This review contains spoilers for the “Wings of Starlight.”
“Wings of Starlight” by Alison Saft is a story that those raised on any of the “Tinkerbell” movies may want to learn more about. The book follows the story of young Clarion, the future queen of Pixie Hollow.
However, Clarion constantly feels like she is in the shadow of the current queen and her mentor. But when monsters start descending on Pixie Hollow, Clarion decides she will no longer be sidelined.
There’s a problem, though — all signs for a solution point Clarion in the direction of the winter woods, but the winter woods are off limits to warm season fairies like Clarion.
Clarion doesn’t let those rules stop her from finding a solution to the monster problem, so she goes to the border of the winter woods where she runs into the warden of the winter woods, Milori.
After their encounter, the two decide to work together to rid Pixie Hollow of the monsters that plague it, and as tensions run high, so do the feelings the two of them develop.
Throughout the entirety of reading this book, the younger me within was squealing with joy. Ever since Clarion and Milori made their appearance in “Secret of the Wings” they have managed to steal the spotlight, and this book gave their story a chance to shine.
Their story is so tragic, yet beautiful. This is seen in the scene where Clarion is injured badly, and Milori is risking it all including his wings to ensure she is okay.
Even after his wing broke leaving him unable to fly on his own ever again, the only thing he says is, “I don’t regret what I have done, nor do I blame you for what happened. I’d do it again if given the opportunity.”
This just shows how far he is willing to go for Clarion, but on the flip side Clarion is also willing to protect him. Once Clarion becomes queen, she makes two decrees: one is to ensure that the winter fairies are also represented in the fairies that report directly to the queen, while the other is to ban crossing over the winter border to protect everyone, including Milori.
She is willing to let Milori go to ensure he is safe because in her eyes, she would lose him one way or another, so she would rather him be out of reach as long as he was alive.
Overall, the connection between Clarion and Milori is so enchanting to watch unfold. At the start, Clarion is this young queen who is so unsure of herself, and Milori is someone who feels like they don’t deserve to be in the company of others.
However, in the end, this is no longer the case. Clarion becomes a queen who is sure of herself, and Milori learns that he doesn’t have to always be alone. These lessons that each of them learns are because of the relationship they built with each other throughout the book.
This doesn’t make their parting at the end any less tragic or heartbreaking, and knowing how this story ends does not soften the blow in the slightest.
Altogether, when it comes to this book, Alison Saft created a masterpiece with her words, which filled the void that the “Tinkerbell” movies were unable to fill.
