Warriors: MEGA Review! Part One

Image Credit: Liu Ye

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six

Advanced Spoiler Warning! (Seriously, I’m spoiling the entire series)

This is a remake of my (now deleted) post “My Complex Feelings on Warriors.” After some thought, I no longer like that post. I do stand by some of what I said, but now I have more informed opinions. Over the past couple of months, I have been listening to the rest of Warriors via audiobooks. I know I said I wasn’t going to do this in my old post, but since I started listening to audiobooks at work to pass the time, I went on ahead and read the rest of Warrior Cats. Now, I want to make this clear: I have not read ALL of Warriors! I have only read the main series, the novellas and (some of) the super editions. While I have read (and own) a few of the mangas, I am not going to talk about them here. Nor am I going to talk about the field guides. Please do not tell me to read them. I have zero interest in investing time (and money) into them and I don’t think they’re all that important to the whole of Warriors (in my opinion). There are 90+ books in this franchise. It’s too much. Hell, the main series has 45 books (as of the making of this post)! That’s insane! AND some of the super editions are required readings for the main series! So that’s 50+ books. This series is daunting and very unfriendly to people just jumping in. The amount of money and time one has to invest into these mediocre cat books is just ridiculous. Thank goodness for audiobooks. Thank goodness for libraries.

These books have had a profound impact on my life, as sad as that is to say. Without this series, I would not be a writer. I would not enjoy reading as much as I do. Warriors is one of the fundamental building blocks of the my creative life. And they fucking suck! These books are bad, y’all. But they’re so fascinating. They’re bad in an interesting way. And, hey, some of the books (mostly the super editions) are actually pretty good. I find these dumb battle cats hilarious and wild so here I am, writing about them. There’s so much to talk about.

Now, before we truly dig in:

What the Hell is Warrior Cats?

Warrior Cats is a Young Readers animal fiction series published by HarperCollins and written by Erin Hunter. Erin Hunter is a pseudonym. “Erin Hunter” is the name given to the team of people. This is an open secret. Originally, “Erin Hunter” comprised of three women: The original creator and outliner Victoria Holmes and the ghost writers Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry. In 2017, Victoria Holmes stepped down as the head editor due to health concerns and now the books are outlined by a team of faceless names at the book packaging company, Working Partners. The series has been around for 20 years, starting in 2003 (yes, really) and it’s still going.

Warriors Cats is about feral cats living in the woods in four (later five) separate groups called “Clans” (Not ‘colonies’ for some reason). ThunderClan, WindClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan (and later SkyClan) live separately, but they share a history, culture, and religion. Their Heaven is called StarClan. StarClan is home to cats who have passed on. The living cats worship their memories and live by a strict code of conduct called the warrior code. The Clans have a basic, albeit ingenious, naming and hierarchy system. The cats’ names are split into prefix and suffix and their names denote their rank in the Clan. The prefix is usually a nature word or color (Lion-, Bramble-, Blue-). The prefix never changes throughout the cat’s life (unless you’re a certain black tomcat who we’ll get to later). The suffix is what denotes rank. When a cat is born they are given the suffix “-kit” (Lionkit, Bramblekit, Bluekit). When they hit six “moons” (aka months) old, they are assigned to a mentor/teacher who teaches them how to fight, patrol borders, and hunt. These young students are called “apprentices” and they are given the suffix -paw (Lionpaw, Bramblepaw, Bluepaw). After they pass an assessment, they are then given their warrior names. The suffix, at this point, can be anything nature related from cat body parts to nature adjacent words (Lionblaze, Brambleclaw, Bluefur). This becomes the cat’s permanent name until one of two things happen:

1. They become leader. Leaders are granted nine lives (actual nine lives) by StarClan and after the ceremony, they are given the suffix “-star” (Bramblestar, Bluestar)

2. They become horribly mutilated. Yes, I’m serious. If a cat suffers an injury, the leader may change their name to reflect this injury. For example, when Stormkit breaks his jaw, his mother Rainflower ask their leader Hailstar to change his name to Crookedkit to reflect his broken jaw. This is fucked up and they don’t do this anymore thankfully, but it was a common thing for a while. You had cats named Deadfoot, One-Eye, Halftail, Lostface, etc. It’s fucked up and overly mean and gross.

The ranking system works like this:

• Leader: the one who calls all the shots

• Deputy: The second in command. When the leader dies, their deputy ascends to leader.

• Medicine Cat: This is the Clan’s doctor and spiritual leader. They heal wounds with herbs and they can talk to their ancestors in StarClan via dreams or via their holy sites The Moonstone and The Moonpool.

• Warriors: The bulk of the Clan. Warriors are the ones who hunt and protect the borders from intruders. They also train apprentices.

• Apprentices: Young cats training to be warriors or medicine cats.

Unranked positions:

• Queens: Pregnant/nursing cats

• Elders: retired warriors who are taken care of by the Clan

• Kits: They’re kittens.

Labels given to outsiders

• Loner: self-explanatory. Loners tend to be indifferent or even friendly toward the Clans

• Rogue: a loner who is hostile to the Clans

• Kittypet: a house cat

The cats have a lot of constructed words. Some of the more important ones are:

• Twolegs: for some reason the cats call humans “twolegs” even though they call horses “horses” and deer “deer.” They know all the names to various birds and fish so why are humans called “twolegs?”

• Monsters: Cars and other machinery.

• Newleaf, greenleaf, leaf-fall, and leaf-bare: Spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

• A moon: one month

• The Gathering: Every full moon, the four/five clans meet together in Fourtrees/the island to discuss Clan news.

• “She-cats”: For some ungodly reason, the female cats are called “she-cats” instead of mollies. Toms are still called toms but mollies are “she-cats.” It’s cringe. I hate it so damn much. And yes, the actual term for a female cat is “molly.” “Queen” only refers to female cats who are pregnant or nursing. “Molly” is general. For some reason, Warriors fans are set on this idea that “molly” only refers to spayed females but this is untrue. All the sources I’ve read say that “molly” is a general term that simply defines all female cats, spayed or not. I’m writing all of this because this is weirdly a hot issue in the fandom for no good reason. It’s molly. Look it up. I’m calling them mollies because I despise the term “she-cat” with every fiber of my being.

The four (later five) Clans live in different environments and are said to practice different hunting and fighting techniques even though we don’t really see that.

• ThunderClan: ProtagonistClan. They live in the woods and are said to be bigger(?) than the others.

• ShadowClan: AntagonistClan (at least it used to be). They live in the pine forest and eat “gross” things like frogs, rats and lizards.

• RiverClan: ForgottenClan. They swim and eat fish. They’re not as prevalent as the other Clans in the main series.

• WindClan: DramaClan. They fast. They hunt rabbits on an open plain. They have so much baggage and drama. They’re my favorite.

• SkyClan: RetconnedClan. They climb trees and they jump, I guess. I don’t really know what their “special trait” is supposed to be. They show up later in the series.

And that’s the basics! Now we can dig into the writing, the characters, the plots, and the weird shit.

Arc One: The Prophecies Begin (2003-2004)

6.5/10

I already wrote a review on this arc so you can read about my in depth thoughts here.

This follows Warriors’ golden boi Fireheart along on his journey to defeat the evil cat Tigerclaw. Unlike the later arcs, this one is break-neck. It goes by so quickly. Rusty starts off as a kittypet who is invited by the ThunderClan leader Bluestar to join the Clan. He earns his apprentice name Firepaw and is then immediately introduced to Tigerclaw, who is dragging the body of ThunderClan’s deputy Redtail behind him. The obviously evil Tigerclaw tells the Clan that Redtail was killed by Oakheart, RiverClan’s deputy, during a battle. Tigerclaw says he then killed Oakheart in revenge. Everyone believes him. Ravenpaw, Tigerclaw’s apprentice, tells Firepaw that Tigerclaw actually killed Redtail after Redtail supposedly killed Oakheart. Firepaw tries to tell Bluestar but she refuses to believe him because “Redtail wouldn’t kill another cat.” He runs around trying to solve the mystery behind Oakheart’s death so that he can effectively piece the timeline together. He finds out that Oakheart died in a rockslide and Tigerclaw killed Redtail. Tigerclaw outs himself by trying to kill Bluestar. Fireheart defeats him and he is exiled from the Clan. Meanwhile, ShadowClan has ousted their tyrannical leader Brokenstar and had democratically elected Nightpelt for leader. But StarClan refuses to give him nine lives for no good reason and Nightstar ends up dying to a sickness. Tigerclaw swoops in and takes over ShadowClan and becomes Tigerstar. He’s able to do this because neither Bluestar or Fireheart tell the rest of the Clans about this murderous monster running around in the woods. ShadowClan just takes him in no questions asked. He then joins forces with RiverClan, forming TigerClan. He enlists the help of an edgy roleplay group called BloodClan in order to intimidate the other Clans into joining him, but Firestar finally tells everyone about how bad of a cat Tigerstar is. Scourge, the edgiest of edgy bois, disembowels Tigerstars over this. I’m serious. He literally cuts Tigerstar’s stomach open. The man dies nine times. You get this horrific image of a cat spasming on the floor, bleeding out, and then going still and then spasming again over and over nine times in a row. It’s one of the most intense deaths in the series. The edgy cat Scourge then declares war on all the Clans. Firestar (oh yeah, he becomes leader after Bluestar died from pushing a ravenous dog pack leader off a cliff) and the rest of the Clans gang up on BloodClan and save the forest. The End.

Oh yeah there’s also a bunch of secret kitten reveals. Graystripe gets with Silverstream, a RiverClan molly, who then later dies giving birth to their half-Clan kits, Stormkit and Featherkit. Bluestar reveals that Mistyfoot and Stonefur are her secret half-Clan kits with Oakheart. Yellowfang, ShadowClan’s ex medicine cat turned ThunderClan’s medicine cat, reveals that she had a forbidden romance with the previous ShadowClan leader Raggedstar and then gave birth to the tyrannical dictator Brokenstar. She then later kills Brokenstar by poisoning him. For no good reason, medicine cats are not allowed to have children so Yellowfang had to keep all of this a secret.

Each book in the first arc is jam packed with information and events. I just went over the most important stuff. Overall, it’s fine. For Warriors it is easily one of the best arcs in the series because it actually stays on track and never gets boring. There is no filler here. This is 100% the deadliest arc in the series. So many characters die: Bluestar, Yellowfang, Silverstream, Nightstar, Crookedstar, Stonefur, Spottedleaf, Brindleface, Tigerstar, Scourge, Whitestorm, Lionheart, etc. A lot of characters die. This is significant because cats rarely die in the more recent arcs.

The Prophecies Begin is fine. There aren’t many things that I like thinking back on it. It’s a great introduction to the series. I know that is not saying much. It is the first arc, but keep in mind that Warriors is very unfriendly toward beginners. You can’t read any other arc without reading this one.

Things I Like

I like Yellowfang and Cinderpelt. After Cinderpaw gets hit by a car and breaks her back leg, she is confined to the medicine den with Yellowfang, a grumpy, sharp-tongued molly who was taken in by ThunderClan after she was ousted from ShadowClan by her own son, Brokenstar. While there, Cinderpaw is lamenting about how she can “never be a warrior” and Yellowfang makes her feel better by giving her chores around the medicine den. Cinderpaw realizes that she likes helping Yellowfang. Yellowfang likes having her around so she offers Cinderpaw the position of medicine cat apprentice. Cinderpaw happily accepts. It’s wholesome (if we ignore the blantant ableism, but trust me… we will get there). I really love Cinderpelt and Yellowfang’s realtionship. I already liked the two of them individully. I love how Cinderpelt takes on Yellowfang’s mannerisms and sharp retorts. It’s so small, but it’s so cute. It really sells just how close the two of them are. Yellowfang clearly loves and respects Cinderpelt and Cinderpelt feels the same way. We don’t get a lot of close mentor/apprentice relationships after this. We get Sunfall/Bluefur in Bluestar’s Prophecy, but that’s it really. Most protagonists forget about their mentors. It’s sad really because mentors act as a second or third parent to these young cats. They are vital to the mental development of their apprentices, but we rarely see them bond. In general, the cats do not create strong bonds outside of romantic or familial relations. Bluefur/Sunfall, Yellowfang/Cinderpelt, Leafpool/Mothwing, Leafpool/Sorreltail, Fireheart/Graystripe/Ravenpaw, and maybe Leopardfur/Sunfish/Whiteclaw are just some of the few (I would say) good friendly dynamics we get in the entire franchise that I can remember. These cats don’t have friends…

Back to positives, I love Ravenpaw. He’s one of my favorite characters. He starts off as a scared, traumatized boy who just witnessed his mentor Tigerclaw kill their deputy and then lie about it. He becomes close friends with Firepaw and Graypaw and they help him escape Tigerclaw’s wrath by leaving him with the barn cat Barley. There, Ravenpaw becomes more confident and happier and helps out his friends throughout the series. He’s just a good boy and I love him. And of course, I love his boyfriend Barley as well. While it is never explicitly stated, it is clear that Ravenpaw and Barley are a couple and it’s cute. I love how much they care for each other and in the first arc, I like how Barley readily accepts Ravenpaw no questions asked. They’re so cute.

Cloudtail. I love this man. I know Cloudtail is not a favorite amongst the fandom, but I love ‘em! He’s Fireheart’s nephew. His sister, a kittypet named Princess, gives him one of her kittens to raise in the Clan, that kitten being Cloudkit. Cloudkit is this rambunctious, bratty little ball of white fluff who later becomes a nuisance during his apprentice days. He sneaks off to eat pet food and then he gets trapped in a house. Sandstorm, Fireheart, and Ravenpaw have to go and rescue him. He blatantly states that he doesn’t believe in StarClan, which is absurd because StarClan is very much a real thing. That motherfucker watched Tigerstar bleed out nine times. Like come on, Cloudtail! I find him hilarious. There are not that many characters in Warriors that have strong personalities so when one like Cloudtail shows up, I attach to them immediately. And his relationship with and care for Brightheart (who I also adore!) after she gets mauled by a dog is touching. I wish Brightheart had more agency in her own story, but hey, they are cute together and they’re one of the few actually good couples in Warriors.

Things I Don’t Like

Warriors has a lot of issues that get compounded as the series goes on and some of the more troubling ones start off in this arc. The ableism in this arc is infamous. Cinderpelt’s back leg gets busted and immediately her warrior mentor Fireheart is like “Oh no, now she can never be a warrior!” I hate this because three-legged cats get around just fine. They can do all the same feline-stuff fourlegged cats can do just fine. They can hunt, jump, climb, run fast, tear up shit, all of that without issue. Cinderpelt 100% could’ve been a warrior! Now, I like her arc. I like how she accepts the medicine cat position not because she felt like she had to, but because she wanted to. She enjoyed the work. However, I hate how Fireheart keeps telling us that she’s “ruined” forever. This aspect of Cinderpelt’s story becomes even worse after Cinderheart is born, but we will get there. It’s deeply ableist and it also proves that the authors know next to nothing about cats.

Let’s talk about Snowkit. Snowkit is one of the most infamous cases of ableism in the series. Snowkit was born in book five. He was a pure white kitten with blue eyes. It is stated that white cats with blue eyes are often deaf (a true fact that is relevant in this book and this book only). Brackenfur realizes that Snowkit is a bit odd and he tells Fireheart about him. Fireheart and Cinderpelt do a test and come to the conclusion that Snowkit is deaf. His mother, Speckletail, tries her hardest to show that Snowkit could still be a warrior, but Cinderpelt and Fireheart disagree. After a few chapters, Snowkit is killed by a hawk. He only existed to add tragedy to the plot. Snowkit was never allowed to be his own person. He existed to die and he’s never spoken of again. This is fucked and I deeply hate this. Snowkit could have 100% been a warrior. These cats are intelligent enough to grow herbs so they could’ve created some sort of communication system for Snowkit. I wish Snowkit was never written. What they did to him is one of the many black stains on this series.

Getting into lighter stuff now, let’s talk about Fireheart and how boring he is. Fireheart is the most standard YR protagonist ever. He’s not unlikeable, but he’s not interesting. He’s good, righteous, loyal, and determined. He always does what’s best for the Clans, even if it means laying down his own life. Good boy. Good cat. I just wish he was a little more interesting. And I also wish he wasn’t stupid. Warriors does this thing where they intentionally make the main character dumb as rocks just to progress the plot. There are multiple times where Fireheart is given a not-at-all vague prophecy from Spottedleaf from StarClan and he just misinterprets it so hard. In the first book Into the Wild, Spottedleaf, ThunderClan’s medicine cat who dies in book one, is talking to Bluestar and she suddenly gets a vision that states: “Fire alone will save our Clan.” Bluestar then meets Rusty later named Firepaw. She literally names him after the prophecy! Spottedleaf, in a dream, straight up tells him about the prophecy and he can’t put it together that it’s about him. He assumes every other possibility, but not the one that states it’s about him until the very end. When Fireheart becomes Firestar, he makes Whitestorm his deputy. Good choice. But when Whitestorm dies in the battle with BloodClan, Firestar chooses Graystripe, a cat who abandoned his apprentice Brackenpaw in order to hang out with his hot gf Silverstream. Graystripe is the worst choice for deputy! I know Whitestorm basically told him to choose Graystripe while he was dying but Whitestorm was wrong too. Sandstorm (or Longtail) should have been deputy, but she was not viable because Firestar denied her an apprentice twice for no reason! I think the Erins just didn’t want his mate to be the deputy because it would have caused conflicts of interest but yet they made him choose his best friend so… mission failed.

I blame the writing for all of this. Fireheart/star is not supposed to be stupid, but the narrative makes him do dumb things that he wouldn’t actually do based on his traits because the plot needs to happen or the authors want to avoid something. It’s sloppy writing. Your character choices should line up with their traits. If you want to avoid something in your plot, rework the plot, not the character.

Another Fireheart is dumb moment is when after Bluestar exiles Tigerclaw, neither one of them tells the other Clans at the Gathering about Tigerclaw’s actions. If they did so, the rest of the story would not have happened in the way that it did. Tigerclaw would have never became leader of ShadowClan. Hell, he might’ve been killed on sight. I would’ve preferred this route honestly, because it makes more sense. Plus Tigerclaw is not that intriguing of a villain so I would’ve been down for him to be replaced by someone else.

Tigerstar is so obviously evil and I don’t really understand his motives. I get that he wants to be leader and have power. That makes sense, but what is up with his plan to unite the Clans? I’m guessing he wanted to be the ultimate leader. But what I don’t understand is why the Clans uniting is a bad thing. The narrative and the other characters want you to think that the Clans blended together would be the end of everything. Lol no. It would make more sense if the Clans were too different to blend together, but they’re not. They’re the same. They just live in different environments. When Tigerstar bands together with RiverClan he turns the Clan into a violent mob so I don’t understand how he thinks that by killing people and being violent he can sway the other Clan leaders into joining him. Also, what was he doing with BloodClan? He lied to them about his actions which made Scourge kill him, but why would he lie to them? What did he expect them to do after they won? I know he promised them hunting grounds, but Scourge would’ve just taken over the territories regardless because he’s clearly evil and untrustworthy. Tigerstar didn’t even need to align himself with them. Tigerstar is supposed to be this manipulative, calculating, and intimidating villain. He’s scary but he’s not clever. He’s only able to get away with all of this shit because the good guys are willfully stupid and just let him do stuff.

I hate how Scourge comes out of nowhere and hijacks the plot. To me, he feels like a solution to a plot hole they created. They gave Tigerstar nine lives therefore Firestar would have to kill him nine times in order to win. So they introduced someone’s OC to kill the main bad in one hit. They could’ve done one of two things:

1) Have Tigerstar lie about his nine lives. StarClan rejected him because he’s evil. It was already shown in book one that Tigerclaw has a fear of StarClan. When he, Bluestar, Firepaw and his buddies go to the Moonstone, Tigerclaw flees at the sight of the rock. Bluestar remarks that he was probably frightened by the power of StarClan. I always assumed that he feared them because only StarClan knew of his dark deeds and intentions. Therefore when he takes over ShadowClan, he refuses to get his nine lives because he is afraid of StarClan’s judgement. So, he lies to his new Clan and the rest of the Clans. He knows that he lives in a cult-like theocracy that never questions the word of StarClan so he’s able to get away with it. This way, when Firestar kills Tigerstar, he kills him in one hit. Firestar can learn that Tigerstar lied which could have given him the confidence to face him in battle. Lying about the lives was already established by Nightstar so it’s not like it Tigerstar lying about it would be out of place. In fact, it would have made him more interesting.

2) Kill Tigerclaw earlier on. He could have recruited BloodClan to invade ThunderClan in book three. Then, after the rogues are driven out, Tigerclaw is killed by his Clan for trying to kill his leader. Then, Scourge could’ve became the new villain. It wouldn’t have felt so forced.

Scourge is such a lame villain. He’s just pure evil and nothing else. He comes out of nowhere. He has dogteeth somehow attached to his claws, which somehow make his claws even stronger and deadlier (it’s the stupidest thing in the entire series). He’s a small black cat with ice blue eyes and one white paw. He’s literally someone’s OC. He’s not a character! I will admit that I do like his manga, but I just wish he was introduced earlier in the series and was given more of a personality. Tigerclaw, at least, has a personality. Scourge is just a blank piece of wood with dogteeth attached to his claws. It’s lame.

In general, Warriors doesn’t have many great villains, but I will discuss this in more detail as we go on.

Final Thoughts on Arc One

It’s fine. It works well as an introduction. It’s really fast-paced and there are some good characters and moments. However, I don’t like Tigerclaw/star and I don’t care for Fireheart. Overall, it’s okay. 6.5/10

Arc One Super Editions

Super Editions are large books (usually 400-500 pages) that follow only one character. As of the writing of this post, there are 15 Super Editions. Most of them detail the life of a single cat, some are about specific events, and others are just prequels to main series arcs like Bramblestar’s Storm and Hawkwing’s Journey.

I’m just going to talk about the super editions that take place before, during, and right after the first arc for simplicity. I’ll talk about the others when they are relevant.

Tallstar’s Revenge (2013): 6.8/10 Pretty good, though I have some issues with the pacing. This book made me love WindClan. Here, WindClan actually feels like a community with varying interpersonal relationships and dueling ideas. You have the moor runners, cats who run and hunt on the moor, versus the tunnellers, cats who dig underneath the territory. Tallpaw was born to two tunnellers, Palebird and Sandgorse. His father Sandgorse really wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but Tallpaw did not want to be a tunneller. He is apprenticed to a moor runner after he realizes that he doesn’t have the skills to be a tunneller. This creates a rift between him and his father. One day, a group of loners show up and hang out with WindClan. Sandgorse shows one of the loners, Sparrow, the tunnels and unfortunately the tunnel collapses, killing Sandgorse. Talltail is devastated and blames Sparrow for killing his father. He grows distant and cold, deadset on finding the loner and killing him to avenge his father’s death.

All the while, Palebird, his mother, is not helping him. Palebird is a sad character. She’s clearly suffering from postpartum depression and is grieving the lost of her daughter Finchkit. Because of this, she’s very distant with Talltail and the two do not form a bond. Eventually she finds happiness with Woolytail and they have kits. However, Talltail is bothered by this. Unlike his new siblings, he never received his mother’s unconditionally love. After feeling like he is no longer needed, he leaves his Clan to go on his quest. All of this stuff- Talltail’s rocky relationship with his father and mother, his turmoil over who he should be, his angst and hatred for the loner, and the lead up of to his revenge quest- is great! I already liked Tallstar in the original arc, but damn! This book made me love him! I felt for him. I understood why he didn’t want to be a tunneller. Not only is tunneling extremely dangerous, it’s not respected by the Clan. Tallpaw is bullied by other apprentices because of his father’s role. Though he loves Sandgorse, he’s embarrassed by him. Once he becomes a moor runner apprentice, he and his father stop talking. And then Sandgorse dies. This breaks Talltail. He now has no one to care for. Once he leaves, the book starts to falter.

This book has a pacing problem. All the stuff before the revenge quest takes up the majority of the book. The quest only takes up a few chapters. Fans love this book because of Talltail’s and Jake’s relationship. Jake is a kittypet and Firestar and Scourge’s father. I don’t buy their friendship however. Jake helps Talltail once in town, he then tags along, they hunt together for a bit, and then they find Sparrow. Talltail realizes that revenge is not the answer and that his Clan actually does value him. He tells Jake that he’s his best friend, then he goes back to WindClan, and then we immediately jump straight to his leader ceremony. Talltail and Jake are friendly toward each other, but I don’t buy this idea that they’re diehard friends or even lovers. They’re buddies, acquaintances. If people want to ship Talltail and Jake then go for it. It’s just not my ship because I don’t even believe they’re best friends. Overall, good book! I love WindClan.

Errors: Hawkheart is listed as a full medicine cat when he was an apprentice in Bluestar’s Prophecy. Dappletail is seen leading Fuzzypaw and Robinpaw to the Moonstone despite them already being warriors when she is an apprentice. Mudclaw is said to be a kit in the nursery when Tallstar became leader in Starlight, but in this book, he is shown as a warrior when Tallstar receives his nine lives. There are a bunch of errors that contradict Yellowfang’s Secret during the battle that kills Shrewclaw. In Yellowfang’s Secret, Yellowpaw is shown to find evidence of WindClan stealing prey from ShadowClan, while in Tallstar's Revenge, Talltail finds evidence of ShadowClan stealing prey from WindClan. In Yellowfang's Secret, ShadowClan is shown to confront WindClan before attacking, while in Tallstar's Revenge, ShadowClan starts the battle immediately by sneaking through the tunnel under the Thunderpath. In Yellowfang's Secret, Reedfeather is shown to be a part of the patrol that meets ShadowClan before the battle starts, however in Tallstar's Revenge, he arrives as backup for WindClan after the battle has started. In Yellowfang's Secret, Blizzardwing is mentioned to have returned to camp before the battle started, but in Tallstar's Revenge he is present during the battle. In Yellowfang's Secret, Cedarstar is revealed to have stayed in camp during the battle, when in Tallstar's Revenge, he is shown to lead ShadowClan's attack. Newtspeck is also shown to attend the battle in Tallstar's Revenge, however she is not shown to be a part of the battle patrol in Yellowfang's Secret. In Yellowfang's Secret, ShadowClan is shown to win the battle, while in Tallstar's Revenge WindClan is shown to be victorious.

Bluestar’s Prophecy (2009): 5/10 Meh. This one is disappointing. I remember loving it ages ago, but I don’t care for it now. Bluestar is a… complex character. She’s supposed to be this dutiful, proud, intelligent, and fair leader but, judging solely by the text, she’s not. She forgets to give Firepaw a mentor, she starts training Cinderkit and Brackenkit too early (something the cats gave Brokenstar a lot of shit for doing), and she chooses to disbelieve Fireheart when he tells her about Tigerclaw’s murder of Redtail. I say she “chooses” to because it makes no sense for her to not believe him when Tigerclaw gave her the exact same story. Tigerclaw tells her that Oakheart killed Redtail. She knew Oakheart. They were mates. She knows that Oakheart would have never killed another cat, but she just believes Tigerclaw. Whatever. I guess you can say that she and Oakheart didn’t know each other that well since this book does a poor job selling their relationship. And then there’s her breakdown, but honestly, I liked all of that. She sacrificed so much to become leader. She gave up her kits to be chosen for deputy. If she hadn’t, the blood-hungry Thistleclaw would have become leader. She did all of this just appoint a worst version of Thistleclaw, Tigerclaw, to a position of power during her own leadership. Someone she trusted tried to kill her. Of course she would break after all of this.

Bluestar’s Prophecy is suppose to explore her relationship with Oakheart and her fears about Thistleclaw, but that stuff is boring and not done well. Oakheart barely has a presence. I do not buy their romance at all. They talk at Sunningrocks, Oakheart randomly states that he wants to see Bluefur at the Gathering, they sneak out, spend one night together, and then all of sudden Bluefur’s pregnant. What a great romance. Thistleclaw really isn’t that bad. From how Bluestar talked about him in TPB, you would think he was a monster, but in this book he’s just a jerk. He is battle-hungry and would have made a terrible leader. It’s a good thing Sunstar is not dumb enough to have chosen him for the deputy position. However, Bluefur wholeheartedly believes he will be deputy. Shes overreacting. BTW, I’m ignoring Spottedleaf’s Heart Thistleclaw. That version of him is noncanon in my eyes. We will unfortunately get there soon.

Bluefur suffers tragedy after tragedy. Her mother, Moonflower, is killed horribly during an unjust battle just two days into Bluepaw’s apprenticeship and then later her sister Snowfur gets hit by a car after giving birth to her only son Whitekit. And then, Bluefur gets knocked up and “has to” give up her kits to RiverClan to stop Thistleclaw. One of them, the genderfluid Mosskit, dies from the cold during the trek. She can’t catch a break, the poor girl. And her two dads aren’t helping her. We have her bio-dad Stormtail. Stormtail is cold and distant. He rarely interacts with his kits. As soon as Moonflower has his kits, he is already flirting with Dappletail. When Moonflower and Snowfur die, he barely cares. Bluefur is going through it, and the only advice he can give her is “Stop crying and get back to work.” Stormtail sucks.

Luckily, Bluefur had a more positive male figure in her life and his name was Sunfall/star. Sunfall was Bluefur’s mentor and later her leader. He checks up on her every now and then and offers advice. Now, he’s a much better person than Stormtail but he basically gives her the exact same “advice.” When Snowfur dies, Bluefur is understandably upset and is deeply grieving. She’s a bit snappy at people who keep trying to make her do her job. Leave the girl alone. She’s moping! Then Sunstar walks up and basically tells her “Stop crying. You’re bringing everyone else down. You’re a good warrior Bluefur, but you can’t do your job if you stay in your den all day, crying about your dead mom and sister.” He doesn’t say this verbatim but he might as well have. I know I’m making him sound way more mean and callous, but he’s not. Sunstar is a good character and I really like him! It’s just what he says to her is terrible advice to give to someone who is grieving. “You’re making everyone else uncomfortable. Go back to work.” Let people grieve. Let them have their moment. I feel like if Bluefur was allowed to showcase her emotions openly and overcome her grief at her own pace, she wouldn’t have reacted so badly to Tigerclaw. Bottling up your emotions only leads to eventual blowups and breakdowns. Stoicism is not good, y’all (for the most part). Don’t be like Bluefur.

The Clans are more similar to companies than they are to tight knit communities. They evaluate an individual’s worth on their work ethic alone. How good of a warrior are they? How good are they at hunting? How good are they at training apprentices? How loyal are they to their Clan? The personality of the individual is not important. The personal struggles and feelings of the individual are seen as disruptive to the whole. The Clans are theocratical, cult-like companies that beat individuality out of their members, turning them into work drones who cannot function without StarClan commanding them. It’s depressing.

Let’s talk about Goosefeather and how much I love him. He’s such a weird character. He’s literally the “wacky uncle” archetype. Goosefeather is Moonflower’s brother and the Clan’s medicine cat. He’s known for being cranky, weird, and spaced out. It’s implied that he’s always receiving prophecies and signs. When examining the fur on a vole, he foresees ThunderClan being torn apart by WindClan. It’s unclear if this was a legitimate sign or just something he said to appease the riled up Clan. He foresees Bluefur’s destiny and her eventual death, something that she frets over for her entire life. Whenever he looks at Thistleclaw he sees puddles of blood. He’s terrified of tiny Tigerkit because he knows that he will grow into a monster later in life. He foresaw his own death! Goosefeather is a wild character! I love this. No one in the Clan trusts a word that comes out of his mouth, but he’s clearly one of the greatest prophets the Clans have ever seen. This poor cat is bombarded with visions 24/7 and everyone thinks he’s mad. I love Goosefeather. I like the ambiguity of his powers. I like how it is implied that even he doesn’t truly know what he sees. Sometimes he can get things horribly wrong (the vole sign) but other times he’s right (Tigerkit)! He’s one of the more subtle and interesting characters this series has created. I love my wacky, old gray cat. I also like how, when the rest of the Clan dismisses him, his apprentice Featherwhisker takes care of him and defends him when he’s being criticized. He knows that Goosefeather is an incredible medicine cat. It’s cute. Bluestar’s Prophecy ain’t all that great but I freaking love Goosefeather.

Edit Dec 2023: I realize (way too late) that I did not explain Bluestar’s breakdown properly. Whoops sorry. In TPB, after Tigerclaw’s exile Bluestar’s mental state starts to falter. She is devastated that a cat she trusted almost killed her. She blames StarClan for everything that has happened to her. She stops performing ceremonies, she gives poor Brightpaw the horrible name Lostface after she was mauled by dogs, and she hardly runs her Clan- putting all of the pressure onto the very young deputy Fireheart. Bluestar was a mess in the second half of TPB. She blames all of her bad luck on StarClan because they told her she had a great destiny. They are the reason why she gave up her kittens. She did everything she thought they wanted her to do, but they did not warn her about Tigerclaw. She has suffered tragedy after tragedy only to endure more of it later in life. ThunderClan may as well be lost to her now. StarClan clearly doesn’t care so why should she? However, as her Clan is working together to defeate a wild dog pack that has invaded their territory, she realizes that ThunderClan is noble and strong. She sees how her cats, her family, are working together to keep each other safe. She realizes that she belongs to a great Clan that will survive no matter what and so, as a final sacrifice, she rushes in to save Fireheart from being mauled by the pack leader by pushing the beast off a cliff. She is rescued by her children Stonefur and Mistyfoot. They finally accept her as their mother and stay with her as she dies. It’s one of my favorite moments in the series.

Bluestar is a very complex character. While I dislike her Super Edition, I feel like it properly shows why her break down happened. She, on her own, is a very emotional and self-righteous cat. She didn’t necessarily need to give up her kittens to RiverClan, but she felt like Sunstar would not have chosen a nursing queen for deputy. I feel like he would have because Thistleclaw is obviously a bad choice and Sunstar likes Bluefur, but it was already established that Bluefur is not rational. She thinks that only she can be deputy and she will do anything to get that position. Ironically, this shows how ambitious she is. Thistleclaw wasn’t a monster like Tigerclaw. He was just mean and aggressive, but Goosefeather kept telling her that he’s evil which justified her dislike of him. Even if you remove Goosefeather, she dislikes Thistleclaw because of how battle-focused he was (and she didn’t approve of him being Snowfur’s mate). I really like this aspect of her character. She’s not rational, but she tries to be. She’s very emotional, but her society tells her to be stoic. She’s a contradiction and that’s fascinating to me. I can talk about Bluestar forever, but let’s not make this post any longer than it already is. (End of edit)

Errors: Hailstar the RiverClan leader, reports for WindClan instead of RiverClan at the Gathering. Oakheart states that RiverClan cats don't climb trees. However, earlier in the book, RiverClan cats have climbed trees. There are a bunch of visual appearance errors, but that’s normal for this series.

Crookedstar’s Promise (2011): 8.5/10 Fantastic! This is one of my favorite Warrior Cats books. Here we explore Crookedstar’s life. This one is more slice-of-lifey than Tallstar’s Revenge, which is normally a bad thing in Warriors. Since these cats don’t have friends and the Clans are generic, any slice of life stuff we get is deeply boring, but not here! Not in Crookedstar’s Promise! RiverClan feels like an actual community! Background characters have actual personalities and lives. I love Ottersplash, this random background molly, because she’s an actual person. I love Beetlenose, Brambleberry, Echomist, Hailstar, Willowbreeze, Graypool, Timberfur, and even fucking Oakheart who is way more interesting here than he was in Bluestar’s Prophecy. RiverClan actually feels alive! I adore Crookedstar! Personality-wise, Crookedkit/paw/jaw/star is your average good guy warrior. It’s his life story that I love. We watch Crookedkit get shunned by his mother after his injury, we watch him leave to find self-acceptance amongst other cats, and we watch him come back and grow into a well-loved and respected warrior worthy of being leader. I resonated with his journey. He overcame a lot to get to where he is and he deserves it.

I knew I was going to enjoy this book when, after receiving his crooked jaw, Stormkit (recently renamed to Crookedkit by his vicious mother) leaves his Clan and finds himself amongst a group of farm cats- Fleck, his sister Mitzi, and her kits. The siblings readily accept Crookedkit into their little family and teach him how to hunt and eat with his broken jaw. They don’t judge him, they don’t shun him. Instead, they accept him which in turn helps him accept himself. He grows big and strong under their care and, after Mapleshade coaxes him, he returns to RiverClan where he is apprenticed. From then on, his injury is rarely discussed because he doesn’t think much of it anymore. It’s just a part of him now. It doesn’t define him. Warriors has a pretty bad track record when it comes to disabled and disfigured cats. I honestly think Crookedstar, Brightheart, Jayfeather, Deadfoot (terrible name aside) and Briarlight (to an extent) are treated the best out of all of them. No one, except for his mother Rainflower, gives Crookedjaw a hard time about his injury.

Speaking of Rainflower, she’s a monster. A true villain. She’s vain and cruel. Before he got his injury, Rainflower doted on her two “precious, handsome warriors” Oakkit and Stormkit. After his injury, Rainflower completely rejects Stormkit, refusing to give him any kind of comfort while he was healing. She urged Hailstar to change his name to Crookedkit, which shocked the kit’s father Shellheart. Shellheart breaks up with her right then and there. Good for him. I really like Shellheart too by the way. His love, support, and devotion to his sons is just adorable and nice to see. Warriors has very few father characters who are actually involved in their children’s lives. Shellheart and later Tree are the best boys in this regard. Back to Rainflower, her presence is a constant pain point for Crookedjaw. He desperately wants his mother’s love and pride, but he never receives it because she sucks. Rainflower doesn’t deserve it. It’s sad because when she drowns in a flood, Crookedjaw blames himself for her death. He chose saving his clanmates from a dog over saving her. He never comes to this conclusion, but the narrative does (or at least this is how I interpreted it). Rainflower didn’t deserve his love and respect. He gained that love and respect from others within his Clan without her. She was a toxic person who would have only dragged him down if he focused on her. Luckily he didn’t. He has his brother Oakheart, his father Shellheart, his mate Willowbreeze, and the rest of his Clan on his side. I love the support network he has.

Now onto the biggest thing most people remember this book for: Mapleshade. I do not care for Mapleshade in the slightest. She invades Crookedjaw’s dreams, trains him in the Dark Forest (kitty cat hell), haunts him throughout his life, and manipulates the world around him to drive him mad. Crookedstar blames her for all of his problems by the end. I honestly don’t understand why Mapleshade is even here. I know she haunts him throughout his life but like… she actually helps him. She trained him in the Dark Forest which made him a stronger fighter. She fakes a sign from StarClan that convinces Hailstar to give him the deputyship. She doesn’t do anything that actually harms him. I guess you can say she convinced him to abandon Rainflower when she was drowning, but like… fuck Rainflower. She sucks. I guess she was trying to turn him into a Tigerclaw-like, but Crookedstar is too good of a guy to commit any atrocity. I don’t get why she’s even here. I don’t get the hype around Mapleshade. She’s just a background character. Overall, 8.5/10. If Mapleshade was removed it would be a 9/10.

Errors: Ottersplash is called a tom. Crookedkit is called Crookedpaw before receiving his apprentice name. Beetlepaw is called by his warrior name, Beetlenose, while he is still an apprentice. Stonetooth is mentioned as ShadowClan's deputy after he is shown retiring. Willowpaw is called Willowkit recently after her apprentice ceremony. Graypaw is called by her warrior name, Graypool, while she is still an apprentice. Oakheart is called by his apprentice name, despite having already received his warrior name. Crookedjaw is called Crookedpaw just before Willowpaw's assessment. Crookedjaw is mistakenly called Crookedstar before he receives his nine lives. Crookedjaw is called Crookedpaw after becoming deputy. Softwing's kits have supposedly died, but later they are seen as warriors. Graystripe is seen watching his kits who are referred to as Featherpaw and Stormpaw when he'd been exiled from RiverClan when they were still kits. At Crookedpaw's first Gathering, the cause of the disturbance at the Gathering is RiverClan bringing up the stolen kits. In Bluestar's Prophecy, the cause is WindClan bringing up the recent battle with ThunderClan. Shellheart is mentioned to be Crookedjaw's mentor. Sunfish is alive well after she died. There are many errors with the allegiances, but that’s normal for this series.

Leopardstar’s Honor (2021): 4.5/10 Oh Leopardstar what did they do to you? There’s not much to say about this book. It’s a recount of Leopardkit/paw/fur/star’s life. It explores her reasonings as to why she sided with Tigerstar during TPB and sadly, none of it is interesting or even done well. I like Leopardstar. I always have ever since I was a child. She’s one of the few antagonistic female characters we get in the series. She’s ambitious, prideful, brash, a bit battle-hungry, and head-strong. She’s the boogey man of Graystripe’s story during the first arc (understandably so. Graystripe’s a giant fuck up). I like how Fireheart is intimidated by her and is genuinely fearful of her leadership. You don’t fuck with Leopardstar. She holds grudges.

I always thought that the reason why she sided with Tigerstar was because she was manipulated by him which this book does show however, she’s a different character here. She’s more meek and less strong than she is in the main series. I also theorized that Tigerstar used their similarities to convince her and later used fear to control her. The two have a lot in common (and mutual romantic feelings is not one of them). They’re both proud and ambitious. Leopardstar goes about her goals honorably while Tigerstar does not. I assumed that he used their shared ambition to trick her. She wants RiverClan to be the strongest Clan in the forest and she would do anything to show that. Almost as soon as she becomes leader, she fights ThunderClan over Sunningrocks which she nearly won if it wasn’t for no-loyalty Graystripe. Tigerstar saw this battle-hungriness and tricked her into siding with him because he promised to make RiverClan strong alongside ShadowClan. It was only when he started corrupting their territory did she realize what Tigerstar really wanted, but at that point he had too much power. She was afraid of him and could do nothing to save her Clan. After Tigerstar was defeated, she remained a headstrong leader up until her weird death in the third arc. However, this book would have you believe that after all of this Leopardstar learned her lesson and no longer acted on impulse which directly contradicts how she is in the main series.

This book is mostly useless. Instead of teaching you anything interesting about a morally-gray character, it instead recaps all the events of arc one. The first half is about Leopardstar’s early life and some of that is interesting. I personally liked her relationship with Whiteclaw, but that’s it. The most asinine thing this book does is give her a love interest, Frogleap. I hate Frogleap. He’s just as bad as Finleap in A Vision of Shadows. He’s pushy, needy, and self-centered. The mf breaks up with Leopardfur because she wanted to focus on her career instead of dedicating her entire being to him. It’s gross as fuck and for the rest of book she’s lamenting about her failed romance with Frogleap. How dare women have ambitions and goals! They should just pop out their husband’s children and say nothing. I despise this! Until this book ruined it, Leopardstar was one of the few mollies in this franchise who did not care about romance and kittens. One of the few! And now that’s over. I hate it. Anyway, this book kind of sucks. I like Leopardstar but this book doesn’t do her justice at all.

I want to end this section off on a happier note. Let’s talk about Leopardstar’s dad Mudfur! I love Mudfur! Not just in this book, but in general (mostly in Crookedstar’s Promise). Mudfur was this huge, strong, formidable warrior who all the Clans knew and feared. You did not mess with Mudfur! He would shred you. But after the death of his mate Brightsky and three of their kittens, he breaks down. He loses a lot of drive. He dotes on his only daughter, Leopardkit, in the hopes that she grows into a strong warrior. After awhile, he gets sick of fighting. During one of RiverClan’s and ThunderClan’s many disputes over Sunningrocks, Mudfur steps up and challenges the ThunderClan acting-deputy Adderfang to a 1 v 1. What happens next is one of the most badass scenes in all of Warriors. We don’t see the fight in Leopardstar’s Honor, but we do see it in all of its glory in Crookedstar’s Promise. Mudfur beats Adderfang into a bloody pulp, winning Sunningrocks for RiverClan. However, Mudfur does not bask in the glory of it. Instead he goes home and laments about how too much blood has been spilt over Sunningrocks. He couldn’t stomach it any longer. He chose to lay down his own life to protect his Clanmates, citing he would rather shed his own blood than witness another death. He then asks Brambleberry, the medicine cat at the time, if he could become her apprentice. He would rather heal wounds than cause them. He adopts an almost pacifist way of viewing life. I love Mudfur. Every Warriors’ fan has that one background cat they’re unreasonably attached to and Mudfur is mine. He’s one of my favorite characters.

Errors: Huge shoutout to the Warriors Wiki for this one. This book is infamous for how bad the errors are. The allegiances are especially terrible: Grasswhisker is listed as a warrior while her mother is still a kit. Pinestar is listed as ThunderClan's leader, though he should be a kittypet if Whitestorm is alive. Whitestorm is listed twice, once as a warrior, once as a kit. Thistleclaw, Whitestorm’s father, and Rosetail are listed as apprentices, but they should be warriors since Whitestorm is alive. Sweetpaw, Mistkit, and Nightkit are listed, even though they should all be dead if Whitestorm is alive. Willowpelt is listed despite not being born yet. Patchpelt is listed twice. Mousefur and Runningwind are listed as warriors, despite not being born yet. Russetfur isn’t listed despite being alive since Boulder is a warrior. Shrewclaw is listed, though he should be dead by this point. Cloudpelt is listed as a kit, while he should at least be an apprentice.

Moving onto the actual story, Leopardpaw is apprenticed a moon early while the others are apprenticed on time, but in Crookedstar's Promise, Leopardpaw is apprenticed on time while the other kits are apprenticed a moon late. This is especially sad because it is shown in Crookedstar’s Promise that this generation of kittens were very close. They waited for Leopardkit to be old enough so that they could all be apprenticed together because they didn’t want her to be alone during her ceremony. It was really cute. I don’t know how they screwed this up. Crookedjaw is mentioned to be RiverClan's deputy despite still being a warrior at that point. This is another huge error: Oakheart was said to have been killed by ThunderClan, when he was actually killed by a rockslide. Stonefur is not part of the Sunningrocks battle patrol and is instead replaced by either Beetlenose or Frogleap, even though him being present during the patrol is vital for The Prophecies Begin. Oakheart declaring that no ThunderClan cat will never harm Stonefur during that battle is a major plot point. It helped Fireheart piece the timeline together and solve the mystery. How do you fuck this up? Leopardfur says that the Gathering where it was announced that WindClan was driven out will be her first as deputy, however, there was one between this Gathering and Leopardfur's ascension. Shadepelt and Heavystep gain their warrior names during the first moon after Whiteclaw's death when in reality they should have gained their names long after that as they first appear as warriors in the allegiances of A Dangerous Path. Spottedleaf is shown attending Nightstar's first Gathering as leader, despite dying the same day Brokenstar was driven out. This happens in the very first book of Warriors!

Tanglewhisker is said to have died sometime before Silverstream was born. However, in Leopardstar's Honor he dies long after Silverstream is made a warrior. Mosspelt was said to have Robinkit in her jaws, with Woodkit and Dawnkit clinging to her back, but a few pages later, she is said to have Dawnkit in her jaws, with Woodkit and Robinkit clinging to her back. After RiverClan evacuated their camp and took shelter on a hill nearby, Leopardfur goes out with a patrol to look for Mistyfoot's missing kits. However, her patrol needs to have gone long before RiverClan saw the need to evacuate as Leopardfur is surprised to see her Clan shelter from it when she returns. Graypool is one of the first cats to show herself when Fireheart and Graystripe return Mistyfoot's missing kits. She is also shown caring for the two before Mistyfoot herself arrives. In Forest of Secrets, however, Graypool doesn't appear until after Mistyfoot reunites with her kits.

The Gathering during which the Clans discover that ThunderClan shelters Brokentail is taking place on the same day Fireheart and Graystripe are caught hunting for RiverClan when in reality they got caught and punished way before the Gathering and their punishment isn't lifted until two days before said Gathering. Graystripe is seen returning from the first Gathering after he switched to RiverClan even though he didn't originally attend it as Fireheart couldn't find him and had to ask Leopardfur about him. Runningwind is shown escaping the fire, even though he was killed by Tigerclaw before then.

The entire paragraph about Featherpaw's and Stormpaw's apprentice ceremony contains several aspects that do not happen until later in the plot:

ShadowClan warriors, Jaggedtooth and Boulder are present during the ceremony before RiverClan and ShadowClan united to form TigerClan. Featherpaw and Stormpaw are apprenticed too early in the plot, as the book later mentions how Skyheart keeps Mosspelt company in the nursery now that Mistyfoot's kits are apprentices. This implies that by this point, Mosspelt is still in the nursery with Featherkit and Stormkit. Additionally, Tigerstar later asks Leopardstar if she is still planning to make Mistyfoot and Stonefur mentors to Featherkit and Stormkit, even though their ceremony has already been held. This is fixed in the paperback version, with Tigerstar asking if she had definitely chosen Stonefur and Mistyfoot to be mentors of the young apprentices, but Stonefur is accidentally referred to as Stormfur. Mistyfoot's, Stonefur's, Featherpaw's, and Stormpaw's prison is said to be between the roots of a willow tree when it was actually in an abandoned fox hole.

Tigerstar says, "TigerClan and BloodClan will rule forever," but in The Darkest Hour he says, "TigerClan and BloodClan will rule together." Scourge is called a kittypet. Several TigerClan warriors stay as Tigerstar dies, when in The Darkest Hour, they fled before he lost his final life. Mistyfoot says Featherpaw and Stormpaw have gotten new mentors now that they live in ThunderClan and while this is true for Stormpaw, Featherpaw's mentor hasn't changed as Mistyfoot continued to train her.

Firestar’s Quest (2007): 4/10 SkyClan. That’s it. I don’t like this book. It’s boring. I don’t have much to say about it. It’s just SkyClan being discovered and created.

Errors: Goldenflower is listed as an elder, although she hadn't joined the elders quite yet. In a vision, Firestar sees an elderly she-cat amongst the exiled SkyClan cats; however, the only two elders in SkyClan at the time were both toms. Cloudstar is described as having eyes the color of a pale winter sky, despite winter being called leaf-bare in the series. Firestar is said to only have six lives left when, prior to the battle with the rats, he had eight. On the night of the Gathering, Rainfur and Petal had stayed behind to look after the kits, however, Rainfur is still on the Skyrock with the other cats.

SkyClan’s Destiny (2010): DNF/10 Aka the mini-adventures of SkyClan. I didn’t finish this one. It’s boring.

Errors: Even though he is a member of modern SkyClan, Rainfur is listed as a member of ancient SkyClan in the allegiances. During the dreamed flood, Leafstar is just out of her den watching elders being swept out of theirs when the map shows the leader's den below the elders den. Although Leafstar states that they had persuaded Shrewtooth to move into the warriors' den two moons ago, shortly afterward, on the very same day, it says that he had lived in the warriors' den for three moons.

And that’s it for now. Well… there isYellowfang’s Secret. We don’t need to talk about Yellowfang’s Secret. It doesn’t exist.

Moving onto:

Arc One Novellas

I’ve debated back and forth if I should even read the novellas, but I decided that I should since, like the Super Editions, some of them contain vital information that is important to the main series. Plus they contain stories I desperately want to rip apart. Like the SE’s, lets start with novellas that happen before, during and immediately after the first arc (except for the Dawn of the Clans’ ones)

Cloudstar’s Journey (2013): 5/10 This one details the old SkyClan’s territory destruction and the events that led to Cloudstar and his Clan leaving the old forest territories. To be honest, this one didn’t need to exist. We saw Cloudstar and his Clan leave at the beginning of Firestar’s Quest. We didn’t learn anything new here. Pretty worthless novella.

Errors: Amberclaw and Nettleclaw are both not listed in the allegiances of Cloudstar's Journey, but appear in the book. In the allegiances, Nightfur is called Nightfar. Darkstar is called Duskstar throughout the book.

Mapleshade’s Vengence (2015): 6/10 Mapleshade is one of the most overrated characters in all of Warriors. She’s only popular because she’s the only prominent female villain this series has. I’m sick and tired of her popping up in other cats’ stories. She leaves no impact on any of them. What I don’t like about her story is that she is yet another molly whose life and motivations revolve around a mate and kittens. I’ll dig deeper into Warriors’ sexism later. Ignoring this, I do find Mapleshade’s story wild and pretty funny when you scrutinize it. Appledusk, her RiverClan mate, is accused of killing Birchface, the hilariously named son of ThunderClan’s leader Oakstar, during one of the many pointless battles over Sunningrocks. Birchface and his apprentice drown in the river after being batted away by Appledusk. Oakstar and his daughter Frecklewish understandably hate him. Mapleshade tries to keep her kits’ father a secret for good reason, but Frecklewish barges into Mapleshade’s life and assumes the kits are Birchface’s. I’m not kidding! It’s really funny! Mapleshade announces she’s having kittens and Frecklewish is like:

“Are they my brother’s kits!?”

Mapleshade: “😐”

Frecklewish: “They are! Omg!”

It’s really funny. I get that Frecklewish and Oakstar are trying to cling onto something that reminds them of their loved one, but it’s so unhinged to just assume that this random pregnant molly who has had no obvious relationship with Birchface is carrying his children. Anyway, Mapleshade doesn’t correct her and just rolls with it because she can’t tell them who the kits’ actual father is. The kits are born and apprently Clan skills are inherited because one of the elders comments that her 2 month old kittens are not good at pouncing like Birchface. They’re 2 months old! Of course they’re not good at pouncing yet! What?? Mapleshade decides to take them out to the river and the kits splash around and play in the water. This makes ThunderClan’s medicine cat Ravenwing go “🤔” and he immediately confronts Mapleshade. He’s like “ThunderClan cats don’t like water! Who’s their real dad, Mapleshade!?” Mapleshade says that the kits’ father is not important because they will be good warriors for ThunderClan. Ravenwing tells Oakstar anyway and he kicks her and the kittens out. Mapleshade then tries to cross the river with her kits during a flood which gets them killed. She is rescued by RiverClan and there Appledusk reveals that he’s a fuck boy who never loved her. She cracks and starts killing people. That’s about it.

Mapleshade is a prideful and vain person. She thinks extremely highly of herself and her kits. She thinks that her kittens will unite RiverClan and ThunderClan. She sees Appledusk as her’s and gets violently jealous when another molly simply looks at him. The story does do a good job at showing how unhinged she is. It makes sense why she feels wronged by Clans. In a lot of ways, she was! Appledusk is a sack of shit, Oakstar didn’t need to exile the kittens, and Frecklewish didn’t need to attack her when the truth was revealed. Those last two get to me. Mapleshade lied via not correcting their assumptions. She didn’t outright say that Birchface was the father. Frecklewish literally shoves herself into Mapleshade’s business and assumes the kits are her brother’s. Granted, Mapleshade did take advantage of their grief which was shitty, but why assume this anyway? It makes me think that if any other molly in the Clan announced they were having kittens and the father wasn’t clear, Frecklewish and Oakstar would crack into their life and assume that the kits are Birchface’s. It would make more sense if we saw or heard about Mapleshade and Birchface being friendly with one another. Or maybe Birchface confessed to his family that he had feelings for Mapleshade before he died. Since we don’t get that, their behavior comes off as really strange and unsympathetic.

All in all, this one was not that bad. I still don’t care for Mapleshade. She’s overrated. I wish we had more female villains with more interesting and entertaining personalities. Mapleshade is a bit bland.

Errors: Larkwing was mistakenly called a tom. Darkstar is called a tom. Seedpelt is called Seedwhisker.

Goosefeather’s Curse (2015): 3/10 I love Goosefeather, but I do not love his novella. Simply, this one ruins everything that makes him great. We learn that he was born with the ability to receive visions and prophecies that are bound to happen no matter what. This book confirms that Warriors is deterministic. In this world, ambiguity and mystery do not exist. Everything that is said to happen will happen no matter what you do. Goosefeather is great in Bluestar’s Prophecy because it is unclear if he’s just a wacky old man spouting off visions or if he’s the best prophet the Clans have ever seen. I talked about this. The mystery behind Bluefur’s mad uncle is what makes him great and fun to think about. But no… Warriors hates mystery. You want intrigue? Subtlety? Nah. Determinism. Here, let’s just remove all of the mystique from this genuinely great character we created because we gotta make that novella money. I hate it.

Errors: Hawkheart is listed as Chiveclaw's apprentice, with an apprentice name, despite becoming a warrior first [By the way, Chiveclaw is by far the funniest name this series has produced]. Hawkheart is seen as a medicine cat apprentice while Heatherstar is leader, despite having a full medicine cat name during Heatherstar's nine lives ceremony in Tallstar's Revenge. Goosepaw is mistakenly called Goosefeather before he gets his full name, and is subsequently called Goosepaw after getting his full name. Swiftbreeze is mistakenly called her apprentice name shortly after her warrior ceremony.

Pinestar’s Choice (2017): 7.5/10 This is easily the best novella out of this set. Pinestar is one of the more interesting leaders. He’s a leader who is so disillusioned with Clan life that he decides to leave and become a kittypet. This story explores his realtionship with the kittypets in town and his mindset throughout his time as leader. Clan cats fight over the most mundane and frivolous things. ThunderClan and RiverClan have lost lives fighting over a bunch of rocks that they want to sit on. It’s pathetic when you think about it. One cat steps over the border line and the Clan cats lose their shit and start fighting them. Pinestar finds all of this fighting and bloodshed needless and grows tired of it.

I really like his relationships with the kittypets. I like the kittypets in general. Most of the time, they’re really cute, they have silly names, and their love for their human friends is heartwarming. It’s a nice change of pace from the boring, uptight Clan cats. Pinestar confides in Jake and his friends, telling them his troubles because he feels like he can’t tell anyone in his Clan. I really liked the scene where Shanty is introducing him to her housefolk. It’s super cute and I like that he enjoys being petted. It was really sad when Shanty got hit by a car. We see her human friends mourn over her. That hurt my soul. Poor people. Pinestar sees how loved Shanty was and after StarClan urges him to kill his own son Tigerkit, he decides to live with Shanty’s housefolk to honor her memory, to comfort her beloved human friends, and to escape the dangers of Clan life. All of this made me really like Pinestar. He wasn’t a good leader, his relationship with Leopardfoot is creepy, and he just straight up abandons her and his son (what a great dad 10/10), but I like the guy. His reasoning makes perfect sense. I love these morally gray leaders. A lot of the leaders in this series are so boring, but every now and then you get a Pinestar or a Leopardstar or a Bluestar or a Blackstar or a Onestar, leaders who are not good cats but they’re interesting characters. I feel out of the ones I listed, Pinestar is the best written. I’ll talk about my sadness for Blackstar’s wasted potential and my split feelings on Onestar later. Read this one if you’re going to read any of these novellas.

Errors: Dappletail is listed in the allegiances, despite not even being born yet. Flashpaw is called a tom. Pearnose is called a tom.

Redtail’s Debt (2019): 4/10 This one tells the story of the ThunderClan deputy Redtail and his rocky relationship with his eventual murderer Tigerclaw. This one kind of sucks. Redtail is a pretty bland, standard good-guy warrior. Tigerclaw is obviously blood hungry and yet everyone is like “He’s a good warrior.” When he was an apprentice, Redpaw was saved from a hawk by Tigerclaw. He is so thankful that he tells the dark warrior that he owes him his life… lol rip. Fast forward and we see Redtail, encouraged to do so by Tigerclaw, beat up a WindClan apprentice who was trespassing on their territory. Tigerclaw then lied to Sunstar about the attack which incites an unjust raid on WindClan’s camp. Redtail from this moment on, no longer trusts Tigerclaw. This eventually leads to the infamous confrontation at Sunningrocks where Tigerclaw kills Redtail.

I’m not even going to make a separate errors list because the whole back half of the novella is an error. Once again, they screw up Oakheart’s death. Redtail kills Oakheart during the battle which is not how he died ffs! Oakheart doesn’t even say the line about protecting Stonefur which, is a vital point in arc one’s story line! Ravenpaw is completely out of character in this. Ravenpaw was shown to be nervous, shy, and scared of his mentor Tigerclaw. Tigerclaw was shown to be very disappointed in Ravenpaw in Into the Wild because of his “cowardly nature.” But in this, Ravenpaw is excited to fight. He’s quoting Tigerclaw, he disobeys Redtail’s orders, and he’s criticizing Redtail’s leadership. Who is this cat because he’s not Ravenpaw. I didn’t care for this one for many reasons. We didn’t need a novella about Redtail and his death. We got all we needed to know about him (which isn’t much tbh) from the first arc.

Tigerclaw’s Fury (2014): 5/10. This novella details Tigerclaw’s rise to power in ShadowClan and honestly, it’s not interesting at all. ShadowClan is in crisis. While they were recovering from Brokenstar’s tyrannical rule, they were struck with a devastating illness. Nightstar is too weak to even appoint a new deputy. Tigerclaw, who was just ousted from his Clan for trying to kill Bluestar, rounds up his old rogue buddies and they help out ShadowClan by hunting for them and eventually joining their ranks. Tigerclaw then fakes a sign from StarClan with Jaggedtooth, making it seem like Tigerclaw should be ShadowClan’s new leader. That’s it. I don’t care for Tigerclaw/star. He’s such a boring villain. “I want power and I want to destroy my enemies.” That’s him. Throughout this, he is being instructed by a spooky voice in his head. We learn that the voice belongs to Mapleshade and let me just say this… I really hate this change. It is said that Mapleshade was the one who has guided him throughout his life and had turned him into the monster he is today. I hate this because it removes a lot of Tigerclaw’s agency. And it adds these weird layers to his story. In Bluestar’s Prophecy, Goosefeather freaks out at the sight of him- having received visions of his darkness. However, in the same book, it is shown that Thistleclaw trained Tigerpaw to be bloodthirsty and merciless like him. Nurture vs Nature and all that… right? In Pinestar’s Choice, Pinestar receives a vision from StarClan telling him that his son will destroy the Clans so he has to stay to raise him to be a good warrior. Later in the same novella, StarClan straight-up tells Pinestar to kill his son! So Tigerclaw was born evil. He wasn’t swayed by Thistleclaw. He could’ve been trained by Bluefur and would still be an evil force of nature. I’m confused! Which is it? Was he born evil or was he trained to be evil? Overall, I dislike all of this. I liked the idea of Thistleclaw raising him to be like himself. I liked how Pinestar’s abandonment made him have a deep seated hatred for kittypets. I hate how Mapleshade and all these prophecies are thrown into his backstory when they didn’t need to be there. It’s lame.

Errors: Clawface is alive despite being killed by Graystripe in Fire and Ice. Blackfoot is said to have one black paw when all four of his paws are black. Brackenfur is said to be an apprentice when he was made a warrior in Forest of Secrets. Thornclaw is said to be a warrior when he hasn’t received his warrior name yet. He receives it during The Darkest Hour. In A Dangerous Path, Littlecloud told Fireheart that Whitethroat died mysteriously but in this book Tigerclaw tells ShadowClan how Whitethroat died. Stumpytail and Dawncloud are said to have been close friends as apprentices but Dawncloud was a newborn kit when Stumpytail was a warrior.

Final Thoughts on the Arc One Novellas

I don’t care for any of these. I didn’t need to know about Goosefeather’s power, I didn’t need to know about SkyClan leaving, I didn’t need to know about Redtail’s relationship with Tigerclaw, I didn’t need to see Tigerclaw gain power in ShadowClan, etc etc. They’re pointless. The only ones I would say are worth reading are Mapleshade’s Vengeance and Pinestar’s Choice because they are, at the very least, interesting.

The Black Stain that is Spottedleaf’s Heart (2019)

CONTENT WARNING: Child grooming.

Yup. I’m talking about it. Those familiar with this franchise may have thought I was going to skip this one. Nope. I can’t. It needs to be talked about. Spottedleaf’s Heart is one of, if not, the most infamous Warrior Cats book ever. It’s about child grooming. Yes. Really. I’m not even going to go over the errors and whatnot because this is novella’s existence is an error.

We follow Spottedpaw, an ambitious warrior apprentice who is wildly out of character for some reason. She wants to be the greatest warrior to ever exist. This catches the eye of grown man Thistleclaw. This is where shit gets dark. Thistleclaw shows way too much interest in her starting when she was a kitten. He butters her up by giving her gifts and allowing her to be reckless when her mentor Thrushpelt tells her not to do something. This endears her to him. He often gives her prey and eats with her. He lures her away to talk to her in solitude. He complements her abilities over and over. Remember, she’s still a child. Thistleclaw is a grown ass man with a son who is way older than her! During their arguments, he twists her words in order to trip her up and make her feel bad. He then immediately apologizes and puts on this “I’m sorry” mask to lure her back in. It’s absolutely vile stuff to read. It’s hard to even talk about. Just read it for yourself.

Notice how he starts off aggressive when she mentions healing him. When she shrinks away he immediately switches into his “nice guy” persona. This is a cycle that continues throughout.

“You won’t be an apprentice forever! We’re destined to be together, Spottedpaw.” Says the grown ass adult. I’m gonna puke.

Notice how he’s getting aggressive again. Everytime she mentions healing cats or Featherwhisker, he behaves like this because he knows that if she becomes a medicine cat he can’t “have her.”

This is just predator behavior. “Let me take you out tonight… alone.” It’s atrocious.

This next one requires some context. Somehow Thistleclaw dreams Spottedpaw into the Dark Forest where they train with evil dead cats. It’s dumb I’ll talk about it later. The whole point is that she’s witnessing him being violent and openly cruel but he makes it sound like he’s only here to become a good warrior. See how he manipulative he is.

“I’m training with dead serial killers for you, Spottedpaw 🥺 👉👈”

For this next one, she saw him urge Tigerpaw into attacking a defenseless kittypet. She’s confronting him about it.

Notice how he’s shaming medicine cats in this next bit.

She then defends her mentor Thrushpelt and runs away from him. Later he finds her and manipulates- I mean “apologizes.”

Thrushpelt asks her if she wants to become a medicine cat because she spends a lot of time in the medicine den. Thinking about her future with Thistleclaw she says no. He has her completely groomed by this point. She goes into the Dark Forest to tell him her decision but she stops and watches Thistleclaw kill a Dark Forest ghost (yes they can kill ghosts. Roll with it). This happens:

Thistleclaw is too blinded by his own ambition to bother grooming her further. Yay… ????

Who wrote this?

It’s so sad to see her vowing her life to this monster. He has her completely brainwashed.

And this is where their “relationship” ends. I hate this. I hate how this is framed. Instead of Thistleclaw being caught and chased out of the Clan for this behavior, the authors instead have him break things off with her because he is too caught up in his own ambitions to bother messing with her further. It’s so strange to have it end this way because the message they’re trying to send gets muddled. Instead of this being a cautionary tale about child grooming, it’s about a guy who grooms a girl for the majority of her childhood but then decides to stop pursuing her because he likes fighting more.What is this?

“Hey kids! It’s totally fine to have close relationships with creepy adults as long as they don’t kill ghosts :D!”

Spottedpaw doesn’t have a true realization moment. Instead she reflects on how violent he is and how she doesn’t want to fight in his wars. She never realizes how his behavior toward her was deeply inappropriate. Even if he wasn’t violent, he was still a monster who was abusing her and would have only abused her more when they became official. Spottedpaw is not to blame for feeling upset about “losing her love.” Not at all. Thistleclaw, the old ass adult with a grown son, manipulated her and made her feel special whenever they were together. Classic groomer move. She felt guilty about losing him. Breaking up with her was probably another control tactic on his part. She calls her “love” for him “foolish.” She never has a “Oh wait! This guy was grooming me. He was always bad” moment. Again, she only views his violence as the bad thing here, not his manipulation. Spottedpaw never learns about the true evil he did to her. The narrative never teaches us about the true evil he did.

This is dangerous! The narrative never bothers to teach its audience anything. This is a series written for children. It is incredibly irresponsible to write a “relationship” like this and have it not be called out in the narrative. I repeat, Thistleclaw is an adult with a grown son and Spottedpaw is a brand-new apprentice fresh out of the nursery. She is a child who is being preyed upon. If you want to teach children about these real world predators, you really need to have a sit-down moment in the story where a trusted adult tells our main lead why this creepy adult is dangerous. Leave no room open for ambiguity. Featherwhisker or Bluefur could’ve fit that bill just fine. One of them, most likely Bluefur since she already doesn’t like Thistleclaw, could have seen how creepy he’s being and could have stepped in and led Spottedpaw away before things got real bad. Spottedpaw could be upset about it at first. She’s a child. She doesn’t understand just how wrong her relationship with him is. She could have blown up at Bluefur. Bluefur doesn’t get upset at her because none of this is her fault. Instead, she tells Spottedpaw’s parents, Swiftbreeze and Adderfang, and her mentor Featherwhisker about the creep (in my theoretical rewrite Spottedpaw is a medicine cat apprentice from the jump. Thistleclaw would still pursue her even if there’s this stupid “barrier” blocking him because predators are relentless). Her parents could work together to keep Thistleclaw away by choosing him for patrols constantly. I like to imagine them leading him away to give him a verbal ass ripping. Featherwhisker could’ve helped too by keeping Spottedpaw busy and by keeping the gross tomcat away from her. Any of these responsible adults could have had a sit down moment with her and explain to her and the audience how evil Thistleclaw is. Spottedpaw could still be an ungrateful little brat because all teens are, but as she grows she realizes just how close she was to danger. She could go to her parents, Featherwhisker and Bluefur and thank them for protecting her.

All of this stuff I’m writing comes from experience. I came really close to being groomed online by some freak when I was 14. My mom asked me who I was talking to and when I told her it was some guy I met online, she immediately took my phone away and called the guy out. She warned me to never talk to randoms online. Being the bratty ungrateful 14 year old I was, I yelled at her, not understanding what she was talking about. Now, 10 years later, I’m so glad she did what she did. I haven’t thanked her (I don’t even know if she remembers that close call and I don’t know how to approach the topic now) but I think about that day constantly, forever grateful that she saved me. Mom, if you’re reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You really saved me there. Stay safe online, y’all.

I think this simple rewrite would have helped this story immensely. Actually teach your child audience something. Teach the children reading these books how to spot the signs of a predator. Teach them what is normal adult behavior when around children and what is a red flag. Teach them to tell trusted adults when they feel unsafe. I know life is way more complex than this and simply telling one’s parents about a bad situation doesn’t always work, but in this children’s novel the least you can do is warn and educate them. They don’t even try here!

Anyway, the story ends with her becoming a medicine cat apprentice. Fuck all of this.

Not only is this novella dangerous and disgusting, it completely fucks up Spottedleaf’s and Thistleclaw’s characters. Spottedleaf was shown to be a quiet, dutiful, and passionate medicine cat in previous books. In Bluestar’s Prophecy, as a kitten she shows a lot of interest in Featherwhisker’s job and becomes his student as soon as she’s apprenticed. I hate how they make her into a yet another loud and boisterous warrior apprentice character. I don’t even like Spottedleaf! She’s boring af, but ffs she’s not this! I’m also sick and tired of the whole “reluctant medicine cat” trope. It’s tired and played out.

And then there’s Thistleclaw. I don’t understand why they did this to him. He was already a bad dude to begin with in Bluestar’s Prophecy. Sunstar would have never picked him for deputy but whatever. He was shown to be violent, cruel, and hungry for conflict. That’s good enough for a bad guy. They didn’t need to make him a child predator too. I guess they saw people complaining about him being in the Dark Forest when he really wasn’t that bad (he was battle-hungry and mean but he didn’t kill anyone) so they made him into the worst kind of monster to justify their choice. It feels so unnecessary.

Fuck this novella. This should have never been written. I’m not opposed to dark subjects being explored in fiction. I’m not opposed to dark subjects being explored in children’s fiction, but you have to be aware and smart. If you fuck up those subjects like how this book does, you can seriously harm someone.

This is the absolute worst Warriors story to ever be written. Period. For my sake, this garbage is completely non-canon. I hope the Erins never write something this foolish and dangerous ever again. They’re not talented enough to tackle this subject with the sensitivity, awareness, and tact it requires.

Oh and don’t you dare give me that “they’re just cats so what does it matter?” Shut up. Shut the hell up. These “cats” are Cats in Name Only or CiNOs. They look like cats, they meow like cats, they hunt like cats, but they behave like humans. They’re too anthro to be just animals. That “they’re just animals” logic applies to books like Watership Down, but it does not apply to Warriors. Moonkitti, a popular Warriors Youtuber, made a video about this.

Oh boy, let’s move the hell on.

Massive Issue #1: Gross Age Gap Relationships

Yeah we’re not done. Warriors has so many uncomfortable age gap relationships and, unlike Thistleclaw/Spottedpaw, most of them are portrayed in a positive manner. You have others like Dustpelt/Ferncloud, Pinestar/Leopardfoot, Onestar/Whitetail, Stormtail/Moonflower, Beetlenose/Sunfish, Sharpclaw/Cherrytail and others I can’t think of right now.

Dustpelt and Ferncloud are infamous. Not only is Dustpelt Ferncloud’s uncle according to the official family tree (I’m serious), he was also creeping on her when she was a brand new apprentice. It’s disgusting. Now the whole “uncle fucking his niece thing” is not in the actual books. It’s only on the family tree, but Dustpelt creeping on this young girl and then immediately impregnating her when she becomes an adult is in the books and it’s shown to be a cute and positive affair. It’s not, Erin Hunter Team. It’s gross.

Stormtail is so damn creepy! In Goosefeather’s Curse, he shows way too much interest in the kitten Moonkit when he’s an older apprentice and once she becomes an apprentice and him a warrior, he is still pursuing her. Then, once she’s a warrior, he knocks her up, she gives birth, and after that he stops talking to her and their children. 10/10 what a great guy. Why did the Erins write their relationship like this? They didn’t have to make them so far in age.

Onestar/Whitetail is a retconned in mentor/former apprentice relationship with an uncomfortable age gap to top it off :D! For some ungodly reason, the current editing team is dead set on canonizing the website family tree which has been widely rejected by the fanbase due to the huge amount of incest (I will get to it) and the uncomfortable pairings. This is one of those pairings. Onewhisker was Whitetail’s mentor, and they get together and have Heathertail. I already talked about how mentors are basically a second/third parent to the youths of the Clan. They’re like childhood tutors and they have profound affects on their apprentice’s growth. Look at Thistleclaw and Tigerclaw. Look at Yellowfang and Cinderpelt. Their mentors helped shaped them into the adults they are. So, it’s creepy when a mentor and a former apprentice get together. It’s like a tutor who has been teaching a child since they were ten years old getting with their student as soon as they turn eighteen! It’s vile! Now, this decision to make them mates was poorly thoughtout. Onestar’s Confession is a horrible book with some of the worst pacing this series has ever seen. We completely skip over Whitepaw’s training and when we’re first introduced to her we have to be told via Onewhisker that he trained her. We get a very gross paragraph which has Onewhisker thinking about how it’s been a long time since he was her mentor and how she has grown into a fine warrior and a beautiful cat. It’s super creepy and disgusting. I don’t understand why they wrote it this way. They could’ve easily never mentioned the whole mentor/apprentice thing thus avoiding this mess in the first place, but no. They had to confirm it. Onestar’s Confession canonized a bunch of family relationships that screw up the genetics in WindClan. They made Ashfoot Onestar’s sister and Heathertail his daughter. Ashfoot is the mother of Crowfeather. Crowfeather is the father of Breezepelt. Breezepelt and Heathertail become mates later on. They’re second cousins. Erins… why? Did you not see that their family tree is a literally a circle???

Sharpclaw/Cherrytail is another mentor/former apprentice relationship and it’s way worse than the previous. This one is canon to books, not retroactively shoehorned in by the family tree. We see Cherrytail be trained by Sharpclaw in Firestar’s Quest. I hate all apprentice/mentor relationships. It’s rubs me in all the wrong places. Also their son Hawkwing gets with his first cousin Pebbleshine. Pebbleshine is Sparrowpelt’s daughter. Sparrowpelt and Cherrytail are siblings. ERINS! WHY? Did you forget that Sparrowpelt and Cherrytail are related? There’s so much incest…

Pinestar/Leopardfoot is your classic “he’s too old for you” relationship. In Pinestar’s Choice, Jake teases Pinestar about Leopardpaw, implying that Pinestar, the old man, has been crushing on this young girl for awhile. Ewwwwwww. WHY? I like Pinestar man, but COME ON! Not even my disillusioned boi can escape this creepy shit. I understand that the Erins put him and Leopardfoot together for plot reasons (y’know Tigerclaw has to be created somehow), but like… why pick the brand-new warrior? Why not someone else who was closer in age? You could’ve made her older! I don’t understand this choice. All it does is add this layer of grossness to Pinestar’s character which I greatly dislike.

This is such a huge issue in this franchise and it keeps happening. In some cases, large age gaps are inevitable. These cats live in tight knit communities that disallows outside breeding, so as a Clan cat you’re limited on mate options. Most of the time the cats around your age are your own siblings so you have to look elsewhere. Some age gap relationships like Brackenfur/Sorreltail are fine because the two got together when they were adults. Brackenfur was not showing interest in Sorreltail when she was a kit or an apprentice. The same can be said for Blossomfall and Thornclaw. However, Dustpelt/Ferncloud and Pinestar/Leopardfoot are creepy because we see the adult tom think romantically about their apprentice love interest and everyone around them thinks it’s cute. Again, this could’ve been avoided if they started showing interest in each other when they’re both warriors aka adults. With how it is, it sets an uncomfortable precedent. “Remember kids, it’s totally a-okay to be in a relationship with a grown adult as long as they wait until you’re eighteen.” What the hell, Erins…

These cats are so anthropomorphized that all of this comes off as gross. None of this should be in these books. It’s so easy to write around. Why do they keep doing this??

Edit 10/2023: I feel like I should mention Barley and Ravenpaw. These names can be confusing so I’m afraid people not familiar with the series will think Ravenpaw is also in an inappropriate relationship with Barley due to his name. He is not. Ravenpaw does join Barley in his barn when he’s an apprentice and they become friends. Since Ravenpaw never recieves his warrior name, he grows up with his apprentice name. Whenever we do see them in the first arc, they’re buddies and nothing more is hinted at. However, later on in Ravenpaw’s comics and novella, where their “couple-ness” is more evident (but never explicitly stated), he’s a full-on adult. I feel they started doing this because the fans at this point accepted their ship as canon so the authors made it canon. James L Barry, the main comic artist for the franchise, straight up confirmed it on his Instagram so yeah… they’re gay. Anyway, wanted to clear that up. The one gay couple we get isn’t creepy like the majority of the straight ones. Yay. (End of edit)

Let’s talk about something lighter.

Massive Issue #2: Errors

You may have noticed that I’ve wrote out a “short” list of errors after each book I talk about. Warrior Cats is infamous for being riddled with errors and retcons. Some of it is small, like forgetting a cat’s eye color or a typo, but some of them- as you have seen- are egregiously bad. The ones that really get to me are the continuity and plot line errors. How in the hell do you keep forgetting that Redtail did not kill Oakheart!? How? That’s a major plot point in the first arc!!

The errors have only gotten worse with the new editing team. They clearly have not reread these books which is a damn shame. A simple spreadsheet detailing the characters, their relationships, their deaths, and their stories could have solved most if not all of these issues. These are ridiculous and unacceptable. No other book series out there, that I know of, is this fucked. I don’t know how in the hell this stuff gets past the editing phase. They don’t care. Clearly…

You may have noticed that I did not have an errors list for arc one and that’s because arc one, by itself, doesn’t have massive continuity errors. It does in retrospect, thanks to the other books contradicting it, but on its own it’s fine. For the rest of the series though I will list all of the errors. You may have also noticed that the supplementary material is loosely ordered chronologically by timeline and not by publication date. I did this because it’s easier for me, but I recommend reading this series in publication order due to the huge amount of confusing timeline errors. Trust me.

Huge thanks to the Warrior Cats Wiki for cataloguing all of the mistakes. I straight up copied and pasted what they found, because it’s a lot and I really need you guys to see just how bad the mistakes are. That website has been an amazing asset throughout this whole project.

End of Part One!

This thing is way too long. These damn cat books have consumed my life and I’m not even done! There’s so much weird shit to discuss: bad romances, funny moments, creepy tomcats, sexism, xenophobia, theocratical nonsense, and incest. And some good stuff too. I wouldn’t be discussing this series this much if I didn’t have some positive things to say as well.

This is going to be a long bumpy ride.