holy shiiii i loved this book like the world building??? the subversion of expectations??? and by subversion of expectations i don't just mean in a "they thought X was like this, but turns out it was the opposite" it was like they set it up so you would think X was the opposite but then X ended up being exactly as it was set up... mindfuckery insane when i was first reading the series glory seemed like a badass to me but on my most recent reread she was just a bitch with a more edgy undertone than tsunami...but again, character development ourghhh i think from a baseline glory had more depth and tsunami less before their respective pov books that's why i like glory a bit better this is one of my favs because it just reveals a whole nother ecosystem in the wof world that seems unusual in comparison to the way the other parts of the world work and now, spoilers ahead !! the main theme on this one I think was definitely the choice to become different and also the acceptance of rest as an essential part of keeping yourself healthy. glory absolutely HATED the fact that rainwings needed suntime (basically a whole hour of more sleeping and being lazy) and it made her feel useless during that time of the day. eventually she realises that she works better when she's had her rest and a grumpy glory benefits nobody (but when is she ever not grumpy?) I also like how rainwing skills never seemed particularly useful to her when she first found out about them, like swinging through trees with your tail instead of flying, finding exotic fruits, identifying flowers by scent and maybe also befriending unsuspecting sloths... :3 even the sleep darts, i love how they were incorporated in the next book's plot. I think there was also an important lesson in learning that the people who are related to you may not share the same thoughts or believe in the same things, like how rainwings really thought they were better off being non-violent and not participating in the war. glory was always going to be an exception, and that is okay. it's okay for people to be different and believe in different things, and you're not always going to get along with them. i also love that she had to choose rainwings for the trials instead of her own friends. another thing glory struggles with is trust, and we see her completely wreck that flaw by choosing rainwings who she doesn't even know that well over her friends because she knew the other queens would pick rainwing skills. it's also a part of accepting that the rainwings, no matter how lazy they seemed, had special skills only they could use and not other tribes. it also kind of makes glory face the inherent racism she had towards her own tribe because of how much the guardians brought it up that the rainwings were lazy and shit. and that's enough yap about this book WOOOOOO

amazing intro to an amazing series, would recommend to literally everybody i love the exploration of expectations vs reality, the major reveal about the main character's biggest insecurity at the end, and the world building is just immaculate. for my wof reviews, I'm going to say what I thought the major theme in the book was and expand on it a little. spoilers ahead! the main theme i feel in this book is "you are not what society perceives you as". I say this because clay, our protagonist, is a mudwing, who are perceived as strong warriors on the battlefield, good fighters, and especially by the guardians who didn't know any better, "violent monsters". they saw clay cracking at the other dragonets' shells and assumed it was because he was born with a violent streak, oblivious to how mudwing biology actually works. I especially love peril and clay's relationship in this book, as peril perfectly contrasts what clay thinks of himself. she embraces her inner "killer", whereas clay believes dragons should not be killers at all. i may have a bias towards peril lmaoooo she's so great in later books. her betrayal as well hits really hard as it kind of shows the dragonets that they can't trust ANYONE. it's more of a shock for clay though, since he let peril in while everyone else already decided she was a threat when they saw her on scarlet's arena. lastly i just love the end of this book. the initial heartbreak of finding out his parents do not gaf about clay, then the siblings flying after him and explaining that mudwings stick to their siblings. i also love the twinge of fear we see in the other siblings and Reed, the bigwings whose position was now iffy because they found their "real" bigwings. and clay also refusing to join them because he acknowledges that reed is the true bigwings 🥹 it just shows how big clay's heart actually is and he must be protected !!