Escaping Peril (book)
Escaping Peril is the eighth book in the Wings of Fire series. The official release date is Tuesday, December 29, 2015, with the cover released on the Scholastic Wings of Fire forums on Tuesday, May 26, 2015. Tui T. Sutherland has said that the protagonist will be a SkyWing, and was eventually confirmed at an event that it would be Peril. Escaping Peril follows Winter Turning and precedes Talons of Power.
- "In this one, you’ll be finding out a lot more about Queen Ruby and Turtle, discovering the identity of that mysterious NightWing from Winter Turning, spending a little time with almost every dragonet who’s already had a book, meeting a very irrepressible young SkyWing, and, of course, getting inside the head of Peril, who might be Pyrrhia’s craziest dragon (my little psychopath with a heart of gold!) (sure, that’s a thing). :)"
- — Tui, from her blog
Book Synopsis
While Peril is hiding during Ruby's visit to Jade Mountain, she meets Turtle. The two of them go to spy on what Queen Ruby and Clay are talking about. They see Scarlet fly to the mountain, and throw Clay the severed head of Queen Glory. It turns out that a small piece of paper in the head's ear has enchanted the head to look like Glory, but the head is actually of an unknown MudWing. Peril decides that Clay will like her better if she kills Scarlet for him, and she leaves. At the last minute, Turtle tags along too. Turtle and Peril head for the town Possibility, where Turtle hopes to find the rest of his Winglet. When they get close to the town, they see a NightWing following them from far behind. They forget about it, and head into the town, where they meet up with Turtle's friends. While Turtle and the rest of the Winglet go to check on Kinkajou, Peril flies of into the desert in search of food. She sees Winter, who is accompanied by Foeslayer. She riles Winter enough to make him shoot ice breath at her (which does nothing to her firescales), she tries to get away, so as to not hurt him. She accidentally smashes into him, and Winter falls down to the ground. The rest of the Winglet catches up to them, and they don't know what to do. Turtle takes out a rock and uses it to heal Winter completely, showing the other dragons that he is an animus. Peril is mad at herself for hurting Winter, and she flies off. Another SkyWing meets her in the air, and reveals that he is Peril's father. He leads Peril to Scarlet. He then shows how he has a power to turn into any dragon type, and offers to take away Peril's firescales. She agrees, and puts on the necklace he gives her. She agrees to be loyal to Scarlet, and they fly to the Sky Kingdom. Scarlet takes Queen Ruby's dragonet hostage, and when Ruby returns, uses the dragonet's life to bargain for the throne. She locks Ruby away in a cage. One of Ruby's guards asks Peril not to do what she is doing, telling her to think of Clay. But Peril does not remember who Clay is. She is sent to guard Ruby's dragonet with her father. It is then that her father reveals that he can change dragon form because of a scroll that he found, which, although he does not know this, is Darkstalker's scroll. Ruby's dragonet escapes, and flies to Ruby's cage, where Queen Ruby escapes from. Scarlet comes to them, and Ruby challenges her for the throne of the SkyWings. Scarlet and Ruby fight, but Ruby can't even hit Scarlet. Peril sees an earring that Ruby always seems to be wearing, and intervenes in the fight. She rips off the earring, and Ruby turns into Tourmaline, the missing SkyWing Princess. Tourmaline kills Scarlet, and becomes the SkyWing Queen once again. During the celebration, Peril's father escapes. Turtle finds Peril, and together, they go after Peril's father with the rest of the Winglet. They catch up with him, only to find that he has transformed into a giant NightWing. Turtle uses his animus power to take the scroll away from him, and they leave. That night, Moon tells everyone about Darkstalker. Winter disagrees with her, saying that Darkstalker is completely evil. In the morning they find that Moon has left with the scroll. They go after her, and find her crying on a rock beside Jade Mountain. Moon had read the scroll, and figured out that Darkstalker had used the scroll to enchant a price of the IceWings to do whatever he commanded. Moon thinks that he is actually evil. Qibli takes the scroll, saying that Thorn could use it for her kingdom. Winter tries to take it, saying that it should be used for his kingdom. Peril steps in and burns the scroll. The ground starts rumbling beneath them, and then Jade Mountain splits open, and Darkstalker, a huge NightWing, is free. He smiles menacingly at Peril, then says "Ah. That's infinitely better. Nice to finally meet you Peril. Thank you so much fro your help."
Teaser
Peril has been loyal to Queen Scarlet, who used her fatal firescales to kill countless dragons in the SkyWing arena. Now, Peril is loyal to Clay, the only dragonet who has ever been her friend. So when Scarlet threatens Jade Mountain Academy, Peril sets off to find her former queen, stop her, and save the day, no matter what it takes.
There's just one problem: a strangely persistent SeaWing, Turtle, insists on coming along too. Turtle is worried about his friends, who left to search for Scarlet and haven't returned. Peril is worried that she might accidentally burn Turtle -- or burn him on purpose, for being so annoying -- and frustrated that she keeps saying and doing the wrong things. She can't escape her firescales, and she can't escape her reputation as deadliest dragon in Pyrrhia.
So when she's offered a chance to trade everything for a second chance, Peril has to decide who she's really loyal to . . . And whether her own scales might actually be worth saving.
Prologue
Template:Spoiler The prologue takes place just before the brightest night, from the point of view of Princess Ruby. She recollects the last time she saw her sister, Princess Tourmaline, 3 days ago. Tourmaline had been planning to take the throne from Queen Scarlet, with the intention of ending the war. However, she mysteriously vanished the next day without telling Ruby or any other dragons she was going anywhere. While wondering if Scarlet killed Tourmaline, Ruby is called by Scarlet to meet in the throne room. She enters to find several other SkyWings already assembled there, and is told to stand between brothers Vermilion and Hawk. Vermilion snorted at her but Hawk gave her a friendly smile. Ruby wonders if Hawk was acting friendly because he knew she will be dead once she challenges Scarlet. Scarlet then tells the crowd about the SkyWing egg that was stolen to fulfill the prophecy. Her guards carry in all the eggs that were to hatch on the brightest night at her request, and she reveals Peril, who is a very young dragonet at this time. Scarlet declares Peril her future champion, and demonstrates her power by giving her a SkyWing egg to hold. The dragonet inside dies, and the egg burns. Scarlet then tells Peril to touch all of the other eggs, and they are also burnt. The crowd is horrified by this demonstration, and Ruby sees this as proof that she cannot take the throne from Scarlet. It is now that she wonders if Peril killed Tourmaline, and seems to subconsciously blame Peril for the loss of her sister.
Trivia
- Instead of following the title pattern of a character name and a gerund, Escaping Peril is the other way around.
- At an event, Sutherland revealed the full cover, which showed an unknown dragon (probably Scarlet) flying after Peril. Escaping Peril will be the second book with closeup of a character other than the main character. The other book being Moon Rising, with a close up of Turtle on the cover.
- There was a preview of Escaping Peril at the end of Assassin.
- This is the first book with a SkyWing POV.
- The prologue is set seven years ago, told from Princess Ruby's perspective.
Gallery
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The full cover of Escaping Peril (By Joy Ang)
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Physical Cover of Escaping Peril -
Original cover
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Peril by Flare0324 -
By IceOfWaterflock -
by Trunswicked on dA
