Firewing

A few years following the repealment of the Law, Griffin Silverwing is the newborn son of Shade Silverwing and Marina Brightwing. Slower and more clumsy than non-hybrids, Griffin's only real friend is Luna, a popular fellow newborn. Fearing rejection by his father, Griffin, perhaps inspired by the story of the fate of Old Tree Haven, steals fire from human campers to show his bravery. Unfortunately, Luna is accidentally set on fire, killing her. Guilt-stricken, Griffin flies into the lower levels of Tree Haven and discovers a crack that leads to the Underworld. An earthquake opens the crack up wider and Griffin is sucked into the Underworld, unknown to the Silverwing colony. When Shade is unable to find his son, the Elders give him two days to search the Underworld before promising to seal the crack again.

There, Griffin discovers a colony of bats that are unaware that they are dead. The bats are wary of Griffin because, as he is still alive, he appears to glow to them. Griffin discovers that the recently deceased Luna has become a member of the colony and has no memory of him. Fortunately, a group of Pilgrims (bats who realize they are dead) arrive and rekindle Luna's memory of Griffin. The Pilgrim, Frieda, tells them about a gigantic, incandescent Tree, which supposedly sends dead bats that enter it to another, more enjoyable afterlife. Frieda believes that the Tree will send Griffin back home, as he is alive. Armed with Frieda's sound map, Griffin and Luna head out to find the Tree.

Meanwhile, Goth awakens in the underworld and discovers that he is dead. After members of his own species try to capture him and subject him to slave labour, Goth demands an explanation from Zotz. Zotz appears and explains that Goth is to be tortured because of his failure to free Zotz during the last eclipse. Goth bargains for a way to regain Zotz' trust. Since Zotz cannot harm the living, he tells Goth that he will be given a second chance at life if he kills Griffin.

With both Shade and Goth trying to find Griffin, Goth catches up first. However, the still-living Griffin is stronger than Goth and able to fight him off. Griffin and Luna enter a cavern, which has the power to mesmerize dead bats by reminding them of their past lives. Shade manages to find Griffin and Luna there, but Goth arrives for a second time. Griffin and Luna escape, but Shade becomes lost in the cavern river and Goth's every bone is broken in the struggle.

Griffin and Luna discover a bat named Dante in a group of bats who fear nothing because, as they say, "with death, your fears also go". They explain that they have chosen to spend eternity contemplating philosophy, rather than entering the Tree. Griffin, not wanting to go on because of his injury, gets into an argument with Luna. Out of guilt, he admits to being the reason for Luna's death, but regains his desire to find the Tree in the ensuing struggle. Shade, having escaped from the river, is lured into a trap by Zotz. He mutilates Goth's ear, effectively blinding his echolocation. Zotz is able to give Goth the likeness of Shade and taunts the real Shade with a story about how the Underworld and the Tree came to be.

Griffin and Luna reach the Tree, but before they can enter it, Goth arrives disguised as Shade. Goth kills Griffin just before the arrival of Shade and his allies, who have escaped Zotz' trap. Shade dies by suicide so that his life force can be absorbed by both Griffin and Luna, and they all enter the Tree. The newly-reborn Goth discovers the ruins of a temple to Zotz and a group of Vampyrum Spectrum, whom he begins to indoctrinate. The newly-reborn Griffin and Luna return to Tree Haven and reunite with Marina. Unbeknownst to them, Shade is present in an immaterial form and merges his spirit with those around him.

• Firewing is the first book to feature the bat gods as actual characters. Aspects of the bat religions were mentioned in the previous two books, but there was nothing to suggest that they truly existed in the context of the Silverwing universe.
• While Zotz remains imprisoned in the Underworld by the end of the novel, he has two plans in place that could free him. The first plan is Goth rebuilding Zotz' followers and having their descendants free Zotz at the next solar eclipse. The second plan is the tunnel Zotz is digging to the surface, which he claims will allow him to suck enough living creatures into the Underworld as sacrifices to empower him enough to seize control of the living.
• Unlike the previous two novels in the Silverwing trilogy, Marina is not one of Firewing's main characters and appears only during the beginning of the novel and very briefly at the end.
• Once Shade goes through the tree, he becomes a ghost and can go through everything, but no one can sense him in any way.
• This book dwarfs the previous two, especially its immediate predecessor, yet isn't divided into three parts like the aforementioned; in fact, it's big enough for four.

Firewing was first released in Canada in April 2002. It was followed with its release in the United Kingdom and the United States in September 2002 and February 2003, respectively. Below is the release details for the first edition hardback and paperback copies in these three publication regions.