The Flames of Hope
The Flames of Hope is the fifteenth book in the New York Times bestselling series Wings of Fire and the fifth book in the third arc. The main protagonist is Luna.[event 1] It was published on April 5th, 2022.[2]
It is preceded by The Dangerous Gift.
Summary
With talons united …
Luna has always wanted to change the world — to fix it, to free it — even if she's never actually known how. Now that all of dragon — and humankind are in mortal danger, Luna is flying back home to Pantala with a team of dragons on a rescue mission, determined to be brave and useful.
But saving a continent isn't as easy as a prophecy makes it sound, and "facing a great evil" definitely requires more than the fiery silk that Luna is uniquely able to create. As she fights her way to the abyss that hides the dark roots poisoning Pantala, Luna must uncover a long-buried secret and unite her friends, her enemies, and her own powers. If she doesn't, she won't get to change the world. She'll have to say goodbye to it — forever.
Plot
Part One: The Land Across the Sea
Luna sets out with the rest of the Super Secret Stealth Team to find the abyss in Queen Snowfall’s vision. On the way there, they are attacked by multiple HiveWings and a SilkWing who are under Queen Wasp's control. Using the gift of stealth, Sundew is able to hide part of the team but Tsunami, Pineapple, Qibli and an invisible Moon are captured and taken to Wasp Hive. The remaining members of the team continue to Pantala where Sundew and Lynx split off to try and resue the captured dragons. While waiting for the two to return, Luna, Cricket, Sky, and Wren find a human. Wren follows the human to their village and learns that the human from before is named Axolotl. When the dragons and Wren become visible again, they ask Axolotl about the abyss and they agree to take them to a village known for worshipping an abyss if the dragons translate a dragon book for them. On the way there they are spotted by Pokeweed who takes them to a large group of the SilkWings, mainly from Bloodworm Hive, and some LeafWings who are hiding from Wasp. There, Luna meets Tau, Hemlock, Bryony, Grayling, Lady Jewel, and a SilkWing dragonet named Dusky. Dusky immediately clings to Luna.
Part Two: A Secret Buried Far Below
Luna witnesses Dusky being taken by Vole, she jumps into the abyss, however: she is brought into a strange room illuminated by an unknown source. She then sees the Breath of Evil (Othermind), and from there, she notices an entrance to yet another room. Except, in this room, there was a throne. On the throne, she is disturbed by what she sees. A plant wound around a man, there: Sitting on the man, was a dragonet. Luna, thinking it was Dusky, approaches closer. In this moment, however: A new disturbing piece of information was realized, the plant was growing through the skulls of the human and dragon. An unknown voice commands Luna to step back, her refusing, with the voice proclaiming themselves to be the, "Emperor of the world." (163). Luna, while conversing with the voice, seeming to be the Othermind, looks back to the dragonet, wondering the origins of its tribe, this being because the dragonet looked unlike any tribe she had ever seen, except: The dragonet seemed to be a hybrid. This dragonet is also realized to have leafspeak, which then goes to reveal another voice, with the prior voice being frustrated that Dusky was not Sundew. The other voice whispers that they wanted Dusky. The first voice then goes to mock Luna for thinking she could escape with flamesilk, which Luna realizes is impossible, because her mind would be taken over. Realizing she is trapped, she calls for help, in response top this: The voice claims they would love more dragons to play with. Vines start to ensnare Luna and Dusky, and they pass out. Next, Luna awakes, in a seemingly dream-like state, she wonders where she is. She then sees Dusky, and they again question where they are, remarking that the area looked like Sanctuary. They then hear humans, who are playing among themselves. Strangely enough, Luna could make out what was being said, and a little human boy named Coyote is introduced, in which he claims he is an emperor. Luna realizes that the group is searching for dragons, with them claiming they have not seen one at minimum in a year, which seems to point towards dragons being uncommon. The humans then move, and Luna follows them hiding, hoping for them to not see her. A human city looms upon them, which startles Luna. The humans talk about affairs with two other mentioned Empires, the Diamond Army, and the Jaguar Empire. Luna is then worried they have seen her, however: It seems that the humans cannot see Luna at all, she tries to touch the human named Coyote, but he was able to walk straight past through her. Then, the whole world goes into a strange haze, and they are in a different direction completely, before a cave which nested a dragon. Luna then sees a dragon with two wings, and orange scales, with a yellow underbelly. It is also revealed that the unknown dragon cannot see her either. The humans wait for the dragon to leave the cave, and rush inside, Coyote is shown as older, which indicates a passage of time. Cottonmouth, one of the humans mentioned before the passage of time, is also older. The humans come back out, with an egg in their arms, with Cottonmouth remarking that he knew a nest was set up in this area. He then asks how many eggs there were, in which there were three, Cottonmouth commands the group to go get the other two eggs, in which Coyote protests to. In the end, they gather all of them, Luna with this, gathers that the group of humans had something to do with the grotesque-looking human and dragonet on the throne earlier. A shift occurs again, and this time Luna is revealed to a small island, with a different group of humans gathering eggs. The humans remark how other empires are collecting dragon eggs in the hope of using them. More shifts occur, and Luna witnesses many cruelties that the humans inflicted on the newly hatched dragonets. Just then, a group of gigantic dragons came, with multiple scales and identifiable traits with multiple tribes, depicting the common ancestors of each tribe. Luna realizes this is the reason, and the beginning of the Scorching, Dusky is enraged, thinking humans are awful, but Luna defends humans, stating not all are the same, she connects this to the HiveWings, and contemplates on how she cannot wish for a genocide, also connecting this to Cricket. Another flash passes, and a group of worn-down humans are shown, a human is shown with a large bowl, and it is again, Cottonmouth. Luna was confident the box held a dragon egg within it, she also looks down upon Cottonmouth questioning his morality and why he was so greedy for power. The haze of shadow takes over the world again, and they are in a lush, sunlit jungle, Luna realizes this was Pantala before the Tree Wars. Cottonmouth is shown again, except: He has found the Breath of Evil, he claims that he can use it to control the dragon tribes. The humans, skeptical, think that the plant is strange, and creepy. An almost hatched dragon egg is ahead of them in another flicker of the world, and it seems that Cottonmouth is experimenting on reptiles. A voice rings with perfect clarity, stating that it didn't like this part. Luna asks who had said that, there was no response. A group of humans barge in, bringing samples of the Breath of Evil, Cottonmouth reassures them that whatever he was planning would work. And he demonstrates the power of the plant by making a human bow, this human was notably from another area, which had been in the small island stated prior. Cottonmouth continues, and he opens a box, in which a small head is spotted. Luna remarks that she did not look like any of the tribes, but a mix of a few of them, again hinting common ancestry within the tribes. Cottonmouth is speaking cruelly with the dragon, and Dusky remarks that the dragonet had been named Lizard, and she wanted an actual name from a dragon. Just then, the dragonet spoke to Dusky, and stated she did not want him to speak for her. And then, Cottonmouth spoke, in dragon toward Lizard, stating that she was interrupting the story. Lizard in response yelled that she hated experiencing the same thing for the past five thousand years, which indicates that they have been living since, or before the Scorching. They then seem to argue, and Luna asks if they can hear her and Dusky, Lizard, seeming annoyed by the question, then asks Dusky to give her his memories. This confuses Dusky, asking how and why he would do that. She states that he must allow her to, and again tells him to give her them. Dusky says no, and she is frustrated with them. Lizard then goes on to state that she is the most miserable dragon to ever live, so she deserves what she wants. Lizard then states that Cottonmouth got both her and himself caught by the plant, Cottonmouth disagrees, citing that Lizard was rebellious and annoying. They then have another exchange of arguing in which they were blaming each other for faults committed. It seems more so that Lizard and Cottonmouth view dragons and humans as toys, with Lizard throwing a tantrum when Cottonmouth suggests killing Dusky. The Mindspace is then revealed, which is essentially how Lizard and Cottonmouth were able to allow Luna and Dusky to see their memories. Within the Mindspace, you can also shift the area, Lizard demonstrates this by showing the Weaver Hall, Dusky's school. Dusky wondered how Lizard was able to do this, and asked if she had his memories, she responds by saying that he needs to let her have them, and she had seen this through a HiveWing, of which she used to watch Dusky. Luna then requests to see Blue and Swordtail, to which Lizard reluctantly does. The Mindspace shifts again, this time towards a HiveWing within sight of Swordtail. Luna asks if Lizard could bring Swordtail to the Mindspace, in which Lizard replies she could, but didn't want to, as it was tiring. Lizard then complains that SilkWings are boring, and she thought it would be more fun to have new dragons. In response, Luna asks if Lizard felt bad for the dragons she controlled. Lizard snaps, and is enraged with the concept of feeling bad for them. She says those dragons could actually live, and didn't have to be stuck all the time with Cottonmouth, she again states how her life is the worst, and how those dragons should feel bad for her. After this, Luna agrees that Lizard's life is awful, and Dusky asks if they could free Lizard, in which Cottonmouth chuckles. Lizard states that the only reason they're alive is because of the Breath of Evil. And if they were separated, they would die. Cottonmouth then ponders if the mind control will work on the dragons from Pyrrhia, another shift occurs, and they are transported into the throne room of Queen Wasp, with Tsunami, Pineapple, and Qibli in front of them. Cottonmouth then commands Queen Wasp to not kill them, and unbind them in which she is defiant to, but caves in. Cottonmouth interrogates the group, and demands to know where Sundew is. They refuse to answer, and Wasp proclaims that the invisible one (Moon), is missing. In which Luna thinks that Lynx and Sundew saved her. Wasp then complains that she cannot deal with whatever the invisible dragon was using. In response, Cottonmouth steps out of the Mindscape, and where Wasp was sitting, appears there, he then chokes himself, which is revealed to be Queen Wasp choking herself, as that was him controlling her. Luna is then scared for the group, and pleads to Lizard to free them, in which she declines. Luna then offers her memories, in which Lizard finds more tempting, the group of dragons then tries escaping, with Pineapple shooting venom at Queen Wasp, Lizard asks Luna if she would really give her memories if the group got away, and Luna again accepts, in which Lizard clears a pathway, Luna questions how she would know if the group was safe. Cottonmouth states they are not, and that he, "absorbed" one already. He then claims they would all be there soon.
Gallery
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Trivia
- Sky appears on the back of the cover.
- The Barnes and Noble version of the novel comes with a poster of Luna and Swordtail flying in the sky.
- There is a non-binary character with the name of Axolotl in the book.
