The next book to continue my reading of The Wings of Fire series was The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland (young adult fantasy, 296 pages).

“She can’t believe it’s finally happening. Tsunami and her fellow dragonets of destiny are journeying under the water to the great SeaWing Kingdom. Stolen as an egg from the royal hatchery, Tsunami is eager to meet her future subjects and reunite with her mother, Queen Coral. But Tsunami’s return to the home she never knew doesn’t go quite the way she had always imagined. Queen Coral welcomes her with open wings, but a mysterious assassin has been killing off the queen’s heir’s for years, and Tsunami may be the next target. The dragonets came to the SeaWings for protection, but this ocean hides secrets, betrayal – and perhaps even death.”

I think it was interesting to see things from Tsunami’s perspective, as it’s definitely vastly different than Clay’s perspective from the previous book. While Clay was loyal to his friends, he struggled most of his book to deal with the belief that he was supposed to be some sort of violent killer because he supposedly attacked the other eggs immediately upon hatching. Tsunami, though, feels as though protecting her friends means being willing to conduct violence upon their behalf. This was shown in the last book where she was put in Queen Scarlet’s arena of death and forced to kill another SeaWing, Gill, who had been deprived of any form of water for months, which drove him mad. Tsunami was forced to kill Gill in the arena, but at least she made it quick and minimized the spectacle portion of her time in the arena as much as possible.

So Clay protects his friends by physically shielding them, as he is the largest of the dragonets, and Tsunami protects her friends by removing threats to them.

At least in the beginning.

That’s one of the great parts about this series – we see the dragonets, who really are very young with limited experience in the world, have to learn and grow. As the book continues, Tsunami spends more time thinking about what actions would actually be best instead of just jumping into the fray. We even see her start thinking about how to solve issues non-violently. We see her stopping and thinking and this is a really important development.

I’m also enjoying how the series shows us that our daydreams are often not as beneficial as the life we currently have. All five of the dragonets were taken from their tribes as eggs and therefore have no concept of what their lives are supposed to be like, but at the same time, they have all wished to meet their families.

Clay was disappointed to find his mother sold him for two cows and while his siblings would have loved him as part of their combat wing, that wasn’t actually the best option for either group, as he hadn’t been with them for the last six years and his own tribe of mismatched prophecy dragonets needed him. He already had the family he needed.

Meanwhile, Tsunami learns that being royalty isn’t nearly as inspiring as she thought. Her mother is so overly protective that she has her daughters attached to her via a harness so they have no life, time, or socialization of their own. Tsunami just wants to be free to go where she wants and to help her friends, which she realizes she can’t do if she’s put on the queen’s leash. Even though her mother loves her, it would be a prison, just of a different sort.

Overall, this book is going to join the first book as a high three or low four on my rating scale. I’m glad I purchased it and I will continue to reread it in the future.

Sutherland, Tui T. The Wings of Fire: The Lost Heir. Scholastic Press, 2013.