REVIEW: The Poison Jungle by Tui T. Sutherland

Summary

Sundew the LeafWing is headed home with unexpected companions – Blue and Swordtail, the SilkWings, and Cricket the HiveWing with the dragonet Bumblebee. She’s taking them to her home in the Poison Jungle, the place where the LeafWings have been hiding for 50 years. But now the LeafWings are ready to stop hiding and fight back against the HiveWings. Sundew’s mother, Belladonna, has been leading raiding parties out, and her tribe is ready to unleash decades of anger on those who destroyed their home and the rest of their tribe.

But Sundew and her friends have discovered some secrets about Queen Wasp and her mind control. Sundew has a sample of the vine and flower she grows to control the other dragons. If they can find a LeafWing who knows what it is, they might be able to stop Wasp. But the Poison Jungle holds more secrets than the LeafWings know. Sundew is even keeping some secrets of her own. And secrets have a way of coming into the light whether you want them to or not.

Review

This was great! There’s significant suspense in this one. The jungle itself is a major source of suspense. And the characters are fantastic. I loved digging into Sundew’s story more. I adored her relationship with Bumblebee. The romantic subplot also gives new insights into the character. I loved it.

It’s hard to review this well because there are spoilers in almost everything I want to say. This ends with a major event and NO hints for what is going to happen next. And the next book – Dragonslayer (February 2020) – goes back to the history of Pyrrhia. Readers will be chomping at the bit to get back to this story by the time book 14 is released!

There were two places where I felt the story had things to say about contemporary issues. One is in the wrestling Sundew does with her feelings about the HiveWings. Her anger burns hot at the whole tribe, but when she considers them rationally, she knows none of the HiveWings – except Wasp – have acted on their own free will. So what responsibility do the HiveWing’s hold for their actions? They may not have taken action of their own free will, but they have enjoyed the privileges garnered by being the top race on their continent. Aware readers may see the racial comparisons to our own world. The second piece is a spoiler, but I will say it introduces the idea of immigration and raises some of the questions we wrestle with today. I’m eager to see how that part of the larger story plays out.

Fans of the series should dive right into this one if they haven’t already. You don’t want to miss it! (LGBTQ+)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½