The graphic novel adaptations of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series continue to set the world on fire!
Three dragons. One unavoidable, unpredictable destiny. This is the beginning...of the end.
In the SeaWing kingdom, a young prince learns he is an animus—capable of wonderful magic that comes with a terrible price.
In the mind of a NightWing dragonet, a thousand futures unfold—and almost all of them, she knows, lead to disaster and destruction.
And under three full moons and the watchful eyes of his NightWing mother and IceWing father, the most powerful dragon Pyrhhia will ever know is clawing his way out of his egg. Darkstalker, the dragon who will change the world forever.
Long before the SandWing war, lifetimes before the Dragonet Prophecy...darkness is born.
The #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars to new heights in this Wings of Legends graphic novel adaptation, with art by Jake Parker.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Tui? What kind of name is that? Is it short for something?
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
I'm DYING for the all of the death scenes! I can't wait to see if there all like I imagened! I have this book preordered, now all I have to do is wait. It BETTER be as good as the book, or else this will be my first one star.
To start: I think it was OK- It definitely could have some changes, like the art wasn't so good, and it should be longer because it kinda felt like it was trying to squeeze everything in. It's really sad and gruesome, it should be for readers older then 11. I'm really sad about how bad it was because I ordered it online and I regret doing that- and I was really-really-really exited for this. But it was kinda good.
Pre-read: Not ready for the super-violent bits to be illustrated, also not sure how this artist will do but I hope it’s as good as the novel
Update: I’ve now read this, and it was pretty good. 4 stars because the art was a bit hard to read (arctic looks a bit like a rainwing!) Decent amount of blood, but not so much that it’s scary or painful to read. The seawings are done really well. I’m sad that I read it because now I’ll have to wait for Talons of Power to come out so noooooooooooooo 😫
Notes: I love the colors they chose for pearl. She isn’t described much in the book, so it was nice to see that
It was good, it just unsettled me the entire book that the artist was different. The art was still good, the dragons were just more humanoid than animalistic, like the other graphic novels.
post read the decision to have a different artist for the backstory graphic novel was so genius i can’t lie. i have also always loved how darkstalker dives into what ruins our soul; the magic or how we use that magic? and this gn delivered that theme so well
pre-release OH HELL FUCKING YEAH WINGS OF FIRE FANS WE ARE ABOUT TO EAT GOOOOOODDDD
I adore the Wings of Fire series. Darkstalker is my favorite character. However, this book (and the novel by extension) really puts on full display the reason he falls flat as a villain. From being "born evil" to never making a selfless choice once in his life, despite the attempt to write him as complex, to immediately abusing everyone around him the moment he doesn't get his way. Where some characters try to paint him as complicated, with deep motivations (and the plot itself does, too), what we really see is a petulant child who's first thoughts are about how he wants his mother "All to himself" and how he wants to kill his father. Ah yes, a very complicated villain with a "mostly-good" soul, as dictated by the plot, characters, and soul reader. :I
A couple of things are omitted from the graphic novel version: Fathom and Indigo have their dragonets in secret, for example. Unless I missed a line, the graphic novel paints it as a much more romantic ending, rather than an acknowledgement of future issues to come. Granted, we never see Fathom again, and likely never will. :(
I still don't fully understand why the NightWings leave their land forever, when Darkstalker was neutralized. And never returning to it? It doesn't feel fleshed out enough, in this or the novel. Surely their seers would see going back wouldn't put them on his warpath, at least, not for 2k years? I wish we'd seen more of that, and why the NightWings later choose to forgo their powers when hatching under the moons. Darkstalker was scary, but he was dealt with pretty succinctly, and besides the island, nothing else notable threatened the tribe in that time (that we know of).
Finally, I'm SO glad for the new artist(s) working on this graphic novel! I adored the style. If I had to nitpick, I'd say the dragons sometimes look too anthropomorphic (or, like furries). Other than that, I enjoyed the art a great deal. The expressions are a highlight! I hope we see more WoF graphic novels with Jake Parker and the other members of the team for this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This series continues to be beautiful. Love the villain backstory.
The art style was a bit different - which makes sense, I just checked, it’s a new artist - so I did feel like I had to adjust but the dragons still looked great. I’m so amazed at the range of action and emotions they can capture in graphic form
Great book way different ten reading th chapter book and they left a lot of inportent information out. It was cool to see how the author Made the dragons colors. / This book was amazing and the charecters played there parts so good. I would defiantly read this book again. I just love reading graphic novels and the pictures and color really brought the dragons to life. When I was reading this story it felt like I was there and kept me wanted to read more. It was hard for me to chose a favorite character in this story but I will have to go with the one on the cover of this book Darkstaler. He justed had a seroius personailty and had he in way of doing things wich for him lead to his doom. The artwork for this book was so amazing it made me feel like I was there.
This is a pretty great adaptation of Darkstalker. The graphic scenes were pretty well handled, enough detail that it didn't feel immature, but obviously not too grusome. The scenery is phenomenal, way more detailed than the Mike Holmes books. I like most of the character designs, except Darkstalker was a bit unnaturally angular. Also, some of the poses were oddly human. Too much standing on two legs for my taste, let dragons be glorified horses in peace. I was unreasonably excited to finally see what the soul reader looked like, I never could visualize it. Overall, it's Darkstalker. It's good.
This book was phenomenal!!! I read it in under 24 hours and I absolutely loved it!!! For those worried about certain scenes being cut, don't be!!!! Those moments were so well handled and overall the whole book was done very very well!!!! However, it is important to note that while baby Darkstalker may look cute on one page. when you turn the page he is a terrifying baby. Jake Parker really did an incredible job at helping us see how wicked Darkstalker is, even as a new hatched dragonet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My boys love this series, especially the graphic novels. They were looking forward to the big release of Darkstalker and let down. They immediately noticed the dragons look different than the other graphic novels. I guess the artist changed from Mike Holmes to Jake Parker.
it was VERY weird to read the new art style I liked the art style tho I still like Mike Holmes’ art better no offence to Jake parker tho I’m glad the disembowlment was off screen tho I noticed that clearsights and indigo’s and whiteouts snouts were More delicate and pretty than everyone else’s Was that on purpose? And I was SOO happy to see Whiteout in this WHITEOUTS SOOO PRETTY
This was honestly a great graphic novel to give more background images, and character designs, from the actual: Darkstalker Legends, Novella. The new artist did a stunning job, and I couldn't have been MORE excited to find it in Target the other day. Though the art style was different from what I was used to, I'm still trying to accept different ways of things that I'm used to, so this was a whole new thing to take in. Jake Parker is doing a great job as a new artist for the graphic novels, and did a great job while Talons of power is still in the works. I am grateful he helped in this so we would get 2, great graphic novels not far off from each other. Personally, the expressions of the Dragons could use a tiny bit of work, other than that, I loved this book along with every other WoF book! My favorite character is the same in this one, Whiteout was adorable with every little page she got. Jake did wonderful with her colors, and I at first, was convinced she had more of a Black shade of scales! But this showed she had more of a Blue shade of scales. Would recommend, please DO read! <3
DARKSTALKER is an engaging graphic novel adaptation of the WINGS OF FIRE book. Fathom, a young SeaWing prince, has learned he is an animus. With the great power comes a terrible responsibility. Clearsight, a Nightwing dragonet, can peer into the possibilities of the future. Darkstalker is a dragon who could change the world forever. Destiny will play out for these three dragons in unexpected ways.
What I loved: This is an intricate and intriguing story with strong themes of family, fate, friendship, the weight of power, wishes for the future, and possibility. These are really thought-provoking and interesting throughout the book. Some are quite relatable for the middle school audience who will be understanding the weight of their own responsibilities and navigating changing relationships with friends and family.
The characters were well-developed, and the three main characters are all really compelling. Although they are dragons, they are easy to relate to and enjoyable to get to know. The illustrations are really well done with lots of details and expressive characters that work well in the graphic novel setting. Fans of the series (or new fans) will enjoy this graphic novel and the way that it brings the imagined scenes and characters to life.
What left me wanting more: As a small thing, this is very text heavy, which can make it a bit tough to follow in places and weighs down the story in graphic novel format. As such, this would work best for older middle grade readers who can appreciate the added world- and character-building that come with the heavier text load.
Final verdict: DARKSTALKER is an engaging graphic novel that will work well for older middle grade readers who love fantasy, magic, strong themes, and dragons!
Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Okay, honestly, when I saw this book in Target, I was so excited to read it because Legends Darkstalker is my FAVORITE in the Wings of Fire series!! So I bought it and the art style was actually beautiful. The backgrounds, the first looks at characters we had only imagined before, and the baby dragons were adorable!! I really liked the transition between perspectives, which they do with a little context on a scroll! The biggest critisism I have, (which I still think the book is amazing), is that the poses for the dragons look a little too human. A lot of the time, they're standing on two legs. Also, the female dragons now have distinct eyelashes, which in my opinion, don't even look bad! The main issue for me was that the expressions the dragons wore in a lot of scenes weren't aligned with how they were feeling. For example, a character finds out someone did something horrible-- but instead of looking worried/terrified, he looks skeptical. Overall, I would say to buy it though, I will never stop buying Wings of Fire books because they were my childhood and I will hold on to them forever :) Thanks for reading the yap if you did!
Super disappointed in this book. Been reading these books since elementary school, I own all of them I know the story by heart and I could recite it to you. First of all, HATE that he made it very clear which dragons are boys and which are girls. They're dragons. They don't have softer more feminine features. There's one specific page that really irked me on this front. Author did not seem to have a good grasp of the characters he was writing and just put surface level caricatures. It feels like even the author downplayed Clearsight because she is female. Furthermore the book feels much more rushed than the others despite it being one of the longest books in the series. The art style is inconsistent at times and proportions look weird. There are also way too many text blurbs telling us what's going on instead of the characters just showing us with their actions. Jake Parker is clearly talented, but he needs to stay away from this series. If they don't bring back Mike Holmes I'm not going to bother buying the rest of the graphic novels.
Wow, I forgot how good this story was. It’s been awhile since I read the chapter book and I’m reminded of why my mom had to tape the book back together from reading it so much. It is such a great story and has amazing characters. As for what this graphic novel brings though, I think it did a great job adapting the story. While I could point out obvious differences from the other graphic novels due to the different artist, that’s not an issue for me. Legends is different from the main series, so I don’t mind a different artist. My only complaint is that the illustrations could be a little awkward at times in my opinion and the context sort of got in the way of the flow, but aside from that, it was super well done. Darkstalker is an amazing book and this is a great adaptation.
I always love the Darkstalker legend! And this adaptation was very fun. I don't love the art style, but it is unique and cute, and I liked a lot of the character designs overall. My main qualm is that I felt like they used a bit too much exposition for a graphic novel for my preference, but it added to the legendy storytelling vibe, so it's forgivable. Overall, a very fun read, and would recommend! Especially for those who are just getting into reading or have already read the novel version and want to revisit it in a fun, relatively abridged way.
I got the book today, I loved it. I was pleasantly surprised that I still cried in the end of the graphic novel like I did in the original book. Which is funny because I don't cry often and crying about fictional dragons? Seriously?
Anyway, the art style is absolutely amazing and seeing all the guys come to life was pretty damn awesome. 1000000000/10. Definitely going to be rereading this many times so that I can admire the art and the story more.
Finished this quickly, but was hard to get through. Darkstalker was my favourite book out of Tui T. Sutherland’s but I was greatly disappointed and dissatisfied by Jake Parker’s art style. Whiteout was drawn nothing like how she was described, portraying more blues than black and whites. Still am unsure why Mike Holmes was replaced. Was looking forward to the graphic novel adaptation but am disappointed by the art style and am sad that it wasn’t what I was hoping for.
this book was another one of my favourites growing up, but, upon reading the graphic novel i've actually come to fear darkstalker a lot more than childhood me. The fact that darkstalker thought that everything he did was for a good cause really proved to me that he was such a strong villain, something i didn't understand back in 2020 when I read this for the first time, and then again in 2021. all in all, i loved this book, and i'm so pumped for the rest of this series.
Just like the original novel adaptation, but with more visuals. I enjoyed this side story and having read the novel less than a year ago everything was fresh in my mind. I loved seeing the Nightwing school and exactly what the bracelet and scroll looked like. How each Nightwing differed visually was really intriguing too.
I really like the original book to this one and I was super excited for this to be released. I loved the art in it and this helped me envision these characters better. Some parts that were in the written book weren’t ready n the graphic novel and I was a little disappointed about that. Otherwise, this was a great book and I definitely recommend it for Wings of Fire fans.
The amount of hype was crazy and definitely too good because of the detail but in my book i noticed a print mistake, you know when Darkstalker enchanted Artic and said for him to not speak, well Darkstalker said "follow us to the ice kingdom" instead of "follow us to the night kingdom". But over all a good book
Absolutely dumpy. Some say it went through development hell, others say that’s just a myth, but no matter the case this book is like waffle house on a Thursday afternoon - not good. Terrible, even. Darkstalker is a devil, that is, a rebel. Don’t read this one. PS. Also caused diarrhea.
Some of the most horrific violence was cut from the original novel (cowards!), and the art was a bit more anthropormorphic (yet less distinct between individuals) compared to previous volumes, but ultimately a solid adaptation of one of the best books in the entire WoF canon. Absolute banger.