I actually got the book a few days early on Friday, but didn't think to make a journal on it until now. Anyway, I finished the book the same day I got it and it was the B&N edition too, and I loved it! Everything about it was great! My favorite character in the book is definitely Clearsight, but Indigo is a close second. Fathom and Darkstalker were great characters too, though. Clearsight's best friend Listener is a great character too. She's even an activist for scavengers, which I thought was really awesome and cute.
Also, FathomxIndigo ftw! I do wonder exactly when they go back to the Kingdom of the Sea though, since it's Fathom's descendant and not Pearl's who ends up taking the SeaWing throne. Their dragonets are so cute, though!
And speaking of Indigo, she's a purple-blue dragon, which I thought was interesting. I suspect she's either a hybrid, but I kinda doubt it at the same time since both her parents seem to be SeaWings, so her appearance is at least a mutation of some sort if that's the case or maybe purple-blue dragons are just rare among the SeaWings. Either way, Queen Lagoon does not like her at all.
Lagoon herself doesn't seem very fond of her family either, or at least she doesn't care much for Albatross and Fathom at least.
And just as I suspected, we do get to see the Great SeaWing Massacre, as well as Darkstalker ordering Arctic to disembowel himself. Thank goodness it isn't gone into full detail. And we even get to know how Albatross discovered his animus powers. It wasn't pretty and I almost feel bad for Sapphire. Are we really still sure WoF should be considered a children's book by this point? ^^"
It's a shame Albatross ended up going mad. I really liked his relationship with Fathom, especially since we don't get to see many close familial relationships in the series.
Which brings me to Arctic. Yeah, Darkstalker was right when he said he wasn't a good father to him, however it should also be noted that he was already losing his soul when Darkstalker and Whiteout hatched, having used his animus magic at least three times before then and possibly more, yet still cares for Foeslayer and Whiteout. It's possible he would've been a better father to Darkstalker had he had more control of his powers, especially when you compare his behavior in the prologue to his behavior throughout the rest of the book.
Or maybe it's just him being an IceWing and him having more control of his powers or not being an animus at all wouldn't have changed much. XD
Another thing, this book made my feel like my heart was ripped out and stomped on. There were just so many heartbreaking moments. I can only imagine what Talons of Power is going to be like.
And speaking of which, Darkstalker has not only made himself immortal, but also invulnerable. And now that he has his animus powers back... Yeah, ToP isn't going to be a fun book for the new DoD. ^^"
Also, Darkstalker's sister, Whiteout. The name's grown me and she's actually a really interesting character. And since Darkstalker and Clearsight sadly never have any dragonets together and animus power is genetic, I think it's safe to say that Whiteout ends up passing down the family line, which would very likely eventually lead to Stonemover and Sunny since Darkstalker is the first NightWing animus. She even gets a love interest in a NightWing named Thoughtful, and it's adorable!
Also, the book pretty much foreshadows certain events in Escaping Peril in regards to the talisman.
And speaking of Darkstalker, his relationship with Clearsight is adorable... at first, anyway. They were even talking about having dragonets together! And they had named planned!
I did have a few nitpicks, like the book having occasional big timeskips at the beginning, but I don't mind too much. I was also kinda disappointed that we didn't get to see much of the other kingdoms, but I'm not surprised, either, though I'd still like to see how the other kingdoms were like during that time. Then there's also mention of an animus SandWing named Jerboa who left the Kingdom of Sand, and I hope they expand on that someday.
I do like how we get a little bit more of RainWing history, though, such as RainWing merchants, messengers, traders, and RainWings who have drugged dragons with various rainforest plants. I would really like to see this part of RainWing history be explored.
I'm also kinda bothered that the dreamvisitors weren't used all that much. I mean, they were only talked about once and Darkstalker was only mentioned to have been trying to dreamvisit Foeslayer. Another thing, Fathom mentions in the epilogue that he hasn't Clearsight since he and Indigo left the Night Kingdom, and that was five years ago. Why not dreamvisit her? Or maybe the dreamvisitors only work while the dragon is in Pyrrhia? But then, Starflight was able to use it just fine and the old Night Kingdom on the island isn't even on the mainland if Prisoner and Assassin are any indication of that. However, we also know the dreamvisitors were spread out across Pyrrhia. One by Starflight while he was at the old Night Kingdom, but it was stolen and presumably lost when the volcano erupted, another was with the royal SandWing treasury until it was stolen by scavengers and was later recovered by Sunny, and the last one was found by Scarlet while she was held captive in Burn's Stronghold and it's unknown at the moment what happened to it, but I'm guessing either Chameleon or Ruby has it now. So, maybe something happened to Fathom's and/or Clearsight's at some point? But even then, it would seem odd how they wouldn't even try to dreamvisit each other at all, especially since five years pass by the epilogue. And come to think of it, it seems like Clearsight never even tried to dreamvisit Darkstalker either, unless she didn't want to.
I also felt like some time gaps could've been filled, but as the book progressed, I could actually feel the empty hopelessness there was to saving Darkstalker as he became more and more evil.
Also, there's mention of a LOST CONTINENT! With SECRET TRIBES! And this doesn't just happen once, either and Clearsight even decides to go there at the end of the book. Tui just has to expand on this story one day.
Another thing, the Lost City of Night has already been found, or at least part of it anyway. The mountain Darkstalker was buried under was Agate Mountain, which is part or at least near of the old NightWing territory and it's just east of Jade Mountain.
And Tui was right when she said this book would be complicated in how to perceive Darkstalker. In fact, Fathom even gives a similar line Moon said in Winter Turning and how no dragon is truly evil, and even Indigo says something along the lines of how our choices makes us good or evil, similar to what Peril said in Escaping Peril.
And this is exactly what I love about this series. It has so many complex, complicated characters, that it's hard not to see where that character is coming from. However, it all depends on exactly how they go about it. Really, it seems like the only characters who are just evil for the sake of it seem to be Scarlet, Burn, and Blister.
Overall, Darkstalker is a great book. Yeah, it has it's flaws, but none that I'm too bothered over. I hope we get more books like it in the future.