#kal wof rambles

[kaliido-s]

Crazy how saying “despite its flaws I think WoF is a pretty good book series” can be called a controversial take on WoF Tumblr. Like there’s this underlying tone over every discussion that the books we talk about suck and fall apart if you try to look at them critically. I don’t love everything about WoF, especially not modern WoF, but there’s things these books do better than other middle grade books. It’s also worth mentioning that yes, these books are made for 8-12 year olds, so if you’re not into it anymore, that’s perfectly fine, go read books meant for your age group lol.

Bottom line, there shouldn’t be any shame in enjoying these books, you don’t have to say “growing up is realizing wof sucks” and “real wof fans hate wof” or something. I think if people really did hate it nobody would talk about it as much as they do anyway.

#I tried to word this as civilly as I could cause I do not need to start arguments w people about this lol #this is just something I noticed and wanted to talk about #kal thoughts #kal wof rambles #wof #wings of fire

[kaliido-s]

I like Arctic and Kestrel in the sense of “these guys suck and their lives suck and they feel bad about their lives sucking while also not doing anything to improve it” and if I see any content that paints them in a sympathetic light I will throw up and die

#awful people and i never want them to change #they suck and its fun to watch them suck #im a tiny bit more lenient to arctic but sympathetic kestrel makes me die on the spot #arctic wof #kestrel wof #wof #wingsoffire #kal thoughts #kal wof rambles #icewing #skywing

[kaliido-s]

I know, right? I see so many reblogs of "Oh we don't like it because the books are GOOD, they're awful, we just like them because of nostalgia" and I think "If you think they're bad, or the characters are inconsistent, or the worldbuilding is lacking, then you're not paying attention when you read." The books are great, people are just making it way more complicated than it needs to be.

I am of the opinion that WoF is pretty good but flawed, but it’s extremely important to realize that :

A. These books are made for middle schoolers, not high schoolers or young adults. There’s a reason you grow out of it and it’s not “these books were actually bad the whole time”

B. There’s no shame to be had in enjoying books made for a younger demographic. You don’t have to tear down the books all the time so people know you’re critical of what you read.

I’m basically just reiterating what I already said, but you get it.

#wof #wingsoffire #kal wof rambles #kal thoughts #ask

[kaliido-s]

Forgive me if this is inflammatory or something, but a criticism that I have of the WoF books (arc 3 onward but the latter half of arc 2 showed the beginnings of it as well) is that it really feels like tui’s writing and prose has… downgraded? I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it was absolutely glaring in the WoF guidebook. Having adult/elderly characters and even ones in government roles speak in a manner indistinguishable from the toddlers written alongside them is. a choice, i think. It feels like she’s leaning too heavily on the humor of “serious thing to unsERIOUS THING THAT DESTROYS THE MOOD OF THE CURRENT SCENE” if that makes sense? Which is a shame; I really feel like her writing peaked at Darkstalker, which I feel had an even mix of that brand of humor, other expressions of it, and scenes and dialogue that can be fully taken seriously. The first arc and first half of arc 2 also shared that balance. Arc 3 was where it became obvious. I have other issues with arc 3, but I feel like the change in writing style is the most distracting, to me- It was grating enough that I couldn’t get through the third arc. I don’t care for any of its writing choices but I could have at least read it if the style hadn’t changed in that way.

Sorry that this has kind of become a ramble. I’m a weirdo who actively enjoys discussions that amount to “this thing i like kind of sucks <3” but I agree that a lot of people with a similar attitude about it should focus a bit more on what’s drawn and kept them with this series.

I hope you’re having a great day!

As a fan of the MonsterVerse Godzilla movies, I am very familiar with “this thing I like kind of sucks ❤️” discussions.

Anyway, I agree with this a lot. I enjoyed the Guidebook, but the writing shift was more glaring than it had been before for me, even though it had also really bothered me with books 14 and 15.

The section with Queen Coral really got on my nerves honestly. I don’t think she was ever this absurdly over-the-top in The Lost Heir? She feels indistinguishable from Kinkajou or Cricket going on long nerdy rambles. Like girl, you are 65, please stop overexerting yourself before you get a heart attack. There are similar moments in Book 14 and 15, either with characters like Snowfall that never stop screaming in all caps, or with the prose itself having very juvenile wording. I agree with you that arcs 1 and 2 had a better balance with this, I’m never annoyed when I read them like I am with the later half of arc 3. It makes me wonder if I might just skip out entirely on arc 4 since it’s likely the whole thing will be written this way. I understand if it’s Tui’s attempt to gear the series more towards it’s target audience, but when characters screaming nonsense in all caps is contrasted with oppression and psychological horror, I’m really not into it. I feel like your ask put it best, I really don’t have that much to add lol.

#kal wof rambles #kal thoughts #ask #asks #wof #wingsoffire #wings of fire

[kaliido-s]

I hate interacting with the wof fandom because I can never find any spaces just,, talking about the books instead of criticizing them and dissecting their themes and how bad they are and how bad the characters are written.

I want to talk about fun headcanons for the dragons and fanon tribes and all the silly ocs someone’s made! I don’t want to talk about how a book series meant for fifth graders doesn’t fully tackle themes of colonialism because it’s a book meant for fifth graders and I don’t expect it to handle that theme well. It’s not meant to be chewed up and analyzed down to the last period on the last page in some big long essay, it’s for a middle schooler to write a book report on.

To me at least, the WoF community on tumblr is a mix of unnecessary criticism and fun headcanons and ocs. You just have to find the right place to look for it, although the negative side of it can still be very loud and annoying. WoF instagram is usually better for finding headcanons and ocs imo.

And yeah, I don’t think WoF does a particularly good job at talking about oppression or colonialism, but at the end of the day, no child who reads arc 3 is going to come away thinking the oppressors were right, and as they age, they’re going to find way better and more directly informative sources on that sort of thing. Tui has always said that she wants her books to get kids to start talking to their parents about issues, and as a jumping off point for them, I think it works.

#wof #wingsoffire #wings of fire #kal wof rambles #kal thoughts #ask

[kaliido-s]

I kind of disagree on the “doesn’t talk about oppression and colonialism well” thing. Kind of. Cuz a big part of Arc 3 was that Wasp lied to EVERYONE and the HiveWings were just as much victims as the Silk and LeafWings. And the LeafWings didn’t say “we deserved it”, that’s not the same as making a mistake, which is what they ACTUALLY said. I also don’t subscribe to the “Clearsight the Colonizer” interpretation since she didn’t force anyone to give up their customs or anything.

Keep in mind I said it “doesn’t do a particularly good job of it”, because WoF is pretty unremarkable in it’s portrayal of oppression. It doesn’t bring forth any new ideas or exploration that we haven’t already seen before. A truly bad discussion of oppression would place the blame squarely on the marginalized group and paint the oppressors in a sympathetic light as the obvious superior group. WoF doesn’t do that and isn’t going to place any harmful ideals in the minds of children, but it’s not particularly special in how it talks about it. “Oppression is bad and we should learn to understand each other and fight back when necessary”, isn’t new. Thats not to say Arc 3 is cookiecutter, because it frankly goes off the rails with it’s story into really weird plotlines, but it’s themes isn’t anything we haven’t seen before.

Also the Clearsight thing is mostly because we didn’t get much insight in the process of Clearsight being worshipped and the forming of the Hivewings, so what we were left with was fairly questionable (especially things like Clearsight changing the entire language of the continent. That can be looked at very wrong).

#wof #wings of fire #arc 3 #wof arc 3 #ask #kal thoughts #kal wof rambles