Athena, Holding Your Hair, Whispering In Your Ear

For me a few are enough, one is enough, none is enough. This is not for the many, but for you. We are audience enough for each other.

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This is a series of young adult fantasy novels about a world primarily inhabited by different varieties of dragons, and follows the standard template for that kind of fiction: a group of "chosen one" protagonists in a school-like setting are drawn into marvelous adventures where they take on a world-threatening problem that their elders are unable to solve. This happens to three different sets of dragonets across the 14 books I read, but the author manages to vary the presentation enough to make the three arcs feel distinct.

These are not books I would've read of my own volition, but my young daughter wanted to read them. They include some pretty violent content, so I read them along with her so that we could talk through the rougher parts. We had a Wings of Fire book club for a little while, and it was a nice way to spend time together. There was just enough complexity and moral ambiguity in the books to make for some interesting teaching moments.

As an adult who has been reading fantasy for more than 30 years, the books didn't have much to recommend them to me: there's very little that's new or clever, and what was clever was not new. But they were competently written with solid characterization, and the books presented interesting perspectives by switching narrators between every book. They also take on some fairly "heavy" social and political issues in a way that is relatable to children (especially in the later books). I can think of many worse books for kids to read.

My daughter was delighted by them, devoured them whole, and would probably give them five stars. I was less enthused, but am not the target audience. The star rating reflects a blend of our respective feelings.