Book Review: Wings of Starlight

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wings of Starlight is easily my favorite read so far this year. It’s cozy and sweet and heartwarming…but it also was emotionally charged and at times made me tear up. Yes, there were times when I even wanted to throw the book across the room or put it in timeout.

Going into it, I really didn’t have any expectations. Like many who grew up on Pixie Hollow (both the “old” books, the newer Tinker Bell movies, and especially the computer game that I will mourn until my dying breath), I was deeply intrigued by a prequel revolving around Queen Clarion and the Winter Woods—specifically the Warden of the aforementioned woods.

I loved the additions to the lore of Pixie Hollow that I was already familiar with having grown up with the Disney Fairies franchise and seeing it fleshed out on the page. If there aren’t sequels or more stories in this vein, I’ll be sorely disappointed. I’ll likely be more disappointed if they decide to continue it and don’t tap Allison Saft to write any sequels that could potentially come if they expanded this. I’m not sure what would come next, but believe me when I say I’d happily and eagerly read a full history of Pixie Hollow and honestly? Yeah, maybe we, as readers, do need a prequel to the prequel about the first Warden of the Winter Woods because there is so much history and worldbuilding that could be dived into and Saft did such a wonderful job, both stylistically but also with how well she blended it and balanced existing canon.

And also, Clarion’s inner struggle of trying to be “perfect” and live up to the reputation of Elvina (the current queen of Pixie Hollow), but wanting to be herself and act on what she believed was right was super relatable. I don’t care how many times this lesson plays as a character arc, it’s one of my favorites and I loved how it played out between Clarion and Elvina—especially in the end.

This book had me blushing and grinning and giggling like a fool in love…until there were 100 pages left and things were pretty “wrapped up” and the dread set in. My heart plummeted. This was not going to have a happy ending, was it?

I won’t spoil anything but all I’ll say is, keep a box of tissues handy.

5 out 5 stars, will absolutely reread and I’m actually gifting a copy to someone, so if that’s not enough of a recommendation, I don’t know what is!