Winter Turning (book)
Winter Turning is the seventh book in the New York Times bestselling series Wings of Fire, was published on June 30th, 2015. It has been confirmed that the protagonist of the book is a white and blue, male IceWing dragonet named Winter, who first appeared in the sixth book Moon Rising.
Description
Daring mission..... or deadly mistake?
Winter has been a disappointment to his royal IceWing family his entire life. When his sister, Icicle, runs away from Jade Mountain Academy, fleeing terrible crimes and possibly planning to commit more, Winter knows that they need a second chance to make things right -- if only he can find her.
Winter's new clawmates, Moon, Qibli, and Kinkajou, won't let him make this dangerous journey alone. They don't seem to understand that IceWings, the most superior of all dragon tribes, can fix their own problems. When their search leads the dragonets straight into Queen Scarlet's vicious talons, Winter is grateful to have some help. But even the bravest dragons can't follow him to the Ice Kingdom, where he'll have to face the greatest threat of all: his own family.
Plot Synopsis
Prologue
The book begins two years earlier from Hailstorm's POV. He is taking his younger brother, Winter, out flying to find a scavenger den near SkyWing territory. Winter becomes increasingly worried, the farther out they go, worried that they're going to get caught by the SkyWing; but Hailstorm assures him that he could fight off a couple of SkyWings if they did get caught, and they were doing this for Winter's "weird little obsession." Hailstorm continues to boast about his position in the Ice Kingdom and being second-in-command of the IceWing army.
Suddenly, fourteen SkyWings swoop down from the sky, prepared to take the two IceWing princes. Hailstorms threatens to kill the SkyWings that dare to come close with his frostbreath, but the main SkyWing in front doesn't care. So he makes a deal to let Winter go and just take him instead. Winter is completely against the idea and tries to be brave and stay with Hailstorm, so his older brother starts insulting him and calling him useless, knowing that was the only way to get Winter to leave. Finally, the SkyWings let Winter go and knocks out Hailstorm.
Later, when Hailstorm wakes up, he realizes he's face to face with Queen Scarlet. A strange SkyWing is standing near the Queen's throne. Scarlet tells her that Hailstorm was dangerous and he needed to be imprisoned. So the SkyWing turns and approaches him, making the IceWing prince feel cold/fear; and when she reached him, she reached for something around her neck. Hailstorm, too hypnotized by her eyes to move, couldn't run. He noticed that her eyes weren't SkyWing eyes anymore. Her eyes were black and they were going to swallow him whole.
Part 1: A Cold Wind
Winter, Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, and Turtle are discussing how they will go about rescuing Hailstorm from Ex-Queen Scarlet. Winter, not wanting all of them to go, quickly tricks Turtle to go off to take care of Anemone. Qibli then tells Winter that it will be harder to get rid of the rest of them. The group decides to go to the RainWing kingdom to find Icicle. Qibli reasoned that Icicle would go to the rainforest to get Queen Glory who is hated by Ex-Queen Scarlet for what Queen Glory did to her in book 1, The Dragonet Prophecy. After landing next to a river, Winter accuses Moon for reading his mind, when she comments on how he must hate it there because of the heat. Qibli was about to eat an orange toad, but Moon stopped him and offered him a Pitaya (Dragon Fruit).
Winter mentioned how he hates fruit. Queen Glory was upset that she got a message from the school saying that four five-year-olds were going off to find some dragon (Icicle) who just tried to kill Starflight, and then stop someone else who had tried to kill Queen Glory and Starflight many times(Ex-Queen Scarlet). Winter explains that he came to search for his sister, and he requested that no one got in his way. Glory told him that they were more than capable, then offered him a banana. Winter declined the fruit, and a RainWing, Heliconia, appeared, claiming not to be the RainWing, Banana. Glory asks Heliconia to get the scout captains to meet at the pavilion ASAP. Heliconia says that she should stay to guard Glory, but Glory says "I think seven guards are quite sufficient" (Winter Turning, 54). Deathbringer says there is no point in a secret, invisible guard if the Queen tells everyone about it. After starting a game of "hide-and-seek" with RainWing dragonets, Winter freezes a hole in the wall, and the four of them jump through. Kinkajou explains that they wont give up until they have searched every inch of the "wingery". Moon leads the way through the trees. Winter plans to ditch them and go home, or find Icicle, but fails to execute the plan, because Moon alerts the group to a search party. The group hide under a nearby fallen tree.
After the search party leaves, Winter wonders if Moon was right, that he did have a confusing mind. He remembers his first rankings test, with Hailstorm and Icicle and wonders why his Winglet was risking their lives for him. He wonders if he could ditch them now, as they were distracted. Kinkajou reprimands Winter, telling him "The words you're looking for are thank you,". Winter decides maybe it's better to follow them, just for a little while longer. They later come up to the secret NightWing island tunnel. The group marvels at how Kinkajou survived being a NightWing prisoner, and how she doesn't hold a grudge against them. They find a huge dragon that got caught in the volcano and died with it's talons up. Winter tells the story of Prince Arctic and Foeslayer, and how she kidnapped the animus dragon. They later had eggs, and one of them was Darkstalker. Each IceWing could only use their animus magic once, to create a gift for the tribe. Moon hears a sccccccccrape sound, and they follow it, only to discover Icicle.
Icicle is in a horrible condition. Her wounds from JMA haven't healed, she's covered in blood, and she hasn't slept at all, to avoid seeing Scarlet in her dreams. Icicle explains that she would sit by the lava when she got tired, and the heat would wake her up. Kinkajou attacks Icicle because she insulted Queen Glory, but right before Icicle kills her, Glory comes up with a tranq dart, and arrests Icicle for "murder and attempted murder." As Icicle tries to fight sleep, Winter tells her to make Scarlet tell her the truth, and that if she does, Winter will kill Glory. Kinkajou admits to leaving a trail for the queen to find them. Qibli asks Moon if she can get into Icicle's dream and find out what Scarlet is telling her. Moon says she's trying, but that she's sleeping to deeply to dream.
When Winter walks up, Moon tells Winter that Scarlet has left. Winter then asked Moon if Icicle was alright, and if Scarlet said anything about Hailstorm. Moon says that she trusts that Winter won't kill Glory, because if Winter does, then that would start a war between the IceWings and Glory's two tribes. Moon states that she thinks that Winter won't kill any dragonets, and that Winter doesn't just think about himself, that he thinks about his tribe too. Winter says that sometimes he only knows one thing: that he won't hurt Moon. Kinkajou then comes up behind Winter, and says she figured it out. Moon follows Kinkajou into the pavilion, as Winter calms himself. As Winter steps in, he sees Kinkajou under the firefly jars. Moon draws a picture of a mountain that she saw behind Scarlet from a dreamvisitor. No one recognizes it, but Moon says it will be easy to track Scarlet down, now that they know she is near a really odd shaped mountain. Kinkajou comments on how awesome Moon's powers are.
Moon, Qibli, and Winter take turns carrying Kinkajou in pairs to the Great Five-Tail River, with Hailstorm, following Qibli's directions. Qibli leads the group to the town of Possibility, on the Winding Tail River
Winter has always been a disappointment to the royal IceWing family unlike his sister Icicle, who has been raised to challenge the IceWing queen. But now that Icicle has broken the truce and escaped from Jade Mountain Academy, Winter, accompanied by his new clawmates Moon, Qibli, and Kinkajou, embarks on his own quest to free his brother from the clutches of Queen Scarlet, and win the respect of his family.
Part 2: In the Claws of the Clouds
Trivia
- Instead of The _ _ title pattern for the book titles, Moon Rising, Winter Turning, and Escaping Peril appear to follow a pattern of the main character's name and a gerund.
- This is the third book where the dragon on the cover is not flying, the other two are The Dark Secret and The Lost Heir.
- In Winter Turning is the first mention of an IceWing animus
- Instead of having a preview to Escaping Peril, winter turning has the special edition letter seen in The Brightest Night
Gallery
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Full cover, art by Joy Ang -
Winter -
by Nathia -
Prince Winter of the IceWings
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