We looked at the first three books already, and most of them were really good so far! So let's venture into The Dark Secret and find out what secrets the NightWings have been keeping! Spoilers ahead.
Starlight has been kidnapped and taken back to the secret hideout of his species: a volcanic island away from the comforting mainland. He is introduced to the alternate dragonets that are Morrowseer plans to replace some of his friends with, and also witnesses what the RainWing venom experiments are for.
This was overall just a really strong book. I like the main character a lot, and some of the other characters too. Fatespeaker was a really enjoyable deuteragonist in this book, and I do really dig her chemistry with Starlight that isn't quite romantic yet but does hint at a possibility for more. Morrowseer is a very intimidating villain and possibly my favorite of the first arc so far, though he does die by the end of it. I didn't like Mastermind, Starlight's father, at all, though. The alternate dragonets (sans Fatespeaker) were also a huge pain.
The climax was very intense, and the reveal of queen Battlewinner was great in general. I also liked seeing the RainWings actually coming to rescue the captives and even letting the NightWings escape their hellish island rather than keeping them there to die.
One criticism I do have with this book and also the previous is that Glory's relationship with Deathbringer makes me uncomfortable. I didn't look this up before and it isn't said clearly in the text, but Deathbringer is already quite a way into his adulthood when he meets Glory, who is a teenager in dragon years. Yeah, that just makes their relationship feel really uncomfortable. If they were the same age roughly it'd be fine, but the gap and the fact that one of them is an adult and one a minor is just really unfortunate.
We also get a big reveal: the prophecy is fake. I didn't see this twist coming in the slightest when I first read it, so this hit me like a rock. Everything these dragons ever heard while being raised was fake. You just feel so bad for them.
That said, it wasn't a prominent feature in this book and I definitely appreciate so much of it. Definitely one of the strongest Wings of Fire books in the series!
Rating: 5/5
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