The Dangerous Gift

After the very-okay The Hive Queen and the pretty-close-to-being-bad The Poisom Jungle, this book was actually surprisingly good!

And, strangely, I remember, just two years ago, I read this and I hated it. I remember genuinely believing that this was one of the worst Wings of Fire books I had ever read. I hated that Tui brought Wren into the main books (okay, it still bugs me a little as a pet peeve, but I can see how this unforseen expansion into scavenger stories would help to progress the plot), I didn't like that the book wasn't set in Pantala, and I didn't like Snowfall as a character.

But, after re-reading it as a junior in high school, I see now that this is actually one of the best Wings of Fire books. Here's why:

1. 1. This is one of the few books in the series to actually give a character a full, complete arc. Snowfall grows from a paranoid, insecure, distrustful young queen to a wiser, more sympathetic, more confident ruler.


2. 2. The book contains a minimal amount of filler


3. 3. The characters in the book all written as very round, developed personalities. In some books such as The Hive Queen and the The Poison Jungle, it is very clear that characters have lost depth and become flat when compared to their initial introductions or previous appearances. In this one, however, Moon, Qibli, Winter, Luna, and Jerboa are their fully-rounded charming selves, and some of them are even develoepd further.


4. 4. Snowfall is a round, dynamic character with a well-developed arc and personality (discussed in number 1)


5. 5. The book actually moves the plot forward and builds up anticipation. This book is the start of the arc's premise: “face a great evil with talons united, or none of the tribes will survive.” The book builds on this by shifting focus from Pantala to Pyhrria, which has now been drawn into the conflict of the other continent. This book smoothly directs the arc along the prophecy and creates anticipation for a final battle between all tribes.

I don't know if it was because Tui used the chance to write about a Pyhrrian dragon again, but man, this book was really good, unlike the last two, which were either bad or meh.

But, yeah. Snowfall was awesome, Lynx and Mink and all the other characters were awesome. The book also expanded on IceWing customs and culture, which was, yes, very awesome. The visions made the narrative awesome and special.

And, I am still a bit mad about scavengers becoming major characters, ughhhh...but, I can see why Tui needed Wren in this book. The arc was meant to pit all the tribes, Phyrrian and Pantalan, plus the scavengers, against this really massive mysterious lifeform in an epic very-high-scale conflict. Ugh, makes me so disappointed in the succeeding book. This book sets it up perfectly. And yet...arghjjjjjlkfdjsflikdjf! I hope Tui rewrites Flames of Hope some day to live up to the high expectations that The Dangerous Gift set up.

But what is the “dangerous gift” in this book? The IceWing crown? Animus magic (hence, why Jerboa destroyed it, pretty much)? Maybe the animus bit.