ZenKitsune

Long Time Disney Fairies Fan Here

I bought this book sometime in 2025, but didn't read it until recently (March of 2026) because I saw that there's a second book coming out focusing on Periwinkle and a new fairy of a "new" talent 👀👀👀 And this year I'm trying to get back into reading novels, so this book was perfect for me to start with and omg.... I'M IN LOVE!!!

I have always been a Disney Fairies STAN ever since I was little!! I watched all the movies, read the chapter books from the library (and later started to collect them), had the Nintendo DS games, and tried to get as much merch and stationary my unemployed self could 😤 I also played the online game Pixie Hollow and I would always try to buy those green pixie hollow cards at stores to get in-game currency... good times 🥺 RIP PIXIE HOLLOW </3

All that to say... the world of Disney Fairies means so much to me and I think it's AMAZING that they would release a novel that I feel is intended for those who have been fans of this franchise since back in the day. Additionally, when I finished reading this book I also rewatched Secret of the Wings after years of not seeing it, so I can have that full circle moment~

Some Characters

This story expands the universe of Disney Fairies. We are introduced to "new" talents like governing-talent (which finally puts a name to what Queen Clarion talent is, though I guess she was referred to queen-talent previously?) and dream-talent (which is a talent that is EXTINCT.... didn't know that can happen- also was introduced in another recent new book called Bleakwatch Chronicles that I NEED to read). Since this is about when Clarion is younger, we are also introduced to Clarion's mentor/mother-like figure, Queen Elvina, some previous Ministers: Iris (Spring), Aurelia (Summer), and Rowan (Autumn). Clarion's best friend, Petra, is a tinker-talent and the Crown's personal tinker. Then there's Artemis, a scouting-talent and the Clarion's personal guard.

✨Yuri✨

Before I continue, I am excited to announce that WE HAVE YURI LETS GOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭 PETRA X ARTEMIS AGHHH And it's so lovely cause in the beginning of the book Petra seemed so intimidated by Artemis (cause she's a scaredy cat and honestly I would be scared of Artemis too ngl). HOWEVER, because those two are always around Clarion, then they are always around each other and among the events of this story I bet they had to be closer.... ANYWAYS THEY KISSED (or at least Artemis kissed her first, you had to be there 💕)

Now I just jumped to the 2nd to last chapter of the book with that reveal, but somewhere during the story when Petra finds out that Clarion is crossing the boarder to the Winter Woods because of a BOY (aka Milori) Petra is CONFUSION and she cannot understand WHY she would risk her life for a BOY. Of course there was more to it then just to see Milori (cause Pixie Hollow in crisis), but that had to be a big sign that Petra is 🌈 AND I'M HERE FOR IT!!

I also loved that Clarion started shipping them as soon as she caught on that there may be something there between them. It makes me so happy... but also sad for Clarion as we will revisit later... Also their romance is very much a background thing among their roles in the story, but I really enjoyed how it ended for them.

Here's the manga version of them (I will briefly talk about the manga later):

Petra

Artemis

Queen Elvina

I want to talk about Queen Elvina next cause I omg she mad me so UPSETTT!!! And I think why she made me so upset is because she's is very much strict mother/mentor coded. "This is how you should act". "This is how things are". "Don't worry about this it doesn't concern you". Elvina this entire story was kind of the second antagonist in the book in regards to Clarion's feelings and the fate of the Winter Woods. As she was shaping (raising) Clarion to be the next Queen of Pixie Hollow, she was strict in how she should act, who she should surround herself with (not to involve herself with her subjects) and even with-held lots of information from her that is SO important, especially with a lot of knowledge being passed down from word of mouth.

Not only did she with-held information, unfortunately some information that she with-held was misinformation that also shaped her thoughts on why an ENTIRE SEASON should be okay to fend for themselves. I don't think that's entirely Elvina's fault I think, there was probably some miscommunications between the former Queens along the way??? Either way, the relationship between Clarion and Elvina hits so hard because I think all of us have an Elvina in our lives somewhere. Plus, knowing that misinformation is the driving force for someone who has power to change the fates of so many people hits so close to home right now 😭

I am glad that Clarion and Elvina reconciled in the ending though. Elvina admitted that her experiences and past influenced how she raised Clarion and that her fears caused her to make bad decisions. Something that I feel most mothers learn later in life. This moment hurts more because Queen Elvina is going to return to the stars (aka die) very soon once Clarion is Queen.

The Nightmares & Dream-Talent Fairies

Speaking of antagonists, the nightmares are the main antagonists in the story. They are shadowy-like figures, usually of different animals that can put fairies into a deep sleep, causing said fairies to be trapped in horrible nightmares. In learning about the nightmares, we learn about the now extinct dream-talent fairies. When Pixie Hollow was just a tiny bud back in the day, dream-talent fairies where the ones who would gather dreams that traveled across the Never Sea and those dreams would become branches of the Pixie Dust tree. The tree eventually grew enough where it did not need anymore dreams and the dream-talent fairies stopped arriving to Pixie Hollow, then eventually became extinct.

Since dreams can make it to Pixie Hollow, nightmares can too, so the dream-talent fairies had the ability to trap them so they can stop causing havoc. They trapped them deep in the Winter Woods and the Lord of the Winter Woods (aka Warden) will forever watch over them. Now, the unfortunate thing (and the cause of this story's main plot) is that they did not know how to destroy nightmares. So after time, the nightmares grew and the barrier to keep them trapped faded over time, hence their escape in this story.

I loved the introduction of these nightmares cause they were something that was very terrifying to read about... AND I'M ADULT NOW I CAN HANDLE IT 😭 It was interesting to see something so threatening (and kind of magical) that can harm fairies in Pixie Hollow (other than large predator animals or other concerning stuff outside of Pixie Hollow). I can't wait to learn more about the dream-talent in the Bleakwatch Chronicles and Wings of Reverie coming out later this year!

Milori ❄️

First, I wanna shout out the cover illustrator Charlie Bowater... their depiction of not only Clarion, but also Milori is CHEF'S KISS They are both so BEAUTIFUL and I appreciate seeing younger Milori. Or maybe I also appreciate seeing 2D Milori cause I don't think I've personally seen a 2D depiction of him in official art anywhere (not that I've search tbh). Anyways, I NEEEEED more Disney Fairies art from them PLEASE and THANK YOU <3

I don't wanna say I've waiting 13 years (14 for me) to learn more about Milori cause me and young brain moved on fairly quickly from him when watching Secret of Wings even though despite the shocking revelation that Queen Clarion had a secret lover and we got that brief and base (for this book) backstory of them in the movie... WE WERE FED CRUMBS ABOUT HIM cause he was not the focus of the movie of course...

But man... Allision Saft (the author) gave us MILORI DOWWNNNN. I loved learning more about his personality, habits, and with learning more about him we also learned more about his position and those that came before him. I'm a SUCKER for romance, so those little moments him and Clarion had, had me in a CHOKEHOLD and witnessing his heartbreak when Clarion was pulling away from him (despite her not wanting to) HURT ME SO MUCH. HE WANTED HER SO BAD 😭😭😭When Clarion was on the brink of death, he told her a story about him watching her star fall from the sky (her arrival) and it gave him hope and he even made a wish🥺 BRUUUHH.... my heart aches ;-;

In Secret of the Wings, we learned that Milori broke his wing cause he crossed the boarder into the warm seasons. Of course this movie being released in 2012, there was no nightmares or anything that was told in their backstory since it wasn't a thing back then, but now that it is, Milori and Clarion wasn't crossing the boarder just to have fun and just cause they were in love, it was for an actual purpose. Clarion was able to cross into Winter several times because of her coat to protect her wings, but the SINGLE TIME Milori crossed into the warm seasons his wing breaks and I'm just like UGH POOR MILORI. AND HE SAID HE'LL DO IT AGAIN TO PROTECT HIS BOO!

I loved Milori in this book cause he was just so selfless and took risks not only cause he was in love, but to protect everyone. We can tell with how he waited at the boarder of Spring and Winter just so he can relay information about the nightmares. I feel so bad that he shoulder the regret and burden of the nightmares escaping and there was literally nothing he can do about it on his own. Even with these negative feelings he carried, he still tried everything in his power to do something about it, despite probably centuries of nothing being done about it. Him and Clarion are similar in a lot of ways and that's how they bonded.

Intermission? Secret of the Wings

In Wings of Starlight, no fairy has crossed the boarder for centuries. But Clarion needed to cross the boarder, so she asked Petra to make a coat for her to keep her wings warm. The downside is that she would not be able to fly. This was one way how a warm fairy to go into Winter. But how can a winter fairy go into the warm seasons? There was so much going on with pushing boundaries among the chaos of the nightmares and the upcoming coronation (which is BIG DEAL) that when tragedy struck with Milori breaking his wing, Queen Clarion reinforced that no one should ever cross the boarder again, even though now the winter fairies are no in good standing with the warm fairies by then end of the book.

In Secret of the Wings, Tinkerbell secretly created a coat to cross into winter, but she really wanted to Periwinkle to cross into the warm seasons. So she, Clank, Bobble, and the rest of the main cast of fairies from the movies created an invention for Periwinkle to stay cool enough to travel through the warm seasons. If you watched the movie, you know that it didn't work out perfectly and thanks to Lord Milori LITTERING their invention, chaos happened. But thanks to Periwinkle crossing the boarder, sharing her frost-talent by demonstrating her frosting a periwinkle flower and later Tinkerbell seeing how that flower stayed alive as the frost melted... that was able to save Pixie Hollow AND the winter fairies collaborated with warm fairies that wanted to cross the boarder by putting frost over their wings.

As I was typing this, I realized YAY warm fairies can now super easily go to winter... but they still haven't found a good sustainable way for winter fairies to go into warm seasons 🤔 Anyways, the fairies in the movie found ways to cross the boarder for both parties. It took risks and luck to be honest, but it happened cause they put their brains together (although Tink was carrying the group project of course). However, after tragedy, the moment Queen Clarion became Queen she was like LET'S SHUT ALL THIS DOWN and that was that. And it wasn't just "don't cross the boarder" I think it was also "no meeting each other" was not only for all the fairies but mainly for Clarion and Milori. It took years and years for someone brave and curious enough (our famous Tinkerbell) to break some rules and influence a change in history again. Tinkerbell in Secret of the Wings was like Clarion in Wings of Starlight. (or vice versa since the movie came out first) A change of history was made in this book with because Clarion was brave (kind of forced to cause THREAT) and curious (already had lingering curiosity about winter... didn't help she could always see winter from her bedroom window 😭) I kind of wanted to ramble about that cause I like the comparison and with time and a brave soldier(s), some good can happen to a society.

A Quote That Hit Me Hard

On page 328, chapter 22, Milori was crossing the boarding to get Clarion medical assistance and as Clarion was basically DYING she was very concerned for Milori's wings. Milori told her:

"Weighed against your life, they are nothing to me. I would make that trade every time."

I referenced this earlier but I had to bring it up again cause this is when I started crying bro like AAGHHHH... Milori is a real one frfr...

There's a Manga

So, there's a manga adaptation of this book (and it looks like it's being published on Webtoons first? I haven't looked so much into it yet) and honestly at first I wasn't planning to read it. Now I LOVE MANGA okay, but I guess it's because the book was enough for me. I guess I would love to see a visual depiction of the book (also because visualizing stuff is hard for me... "aren't you an artist?" yes, leave me alone 😭), but I think I would have loved to see more illustrations than just the cover art. I just freaking love Bowater's art AGH

Throw it back to the chapter book days. In the chapter books, there were a handful of illustrations throughout the book and those illustration were GORGEROUS and since they were just on off illustrations, they had more details. Idk... I also really enjoyed the Papercutz comics back in the day and it was really good with the environment and there was color... and I think I'm comparing this manga to them 😔 I also really liked the Vidia and the Fairy Crown manga, BUT I haven't read the chapter book version of it yet so that's saying something about the novel being enough for me... 😭It's like adapting a book into the movie and I think that's why I'm hesitant.

Maybe I'll just wait a while then read it on Webtoons. I see people in the comments are enjoying it so far and I'm here for that hehe. Also, I liked actually seeing the ministers...

Aurelia (Summer)

Rowan (Autumn)

Iris (Spring)

Conclusion For Now

Crazy if anyone actually made it this far, I've been here for hours typing this- But I loved this book so much. Disney Fairies content in the 2020's is crazy, but I'm HERE FOR IT. I cannot wait to read the next book and to eventually read Bleakwatch Chronicles.

Also Disney... BRING BACK PIXIE HOLLOW ONLINE PLEASE I do know that there's a fanmade one, but... it's not enough 🥺 I feel like I had more to talk about, but I can't remember for now.

P.S... RIP TO THE OG MINISTER OF WINTER!! Only appeared in the first movie, the first Nintendo DS game, and Pixie Hollow online then erased forever for PLOT. You will always be remembered gorl 💕