The Wings of Fire series is off to a great start!

The book is prefaced with the in-depth NightWing Guide To The Dragons Of Pyrrhia, which does a good job of establishing the world-building and key players in the story, and as a big fan of maps I was happy to see the double-page spread that greeted me when I first opened the cover. The pacing of the story is also delightfully jarring at times. The prologue immediately dives into the action and lets you know that war does nothing but create a body count. No sooner than we are introduced to the prophecy does one of the leading players in the war throw a wrench in the resistance's plans by committing volatile (and graphic) murder. The blows just keep coming from there. No details spared.
 

I really like how Wings of Fire approaches its prophecy from the angle of "but what if we don't want to be part of the prophecy?" and prompts readers to question if it's ethical to essentially kidnap children and hold them hostage all in the name of "the greater good." It was a great choice to start the series from Clay's perspective to really cement in the readers' minds that striving for peaceful solutions to conflict doesn't make one weak or worthless.