By Jennifer Lynn Alvarez
Five herds of flying horses share one land, and a black foal is born who the old prophecy says will either unite them all or destroy them, so the herds decide to kill him before he can choose.
Every hundred years, the land of Anok waits for a black foal to be born into one of its five herds of winged horses. The old legend says that foal will grow up to command a power called starfire, and will use it to either unite all the herds or wipe them out. When Star is born black, the leaders don't wait to find out which way it goes. They decide he has to die before his first birthday. Star can barely fly and has no idea what he is, so he runs, with a few loyal friends, chased across a world where the pegasi turn out to be far more warlike than their gentle looks let on.
A Wings of Fire reader who stayed for the warring clans, the prophecy, and the animal hero fighting to belong will find most of that here, with winged horses in place of dragons. Star is an underdog all the way down: born feared, hunted by the powerful, unsure of his own strength. The world is big, the danger is real, and the series runs to five books, so there's a lot of road ahead if the first one clicks. It does run darker than most of the dragon books, so go in knowing that.