I don't understand how someone can continue to build completely new and fascinating worlds for the third time.
Wow, like, wow. I loved the whole Hives thing and the mysterious Tree Wars and the interesting set up of like, SilkWings under HiveWings and like the commentary on bystanders in a genocide (of trees) and generally like
aljdfhalksjd this ^ is what happens when I try to be sophisticated and coherent
okay so like, basically, i really liked it. my favorite thing about the first arc was like, discovering pyrrhia (spelling?) and all of the different kingdoms and the different cultures. each kingdom was unique and interesting and felt so well-developed for whatever part of the story they showed up in. it felt so adventurey and fun
the second arc was only okay in that sense because the first book of it was literally just Moon going to school in a place we sort of already know and then we didn't get to explore more of the continent (other than the Ice Kingdom heck yeah)
but this third arc, it's kind of a given that we would explore it since it's a WHOLE NEW CONTINENT
im just saying, i loved the idea of the Hives and the wingless SilkWings till like, Metamorphosis and the one Queen ruling over two tribes. SilkWings being subservient to HiveWings and thoughts like "would these HiveWing guards still be nice if they were talking to a SilkWing?" and just akjdfhakj
(subtle things like wood being a commodity because they CUT DOWN ALL OF THE TREES)
(i have so many thoughts and no way of expressing them clearly)
let me just say that i LOVE Blue, like a lot. he's great. he's kind of like a mix between Sunny and Turtle wherein he's really empathetic (in the beginning, he talks about how he likes to imagine himself as other dragons to see what it would be like to be them and throughout the book, whenever they're about to attack a HiveWing or something, he would say "what if he's having a bad day?" or "what if she has a family and she'll get in trouble if we leave her behind" and stuff like that, it was really sweet) and how he's also afraid of change and generally afraid to break the rules, and thus is very timid
i loved his character arc, too, going from like always following the rules and believing that following the rules that would protect him to seeing that some rules are unjust and he needed to save his fellow SilkWings more importantly. when he meets his dad, it's kind of like seeing Blue again from the start of the book, where Admiral believes following the rules and writing letters to the queen would be more beneficial to the flamesilks, and even trying to turn in his own children to the guards when they try to escape. twas a nice way to showcase Blue's growth i feel
also, i loved the general like discussion of following the rules and when to break them and when they were just and unjust. especially that one scene between Cricket and Blue when they agreed that one rule they should follow is "don't kill other dragons" but one they should not follow is "giving Queen Wasp whatever she wants" because it would harm the SilkWings. it was nice seeing that rule follow is like a gray area because some rules are unfair and some things are more important than following rules (like saving your sister from a lifetime of slavery, for instance) and that commentary continued throughout the whole book
i don't know what im saying at this point, other than the fact that this is a very well written, funny, and complex middle grade series and it's fantastic
im gonna stop talking now because i don't know what to say anymore
i mean, other than the fact that i think this whole series is fantastic and everyone should read it
uh, also that i spoiled a lot of stuff sort of
maybe not
i'll mark it for spoilers anyway