost forgot – some dragons look almost like monsters. They are the descendants of multiple hybrids. A new, consecutive dragon tribe, this time created out of hybrids galore. WildWings. In one case someone is a mix of only two tribes, and in another case, four. They also have no culture whatsoever. It's just a hodgepodge of random hybrids. They're just generic dragons that literally have nothing to distinguish them except for being hybrids. And just being a hybrid doesn't make them cool. They have nothing. No traditions, no culture, no architecture, no social structure, no... anything. They just exist.

Umber and Mulberry, despite knowing each other for a short time and not spending much time together, miss each other immensely during every separation. Let me emphasize this again: they barely know each other, yet they act as if they share some deep bond.

The plot itself actually seems a bit intriguing (However, it's the same old thing again: an ancient evil causes trouble and oppresses the little guys), but the world-building wrapper and the changes Tui forces in to make this volume fit with the rest are hopeless. Why can't we get a story about the tribes we know on the old continent? So many interesting characters and plotlines have been created that are just begging to be developed – like the issue of RainWing animuses or their assassins. The further I wade into this series, the more I appreciate fanfics, which can be much better than the official books. There are plenty of great hidden gems out there.

The book places a huge emphasis on the issue of hybrids. This topic returns constantly – ancestors, mixing blood, always just hybrids, hybrids, hybrids. The author tries so hard to show how evil and extremely xenophobic, and whatever-else-phobic, allphobic the queens were for opposing— being disgusted by—the intermingling of tribes. (Coincidentally, every single one of them happened to be -phobic). It is done to such an extent that it feels exaggerated and caricatured (one-dimensional?). You can guess what modern issues this refers to. What Arc 1 and 2 showed regarding hybrids was intriguing. It was great to be able to choose a tribe for yourself and identify that way (a bit like Warrior Cats and their clans). Each tribe has its own culture and was special and unique in its own way. And because there weren't many of them, hybrids were actually this cool, exotic subplot. You could encounter them, but it wasn't a common occurrence. Now hybrids are just a commonplace thing, which I bet was added because these so-called "fans" were creating abominations by combining half the dragon tribes into one hybrid, and Tui wanted to please these "fans". Dragons have various powers from different tribes just to be more "cool" (They are not at all).

A long time ago, when it turned out that Sunny was a hybrid, it was a big deal for the reader. And now when someone is a hybrid? "Oh, okay." I like storylines about dragons from different tribes pairing up, but making it an everyday occurrence completely kills the coolness of it.

I don't like shoehorning new tribes into the territories known from the first arc. The BugWings, completely different from the rest, supposedly lived right next to the rainforest. NO.

On the plus side, when thinking about his sister, Umber calls her a murderer and doesn't dodge the fact that she killed two dragons. I was convinced the author would try to whitewash this plotline, but that didn't happen. Well, let's say...

Characters:
We have four important characters here:

• Umber – I don't consider him an interesting character, but he is, unfortunately/fortunately, the best character in this thing called "book". Probably because he is the hero. Certainly, the fact that he is gay does not improve my interest in him. Because why would it?
•
• Platypus – A mix of Snowfall and Sundew. Literally every other sentence SHE HAS TO YELL OR SHE'LL SUFFOCATE. A rebellious teenager who constantly yells and wants to fight everyone. She's uninteresting; apparently, she was supposed to be a new version of Kinkajou, but it turned out poorly. Second worst character from important characters. She also shoots venom, and there is also a mention of "magical death spit". Besides, it's not just her – many dragons (including monarchs) overuse ALL CAPS OR ELSE THEY'LL SUFFOCATE.
•
• Mulberry – Can read emotions of dragons and animals and communicate with them. He is also completely uninteresting, flat, and probably the worst character in this volume. And no, not because he's gay. Also, for a large chunk of the book, we don't see him at all. Their relationship appears out of thin air and continues out of thin air, just so that out of thin air the characters end up together at the end.
•
• Quokka – She is just a worse Cricket with a different name.
•
(There's also Paua – the great-great-great and a few more times great-granddaughter of Fathom, Aurora - a singer, Borealis – a drummer, Snakeroot – a king, Dugong – a guard... and about 10 other supporting characters tied to the plot that I don't feel like naming. There are just way too many characters!)

There's also Sora... who basically just "exists" and there's nothing more to say about her. She's irrelevant. She has trauma, nightmares, PTSD... and then she goes to one concert, hangs around the library a bit, and is cured. Basically, she's just an excuse for the protagonist to end up where he ends up. Fortunately, at the end of the volume, she states that she should submit to the queens' punishment if she ever returns to Pyrrhia. So that's a plus, for now, because I thought Tui would whitewash her. But there are still 2 books left in the arc, so it could just as well still happen.

We also have a few antagonists, including:
Taipan – He's evil because he's evil.
Beryl – She's evil because she's evil and wants the throne. She literally doesn't do anything. A weak copy of Scarlet.

A nice touch was the NightWing who actively reads minds and says out loud what others are thinking. It's just a shame that she only says about like four sentences in the whole book.

For reasons not entirely clear, everyone treats Mulberry like a star and the most important dragon on the island. Everyone wants to be friends with him. Granted, this is partly explained by the fact that he's the only one who can leave the prison's magical barrier, but I get the feeling the author is forcing him to be "cool" so that people will think he's cool too. Guess what, he's not cool.

In the finale, Umber convinces the antagonists' guards to switch sides. How? He uses his knowledge about these dragons to show that they are individuals to him, not cannon fodder. He knows what troubles them, what they want to do, what their names are. The problem is that the reader didn't see these relationships being built beforehand. Umber acts like he knows them, while we just see some random dragons that Umber persuades with some random pep talk. It comes completely out of a... out of thin air.

The book mentions that dragons eat ice cream. How do they make ice cream? Well, from snow in the mountains... and milk. I wonder where they get this milk? Don't stick your nose in and ask so many questions!

At the very end, Umber and Mulberry decide to become fathers to a dragonet from the prophecy, who is supposed to help tear down the magical prison walls. We have a beetle-sea-leaf-rain-carrot-parsley-apple-you-can-add-anything-here-because-it-doesn't-matter hybrid who will save the world. "We did it, Patrick! We saved the City!"


Animus magic was weird. It was explained that it has to be tied to an object to work. Which, as we know, is a lie. Alternatively, the characters just don't know that and that's why they say/think.

For some incomprehensible reason, Blob appears in the book – the octopus enchanted by Fathom. Why? Because fanservice.

We also have yet another new tribe. This time it's small robo-dragons enchanted by an animus, created to be guards. Oddly enough, they also have lockpicks/keys(?) to every room, even though the rest of the stuff was built hundreds of years after these robots were created. It's not a real tribe and they don't really talk. They have their programming that they have to follow, but they also try to be more independent and just live despite the restrictions placed upon them. This is the only one, or one of two? interesting things in this „book”.

Funnily enough, Snakeroot, a king and a Leaf-Night hybrid who arrived on the island, apparently has the power of foresight and delivers a prophecy. He's also a little? a little very? crazy. The chance of his existence is practically zero. Not only is he a hybrid of tribes separated by a deadly crossing, but he also hatched under the moons and ended up on the island. Yeaahh, I can totally see that happening…

In the epilogue, we find out that the queens of all tribes suddenly disappear. I bet Sora (obviously along with her brother and the rest of the main characters) will save them, which is why she won't get any punishment for murdering two students.

Going back to fanservice. There are so many references in the book to things from the better books that Tui is definitely forcing them in to pander to the fans in any way possible. Fans without quotation marks, because I'm talking about the normal fans. Umber can't last five seconds without mentioning Clay. While I'm quite neutral on Clay, I would definitely much rather read a book from his perspective, because the rest of the cast of dragons I actually care about would be there. We have Blob, magical death spit, and probably a few other things I missed.

I've also noticed that as the books go on, the dragons become less and less like dragons. Tui is starting to anthropomorphize them incredibly heavily. I know this was already a thing, but it's happening more and more with every book. Among other things, she uses the wrong vocabulary when referring to four-legged dragons.

It would be best if this book didn't exist; it doesn't deserve to be an official book. Fanfics are better WoF than Tui's books. It's some kind of fucking joke that it has such a high rating. The “fans” are ruining this series along with Tui.

[bex ✯ mizi’s wife ✯]

pre-read
OMGOSH OMGOSH NEW WOF BOOK WHEN?!

[water4life · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very sad to see how low this series has fallen. I'm sorry that I don't have many good things to say about this book.

1. The characters
Not a single character in this book made me feel anything. I feel indifferent towards Umber, Mulberry, Sora, and the rest of the cast that was too big for this book. First of all, there were too many characters, but everyone's already complained about that, so I won't expand, but I genuinely didn't gaf about any of them.
- Umber: I could literally replace his name with some random and the book would be the same. I keep forgetting he's a character we've met before. Tui should've shown more of his struggle of now being kinda the bigwigs for Sora. I thought it would have been the bigger part of his character, but no
- Mulberry: the ultimate OC. Leaf-Sky-Night-hybrid with animal leafspeak and still not a single shred of personality. How do you have all that and are still boring. He lies to Umber and traps him in the island, they never fight about it, he kinda stands up to his parents? but it doesn't feel like a significant decision (it would have been better if he had betrayed Umber at some point)
- Sora: bum who gets "healed" from her PTSD and whatever else she had in a couple of chapters just because she listened to dragon Taylor Swift
- Beryl: queen Scarlett if she was annoying and boring

2. MudWings and Umberry
Throughout all the books, this has been the least explored tribe. We got Clay's pov, who wasn't even raised around MudWings (this is true for all the dragonets but his book takes place mostly in the Sky Palace), and the only interesting thing about them was their sibling dynamic - they don't really do parents, or partners, and they stay with their siblings until adulthood. Something unique, that only MudWings do!!! But now both Sora and Umber have love interests ARE YOU KIDDING ME??/??
- why would Umber and Sora, raised as MudWings by MudWings, a tribe with this certain lifestyle, now suddenly go against it???
- Umber falls for Mulberry at first sight. Please kill me. Their romance was the corniest and most boring relationship since actually I can't think of a worse ship. Well I hate Moon/Qibli more but they're not that corny
- Umber doesn't mention mud ONCE correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't mention any significant tradition

3. I don't like hybrids!!!!!!
Yes they all suck yes Tui should stop listening to the fans. First of all, the point of hybrids was to show that love is love, mixing isn't wrong, dragonets don't deserve to be judged for their parents' love etc etc. We saw this already with Sunny, Darkstalker (well...), and at the end of arc 2 we literally have an entire village basically dedicated to tribes living together with a bunch of hybrids.

My main problem is that WildWings don't have culture -- they feel like a random mesh of tribes, but they don't retain the original cultural identity and they don't have their own new one either. No, concerts don't count. All the hybrids we have seen before have been raised by only one tribe/didn't know they were hybrids: OC island could have been a good opportunity to explore how cultures would mix.

If a dragon gets revealed to be a hybrid now I just go "eh, whatever". I think it should have been kept as something more special in this dragon world. Because, in contrast to humans, tribes have certain adaptations to live in their environment, so it makes sense that they're so prissy about mixing: wouldn't one dragon have to give up their home to raise their kid? eg if you had a sand-sea mix obv none of them could live in the other's habitat ygwim??

5. Ice cream
This isn't that deep but it's stressing me out. In book 14, Snowfall goes back home and says she's gonna eat ice cream. I thought this was so weird and I was curious how do they make ice cream?? with what?? but then I thought IceWing ice cream is probably just grated ice. Surely. But now Mulberry says they use milk. HOW??? Where are Ice Wings getting milk from???? Polar bear milk????? Where are OC island dragons getting milk from???? How are they even milking mammals with their claws??? ok

6. The ending
Power of friendship, bla bla bla, now we got a beetle-sea-leaf-rain hybrid that's gonna save the world. Can't wait to read about baby dragonets spamming all caps. But it stressed me out I hope Snowfall, Glory and Thorn are ok. Also can Kinkajou catch a break

[mimi ⭑.ᐟ [semi-ia] my new bio is greengreen !!]

FIRST OF ALL BEFORE YAPPING I NEED TO THANK TUI
so thanks so much tui for extending my comfort mg series

umber is our mc this time, and he’s got himself a prince
not sure how that will go
but interesting for sure

sora has made an appearance too
i hope she gets more star time in the new arc! she was so cute!

i also NEED some winter, kinkajou, turtle, and anemone crumbs (someone else on goodreads said this and it’s exactly what i’ve been thinking)

and i hope winter finally finds his love interest!!!! (though i’m thinking it might be lynx)

time needs to speed up
this is one of my most anticipated releases
and march 2026 is NOT COMING SOON

[Camden Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

GIVE KINKAJOU A BOOK!!!🥺

[-,’- Eclipse -,’- (totally not a nightwing) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got the book three days early (thank you, unreliable shipping) and started crying, then disappeared into it for most of the day. This was amazing and it was very interesting. I’m totally not biased because of the signed copy I got. ⭐️ 1000/5 ⭐️

⚠️ FROM THIS POINT ON THERE ARE A LOT OF SPOILERS!! ⚠️ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK DO NOT KEEP READING THIS! ⚠️ IT WILL RUIN THE BEST BOOK ON EARTH




| scroll to see review |


















PROPHECY: I would like to note that while Tui didn’t put the prophecy in the beginning of the book like normal, it is for a very good reason. It has a lot of (mega) cryptic spoilers for the book and you wouldn’t understand yet anyway. For all you super-impatient people: don’t worry, the prophecy is in the book, (you don’t have to wait for 17) but you’ll have to find it 😉

LOVE:

Umber x Mulberry: Unlike in the Poison Jungle, Umber and Mulberry’s relationship didn’t take up the entire plot. Umberry works very well and while it was plot-relevant, it was not sparkles and crinkle faces every other sentence (like Sunlow in book 13). Mulberry has so much more personality than Willow and is now one of my favorite dragons.

Platypus x Aurora: Platypus and Aurora are pretty cool. I honestly didn’t realize they were a couple until the second read when I was paying more attention. They might be more cute than Umber and Mulberry. Is their ship name Aurapus or Plataurora?

Quokka x Wollemi: Quokka and Wollemi. I don’t really care. They’re both nice enough, but not super interesting.

Sora x Dugong: Okay, now onto Sora and Dugong. No. Why? Why would Tui do this? It’s like, “Hey, Sora! Here’s this random dude. You half like each other? Great! Now commit to a life with a watered down version of Clay.” They definitely cannot pull off the “love at first sight” thing as well as Mulberry and Umber.

CHILD ABUSE: BERYL! HOLY CHILD ABUSE!! You manipulated your son. You drugged your son. You fricking CHAINED HIM UP IN YOUR BEDROOM BECAUSE THAT’S HOW PARANOID AND CONTROLLING YOU ARE!! ARGH AT YOU!

RANDOM THINGS: WildWings are a cool concept because really, what do you call a dragon that has hybrid blood going back generations? Imagine a dragon saying “Hey guys I’m a Sand/Leaf/Sea/Mud/Ice/Hive/Sky/Night/Beetle/Rain/Silk hybrid! Oh, and also my first cousin twice removed is a scavenger. Try to get that right because I’ll be super offended if you leave out a tribe.”
Dragonspeak is pretty cool and I wonder if it’s that way because of something in Mulberry’s NightWing blood.
SHARPWINGS ARE SO AWESOME I WANT A LITTLE SWARM OF THEM TO HANG OUT IN MY ROOM!!
And Platypus. The best. No further explanation needed.

CLIFFHANGERS (why do cliffhangers need an entire section, you ask?): Oh my goodness, I cannot even begin to process the cliffhangers. There is not one. There are not two. There are not three or four. There are not five, nor are there six. For this book, there are seven. Seven. Fricking. Cliffhangers. I am dead serious. Can someone comment when 17 is coming out whenever Tui announces it? I’m dying.

So. About the queens. I don’t really get it. If this takes place immediately after Umber and Sora leave Jade Mountain, and they spend… a month or two (right?) in the Dungeon Isle, how can the queens disappear? I mean, the last we saw of them or any Pyrrhian dragon was in books 14 and 15 and no one mentioned all the queens randomly going on a girls trip. Did the events of 16 happen after that?

(And what’s this I hear about arc 4 being a trilogy? Really? Just saw someone else mention this and it kind of freaked me out.)

— oh, and to any commenters: thanks for the answer to the queens thing and anything else. i really appreciate it 😁 —

-+-+-+-+-+-PREREAD-+-+-+-+-+-

pre-read (wanted my actual review to be at the top): I’ve been intensely researching the possibility of a TV show and the fourth arc so when I saw this I was so so so so happy. Apparently they’re gonna introduce Beryl (from Scarlet’s murder list in A Guide to the Dragon World) so yay! Also maybe we’ll see who Umber ends up with and if his crush on Qibli is explained at all FOURTH ARC WHOOOOOOOOOOOO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Update: the description came out and HOLY CRAP YESSS

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

idc how old i am, i will never not read the newest wings of fire

[dora ♡]

living at the bookstore until march 3, 2026
‎
(plsplspls moon crumbs turtle crumbs kinkajou crumbs plssss winter crumbs anemone crumbs 🙏🙏 i just want to see them again even just for 0.0001 second)

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got it early, which I was not expecting (thx Belmont Books!), so here is my review after I devoured this book as fast as possible!

(not sure why it's making me say it's an advance readers copy, it's not. just got my pre-order a day early. (It's signed too! 🥰 Sorry I'll stop rubbing it in people's faces now))

Okay so the first part of this review will be spoiler free but not all of it is, I'll warn you when you get to that part.

So if any of you were on the fence about book 16 because you didn't like arc 3 (I did but I didn't like it as much as the first two), fall over the fence. Smack into the ground. The Hybrid Prince is amazing and I love it and you should read it as soon as possible, which I recognize might take longer for people outside the US but it is WORTH IT so if you can get it, do!!

Mulberry is awesome. Umber is awesome. I love them so much. Jeez how much can I say without spoiling things...

Um, the ending is crazy. So be prepared for that. Yep.

Anyway, happy reading! And then happy scanning-internet-for-discussion-because-no-one-else-has-read-the-book-yet (which is definitely not what I'm doing. Not at all).

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!! LOOK OUT!
BUFFER (autocorrect decided buffet was better, I agree)






























UMBER:
I love Umber! He's a great POV character. Love his protectiveness of Sora, it's very MudWing of him, but it's weird that Sora isn't mentioned much throughout the second half of the book. Hope we get more of her, it would be cool to see the book through her eyes.

MULBERRY:
Oh my gosh. Mulberry. So sweet. Love him. And absolutely love him with Umber, they are perfect and officially my second-favorite ship (behind Qibli and Winter. Obviously.) I do want to know more about his dragonspeak, like how is that even possible? Something with LeafWing powers combined with NightWing powers or something??

SHARPWINGS:
Are these an official new tribe? I don't know! They are technically "alive" but I doubt they can breed or anything. There's only 25 but also they can't die? Idk. Well, this is the closest to robots we've gotten in Wings of Fire so I'll just geek out about that for now.

HARMONY (the baby not the village):
Very excited to see how this plays out, especially with the other baby (who I suspect will have a role). It reminds me of in the Book of Clearsight when Clearsight warns that they shouldn't separate those twin dragonets. I love the idea of Umber and Mulberry raising her together, excited to see more of Quokka (love the name love the dragon) and...shoot what's his name...*checks book*...Wollemi! We know like nothing about him, I want to know more about him!

BERYL:
GRRR HATE HER NO ONE MAKES MULBERRY FEEL BAD ABOUT HIMSELF!!!
Anyway I just wish we had some motivation or something other than power. Like why is she so horrible? She has a wonderful amazing fantastic son!

CURRENT EVENTS:
Without getting TOO political, it's interesting how Tui very much hints at current things happening in the US. How Beryl loses the election and throws a fit about it. The banned books, the "we don't talk about that"...hmm. How every dragon is an individual person with their own desires and feelings, and we shouldn't lump them together, even if we don't agree with them. Very interesting.

SNAKEROOT:
Me being confused half the time because "how can a LeafWing keep giving prophecies" it sort of broke my brain. Anyway so does he not know he's half NightWing? Did I miss something?? If he didn't know it must have been pretty hard to have all these visions and have no idea why (although you'd think he'd figure it out honestly).

ROYAL:
I actually quite like Royal and want to see more of him, a Winglet would be cool.

DUGONG AND SORA:
??? I'm on Platypus's side, where did that come from? I don't see it.

SORA:
I know it was pretty controversial in fan communities that book 16 would be about Umber and Sora; I was very curious to see how Tui would handle Sora and her guilt and illness. It seemed from the first part that we actually would get quite a lot of Sora but honestly there was not that much of her. It seems like Aurora's music really helped her (btw we need that set to music please Tui, get on that!) but I'm sure that can't be all that happened; I would love to see it from her side.

QUEENS:
Where did the queens go what the heck?? I thought it was very much a Blip situation until the second one was also a queen.
and KINKAJOU NO WHYYYY WHAT HAPPENED??
(as devastated as I am I can't help but find it funny how fans on the internet are like "why did Kinkajou disappear too??" because we can all identify her by the description "that noisy little RainWing", although it was confirmed later I bet we all knew who it was from that line...)
I am super excited to see what happens there, and not only because it might possibly involve Qibli? After all, Thorn disappeared! Qibli and Smolder will freak out! (me definitely not literally squealing when I saw Smolder's name in the epilogue)

PROPHECY:
Honestly I don't know what to think of the prophecy. I will need to go hide in my book cave with a copy of the prophecy, pen, and highlighter and Clearsight the heck out of this prophecy. But here's what I've got so far:

"Dragons lost and long forgotten/Abandoned in the sunlit isle" obviously refers to the dragons in the Court of Refuge. "Ruled by power and betrayal" is Beryl and Snakeroot. Not sure what the "ancient trial" is though...reminds me of the Diamond Trial.

"Lines of blood" probably means the Memory Room, since you have to spill your blood to view your ancestor's memories (so many questions about that--is each drop a generation back? how does it decide which branch of your family tree to go down? how does it know what memory to do?). "Danger threatens from the past" does sound like the eggs, as speculated in the book. Maybe the egg that hasn't hatched? I know Sora's gotten a bit better but was it really the best idea to leave the egg with her? Plus now it's stolen who knows what will happen to it.

Don't know what "when the claws are at his throat" refers to, all I know is I don't want anyone clawing at Mulberry! He's so sweet! Anyway sorry.

"Who saves the queens"--the queens who vanished, obviously. "Which of them is friend or foe?" worries me, I'm expecting a traitor or something. "The smallest claws" could mean Harmony or the other dragonet. "To right a wrong from long ago" could mean the entire Court of Refuge (aka prison) thing, since Harmony and the other dragonet are the only ones who can undo that.

The last stanza is the most interesting to me. What's trapped inside that shouldn't be released? Is it the dragon that stole the other egg? I don't know!

OVERALL:
Definitely five stars. I can't wait for Book 17! (who is the POV is it Mulberry I hope it's Mulberry!) Hope you enjoyed my long ramble. Happy reading!

ATIA'S QUESTIONS:
1. I am almost certain that Monarch is Queen Monarch, yes. Did a double-take when I first saw her because somehow I had assumed she was dead, but I can't imagine Tui would include a dragon named Monarch who says the line (paraphrasing) "I have a history of losing kingdoms" without making it the queen.
2. Is the trial raising children? Maybe, haha! I had imagined it to be something like the Diamond Trial, but that would be fitting.
3. Is the cold egg part IceWing? That is a very interesting idea, I hadn't thought of that. Let me sit on that for a while :)

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

gah I hate to say it but this was a low point for the series. Even worse than The Flames of Hope. And it's not even close, my friends.

The Hybrid Prince features:

* A bizarre world that fails to cohere there's promise in the various elements of The Court of Refuge, like the idea of an ever-changing castle that tries to bend to everyone's whim, or these tiny prison guards who've been around for like a thousand years, but none of it comes together in the same way that, say, the SeaWing palaces did. It feels like (it hurts to say) fanfiction of Wings of Fire, like a very eager nine-year-old got ahold of Sutherland's Word doc and just started banging out all their favorite tropes without any consideration for the book's atmosphere. It just... doesn't work. Giant tree, but metal guards, beautiful gardens, but deserts, no tribe culture, but recent exiles...
* Interpersonal stakes whose inconsequentiality is rivaled only by the villain's cartoonishness God. Beryl is just such a nothing burger of a character. And the fact that Mulberry and Umber get along IMMEDIATELY, and nothing ever comes in between them, and their relationship is that dull, blushy, omg he likes me right omg omg, is just... :( And then every other relationship is exactly the same in the whole book, and there are so many relationships dear god. There are two modes: Adult Relationship (tender, supportive) and Kid Relationship (blushies owo I hope they like me). I wanted silly little gay dragon book to be fun and entertaining and full of lovable characters, but it really felt like Sutherland phoned in this one.
* dude Sora lmao Okay YES war is evil, YES PTSD is terrible, but guys, SORA KILLED LIKE TWO DRAGONS. WITH A BOMB. AND SHE'D DO IT AGAIN. I thought a lot of this story would be focused on Umber's unwavering dedication to Sora, while she has to mentally grapple with everything she's done and also the war, confronted by dragons who are always at least a little afraid of her. If Sutherland had leaned more into the absurd atmosphere of a changing castle, I think this could've been an absolutely insane book---a changing castle that's now responding to the mind of someone who is deeply, deeply disturbed? Sign me up. There's 100% a way you could deal with these themes in a children's book subtly and with tact. But instead, Sora's just instantly forgiven, no one ever worries about her, and Umber runs off with the prince.
* world-ending threats, again Sutherland needs to trust in the world that's already there, and if she thinks it's been expended, then she needs to move onto something new, unfortunately. It's clear now that she's going to try and tack on something completely new to every arc---an evil entity that's been asleep in a mountain, a continent, a magical island full of exiles---with world-ending stakes, but she doesn't need to do this. If she'd write even just an arc at Jade Mountain, uninterrupted, her readers would find that interesting---everyone loves the magical school trope. She needs to go the route of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Scale down, for the love of God.

There is nothing redeemable about this book. It wavers between mediocre and bad with nothing interesting, no cool plot twists, no moments that made me sit up a little straighter, or go, "Ooo, I wonder..."

(don't you love how everything seems to get a little bit worse, all the time? Am I overreacting??? Maybe a little bit, but boy am I tired.)

And hey, to that person who wrote a review that "it's not that serious," it is in fact that serious. I could write a whole paper on why it's that serious. On the basis of art alone (yes, kids books are "art"), it's genuinely sad to see a series that was charming, high-stakes, well-written, beautifully built up, turn into this. It's not like WoF started as the kind of series that you'd read with gradually widening eyes, disbelieving laughter coming from you in little short bursts as you have to close the book and look away for a moment, because did that seriously happen, did the the train fail to leave the station and still somehow got into a wreck?

Kids deserve to read well-written books---thoughtful books, books that are interesting for them, books filled with complex characters who make them think about the world in new ways. Saying that it is "not that serious" is just waving a white flag, thinking it's a license to have a bad opinion.

It breaks my heart to do this but boy this was the unenjoyable kind of bad

1/5 stars

[livi]

OH MY GODDDD shut up this was my favorite in middle school i need to read this for the nostalgia

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, let me say that I don't think this book is the worst thing ever. In fact, there are some interesting aspects of this story. For one, the prison island itself is an interesting concept. The island has some cool ideas. The main castle is kind of neat and the opera area is nice. The flashbacks to the past are somewhat nice too. This is where my praise ends unfortunately.

My main issue with this story is the insane amount of characters. There are so many named characters and they all have pretty shallow personalities/depth. Umber isn't particularly interesting as a protagonist. There are some moments where I thought he would get some more depth, him worrying about protecting Sora despite not being a bigwings himself, him dealing with his sister's PTSD. But ultimately, it goes nowhere. Sora is also another disappointment. The first few chapters with her were pretty good, but then she just sort of... disappears entirely from the narrative. There isn't really a conclusion to her arc. She just sort of... gets better. It would've been interesting to see her have some conflict with the sudden new area or how she is hesitant to interact with other dragons as she is a very shy character. But we really don't get any of that. Mulberry had potential, but yet again, he just isn't a very compelling character. The conflict with his parents and Umber isn't developed enough to feel earned. He just stands up to them without a fight. It would've been very nice to see some internal conflict there. But, there's really nothing again.

Now let's talk about Beryl. Honestly, she might just be the most nothingburger villain in the entire series. She does literally nothing the entire story. She isn't even threatening. She's just evil... just because. She doesn't do anything evil. She just feels like a far worse version of Scarlet, an actual, you know, villain. Snakeroot was sort of interesting, but I feel his entire character is sort of pointless after the prophecy. Not only do we get one NightWing hybrid with powers, we get two. I feel the entire existence of these characters makes Moon... redundant. Moon was special because she was the only NightWing with powers in thousands of years. The entire point of her character arc was overcoming her fear of her powers and learning to trust herself and now... here are two other NightWings with powers. It just feels very cheap. I did think Crescent could've been interesting, if she had more than three lines. That's the problem when you have a bloated cast. At first, Platypus was a funny character. And then she just yells, and yells, and yells, and yells. By the end of the story, I was just tired of her altogether. I don't really feel any of the characters' arcs are earned by the end because we spend so little time with any character.

The romance. The romance is typical WoF romance. Instant love with not really any depth along with the constant reminder that Umber likes Mulberry. I really don't understand why Tui feels the need to constantly remind us in every romance she writes that this character likes this other character instead of just using subtext. She beats you over the head over and over with it. It was kind of humorous how fast nearly every single supporting character got conveniently paired off by the end. It sort of just feels like Tui pandering to the fanfiction side of the fanbase with the constant shipping and pairing.

The plot. The story has almost no stakes. No one ever truly feels in danger because you know deep down that no one is going to die. Compare to book 1 where the ending was a massive shock to me personally. Kestrel's death made the entire arc dangerous. In book 5, where Clay nearly dies, you truly think he could die. Here, the "climax" where Umber and the others overthrow Beryl, just made me yawn. When Mulberry got a knife to his throat, I rolled my eyes. There weren't really any interesting plot twists or developments throughout the story. The reveal that Mulberry was a distant descendant of the two queens is kind of hilarious in a way. Why would they even have that as an enchantment? Another thing. Why is nearly every single queen throughout the entire history of Pyrrhia evil? It gets incredibly repetitive with the evil queens. Also animus magic seems to get retconned? Sora states that spells can be broken by breaking the object it was cast on. This is just not true. If this isn't a retcon, then what's even the point of having this in the story? Maybe it'll be explained in future books but at this point, I'm finding it hard to have a reason to continue with the series.

The epilogue is kind of interesting, but then again, we know that nothing bad is really going to happen, so what's the point? At this point, I personally feel the series should probably just end as there isn't really anything of value being added. We get yet again, another lost island with new tribes that feels even more disconnected from Pyrrhia than Pantala did. And Tui not knowing how many books this arc is going to be is a massive red flag. Like others have pointed out, this book really does feel like a fanfiction with the numerous hybrids and powers.

I know this review makes it seem like I hate this book, and while it's not good, I wouldn't say it's the worst thing ever made like I said. There are some cool things here that unfortunately, aren't explored enough. I might read the next few, but I don't really consider myself "waiting" for the next one.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been invested in the Wings of Fire world for a LONG while and it’s high time I write a review. SPOILERS to come.

The substance of this book was less about what was really happening and more about what has happened and what’s to come. The present events weren’t very exciting, but I have hope for the rest of this arc.

FIRST OFF: I’m really surprised that Tui is still making these. The end of book fifteen was so happily ever after that I thought she would pivot to a new creative project. The first and second arc were really good. The third, not so much. In fact, book 15 may be my least favorite in the whole series. The OG continent is SO much more interesting than Pantala. A return to my favorite tribes and characters felt exciting until there’s even more uncharted land and secret tribes and curses or magic. I honestly would’ve preferred a new conflict with our original beloved characters because the ones in this book were rather weak. 1. The names in this book were AWFUL (this is a sign that she’s running out of creative fuel) 2. The tangible content felt small in light of Darkstalker, The Breath of Evil, the three SandWing queens, Queen Scarlet, and most of other minor villains. 3. The cover is hideous and Umber isn’t actually that interesting after all.

Tui didn’t leave us with nothing though. We have an old animus curse and a secret counsel of dragons from long ago. We discovered that the Pantalan dragons used to live on the main continent (how did everyone forget?), and that the SkyWings once had an animus. Okay, so how does this tie into the history that we already know? This feels like it could clash with the narratives we’ve had because we have Darkstalker and the views of the happenings two thousand years ago, and I hope Tui can make the history line up the way it’s supposed to. Also, Jerboa’s story didn’t allude to any of this either. Just a few concerns I have.

Let’s get into what this book was about that didn’t revolve around the past. There’s tyrants on the throne whole rule over the Court of Refuge that used to be an animus prison, so no one can ever leave. But my question is, why didn’t anyone just knock them off the throne. This king and queen felt WEAK compared to a Burn or a Queen Scarlet. What were we thinking with these characters? Umber’s internal dialogue is uninteresting and the romance is awful because it feels like Kinkajou and Fatespeaker mutating their inner dialogue and personalities to be sappy and sentimental in excess. Actually, both Kinkajou and Fatespeaker are much more interesting in general.

The whole animus prison idea is smart, but a bit unstable. The spellcasting is odd in comparison to what we’ve seen and even what the IceWings did ages ago. This SkyWing animus needs to be schooled by the OG Jerboa because she kept adding weird contingencies as if Animus magic isn’t absolute after all. We all know a spell doesn’t have to be tied to an object permanently.

Another thing, everyone else’s knowledge of everything felt odd because they’re missing out on Darkstalker and The Breath of Evil. I hope this arc tells us more about the BeetleWing and LeafWing exodus, and how the Breath of Evil came to be. The third arc made it sound like it was RainWings who journeyed over there (because of Queen Hibiscus?) and I thought they mutated into SilkWings or whatever but I guess not. It feels like Tui is gonna try to make this much bigger than everything that’s happened before, but she’s risking inconsistencies regarding the narrative. Fathom’s tale told us about the ancient boat diagrams found in the old SeaWing scrolls (Queen Dolphin?) and I wonder if that’s how the two tribes made it to Pantala, and why the diagrams have faded. There seems to be a LOT of convenient forgetfulness is all I’ll say. I just hope Jerboa’s spell is ensuring that there’s no secret animus in The Court of Refuge because her spell seemed to be pretty bulletproof. Also, we know for a FACT that Pantalan dragons do not have Animus magic. My loophole is that the power can still be transferred genetically because she said “all the dragons alive today” in her spell so she shattered their POWER but not the ability to pass it down? So Sunny needs a man, and let’s get Turtle and Kinkajou locked in.

Lastly, please brings us back to Pyrrhia! My favorite parts of this book were discovering that Ruby has a husband and the epilogue. I was all “all done with the messy history and boring Court of Refuge and back to the good stuff!” Tui needs to know that the characters like The five dragonets, Moon, Quibli, Riptide, Deathbringer, Snowfall, Jerboa, Thorn, Peril, and other Pyrrhia dragons are the best she’s ever made and let’s include them in this arc please. Book 14 was easily the best of the third arc because Pyrrhia is perfect the way it is and its characters are absolutely wonderful! Don’t smear it please and let’s diminish this Court of Refuge idea (for the most part) and redirect the plane! I hope she takes this to a more interesting place, she has the secrets and lies lined up for a good fourth arc, but can she execute it as good as the first two arcs where almost everything coalesced and aligned perfectly?

P.S. We do need to have a conversation about Hybrids in general because as much as everyone should be with who they want or whatever, we can’t have that because we’d lose the tribes and who would live in what territory and who would be queen over who? There’s so many Hybrid combinations and it’ll turn into anarchy eventually if everyone keeps interbreeding. It’s not prejudiced, just a thoughtful hot take that isn’t puppies and rainbows.

[Dick Winters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't say this often, but this book needed to be longer. The events feel like they were originally intended to comprise an entire arc, not just one book. As a result, what is here feels rushed, half-measure and unfocused. There's too much and yet, simultaneously, not enough.

It isn’t bad, but it pales beside the earlier entries. The book opens strong (as is the Scholastic wont,) but quickly loses steam and becomes scattered. Characters are left hazy and undefined. The world is more of a backdrop than an actual living, breathing world.

The introduction had me hooked. Right out the gate we have the habitual scheming of a NightWing and the talk of genocide, brilliant! And afterwards, a traumatised dragon tethered to our protagonist, conversing with mandrills, while he doubts her fraying sanity. What! There's krakens in the waters and ghosts in the halls, and whats with those tiny orwellian automatons? Fantastic!

But, as previously alluded, these plot points and secrets aren't given time enough to steep or the attention and resulting satisfaction they deserve. The kraken, the "ghost", the SharpWings, Sora's mental state, the barrier, Mulberry's special ability — they’re all presented and resolved in the span of a couple chapters. The reader is given no time or experience long enough to truly wonder on the mysteries of the island. And the truths are unfortunately unsatisfying. The book is unfocused. Or rather, it's focus is misplaced and scattered.

Most of the plot is witnessed rather than directly experienced (see: Book 15) via the aptly named "Memory Room"; little convenient snippets of the past, resolved diegetically by the holy grail of asspulls: animus magic. It's all plotting and perfidy. Nothing interesting occurs that has any effect on the story beyond who did what, besides a little look into Mulberry's origins — which was a thrilling surprise.

And yet, even though we actively SEE into most of the side characters' memories (Mulberry, Platypus and Quokka), I still don't feel like I know them any better than when they were first introduced. I know more ABOUT them, but not more of WHO they are. They aren't given time to truly nestle themselves in the reader's mind. They just exist. Loosely defined, or rehashes of characters we've seen prior; which detracts massively in a series focused on it's characters. They're all one note. Trite and uninteresting. And this goes for our main characters too.

Umber’s growth is all about finding autonomy and questioning authority. But his character is hazy both before and after that his growth can hardly be felt. His only defining features beyond his wanting autonomy are that he’s kind, loves his siblings and is gay. There’s a moment where, from his experience in the war, he switches into a savage — taking down three dragons on his own — which brings the Queen to appoint him as her battlemaster. And this left a lasting impression on me. You get the feeling he's harbouring some deep-seated killer's energy. But it’s never brought up again, nor is anything done with it in terms of his character. It's just a one and done; a pit stop, like most of the book's events. He lacks definition and a strong introspective voice. He’s a weak character. I don’t get a strong, individual sense of what he wants. Self-assurance? Loving your siblings is quite universal.

Sora is just as much a non-entity, serving only as a tether to Umber in bringing him to the island. Her PTSD (?) is resolved surprisingly quickly given how much attention it had in the opening chapters, and she quickly fades into the background. Nothing happens in regards to her until the ending. She’s a means to an end. Judging by the ending however, I get the impression her hour in the limelight is yet to come, so I’ll forgive the book for this.

As an aside, there’s so many incongruous callbacks within the book that at times it feels like Tui is riding her own coattails. Umber can’t go five minutes without mentioning one of the characters from whose book I’d rather be reading. It feels like blatant fanservice. Especially with the reappearance of a certain thrilling character and the good old “magical death spit”. She’s writing what she thinks her fanbase would want to read and it shows. The flagrant signs of the beginnings of a writer’s downfall.

To Mulberry. He has a similar growth to Umber in finding autonomy and rejecting authority, this time with Tui’s favourite dynamic: child and parent. But again, his personality is just weak and hazy. He’s kind, and doesn’t like upsetting others to the point where he himself suffers. But he has no character. You don’t get a true sense of what he wants, likes or fears. I don’t feel like I know him any better than when I first saw him on the back cover. His “dragonspeak” is kept (perhaps intentionally, in service of his inevitable book) under wraps, and very rarely is it used that it may as well not exist. We don’t get enough time with him. It’s a shame.

Platypus and Quokka fair somewhere better, even if they are rehashes of characters we’ve already seen before (Sundew and Cricket, respectively). I liked them. I also really liked Aurora and Borealis, Snakeroot too. But all these characters are given very little screentime and very little satisfaction in their appearances. The rest I can hardly remember. Beryl has an interesting history but little else going for her. She’s just a weaker Scarlet who kills through coddling and control, but never does she seem like an actual threat. Snakeroot does. But again, his appearances are minimal and indecisive. Like everything else in this book, they needed more time to stretch their wings, so to speak. They're present, but I don't feel like they're really here. I was kept in perpetual waiting for a decisive bit of character that never came.

I still came to like them all. There wasn't a single character I actively disliked. But I can’t shake the feeling I could’ve liked them better were they better defined. And that’s the sole thing this book lacks: definition. The pieces are all there, but It’s hard to fit them together through a pane of frosted glass.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed it. It made me feel good. I never felt like I was forcing myself to read it and am pleasantly anticipating the following books. That’s the only measure of a writing’s worth, right?

[-,’- Eclipse -,’- (totally not a nightwing) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got the book three days early and started crying, then disappeared into it for most of the day. This was amazing and it was very interesting. ⭐️ 1000/5 ⭐️

PROPHECY: I would like to note that while Tui didn’t put the prophecy in the beginning of the book like normal, it is for a very good reason. It has a lot of (mega) cryptic spoilers for the book and you wouldn’t understand yet anyway. For all you super-impatient people: don’t worry, the prophecy is in the book, (you don’t have to wait for 17) but you’ll have to find it 😉

LOVE: Unlike in the Poison Jungle, Umber and Mulberry’s relationship didn’t take up the entire plot. Umberry works very well and while it was plot-relevant, it was not sparkles and crinkle faces every other sentence (like Sunlow in book 13). Mulberry has so much more personality than Willow and is now one of my favorite dragons.
Okay, now onto Sora and Dugong. No. Why? Why would Tui do this? It’s like, “Hey, Sora! Here’s this random dude. You half like each other? Great! Now commit to a life with a watered down version of Clay.” They definitely cannot pull off the “love at first sight” thing as well as Mulberry and Umber.

RANDOM THINGS: WildWings are a cool concept because really, what do you call a dragon that has hybrid blood going back generations? Imagine a dragon saying “Hey guys I’m a Sand/Leaf/Sea/Mud/Ice/Hive/Sky/Night/Beetle/Rain/Silk hybrid! Oh, and also my first cousin twice removed is a scavenger. Try to get that right because I’ll be super offended if you leave out a tribe.”
Dragonspeak is pretty cool and I wonder if it’s that way because of something in Mulberry’s NightWing blood.
SHARPWINGS ARE SO AWESOME I WANT A LITTLE SWARM OF THEM TO HANG OUT IN MY ROOM!!
And Platypus. The best. No further explanation needed.

CLIFFHANGERS (why do cliffhangers need an entire section, you ask?): Oh my goodness, I cannot even begin to process the cliffhangers. There is not one. There are not two. There are not three or four. There are not five, nor are there six. For this book, there are seven. Seven. Fricking. Cliffhangers. I am dead serious. Can someone comment when 17 is coming out whenever Tui announces it? I’m dying.

(And what’s this I hear about arc 4 being a trilogy? Really? Just saw someone else mention this and it kind of freaked me out.)

-+-+-+-+-+-PREREAD-+-+-+-+-+-

pre-read (wanted my actual review to be at the top): I’ve been intensely researching the possibility of a TV show and the fourth arc so when I saw this I was so so so so happy. Apparently they’re gonna introduce Beryl (from Scarlet’s murder list in A Guide to the Dragon World) so yay! Also maybe we’ll see who Umber ends up with and if his crush on Qibli is explained at all FOURTH ARC WHOOOOOOOOOOOO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Update: the description came out and HOLY CRAP YESSS

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to time travel to get this early. It's doing good so far. "I'm at page 30." I just finished the book and it is amazing. I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to the rest of the books, but even if this arc only has three books it fits right in and I can't wait for the next one. I have high hopes for the rest of this arc "Especially the book after this." and I am optimistic for future developments.

[Anious · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a long while since we've had a new Wings of Fire book. Tui hasn't landed a single satisfying ending for an arc so far, but she was always able to sell me her new storyline with the promises of fun characters, fresh storylines and a mystery or two.

Not this time.

Let's start with characters. Umber and Sora return from the conclusion of book 6. Umber himself wasn't ever an interesting character, but Sora has a lot of going for her. Still suffering from horrors of war, trying to get the revenge for her sibling and suffering with debilitating PTSD. There is a lot of potential here that could go in a number of interesting directions.

Unfortunately, it all goes to waste. Umber remains a bland character that Tui had clearly no idea what to do with. I'll be honest and acknowledge that there was one moment where it seemed that there's something more to Umber that it appears, but alas, it's a brief single scene that doesn't change the totality of his character. The other part of Umber's character is his romance with Mulberry. It's without the doubt, the worst romance the series had so far and none of them have been good in the first place. They immediately fall in love with each other at the first sight... And that's basically it. It doesn't develop anywhere, it isn't explored in any way, it doesn't even intersect in any interesting ways with who their characters are (probably because their characters are so uninteresting in the first place)!

Mulberry has the exact same issues. He's boring and without interesting personality or even standout traits. There's a bit more to him, because at least he's got a fancy power, that isn't actively explored. He doesn't actually do all that much in a book and is off-screen for a major chunk of it. Even when he does show up, a lot of times it's the one same exact scene repeated - of him being swarmed by a horde of fawning dragons. I'm honestly baffled how many times it happens. Instead of you know, trying to progress his character.

Sora's the worst case by far. I was hooked up by her storyline, only for it to abruptly end very early into the story. She's very clearly just used as an excuse to get to the new place and once that is achieved, she's discarded and becomes a meaningless background character.

Platypus is probably the most interesting of the new characters. She's the archetype that Tui uses often, a rebellious youngster who's angry and tries to defeat the evil regime with the power of yelling with all-caps. So she's hardly fresh, but is very refreshing in the context of this book where so many other characters are just nobodies.

And there are so many characters. None of them are introduced well, so they all end up blending into this mass of 'meaningless minor character'. They are also all mostly WildWings, which is a new 'tribe' of very mixed dragon hybrids. This makes them somewhat unique with appearance, but that lack of secondary identifying maker makes it even hard to keep track of them. And really, what's the point of so many characters when we really don't get to know anyone well?

This is actually a major plot issue as well, because the climax is Umber using his close knowledge of other dragons to turn the opinions against the tyrants. This would be a cool idea! Unfortunately it doesn't work because we never see Umber establishing these connections, so it feels completely random and unearned. You can't make the book about the power of friendship when the friendships happen entirely off-screen.

Enough of the characters. I have to admit that I do like the magical dragon Australia. The new place is interesting in a way that I wasn't expecting it to be. There are some fun mysteries involved, I just wish the book let them simmer a bit instead of rushing from one explanation to another. Probably the biggest victim of the book being a standalone-ish prequel first book. Also, SharpWings are cool.

The other big problem I have is Memory Room. The moment I saw it mentioned, I couldn't help but sigh. By itself, it's not really the worst plot device, yet another magic tool used to see the past. But it's the third book in a row in which Tui relies on it to drive the story forward and explain what really happened and what is going on. Really Tui? You can't figure out any other way to organically push the story forward? Many flashbacks don't help the book with focus, they take significant chunks of the book, which already barely had any breathing room. And really, the backstory of the place is more important than the ongoing events with Umber, which makes his story even more irrelevant.

There are a lot more problems with the books, but it really just feels half-baked. A very disappointing start to a series and I'm worried it's only going to get worse in the next instalments. Still a quick read but devoid of appeal. 4/10

[Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...mid.

What the heck has happened to this series? I've loved it since I was 10 - now we have gay couples, new dragon species, characters who, when they speak, speak in ALL CAPITALS LIKE THIS, LIKE THEY'RE TRYING TO SCREAM THROUGH THE PAGES!!!!! and baby dragons being added for no reason.

Tui, I understand you're trying to world-build but...this series has lowkey gone downhill since book 11. I know baby dragons are cute, but that's not what arcs 1 and 2 thrived upon (peak arcs btw). Plus, where are the brutal deaths? We should be getting tons of dragons getting bloodeagled or utterly destroyed. Supposedly people are getting more sensitive, but then, why read this then? Just mark the series for teenagers, from the start! Alternatively, Tui, you have learned about audience, yes? The problem is that people have grown up since the series debut, but the author has grown down. This is not good for series success, and I am wondering if I still want to read the other 4 books in the arc (Tui has said this will only be a trilogy - honestly Tui, go play Sprunki Phase 9 GGTP, get tons of inspiration from it, then kill a character. I will not be disappointed).

It's an ironic book to be honest - I love how it says on the blurb "umber was never meant to be a hero" and then I read the book and I'm like Omg yeah ur right he sucks as a protagonist. HE DOES.

Plus, what was that ending? it was so mid - the villains literally just go to jail. (and, based on the epilogue end up escaping after 6 months or whatever).

They also butchered Blob :( bro did not deserve this fate.

BAN PLATYPUS BTW SHE'S THE REASON I'M TALKING LIKE THIS - BECAUSE I HATE THAT CHARACTER SHE SHOULD BE BURNED (no, hung - then get disembowled, and stabbed 4 times by various weapons - oops I'm talking about Phase 9 GGTP Gray)

[Ritika Kalaskar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so chock full of dumb-assery I don't even know where to start. I know that this is still a kids book, but that's really no excuse for the quality to dip so much since the beginning of this iconic series.

First of all, the characters. There are so many characters in this book and I didn't feel a single emotion for one of them. Notable annoyances include Taylor Swift dragon, who heals PTSD instantly with the power of her sick beats; Draco Malfoy dragon, who thinks that switching to the evil side last minute would actually make a difference when the audience doesn't even remember your name; and Mommy issue and Daddy issue dragons, who are supposed to be some sort of allegory for Trump?

But the worst dragon this book had to offer was Mulberry, the Hybrid Prince. Take one look at him and tell me he doesn't reek of OC energy. Apparently he is a LeafWing-NightWing-SkyWing hybrid with daddy issues and mommy issues who can command any living creature and is the descendant of two royal queens of different tribes. If only Tui put that much effort into giving him a personality, since he reads like a piece of wet cardboard.

It truly is a shame that this book that was supposed to have the 'first male gay protagonist of Wings of Fire' had the dullest, most dry romance, with them seeing each other like 3 times the whole book and still instantly falling in love and going to co-parent an egg which is every tribe mixed together.

I wouldn't waste my time to describe all the useless sidequests of this book because that would take a whole extra review to cover. Anyways, I'm going back to pretending this series had only 15 books and yes Quinter for life

[Brad Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My oldest and I have listened to or read all the previous WoF books together, and this is the first one we read separately. It feels fitting that this evolution happens at the start of a new story arc.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the books of this series. The plot of The Hybrid Prince is fast and engaging, and the location is a fun expansion of the world. Sutherland definitely has certain archetypes for her dragons, so the characterization felt redundant with other books at times. Overall a good addition to one of my favorite children’s series.

[goldrey]

so i read this purely for nostalgic value so i dont feel justified giving it a rating. because i thoroughly enjoyed it and it was TERRIBLE.

its so funny to me that theres one person in the reviews raving about how bad this book is and making SOME totally valid points about it (minus the blatant homophobia), but forgetting one thing: it is NOT that serious. its not that serious. this is the SIXTEENTH book in a KIDS book series which has gotten progressively dumber and more convoluted with every new book thats come out. its awesome.

some things i wanted to say:
- umber was actually a fire mc for this book he has a unique personality and i like that the author still included the effects of the war in his character, because yeah we did not forget that him and his siblings were child soldiers
- i wish sora got more development than "i was saved by the power of music" because while thats sweet and all she literally killed 3 people
- umber and mulberry become teen dads
- fallen victim again to the angry revolutionary x calm but also revolutionary dragon yuri
- none of the new characters except for mulberry, quokka, and, surprisingly, dugong were that endearing to me
- are we gonna get any elaboration on the actual culture of the island (aside from aurora) or... because to me it just felt extremely cult-y to me. like what do you guys actually DO.
- the epilogue was so good i was actually gagged by the cliffhanger (i know the new enemy is gonna be some BULLSHIT though)
- where are the non binary dragons
- i find it really funny that like the island was supposed to be this crazy thing where theres hybrids and outcasts but theres already like 3 other cities in pyhrria like that

like it sucked but it was so fun. you will catch me reading the next one, whenever it comes out.

[Corey]

I liked it Umber and Mulberry were very cute and I was happy to be able to read this book early via Barnes & Noble. This arc seems like it’s going to be very interesting and I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I have! I have been reading Wings Of Fire since I was a teenager and it never gets old! My only main complaint is the use of “Paua” instead of “Pāua” which is the proper spelling of word used by the Māori people with an accent over the a which is a macron

[natalie scatorccio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a pretty weak start to Arc 4 but I will continue reading. I’m hoping for a Mulberry POV next 😋

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness!! This book is really good! The ending is insane and I can’t wait for book two and three to come out!

[Nelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tui T. Sutherland ilysm
EXCEPT I ALSO HATE YOU BCAUSE THAT CLIFFHANGER WAS SO EVIL

[Shiva ⋆｡°✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I sixteen reading a book meant for elementary schoolers? Yes.

Will I still be reading every new book in the series even when I'm a grown adult? Also yes.

Wings of Fire is the childhood book series that I still re-read to this day. This is quite literally my ultimate comfort series, so I was incredibly hyped when a new book was coming out. But I do feel like this one was a bit of letdown.

I think my biggest issue with this series is the quality of the writing has gone down so much. Now I know: this series is geared to a younger audience. HOWEVER the beauty in this series for me is it's maturity, even as a children's book. It maintains a perfect balance of being middle-grade appropriate while also staying mature and dealing with complicated themes, and the humor is more natural. But this is the first book I've read in this series that genuinely feels like it's geared to third graders and had me cringing. The dialogue and the constant jokes felt terrible, and made it physically hard for me to stick with it.

I also think Tui is starting to reuse her characters personalities. Platypus felt like a carbon copy of Kinkajou, Mulberry felt like a reused version of Moon and Quokka felt like another Cricket. There is nothing original about the new characters. They feel like reused versions of older ones.

Now onto Mulberry and Umber: They were cute, but I hated the instant infatuation with each other. I would have loved a slower burn or buildup.

The actual plot itself felt silly. Every problem solved itself to easily making the stakes feel low. The ending literally just being them using the power of friendship and locking the bad guys away, the also the constant addition of new tribes and hybrids and what not. While I loved the Pantala arc I really wish Tui would step away from constantly adding new dragons and tribes and continents and instead build off the already very cool lore she's already established.

I think my final complaint is how humanized the dragons are starting to feel. Concerts? Ice Cream? I really hate how the books are starting to deviate from the medieval fantasy feel.

In all, I went through this book pretty quickly and did find parts of it interesting. But as a devout WOF enjoyer I really hope Tui reverts back to her previous style of writing and character building, and please bring back the mature feel the earlier books had. I also really hope that we can stop with the constant adding of new tribes and instead build off of what we already have.

[Melanie Prince · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bro, apparently I accidently got this book early from KMart. Like, Apparently it hasn't come out yet???? But, haha, I've read it and own it... But still, banger of a book. Umber and Mulberry are literally the two cutest little patooties ever. Literally the most wholesome book Tui T. Sutherland has written.