Wings of Fire

Wings of Fire
The Dragonet Prophecy
By Tui T. Sutherland

So I picked up this book to read because my 9 year old son started reading it. He picked it up because he loves fantasy and dragons. He zipped through the first book pretty quickly and raved about it. I also had a 6th grader who read the book and couldn't put it down either. Since I also like dragons and fantasy, I figured I'd like it too.
This book is the first in a series. It starts off in a made up island country called Pyrrhia full of dragons and a few humans (called scavengers). There are 7 different types of dragons and each has their own territory on the island. Each type of dragon has different characteristics and abilities.
The main character in this book is Clay. Clay is a Mudwing and one of the 5 dragonets (or kid dragons) of Prophecy. His cohorts are Tsunami (a Seawing), Glory (a Rainwing), Sunny (a Sandwing), and Starflight (a Nightwing). These 5 dragons are prophesied to end the war that is raging between the different dragons and bring peace.
In the beginning of the book, the dragonets' eggs are being stolen and carried to a secret place to keep them safe from those who wanted to destroy them and prevent the prophecy from being carried out. As the Skywing egg is carried off, one of the ruling queens who doesn't want the prophecy to play out, gets ahold of it and drops it off a cliff, thus killing the Skywing dragonet. This is a huge problem because the prophecy is supposed to include a Skywing, Mudwing, Seawing, Sandwing, and Nightwing. The dragons, looking to fulfill the prophecy, steal a Rainwing egg instead because they won't be able to get another Skywing. They decide to figure out the prophecy later.
Six years later, Clay and his friends are sick and tired of being cooped up in their secret hiding spot. They decide it's time for them to be out in the real world and they make a plan to escape. Things don't go according to plan, and they get captured by the Skywing queen, Queen Scarlet. She is not a nice queen, instead enjoying violence and bloodshed. In the arena outside her palace, she holds challenges between her prisoners, fights to the death. Her champion, a dragonet named Peril, is unbeatable and able to burn other dragons with just a touch. Peril finds Clay fascinating and comes to visit him often. She grows attached and tries to help him, but not his friends. She wants to keep him to herself. 
On Queen Scarlet's hatching day celebration, a mighty battle is announced, a fight that includes Clay and his friends. Clay faces Peril, to which both are devastated, but Glory comes to the rescue and helps lead an escape. They collect all their friends (except Starflight who was taken away by other Nightwings), and they head to the Mudwing territory to find Clay's parents. When they find his mother, she doesn't care about him in the least and sends him away. Clay is saddened by this, but then is approached by his siblings. They rejoice in seeing each other, but Clay leaves with his friends to continue their journey. They head off next to the Seawing territory to see if they can find Tsunami's parents next.
In the end, someone they thought they could trust is planning on betraying them and tweaking the prophecy for their own gains. 

What I liked: I really liked the different types of dragons with their different abilities. I enjoyed how the dragonets stuck together, protecting and working together even in a world where it seemed to be every dragon for their self. There were a lot of unpredictable parts within the story where I didn't know what was going to come next. It was creative and unique, and the characters were complex and flawed, but realistic and fun to follow.  The next books are by a different character's point of view, giving a clearer view into their characters too. 

What I didn't like: There wasn't anything that I didn't like out of this book.