Warriors: MEGA Review! Part Five

Image credit: Liu Ye

Spoilers Ahead!!

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

Here we are. Dawn of the Clans, the prequel series with a completely new cast of characters and fresh conflicts. And it sucks. This is the second-worst arc in the series for me and I know that is going to surprise some WC fans. DotC wasn’t popular when it came out since most fans did not want to read about new characters, but those who have read it call it one of the best arcs in the series. I would agree with them if the arc was only three books long but well… Let’s dig into it.

Arc Five: Dawn of the Clans (2013-2015)

2/10

Books 1-3

Remember the group of cats Jayfeather/Jay’s Wing brought from the lake to the mountains? That’s who we’re following now. Half Moon, now Stoneteller, is old. The mountain cats are starving in the middle of winter. She receives a vision about the sun trail, a sunlit path that will lead the cats to a new home. After some discussion with Lion’s Roar, she decides that some of the cats must leave to find a home in this mysterious place.

We are then introduced to a whole bunch of people. I made acronyms for some of them for my sake. These names are stupidly long y’all and there’s a lot of them.

• Gray Wing, the sole POV of book one.

• Clear Sky, Gray Wing’s brother.

• Jagged Peak, the younger brother of Gray Wing and Clear Sky and the littermate of Fluttering Bird.

• Quiet Rain the mother of the former.

• Tall Shadow and her dumb brother Moon Shadow.

• Turtle Tail, a molly who has a crush on Gray Wing.

• Shaded Moss, the eventual leader of the traveling group.

• Rainswept Flower (RSF), the daughter of Shaded Moss.

• Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt, proto-medicine cats.

• The sibling duo Jackdaw’s Cry (JDC) and Falling Feather.

• Hawk Swoop, JDC’s eventual mate.

• Shattered Ice, a grumpy man.

• Quick Water. She exists.

• Bright Stream, Clear Sky’s mate.

Fluttering Bird dies from starvation. Fridged molly #1. Everyone is broken up about it. This death makes the cats agree that some of them need to go. Clear Sky is down to leave and so is Turtle Tail. They try to convince Gray Wing but he ultimately decides to stay behind. Led by Shaded Moss, all the cats listed above (minus Gray Wing, Jagged Peak, and Quiet Rain) leave to discover this new home. The kitten Jagged Peak is upset that he couldn’t go. Out of frustration, he leaves. Quiet Rain tells Gray Wing to chase after his brother and find a home in this new place. Gray Wing catches up with Jagged Peak and they eventually run across the traveling group. They walk and walk. Gray Wing learns that Bright Stream is pregnant with Clear Sky’s kittens. Then they get accosted by eagles. They hide and Clear Sky forms a plan to kill one of the eagles. Gray Wing and Bright Stream run in one direction, distracting one eagle while the others catch and kill the other. During the run, Gray Wing hurts his leg. Then Bright Stream is carried off by the eagle. Fridged molly #2. Gray Wing blames himself for not saving her. Clear Sky stops talking to people. They finally leave the mountains and encounter dogs, cars, and hostile cats. Shaded Moss is hit and killed by a car. Tall Shadow becomes the new leader and she leads them to the Highstones and then the moor. While they settle on the moor, Gray Wing runs into Wind and Gorse, two loners, while chasing a rabbit. Moon Shadow is hunting in the woods even though he keeps getting attacked. Tall Shadow tells him to knock it off but he refuses, questioning her leadership.

Gray Wing and Clear Sky finally talk about Bright Stream. Both brothers blame themselves for her death. They reconcile and move forward. Turtle Tail and Gray Wing hang out at Fourtrees. Gray Wing is too dense to realize that Turtle Tail likes him. They then get interrupted by a kittypet named Bumble. Turtle Tail likes Bumble. Gray Wing does not. Later Gray Wing runs into Wind and Gorse again but this time they’re friendlier. They teach him how to hunt rabbits in the tunnels. After being attacked by foxes on the moor, Clear Sky declares that they should move into the forest. They are too exposed on the moor. They take a vote. Falling Feather, Moon Shadow, Jagged Peak, Clear Sky, and Quick Water all vote to leave, but are outvoted. However, the five cats leave to live in the woods anyway.

The next day, Gray Wing goes to visit Clear Sky and runs into a silver molly named Storm. Later, Turtle Tail leaves to hang out with Bumble in the town nearby. Gray Wing leaves to look for her. He runs into Storm again and she leads him to Bumble’s house. He and Turtle Tail go back home. Later later, Gray Wing shows Storm where the moor cats live. RSF notes that Gray Wing has a crush on Storm. A few days later, Gray Wing runs into Storm again. They are then accosted by the same cats who attacked Gray Wing before when he was out hunting in the woods. Their names are Fox and Petal. They’re siblings. They joined Clear Sky’s group. They try to chase Gray Wing away from the forest, but he convinces them that he is Clear Sky’s brother. They relent and lead him and Storm to the camp. We then get this weird scene where Storm and Clear Sky stare at each other awkwardly. Storm runs off. Gray Wing then runs into Turtle Tail. He tells the molly who loves him that he loves another cat. Turtle Tail is depressed. She leaves to live with Bumble in the town. Gray Wing later on confesses his love for Storm, but she rejects him, telling him that she is going to live with Clear Sky as his mate. Apparently, their awkward encounter was “love at first sight.” Ugh okay whatever. Gray Wing is heartbroken, but he forces himself to be happy for Clear Sky. Later JDC tries to visit Falling Feather in the woods, but he is attacked and chased away by Fox and another tom named Frost. Gray Wing goes to confront his brother. Clear Sky goes on about how he wants to keep his cats strong and safe. Falling Feather shows up and explains that Jagged Peak fell from a tree and broke his leg. Clear Sky trained his cats to hunt in the trees and now his little brother is hurt due to his actions. Dappled Pelt shows up to help heal him.

Two weeks later, JDC and Shattered Ice theorize about using the tunnels for battling. Gray Wing doesn’t like the sound of that. Later, Frost shows up to drop off Jagged Peak. Jagged Peak was exiled by Clear Sky for having a broken leg. If he can’t hunt, he can’t stay. Gray Wing goes to confront his shitty brother again. All of a sudden, Clear Sky is really cruel now and explains that he doesn’t regret treating Jagged Peak like crap. Gray Wing is disgusted by Clear Sky so he attacks him. Clear Sky overpowers him and tells him to never come back. Their relationship is gone. Later, Gray Wing is hunting and accidentally crosses Clear Sky’s borders. He is instantly attacked by Fox. Fox is about to kill him so he fends him off and ends up swiping his claws across Fox’s neck, killing him. Storm and Clear Sky sat by and watched this happen. Clear Sky flies into a rage and disowns Gray Wing as his brother. Having had enough of his bullshit, Storm, heavily pregnant with Clear Sky’s kittens, declares that she is going to raise their kittens alone. She runs off. Clear Sky doesn’t chase after her. His group is more important than his family. Later later, it is announced that JDC and Hawk Swoop are having kittens. Gray Wing leaves to search for Storm in the town. He runs into Turtle Tail and tells her why he’s there. She’s upset that he’s bringing up the other woman again so she doesn’t tell him anything about Storm. Then Bumble shows up and leads him to Storm. She’s hiding out in an abandoned parking garage. She had three kittens but she refuses to let Gray Wing see them. She’s done with the mountain cats completely.

The next day, humans prepare to breakdown the parking garage. Turtle Tail runs into camp and grabs Gray Wing, telling him that Storm is in danger. The building collapses, Storm and two of her kittens die, leaving one living kit behind. Fridged molly #3. Turtle Tail names the kitten Thunder, in honor of his mother. Grief stricken, Gray Wing carries baby Thunder to his father. Clear Sky is broken up to learn that the molly he didn’t prioritize has died. Instead of taking care of his son in her honor, he rejects Thunder- saying some shit about how it’ll be too hard to raise him when he reminds him so much of Storm. Clear Sky sucks. Anyway, Gray Wing vows to raise Thunder as his own.

The next book, Thunder Rising, is about Thunder. It’s been a couple months. He was raised beside Hawk Swoop and JDC’s kittens, Lightning Tail (LT) and Acorn Fur. LT was named after Thunder because he followed Thunder around everywhere he went. Cute. Gray Wing has been teaching the three how to hunt. Thunder is naturally better at stalking, but Gray Wing wants him to chase down his prey because it’s more effective on the open moor. This causes conflict between him and Gray Wing. Gray Wing then spies Turtle Tail walking across the moor toward them. He is elated to see her again. They catch up. She says that she wants to rejoin them. Gray Wing sees that she’s pregnant. He asks what happened in the town. Turtle Tail tells him that a new cat joined her and Bumble. His name is Tom and she mated with him. At first he was friendly, but when he discovered she was having kittens, he changed. He became cruel. She learned from Bumble that after she had her kittens, their humans would take them away. This horrified Turtle Tail so she fled. Gray Wing takes Turtle Tail to the camp. Shattered Ice is hostile toward her, calling her a traitor. Tall Shadow calms him down and accepts Turtle Tail into their group. Wind and Gorse show up and tell the moor cats that hunting has been tough since Clear Sky forbade all cats but his own from hunting in the woods. They explain how, before the mountain cats arrived, the loners of the woods lived peacefully with one another. Now everything is fucked thanks to Clear Sky.

Turtle Tail, Gray Wing, Wind, Gorse, and RSF go hunting. Jagged Peak asks if he can join. Gray Wing tells him no. He needs to work on his exercises to strengthen his weak leg. Jagged Peak is dejected. RSF reassures him that when she comes back, she’ll help him with his exercises. Gray Wing compliments her kindness and she states that they all need to stop telling Jagged Peak what he can’t do and go easier on him. RSF is very empathic and can easily read how others feel, especially Jagged Peak. She knows exactly what to say to make him feel better. She is very close to Jagged Peak. I’m mentioning this now because it’s vital for a rant I’ll go on way later.

Anyway, the group go hunting and catch something. They then run into River Ripple, a mysterious silver tom who lives by the river. He asks for some food, they give him some and then he leaves. Lol alright. They are then chased by a dog. When they outrun the dogs, they find that Jagged Peak and Thunder are missing. However, Thunder is not actually missing. He left with Shattered Ice to hunt in the woods. Thunder loves the woods and loves stalking his prey. While Shattered Ice is teaching him how to properly stalk, they are accosted by Leaf, a black and white tom, and Petal. Before they could attack, Falling Feather and Moon Shadow show up and diffuse the situation. They politely ask them to leave. Thunder asks if he can see his father and they tell him no. He is confused as to why his father doesn’t want to see him. As he and Shattered Ice leave, they hear barking. They spot Jagged Peak being chased by a dog. Jagged Peak tells them to save themselves, but Thunder refuses to leave him. Shattered Ice however flees, confusing Thunder. He and Jagged Peak hide in a tunnel. Once the dog is gone, Thunder scrambles out of the tunnel but as Jagged Peak tries to leave, the tunnel collapses, burying him. Thunder and later Gray Wing try to dig Jagged Peak out to no avail. Shattered Ice comes back with more cats. Wind immediately takes charge and quickly organizes the cats and tells them on what do to. With her and Gorse’s expertise, the cats rescue Jagged Peak.

Gray Wing talks to Tall Shadow about letting Wind and Gorse join them. Both cats are resourceful and friendly and with Clear Sky becoming more of a threat, having more cats with them could protect them. Tall Shadow is hesitant because she doesn’t like others undermining her authority nor does she trust the outsiders just yet. Gray Wing discusses his concerns with Turtle Tail, bonding with her. Later that evening, Tall Shadow declares that Wind and Gorse must leave. Shattered Ice is pissed about this. As soon as the couple leave, Shattered Ice challenges her decision. He even questions her ability to lead. While the dogs were attacking, she was back in camp. Tall Shadow says she was guarding the camp, but Shattered Ice is not having this. He declares that Gray Wing should lead them because he was there making sure the cats were safe. Hawk Swoop is also pro-Gray Wing. Gray Wing however is deeply uncomfortable with the idea of taking Tall Shadow’s spot. Cloud Spots speaks up and strongly disagrees with Shattered Ice. They start insulting each other. Before they could pounce on each other, Gray Wing steps between them. Tall Shadow takes charge again but is interrupted by JDC who agrees with Shattered Ice, saying that things need to change. Jagged Peak is also pro-Gray Wing. This causes more arguments. Eventually, Tall Shadow storms off to her den. Gray Wing chastises the cats who questioned her authority. JDC asks Jagged Peak what life was like in Clear Sky’s camp. Jagged Peak is happy that his opinion is valued. He tells them that Clear Sky breaks the cats up into groups based on their skills. Those who are good at hunting hunt, those who are good at fighting patrol, etc. The cats begin to argue about who is good at what which angers Gray Wing. He tells Jagged Peak that the cats are not ready for this change. Jagged Peak is upset that his brother is beating down his suggestion and so he slinks away. Gray Wing feels bad about it but he doesn’t want the cats to end up like Clear Sky and his cats. The moor cats talk about how great Gray Wing is, which makes him uncomfortable. He goes to talk to Jagged Peak and thanks him for speaking up. Jagged Peak is upset that they didn’t really listen to him.

The next morning, Gray Wing and Thunder hunt. Gray Wing is irritated that Thunder keeps stalking his prey instead of chasing after it. Then it is announced that Turtle Tail is giving birth. She has three healthy kittens, two toms and a molly. She says that the kittens need a father while looking at Gray Wing. Gray Wing is shaken by this. That night, he receives a dream from Stoneteller who tells him to become the new leader. Turtle Tail names the kittens Owl Eyes, Sparrow Fur, and Pebble Heart. While out with the kittens, Turtle Tail and Gray Wing run across an injured and dirty Bumble. She explains that Tom has been abusing her since Turtle Tail left. She fled and is asking for refuge with the moor cats. Gray Wing and Turtle Tail take her to Tall Shadow. They confusingly reject Bumble, saying some stupid shit about how she’s too weak and soft to be a wild cat. They “can’t” help her and tell her to go back to her humans. Bumble tells them repeatedly that she can’t because her abuser is there, but they still don’t help her. As Tall Shadow is trying to tell Bumble to leave, Wind (who is visiting) takes charge and rudely tells Bumble that she’ll die in the wild. She and Gorse then escort poor Bumble off their land. I despise this scene. I’ll dig into more later.

Later, a forest fire erupts. Gray Wing, Thunder, Tall Shadow, RSF, Dappled Pelt, Cloud Spots, and JDC take off to go save Clear Sky and his cats. They run across Moon Shadow, who is heavily burned. The cats race toward a stream. A wall of fire encloses around them. River Ripple appears and he tells them to jump the flames. Many cats jump, including Gray Wing. As he is jumping, he inhales mouthfuls of smoke, scorching his lungs. Since Moon Shadow is too injured to jump, he and Tall Shadow are left behind. JDC tells Thunder to drench his fur so that they can walk through the fire and fetch Moon Shadow. They do this, tell Tall Shadow to jump and with Moon Shadow between them they walk through the flames. I adore this scene. It’s insane!

River Ripple escorts them out of the woods. Gray Wing calls out to Clear Sky and eventually the two meet up. Clear Sky and his cats were able to escape mostly unscathed. Frost’s leg is burned, but he’s alright for now. Clear Sky and his cats are invited to stay on the moor until the fire dies down. As they’re walking, Gray Wing proudly tells Clear Sky that his son saved his life. For the first time in his life, Clear Sky notices Thunder. Thunder is eager to get to know his dad. They go hunting together and are attacked by rats. Thunder fights bravely, impressing Clear Sky more. They go back. Gray Wing is concerned and asks where they’ve been. Clear Sky rudely questions why he needs permission to hunt with his son. Thunder feels guilty for going behind Gray Wing’s back. Gray Wing has mixed feelings about Thunder being with Clear Sky. Tall Shadow pulls Gray Wing aside and tells him that he has to take up leadership while she stays by Moon Shadow’s side to aid in his healing. She admits she hasn’t been doing well leading lately. She choked during the fire while Gray Wing and Thunder took charge. If it wasn’t for JDC and Thunder, she would have died. Gray Wing tries to make her reconsider, but she refuses and allows him to take the position. He goes to talk to Clear Sky and sees Jagged Peak sneaking up on him to chat.

Clear Sky is praising Thunder for his performance during the fire. He then snaps at Jagged Peak for being useless. Gray Wing jumps in and defends their little brother. Clear Sky then apologizes, but Jagged Peak doesn’t accept his apology. The older brothers get into a brief argument about Clear Sky’s shitty behavior. Afterwards, Clear Sky goes back to praising Thunder. He asks him if he wants to join him in the woods. Gray Wing protests, but Thunder says that he can make his own decisions. Clear Sky tells him that he’ll be a good asset in the woods. He tells his son that life is dangerous and that they need to survive. Danger lurks around every corner and they need to be vigilant all the time. Gray Wing internally questions why Clear Sky is putting these paranoid thoughts into Thunder’s head. Thunder asks why Clear Sky rejected him when he was small. And then… Clear Sky full on lies and manipulates him.

[Gray Wing] was relieved to see that Thunder still looked anxious as he peered up at Clear Sky. “There’s just one thing…” he mewed uncertainly. “When I was a kit, you didn’t want me. You sent me away. If it wasn’t for Gray Wing, I might not be alive now.”

At first Gray Wing thought his brother wouldn’t have an answer for that, but Clear Sky seemed unworried. “Congratulations on passing the test,” he purred.

Thunder looked bewildered. “What test?”

No, Gray Wing thought, as understanding dawned. Clear Sky has to be kidding. Was he really going to try and pretend that this had all been part of a bigger plan?

“You can’t . . . ,” he started to interrupt, but his brother quickly spoke over him.

“Don’t you see, young one?” Clear Sky’s voice was smooth, persuasive. “I wanted to see if you could survive without me. You did. So now is the time for us to grow together. I did all of that for you.”

Pg 85, Thunder Rising

Very insidious. Thunder falls for it completely. Gray Wing decides that if Thunder wants to leave with his father then that is his decision. Later, Tall Shadow announces that Gray Wing is now the leader. Clear Sky congratulates him and prepares his cats for departure. Gray Wing suggests that they should work together. Clear Sky tells him that they will not be seeing each other again. He then tells him to organize his cats better, which pisses off Gray Wing. Then his lungs start acting up. He coughs and nearly passes out. Gray Wing has asthma after inhaling the smoke. After Thunder says his goodbyes to Gray Wing, LT, Acorn Fur, and Hawk Swoop, Clear Sky orders him to follow and tells him that sentiment will get him nowhere. What a great dad you got there, Thunder. Gray Wing wonders if he’ll see Thunder again. He leaves the camp that night to think. Turtle Tail joins him and they bond. Soon her kittens join and they sleep in one big happy family pile. Gray Wing thinks that he and Turtle Tail belong together. Fucking finally! Very cute. I love these two together.

Thunder, his dad, and Leaf are in patrol. Leaf is very hostile toward him because he believes Thunder is receiving special treatment from Clear Sky (which is true). Clear Sky leaves Leaf and Thunder to hunt together. Thunder kills a mouse and Leaf kills a squirrel. They bring the prey back and Clear Sky praises Thunder for killing the squirrel. Thunder explains that Leaf killed the squirrel, but Clear Sky blatantly ignores this. Thunder reflects on how mean the forest cats are to each other. He’s starting to regret his decision. The next day, Clear Sky takes him out to teach him how to jump through the trees.

“This morning you’re going to work on your leaping skills,” Clear Sky announced, speaking for the first time since they had left the camp.

“Okay,” Thunder responded, determined to do his best. “What do you want me to do?”

Clear Sky waved his tail in the direction of the burnt forest. “I want to see you jumping from one tree to the next. It’s an important skill if you’re hunting squirrels or even birds, and it’s a good way to stay clear of your enemies. Out here, where the leaves are burned off the trees, you’ll be able to see where you’re going.”

Like that’s supposed to make it easier for me? Thunder thought, gazing up in dismay at the nearest fire-damaged tree. I’m not even sure it will bear my weight.

While he hesitated, Clear Sky padded over and faced him. “I can see the doubt in your eyes,” he hissed. “That’s exactly why you need to climb up the tree right now. The only way you can survive in the forest is without fear.” Clear Sky’s blue eyes glowed with passion. “Fear is like prey—it only exists to be captured and killed. Fear didn’t get me and the rest of us out of the mountains!”

Thunder stretched up to grip the burnt tree trunk with his claws; small chips of black wood flaked away at the touch. He hesitated, but didn’t want to turn around and see a disappointed or angry look in his father’s eyes. Bracing himself, Thunder sprang and clambered up the tree, shedding scraps of wood every time he sank his claws into the trunk. At last he reached a branch and clung there, feeling it shake under him and hardly daring to look down at the ground so far below.

“Get moving!” Clear Sky called up to him. “You’re showing the tree too much respect.”

For a couple of heartbeats Thunder clung tighter as a gust of wind swayed the branch. It feels like I should respect the tree, was what he wanted to say. He knew that jumping wasn’t his strong point, and besides, he had no idea which branches would support his weight and which would give out and send him crashing down into the undergrowth. Respecting the tree makes perfect sense!

“Jump now!” Clear Sky yowled, impatience clear in his tone.

Taking a deep breath, Thunder managed to ignore the creaking of the branch and the stench of dead wood, and launched himself into a leap. He landed awkwardly in the next tree, his forepaws scrabbling at a branch while his hind legs dangled in midair. Clawing desperately, he hauled himself up until he could crouch in a fork between the branch and the tree trunk.

“Far too slow!” Clear Sky’s yowl came up from below. “You should have been two trees over by now!”

Stung by the sneering tone, Thunder peered down at his father, who stood at the foot of the tree, his tail lashing.

“What’s the point of this?” he demanded. “Didn’t Jagged Peak injure himself permanently when he fell from a tree?”

Clear Sky didn’t bother to answer. “Are you going to perch up there and ask silly questions?” he meowed. “Or are you going to continue to learn new skills? Don’t you want to learn the best way to hunt?” He pointed with his tail toward the next tree. “Let me see how strong you are!”

Growing even more irritated, Thunder decided to show his father just how good he was. Pushing off with his hind paws, he leaped from tree to tree, forcing down the fear that stirred in his belly.

This’ll show him… another tree… and another…

Crack!

As Thunder’s paws hit the next branch, it splintered away from the tree. Thunder felt himself falling, twisting in the air in a frantic effort to turn himself upright. A picture of Jagged Peak, dragging his injured leg across the moorland camp, flashed into his mind. Then he let out a screech of pain as he thumped down, paws first, onto the forest floor. Scraps of bark and chunks of black wood showered down around him.

Clear Sky was watching him with a disappointed look in his eyes. “You showed good courage there,” he mewed, dipping his head, “but recklessness can lead to injury.” Without another word he turned and headed back toward the camp.

Thunder limped after him, testing each leg gingerly to make sure he wasn’t badly hurt. Dull anger was throbbing in his belly. If I take it slowly, I’m respecting the tree too much. If I go fast, I’m being reckless. What do I have to do to please my father?

Pg 98, Thunder Rising

Clear Sky sucks. After nearly busting his legs, Thunder vows to make his dad proud. The next day while out on patrol, he spies River Ripple by a stream in the woods. He is then attacked by a random tomcat and molly. Clear Sky arrives and helps him out. The cats flee. River Ripple tells Clear Sky that he can’t keep telling other cats what to do. Thunder tries to speak, but is silenced by a glare from his father. River Ripple invites him to talk, but Clear Sky speaks for him, saying he doesn’t have an opinion. What a great dad you got there, Thunder. River Ripple leaves. Clear Sky’s mood suddenly shifts and he congratulates Thunder on expanding their territory. Thunder tries to tell him that he didn’t have to be so rough with the cats, but Clear Sky says that defending the territory requires them to be rough or some shit. Thunder just rolls with it, growing more and more unsure of his father.

While playing with Turtle Tail’s kittens, Gray Wing starts coughing and wheezing. Cloud Spots heals him and says he’ll be fine, but Turtle Tail is concerned that Gray Wing may be overworking himself. Then the mountain cats suggests Wind and Gorse should adopt names like them. Wind becomes Wind Runner and Gorse becomes Gorse Fur. Gray Wing then gives an inspiring speech that hypes up all the cats. The next day, he goes out hunting with the kittens again and has another coughing fit. Pebble Heart heals him, showing off his medicine cat prowess. Back in camp, Turtle Tail scolds Gray Wing for not accepting help for his coughing. He says he doesn’t want to look weak in front of the others. Then a dog attacks. They outrun it and go back to camp to warn the others. Pebble Heart later tells Gray Wing about his prophetic dreams. Then Moon Shadow dies. Tall Shadow grieves for her brother. Then Owl Eyes goes missing. They find Owl Eyes in a tunnel which turns out to be a badger’s nest. They save Owl Eyes, fight off the badger, and then Gray Wing has another coughing fit. Turtle Tail tells the other cats that Gray Wing is not fit enough to be leader until he recovers from his illness.

Thunder, Petal, and Frost run across Bumble while on patrol. She tells them her situation. Frost and Petal chase her out of the territory. The other two talk about Clear Sky’s upcoming speech. They then run into Wind Runner who is hunting on their land. Frost and Petal attack her. Thunder is conflicted. He knows he is expected to chase her away, but he can’t bring himself to hurt his friend. Wind Runner holds her own and flees. Frost and Petal tear into Thunder for not doing anything. Back in camp, Clear Sky talks about how they’re going to take more land so that no cat will ever go hungry. He says that Thunder will be the first one to mark the new borders. Thunder’s morals and his desperation to remain loyal to his father conflict yet again. The next day, he, Clear Sky, and Petal go out to mark the new boarders. Thunder is attacked by a silver molly named Misty. Petal explains that Misty abandoned her and her brother Fox when they were kittens. Out of revenge, Petal attacks Misty. They fight viciously, but Misty is stronger. Clear Sky intervenes and kills Misty. Thunder is disgusted. Clear Sky then says that he sees a lot of himself in Thunder. And then soon after, they realize that Misty was simply protecting her kittens who were hidden away in a bush. Clear Sky openly contemplates murdering the kittens so that they wouldn’t suffer. Thunder stops him and Petal vows to take care of them. As they take the kittens back to camp, Thunder wonders if Clear Sky had gone through with killing the kittens if he was alone on patrol.

Pebble Heart tells Gray Wing about another dream he’s had about something awful happening at the edge of the woods. Wind Runner rushes into camp and calls for a meeting. Some cats like Turtle Tail and Tall Shadow do not like her taking control. Gray Wing realizes that he doesn’t like it either. She tells them that she was attacked when hunting in the forest by Clear Sky’s cats and how Thunder stood by and did nothing. Wind Runner then goes on about how she buried Misty’s body, a cat murdered by Clear Sky. This shocks everyone. She mentions that Misty had kittens, but she couldn’t find them. Gray Wing retakes control and organizes patrols to search for the kittens. They set off and find Bumble dying in a clearing. The smell of fox is heavy in the air. Cloud Spots tries to help her, but her wounds are too bad. The cats discover Clear Sky’s scent on her. Gray Wing tries to defend his brother, but Turtle Tail snaps at him. She 100% believes Clear Sky killed Bumble. Clear Sky then appears out of the brush, declaring that all he did was give her a warning. Afterwards, he left and came back when he heard a noise. That was when the fox got her. Clear Sky asks if they actually believe he is capable of doing something like that. Gray Wing doesn’t, but Turtle Tail does, saying that he will do anything to get what he wants.

They return to the moor and tell the others. After a lot of talk, Tall Shadow and Gray Wing become joint leaders. Tall Shadow officially welcomes Wind Runner and Gorse Fur to the group. Gray Wing and Turtle Tail talk about Clear Sky and all of their problems. Gray Wing says that someone needs to resolve all of these issues, that someone being him. In the forest, newcomers Fircone and Nettle voice their concerns about Clear Sky to Thunder. They ask him to relay their problems to the leader since he’ll listen to him (or so they think). Thunder goes to talk to his dad, who saw him talking to the newcomers. Thunder asks if they can give up on expanding land, but Clear Sky says no. They get into an argument. To prove a point, Clear Sky forces Frost to show Thunder his festering leg burn. Clear Sky talks about how they all have been damaged by the fire. Frost’s injury has not healed, much like parts of the forest. One cat being hurt puts the rest of them in danger. He humiliates Frost, going on about how he can’t hunt nor patrol. Thunder tries to defend him and then Clear Sky shoves Thunder’s face down, inches away from Frost’s wound. He asks Thunder to lick it clean if he cares so much. Thunder has enough and frees himself.

[Truncated]

Wriggling free, Thunder turned to face his father. “What has happened to you?”… “Why don’t you care about Frost anymore? You always say that you’re acting in the best interests of all of us.”

“That’s right.” To Thunder’s surprise, Quick Water rose to her paws and faced Clear Sky. … Quick Water had known Clear Sky all his life. If any cat can reason with my father, it’s her. “What are you doing?” …“You’re our leader, not our tormentor. Think of Quiet Rain—would she want to see this?”

“Leave my mother out of it,” Clear Sky snarled.

… “Is this why she wished you good luck when we left the mountains?” she asked.

Instead of exploding into anger, Clear Sky took a deep breath, letting his gaze travel over all his cats. “I owe you all an apology,” he mewed, stepping back. “Clearly you don’t understand what I’m trying to do. I should have explained it better.” Turning to Thunder and Frost, he continued, “Frost must leave us. It’s time for him to go, before he spreads disease among us. This is for the greater good.”

Frost’s jaws opened in a gasp of shock, as he gazed incredulously at Clear Sky.

“Thunder, I want you to escort him to the boundary and leave him…” … “Leave him where the maggots will find him. Do you understand?”

Thunder felt his neck fur beginning to bristle. I want no part of this. “No, I’m not sure I do understand,” … “Where the maggots will find him? Are you asking me to abandon Frost somewhere to die alone, with no cat to take care of him?”

Clear Sky didn’t respond, but from the icy look in his blue eyes Thunder realized that was exactly what he was asking.

“No!” Frost wailed as he took in for the first time what his leader meant to do to him. “Please, Clear Sky, don’t send me away! I can still hunt—I caught a vole yesterday. And I’ve done all my patrols. I’ll die out there! Please give me another chance.”

Thunder watched, appalled as this once-proud cat begged his leader for his life. This can’t be what it means to belong to a group of cats. … Thunder’s thoughts winged back to Gray Wing and Hawk Swoop. Why had he ever left them? But I could never go back and ask to join them again, not after everything that’s happened … or could I? … I’ve let every cat down—including myself. But no more. It ends here.

Thunder leaped up onto a tree stump, his gaze raking across the cats in the clearing.

“What are you doing?” Clear Sky hissed.

“Yes, get down, you stupid furball,” Quick Water meowed.

What? Thunder gaped at the she-cat. I thought you were on my side! “I won’t do this,” he announced, … “I won’t lead Frost to his death. I can’t help any of you, but I can help myself and Frost.” He suddenly understood what he had to do. “We’re leaving. And neither of us is coming back.”

148-149, Thunder Rising

And then a fox attacks, lured in by all the noise. Thunder fights off the fox by himself. Everyone is impressed. Leaf praises Thunder, saying that he managed fine all on his own.

“Yes,” Clear Sky agreed, padding up to join them. “Some cat taught you well.”

“Not you,” Thunder retorted coldly. He knew that whatever bond he had felt with his father was truly gone. I’ll never trust Clear Sky again.

Clear Sky made no reply. Thunder looked around at the other cats, but none of them were meeting his gaze. Nettle and Fircone, who had been so eager for him to talk to Clear Sky, were slinking away with their heads lowered. So that’s how it is, Thunder thought.

“Come on.” Falling Feather touched Thunder on the shoulder with her tail-tip. “Let’s get this over with. I’ll come with you and Frost as far as the border, just in case that fox is still hanging around.”

“What border would that be?” Thunder asked drily. “They change so often around here, I’ve lost track.”

“Don’t get clever,” Clear Sky snarled. “You do know, if you leave now, you don’t come back.”

“I don’t want to come back,” Thunder responded.

Beckoning to Frost with his tail, he headed out of the camp, setting a slow pace so that the injured cat could keep up. Falling Feather padded along with them. Thunder forced himself not to look back. I don’t care if Clear Sky is watching me leave or not. He’s nothing to me now. But even as he thought this, he knew it would take longer than the walk from camp for his wounds to heal. He’d trusted Clear Sky—he’d left Gray Wing to be with him!—and for what?

Pgs 149-150, Thunder Rising

He and Frost trek to the moor. The First Battle starts right where the last book ends off, but this time we’re following Clear Sky. As he watches Thunder and Frost leave the woods, he justifies his actions with how he was only looking out for every cat. Frost could not stay because his infection would have endangered everyone else. I’m just going to show you this next scene because it’s brilliant.

[Truncated]

[Frost’s] weakness would burden the forest tribe. Doesn’t Thunder understand that? he thought, clawing the earth with frustration. Why did so few cats understand him? All he wanted to do was protect his cats in the forest—that was all he’d ever wanted to do, since setting up home here. But his own son had called him a monster for caring. Well, he must leave, then. I won’t have my authority undermined. If Clear Sky kept telling himself this, maybe the pain in his belly would fade…

Tribe! The word rang like a blackbird’s cry in Clear Sky’s mind. It was the first time he’d thought of the forest cats as a tribe. No! He pushed the thought away sharply. We’re not a tribe! After moons of rich prey, the forest cats were sleeker and better fed than the poor starvelings who’d chosen to stay in the mountains. With the right leadership, they could flourish in lush forest. They could become stronger than any mountain cat. They need never know cold or hunger again. Flicking his tail, Clear Sky turned and headed through the trees. White fur flashed at the edge of his vision. Falling Feather was stalking through the tall grass edging the forest. Clear Sky’s pelt lifted irritably along his spine as he remembered Falling Feather’s parting words to Thunder. I almost wish I were coming with you. Thunder had tried to persuade the white she-cat to desert with him. And she’d actually considered it!

Clear Sky unsheathed his claws. “Falling Feather!”

Her head jerked up. “Clear Sky?”…

“I want to talk to you.”

She blinked at him over the grass. “What about?”

Clear Sky narrowed his eyes. Didn’t she realize he’d overheard her? “I was watching you say good-bye to Thunder and Frost.”

“Were you?” She tried to sound innocent but he could see the fur around her neck rippling guiltily. “Come here.” … “Well?”

“I just wished them well, that’s all.” She pushed through the long grass toward him.

“Thunder asked you to leave with him.”…

… “I told him no.”

“You told him you almost wished you were going with him.” He circled her, his tail twitching irritably. She was acting like she’d done nothing wrong.

“I decided to stay.” Her gaze sharpened. “What’s it to you? I can go anywhere I like.”

Clear Sky showed his teeth. Dumb cat! Didn’t she realize how much she needed his protection and guidance? “You are part of my tribe now. If I can’t rely on your loyalty, then you might as well leave for good.”

“Tribe?” Falling Feather’s eyes widened in surprise. “We’re not a tribe. Half our kin are in the mountains. Half the cats we traveled with live on the moor. We have no Stoneteller to guide us.”

Heat scorched beneath Clear Sky’s pelt. The word had slipped out accidentally. Did she have to humiliate him? “Okay, we’re not a tribe,” he snapped. “We’re better than a tribe. Who needs a Stoneteller? You have me.”… “I guide you now. I found our camp. I decide our borders. You should be grateful. Because of me, you will never be hungry or cold again.”

“Because of you?” Falling Feather snorted. “You act like you brought us here! Have you forgotten that we made the journey from the mountains together? Who saved Quick Water from drowning? I did! Who saved Jagged Peak from the eagle? Gray Wing. We protected each other. No cat is more important than any other—no cat except Stoneteller. She speaks with the ancients. She’s wiser than you’ll ever be!”

Rage surged through Clear Sky’s belly. “Look at this place!” He swept his tail toward the trees. Birds sang in their branches. Prey scuttled among their roots. “If she’s so wise, why did she stay in the mountains to starve?”

Falling Feather thrust her muzzle close. “She was looking after her cats!”

“That’s all I’m doing!” Indignation surged through him. How could Falling Feather be so ungrateful? “Because of me you are safe and well fed.”

Falling Feather frowned. “It’s the forest that feeds us.”

“And who makes sure the forest belongs to us and no one else?” …

“All you care about is boundaries,” … “You stretch them farther every chance you get. There’s more to life than territory!”

“Really?” Clear Sky spat. “Do you want to share our prey with every passing stray?”

“There’s enough prey in the forest to share!”

“But now we have kits! Have you forgotten Birch and Alder?” Clear Sky couldn’t believe how shortsighted she was being. “There’ll be more kits one day, and more! Do you want them to starve, like Fluttering Bird?” Grief echoed in the back of his mind as he recalled his young sister who’d died in the mountains. Guilt soured his memory. Would she have lived if I’d hunted harder? “I never want to watch a kit starve again.”

“Do you think I do?” Falling Feather hissed. “Stop pretending you’re moving boundaries for our sake. You’re just greedy!”

Rage roared in his ears. Fast as a snake, Clear Sky raked her muzzle with his claws. Falling Feather jerked away, her paws slithering on the leaves, and stared as though she hardly recognized him. … “Everything I do, I do for all of us,” he snarled.

Falling Feather backed away, blood welling on her nose. “Okay,” she growled huskily.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” said Clear Sky, “but when the cold season comes and there are new kits in camp, you’ll understand what I already know: any cat who questions my loyalty puts all of us in danger.”

With a whip of his tail, he turned and began to head farther into the forest.

Pgs 14-15, The First Battle

He’s deluded. Clear Sky truly believes he’s doing the right thing, but everything he does causes more strife. He’s too shortsighted to realize his own faults. Clear Sky is a great villain, until he’s not but we’ll get there. Anyway, back in camp Clear Sky calls for a meeting and announces that Thunder and Frost are gone and are not allowed to come back. He then humiliates Falling Feather by openly questioning her loyalty. He orders his cats to treat her like shit and report to him if they see any disloyalty from her. “She is lower than a snake until she has earned our trust again,” He says. Jfc Clear Sky… He then rallies his cats. Look at how far gone he is.

[Truncated]

Clear Sky flicked his tail. “But we have more important things to discuss.” He looked down at Fircone and Nettle. “Some cats have been questioning my decision to expand our boundaries.” He saw Nettle unsheathe his claws defensively. His warning had been heard. Content, he softened his tone. “I want to put your minds at rest,” … “It’s for your own good. Can’t you see that?” He nodded toward the trees crowding the camp. Blackened trunks showed among them. “The fire destroyed much of our territory and it will take time for the forest to recover and prey to return. We need more land to hunt until it does. And with Thunder and Frost gone and small mouths to feed…”… “We need to claim as much territory as we can.”

Leaf frowned. “Claiming territory is one thing,” he called. “How do we keep it?”

Clear Sky flexed his claws. “We patrol our borders and we fight any cat who crosses them.”

“Even Gray Wing?” Quick Water tipped her head. “He’s your brother.”

Fury surged from Clear Sky’s belly. “He attacked me! He accused me of murdering the kittypet Bumble!” Outrage spiked his pelt. “Me! Murder a kittypet?” He flicked his tail toward Birch and Alder. “I rescue cats, I don’t kill them.” He pressed on before anyone could remind him how the kits had lost their mother. “These are dark times, and the cold season is not yet here. We must work together to build a strong, safe home!”

“Together! Together!” Petal chanted eagerly.

“Together!” Leaf joined her.

Fircone joined in... “Together!”

Clear Sky’s chest flooded with pride as the cats yowled their support. Even Quick Water and Falling Feather joined in, though their eyes watched their denmates warily. So what? He knew that building loyalty and trust among his cats was going to take time. But it would be worth it. By next warm season, the forest would belong to them and they would be well fed and safe. We must be strong. Clear Sky lifted his chin. “Let us train until no cat can outfight us!”

Pgs 17-18, The First Battle

He forces Fircone and Nettle to fight each other, claws out. The toms viciously attack each other. Alder and Birch, the kittens Clear Sky orphaned, watch the fight and are almost crushed by one of them. Clear Sky puts an end to the fight right before Nettle bites his friend’s throat. He orders all of his cats to fight like this so that they can be prepared for any danger. Back on the moor, Wind Runner is also talking about battle training to prepare for Clear Sky. Gray Wing, however, doesn’t want to attack his brother. He still believes deep down that Clear Sky is good and just needs to be reasoned with. As the cats argue about what Clear Sky will do next, RSF announces Thunder’s arrival. Gray Wing is elated to see Thunder again. Cloud Spots leads Frost away to heal his leg while Thunder tells the moor cats that he left on his own accord.

Gray Wing’s ear twitched. He had to know why Thunder was so tense. “Hawk Swoop said Clear Sky had banished you.”

Thunder halted. “He banished Frost, not me,” he muttered. “I chose to leave.”

“You chose to leave your father?” But you were so eager to join him!

Thunder growled. “I have no father!”

Gray Wing gasped. “Has something happened to Clear Sky?” If his brother had been injured, or worse . . .

“No. He’s fine.” Thunder stared angrily at his paws.

“Then why—”

“He wanted me to take Frost somewhere and leave him to die alone!” Thunder jerked up his head and stared straight at Gray Wing. “All the forest cats are scared of him. He hurts anyone who stands up to him. I can’t stay in the forest if I don’t agree with him.”

Gray Wing felt a flash of pride at Thunder’s outrage. But sadness tugged at his belly. Was Clear Sky going to drive away every cat who loved him?

Pg 25, The First Battle

Thunder straight up disowns his dad! Hell yes! Though he hates his dad, Thunder does not want anymore bloodshed. When Gray Wing suggests talking to Clear Sky peacefully, Thunder is on board. As soon as JDC’s hunting party returns, Gray Wing announces to the group that he is going to talk to Clear Sky and discuss ways to end this feud before it gets bloody. He will leave in two days after the heat between the groups settles. Following Thunder now, he checks up on Frost before leaving to find Jagged Peak teaching the kittens how to fight. Thunder is troubled by this. He doesn’t want the cats to fight. He confronts Jagged Peak and they have a heated discussion about defending their home. Thunder leaves in a huff. Later he, Acorn Fur and LT reunite. It’s super cute. And then Wind Runner interrupts and invites Acorn Fur and LT to practice fighting with them. Thunder tries to stop them, but Wind Runner shuts him up. Tall Shadow breaks up the quarrel by announcing a feast to celebrate Wind Runner and Gorse Fur’s joining the group. Turtle Tail then pulls Thunder aside and chats with him. She reasons that it’s okay for the cats to defend their home. Gray Wing will talk to Clear Sky, but if he can’t persuade him then they will have to fight. Back to Gray Wing, he arrives to see everyone formally welcoming Wind Runner and Gorse Fur. After a brief talk with Thunder, Gray Wing is pulled aside by Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, and Gorse Fur. The couple announces that they’re having kittens. Wind Runner suggests leaving so that the moor cats don’t have to worry about their kittens, but Gray Wing begs them to stay- saying that they earned their place multiple times over. The cats then praise all of the newcomers accomplishments, shouting their names to the heavens. That night, Gray Wing overhears Jagged Peak and RSF talking about Clear Sky. They’re concerned that Gray Wing’s appearance may make Clear Sky more upset. Jagged Peak suggests RSF go talk to him instead. This makes Gray Wing think twice about going to talk to Clear Sky in his camp.

In Clear Sky’s camp, he is training Alder and Birch how to fight. After yet another short dog attack, two newcomers arrive, Thorn and Dew. They inform Clear Sky that they saw Gray Wing’s group training battle moves and celebrating something. Clear Sky thinks Gray Wing is preparing for war. If he wants a war, Clear Sky will give him a war. Back on the moor, JDC and Thunder are going to Clear Sky’s camp. Gray Wing asked Thunder and JDC to speak on his behalf and inform his brother that he wants to talk at Fourtrees. Thunder and JDC run into Petal and Falling Feather. The mollies escort them. Clear Sky is not at all happy to see Thunder. JDC and Thunder tell him Gray Wing wants to talk. Clear Sky is shocked to hear this. He firmly believes Gray Wing is planning an attack. He agrees to meet at Fourtrees. They go back to camp and Clear Sky announces this to his cats.

“I’ve decided to meet with Gray Wing,” he told them.

“When?” Fircone’s eyes narrowed to slits.

Clear Sky paced. He realized they hadn’t discussed a specific time. “At full moon,” he decided. “In two days.” He stopped and stared at Jackdaw’s Cry. There was something else they hadn’t discussed. “This moor cat will remain here in the forest camp until after the meeting,” he growled. “If you must risk your leader, then they should risk something too.”

“No!” Thunder flattened his ears.

“It’s okay.” Jackdaw’s Cry stepped forward, his glance flicking toward Falling Feather. “I’ll stay if that’s what it takes.”

Clear Sky’s paws pricked with satisfaction. “Good.” He flicked his tail toward his camp mates. “If anything does happen to me at the meeting, you can decide what to do with Jackdaw’s Cry.” He noticed Thunder’s pelt ripple uneasily and his satisfaction deepened. “Don’t worry,” he purred to his son. “I’m sure they’ll be fair.” He dipped his head. The meeting had gone better than he’d hoped. “Thank you for coming. You can leave now. And Jackdaw’s Cry—” He turned his head toward the young black tom. Jackdaw’s Cry lifted his chin defiantly, but unease glittered in his gaze. “We appreciate your staying with us. We’ll make sure you’re well fed and safe. And we’ll only keep you until after I come home from the meeting.” There was no harm in making sure that Thunder understood the importance of his returning from the four trees safely.

Pgs 61-62, The First Battle

Clear Sky holds JDC hostage and, once Thunder leaves, he prepares for battle. As Thunder goes back to the moor, he is tackled by Tom, Turtle Tail’s ex. Tom asks if he’s seen Bumble and Thunder tells him Bumble is dead. Thunder is put off by Tom’s shady behavior. He switches from friendly to cruel on a dime. Thunder lies to him about fetching Turtle Tail and then runs off to tell Gray Wing and Turtle Tail about Tom. Turtle Tail, Gray Wing, and Tall Shadow go to talk to him by Bumble’s grave. There, they yell at him. He demands to know where his kittens are. While they’re arguing, Turtle Tail lets it slip that the kittens are on the moor. Gray Wing then has an asthma attack. They quickly go back home where Gray Wing rests. Later that evening, Wind Runner has her kittens too early.

Around the same time, Turtle Tail’s kittens go missing. Tom has taken them to the town nearby. Turtle Tail goes after them and Thunder and LT go after her. We then get a scene with Clear Sky where he sees Tom leading the kittens away. He yells at them to get off his land. Following Thunder again, he and his best buddy run into River Ripple who helps them track down Turtle Tail. Once in town, they unfortunately stumble across Turtle Tail’s body. She was hit by a car. Fridged molly #4 (technically, she’s not fridged, but I’m counting it anyway because it pisses me off). After hiding her body away in a bush, they find the kittens in Tom’s garage. LT comes up with the idea to cozy up next to Tom’s humans to make him jealous. While Tom is hissing at him, Thunder coaxes the kittens away. It’s a funny scene. They get the kittens and run back to the moor. While this was happening, one of Wind Runner’s kittens, Emberkit, dies. In her grief, she yells at Gray Wing for not being a real father. When Thunder, LT, and the kittens arrive, they break the news that Turtle Tail is dead. Wind Runner apologizes to Gray Wing and he mourns alongside his adopted kittens.

The day of the meeting arrives. Pebble Heart warns Gray Wing about an upcoming danger before he, Tall Shadow, and Thunder go to Fourtrees. While there, they are surrounded by Clear Sky’s entire group. The crazed maniac brought a whole squad of fighters to face three cats. They have a heated discussion until Tall Shadow makes a lengthy speech about how the forest doesn’t exist to give them shelter and food. They are settlers, not creators. Her words seem to impact Clear Sky, but unfortunately, JDC, who was starved by Clear Sky, attacks a bat and the other forest cats growl at him. Thunder is disgusted to see this. For all his talk about not wanting to see another cat starve, Clear Sky is willing to do it to others to control them. Clear Sky yells at his son for “betraying him” and this causes yet another argument which leads to Clear Sky calling for an attack. His horde of cats advance upon the three and JDC. They flee to the Great Rock. There, Thunder climbs through the branches and races back to the moor to gather back up. They arrive and launch into battle. It’s super intense! Thunder is fighting, but is trying his hardest not to hurt any cat. He is hit with a dose of horrible reality when Tall Shadow murders Fircone in front of him. “We must fight or die” she says. Damn, Tall shadow. RSF confronts Clear Sky.

Thunder stiffened, holding Falling Feather firmly. He ignored her snarls as she wriggled beneath him, his gaze fixed on Clear Sky.

“Is this worth it?” he heard Clear Sky hiss at Rainswept Flower.

Scrambling to her paws, she faced him. “What do you mean?”

Clear Sky flattened his ears menacingly. “Are you ready to die just to stop me from making borders?”

Rainswept Flower curled her lip. “You’ll keep stealing land as long as we let you.”

“Stealing land?” Clear Sky’s mew trembled with rage. “I’m just making sure my cats never starve.”

Rainswept Flower’s gaze flitted around the lush slopes of the hollow. “How could any cat starve here? There’s so much. Wanting more is just greedy!”

“How dare you!” With a snarl, Clear Sky leaped for her, grabbing her throat between his jaws. Her paws flailed desperately, lashing out at thin air as he shook her like prey. Then she hung still. Clear Sky dropped her, gazing coldly at her lifeless body. “You never understood. I’m not greedy. I’m just strong.”

Pg. 148, The First Battle

Frost is killed by Snake, one of Clear Sky’s cats. Hawk Swoop, Thunder’s adopted mother, is killed. The siblings, Falling Feather and JDC, fighting on opposite sides of the conflict, kill each other. Clear Sky pins down his brother, Gray Wing. We then get one of the hardest lines in the entire series.

Gray Wing pushed himself onto his paws, his legs trembling. “Kill me,” he rasped at Clear Sky. “Kill me and live with the memory. Then tell the stars that you won.”

Pg 150, The First Battle

Clear Sky is shaken. He can’t do it. He can’t kill his brother. He calls off the battle. He tells his cats to go back home. Most of the cats leave except for the leaders, Gray Wing, Clear Sky, Thunder, Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, and later River Ripple who watched the whole thing go down in the bushes. And then, proto-StarClan shows up. All the cats who died in battle rise up from their bodies as ethereal spirits. Shaded Moss, Moon Shadow, Emberkit, Bright Stream, Storm, and others arrive to speak to the leaders. The living cats reconnect with their loved ones. Then Storm speaks to Clear Sky.

“Is this what you planned?” She flicked her tail toward the bodies, keeping her eyes fixed on Clear Sky.

Clear Sky glanced past her. The bodies lay unmoving. Their blood glistened in the moonlight. His mouth dried as he searched for words. Did she think he’d meant for this to happen? “I—I was trying to do the right thing,” he mumbled.

“And you didn’t guess that this is how it would end?” Storm demanded.

“I followed my instincts.” The ground seemed to sway beneath his paws.

Storm narrowed her eyes. “Your instincts?” The scorn in her growl pierced his heart like claws. “I had to protect my cats.”

“Your cats?”

“I’m their leader. I’m responsible for them.”

Storm tipped her head to one side. “And have you protected them?”

Clear Sky tried not to look again at the bodies of his camp mates, but their lifeless pelts seemed to draw his gaze like prey scent. He shuddered, guilt twisting in his belly. “I have not.”

“You’ve been greedy, Clear Sky,” Storm murmured. “You wanted power over every cat.”

“That’s not true!” Clear Sky protested. “I had to make difficult decisions. That took courage.” Storm said nothing. She just stared at him. “You must understand,” Clear Sky wailed.

Slowly, Storm turned and gazed at Rainswept Flower’s battered body. Blood pooled around her muzzle. “Was killing her courageous?”

Clear Sky stared desperately at Thunder and Gray Wing. They gazed back in silence, while Rainswept Flower’s spirit watched him with accusing eyes. Would no cat defend him? “I didn’t want to see any cat starve. I was scared my heart would break if I ever had to see another cat die like Fluttering Bird.”

“Fear is what drove you.” There was relief in Storm’s mew. She turned back to him, her gaze softening suddenly. “Fear is a powerful instinct that only the strongest cat can resist. But now you see there’s no need to be afraid. We have shown that death is nothing for you to fear. It’s not the end.”

Pg 160, The First Battle

I despise this, but I’ll get to this later. The spirit cats tell them to unite or die. Clear Sky vows that they will unite. Then they vanish. The book ends with the cats burying their dead.

Mid-Arc Discussion

Whoo! Finally done with the first half. There’s a lot I love and there’s a lot I hate.

The Good Stuff:

I like the traveling group in The Sun Trail. Unlike the traveling group in TNP, the tribe cats actually care about each other and have little moments to show off their skills and personality. There’s a moment where Quick Water falls into a river and is saved by Falling Feather. Everyone is surprised to learn that she can swim. There was a scene earlier where she and Dappled Pelt share a fish and she asks Dappled Pelt to teach her how to fish. It’s small, but cute and adds a lot of charm to Falling Feather. Most of the characters have little moments like this.

I like Gray Wing. He is warm, smart, devoted, and caring. He listens to the concerns of the cats around him. He’s always trying to find compromises that please every cat. He left behind his mother to chase after Jagged Peak. He deeply respects Tall Shadow and defends her when her authority is questioned. He loves Thunder and Turtle Tail’s kits as if they are his own. And even though it took him awhile to finally realize it, his love for Turtle Tail is genuine. He is a perfect foil to Clear Sky in nearly every way. Even though every cat respects him, he doesn’t view himself to be a leader. It makes him uncomfortable. He doubts his abilities. He does take up the mantle while Tall Shadow is caring for her brother and he tries his best, but the smoke in his lungs puts him out of commission, much to his grief. The cats wanted him to lead and now he can’t. He looks down on himself for that even though it’s not his fault. When Tall Shadow returns, he graciously allows her to take her job back and basically becomes her deputy. He steadfastly believes that Clear Sky is still good deep down even though every cat can see that his brother is far gone. This puts him at odds with the other cats, including Thunder when he returns.

A lot of the characters are great honestly. I adore Tall Shadow and Wind Runner. I love how they contrast and compliment each other. They’re both competent, intelligent and demand a lot of authority and respect from the other cats. However, while Tall Shadow is quiet and careful, Wind Runner is loud and brash. Tall Shadow would rather think things through before taking action while Wind Runner acts first and asks questions later. They’re also quite emotional, and tend to break down when tragedy strikes. Tall Shadow defers to other cats like Gray Wing to help with leading. Wind Runner has her husband Gorse Fur to rein her in. I love Gorse Fur so much. He’s the gentle rock in their relationship. He keeps Wind Runner grounded and stable with his kindness and patience. They’re a great match. And then there’s Turtle Tail and Gray Wing. Warriors is usually horrible at romance, but here they nail it. Turtle Tail had a crush on Gray Wing, but he was too dumb to pick up on it. When he started pursuing another cat, she felt forgotten so she left with Bumble. There she got with Tom, a cat who seemed nice and gave her the attention she wanted. But then he revealed his real colors and she left for her and her kittens’ safety. She and Gray Wing reconnect and he falls in love with her and her family. Their relationship is very touching. Turtle Tail’s story is sad at first, but after some turmoil she finds happiness with the guy she always had feelings for. It’s super cute. Gray Wing is a great husband and foster dad. She’s a great mother and is always looking out of Gray Wing, especially after he scorched his lungs. I also like how fiery, active, and kind Turtle Tail is. She’s not pushed around easily. She doesn’t sit by and wait for others to do things for her. She’s a great character! And then she dies for no reason and is forgotten about.

I like Rainswept Flower’s and Jagged Peak’s friendship. RSF is very empathetic. She can read other cats’ emotions with ease and knows exactly what to say/do to cheer up a cat. She’s the perfect supportive friend for Jagged Peak when he’s at his lowest. She is always helping him, giving him tasks to do, giving him a voice when others don’t listen to him, values his opinion, and when Gray Wing unknowingly treats Jagged Peak like he’s lesser, she firmly but kindly reprimands him. She’s an incredible character… and then she dies and is forgotten about, but we will get there.

I absolutely love Thunder! He reminds me a bit of Firestar, but with more depth. Like Firestar, he is brave, caring, and passionate about his beliefs. Without much thought, he did everything he could to save Jagged Peak from the dog. During the fire, he stepped up and took charge despite his fear. Very Firestar-esque. However, he has emotional conflicts with the toms in his life. He and Gray Wing get along beautifully, but he has troubles living on the moor. He’s a natural forest cat. He is an excellent stalker, but Gray Wing scolds him for stalking and not chasing down prey. They live on the moor and there’s not a lot of cover for them to hide so they can’t stalk. But Thunder is not as fast as Gray Wing and thus he has a hard time. He loves Gray Wing. He trusts him and looks to him for guidance, but he does argue with him from time to time. He even rebels against Gray Wing to find himself. Typical teenager. In the beginning of Thunder Rising, he thinks about his bio-dad often and questions why Clear Sky rejected him. After the fire, he desperately seeks Clear Sky’s attention and revels in his praise. Even though he knows Clear Sky rejected him and hasn’t bothered to come see him in months until he was forced to, he still sought his approval. I like how realistic this is. This is something that actually happens. Relationships with parents can be (and often are) complex. Clear Sky is an absentee father who abandoned Thunder when he was a newborn. However, since Thunder was so young at the time, he doesn’t remember this event clearly nor does he really understand how bad this behavior was. It hurts him to know that his father didn’t want him, but he seeks his approval anyway because well… that’s his dad! There must’ve been a reason why he did this. Clear Sky boldface lies to him but Thunder doesn’t catch it. He’s finally meeting him and he’s praising him! Why would he think bad about him here? It breaks his heart to leave his foster family behind but he is eager to get to know his dad. But as he stays with Clear Sky, he realizes that his father is a monster. This experience changes him completely. Thunder went from a wide-eyed teen to a jaded adult. Like all of us, there’s a moment in your life when you realize that your parents are human like you. The mystique your younger self put onto them fizzles as you age. They’re flawed and that reality can really hurt depending on who you are. For Thunder, learning that his dad is a piece of shit pisses him off. He wasted his time! Clear Sky is not the father he wanted. Gray Wing is and so he goes back. I can relate to feeling betrayed and angry upon discovering your dad is a piece of shit. Very real and very raw. Great job, Warriors! Oh and his bromance with Lightning Tail is precious. Very cute.

Speaking of Clear Sky, he is a great villain in these first three books. He believes that what he is doing is for the greater good. He wants to protect his cats from danger, but he is the only danger in the woods. He is manipulative, power hungry, and cruel. He kicked out his little brother after he broke his leg, his behavior drove Storm away which led to her death, he abandoned Thunder and then lied to him, he hits his own cats who dare to question him, he attacks cats for simply looking at his borderline, he kills cats for wandering onto “his” land, etc. etc. All for the greater good he says. Clear Sky is deluded. He doesn’t see what he is doing is hypocritical and awful. He didn’t give a shit about Thunder until he realized how useful he is. He says he doesn’t want to see cats starve, but he starved Jackdaw’s Cry to torture him. The tom has so much land and so few cats that the prey they kill rots in their camp, but yet he still claims he needs all of the land.

Prey-scent filled [Thunder’s] nose. A pile lay at one side of the clearing. Another was heaped beside the roots of the oak. A few half-eaten carcasses were scattered along the bottom of the steep slope below the hawthorn, flies buzzing over them.

pg 57, The First Battle

When others call him out for being greedy, he lashes out. This hypocrisy and delusion is so well written. It makes him an effective villain. The drama between him and Gray Wing is intense and sad. These once-close brothers are battling. Warm, kindhearted Gray Wing wants to so desperately believe that the brother he knew is still inside Clear Sky. When Clear Sky corners him, Gray Wing finally sees that his brother is gone and so he says “kill me and live with the memory.” That was enough to snap Clear Sky out of his red haze. GOOD SHIT! I love messy interpersonal stuff like this. Giving your protag and antag some sort of close relationship (be it familial, old friends, mentor/apprentice, etc.) can lead to great emotional moments like this. Clicky clikcy, my fave Hello Future Me has a fantastic video discussing this.

As much as I like Clear Sky as a villain, I’m not a big fan of his initial shift. He went from a perfectly reasonable cat to a tyrant as soon as he and Storm became mates. It’s odd. At first, Gray Wing and the other moor cats were allowed to visit the forest cats and then, after some time, he bans all cats from his land. He allows his cats to attack them, including his brothers. I don’t get why this change happened. I mentioned this before with Tigerheart/star in part four that I really hate it when the Erins flick a switch instead of showing a gradual shift in personality. I don’t like it when I cannot pinpoint why they changed. With Onestar, we saw why he changed but for Clear Sky… I’m guessing the Erins want us to believe that Fluttering Bird’s and Bright Stream’s deaths were the causes, but that doesn’t track to me. Bright Stream’s death being the reason why he didn’t like being on the moor made sense, but Fluttering Bird? I guess the grief of her death hit him months after the fact. Oh and then, after everything, Storm’s ghost gives him an excuse for his behavior and he later becomes one of the worst characters this series has ever produced. But we’ll get there. Oh boy, will we get there.

Tom is one of the realist villains we’ve ever gotten from this series. I know people like Tom and they’re scary. Abusive sacks of shit who hide behind a jolly facade. I like this moment where Clear Sky confronts Tom while he is taking the kittens back to the town. Even Clear Sky detects that there’s something dangerous about him.

The kittypet shifted his paws. “My name is Tom. Are we on your territory?” His mew was smooth. “I didn’t realize. Please accept my apologies. We’ll leave at once if you’d kindly show us the way.” He blinked at Clear Sky innocently.

Clear Sky snorted. “Would you like me to fetch you food too?” Kittypets were all the same. They’d beg anyone for anything rather than fend for themselves.

“Of course not.” Tom dipped his head courteously. “I have not come this way for any reason but that it is the way home. I certainly wouldn’t want to challenge any cat”—he paused to let a purr rumble in his throat—“any cat as impressive as you.”

Clear Sky’s whiskers quivered. He was enjoying watching this kittypet ingratiate himself. And it secretly pleased him to be called impressive. But Snake and this trespasser mustn’t know. He curled his lip. “Hurry home, kittypet. This is my forest.” He nodded toward the trees. “I don’t like cats in it, and I don’t like cats near it. Ask anyone. My name’s Clear Sky.”

Tom’s gaze strayed toward the trees. “Of course,” he purred. “I realize I am trespassing near your land. Please forgive me but I am only escorting my kits back to my housefolk.”

Snake leaned close. ... “Those aren’t his kits,” Snake hissed. “Look at them. They’re muscle and bone, like wild kits.”

“I know that!” Clear Sky nudged Snake sharply backward, his eyes fixed on the kittypet. “They don’t look like your kits. They’re not fat.”

Tom’s face hardened and malice glinted in his gaze. Clear Sky stiffened with surprise. He stepped closer, hackles rising. “Whose kits are they?”

“Mine.” Tom met his gaze squarely. “They were taken from me. I’m returning them to their proper home with my housefolk.”

Pgs 84-85, The First Battle

Tom’s a great villain for Warriors. What a massive sack of crap. Good job, Erins.

The First Battle is my favorite book in the entire series (minus some hiccups). I love the gradual build up to the conflict at Fourtrees, I love being in Clear Sky’s head as he deludes himself more and more, and I adore the battle scene! It’s tragic and very intense. The entire book has a dower tone to it which I appreciate. It reminds me of The Darkest Hour, another Warriors book I love. Just good all around. Now on to,

The Bad Stuff:

Since this is indeed a Warriors arc, there are some pretty egregious problems. First off, the mistreatment and fridging of female characters. Warriors has an atrocious sexism problem that I will get to later and this arc has it in droves. We start off with the fridging of Fluttering Bird for the plot. She wasn’t even allowed to speak before she died. I’m not a fan of this trope, but I’m willing to let it slide since it is the inciting incident. But then Bright Stream dies shortly after for no good reason whatsoever. She was pregnant too, just to add more fuel to the tragedy fire. She was hardly a person before she was sacrificed for man pain. And then Storm shows up. Not only is Storm a blank slate of a character, but she also exists to die for man pain! She shows up, flirts with Gray Wing, gets with Clear Sky because of destiny or some shit and then dies shortly after having her kittens. These all happen in one book btw. And then there’s Turtle Tail… oh Turtle Tail. She dies for no reason! Her death doesn’t even amount to anything! Fluttering Bird’s was the inciting incident. Storm’s led to Thunder being raised by Gray Wing. Turtle Tail’s… led to Gray Wing getting with another molly and having kittens with her. That’s it! Hate.

Poor Bumble is mistreated by everyone around her and I don’t understand why the Erins wrote her this way. She seeks refuge with the moor cats covered in wounds inflicted by abusive boyfriend Tom, but they turn her away because she “wouldn’t survive in the wild.” They dismiss her pain and tell her to go back home where Tom is and suck up to her humans so that they can protect her. She explicitly tells them that Tom has been inflicting wounds on her where the humans would not see! He’s abusing her! She has no where else to go! But the moor cats push her away because kittypets are weak. They could’ve taught her how to adapt. Gray Wing, Tall Shadow, and the others honestly think there is nothing they can do which is just not true! I will never understand why the Erins even wrote this scene. And then Bumble fucking dies at the hands of Clear Sky and it’s treated like this unpreventable thing. What the hell, Erins?! Poor Bumble deserved better.

And finally, Ghost Storm’s message to Clear Sky. I hate that she gives Clear Sky an excuse for his actions. She sees him cowering and making excuses and she goes “so it was fear” with relief in her voice. No! Don’t confirm his excuses! He’ll never learn that way! He was greedy! He had so much land that his cats couldn’t even use it. He was going to take over the entire forest for reasons that do not make sense. He was over-hunting. He was killing cats! He killed a mother! He deluded himself into thinking danger lurked around every corner, but he was the only danger in the woods. Perhaps fear was the start, but it wasn’t the sole reason. All this does is give Clear Sky an out. Taking accountability for his actions? Nah, Clear Sky doesn’t have to do that. He was always a good guy who just made a few mistakes. This scene is the catalyst for Clear Sky’s downfall as a character. Get ready for that rant because WHOO BOY!

Like in A Vision of Shadows (which came after this arc), Dawn of the Clans falls straight into the depths of Hell by book four and never returns.

Books 4-5

The Blazing Star starts right where the last book leaves off. The surviving cats bury the dead and then Tall Shadow says,

“Listen to me, all of you!” … “This must never happen again. We should listen to the cats in the stars, to the warning they gave us. From now on we have to work together peacefully, and at the next full moon we must return to this clearing to hear more messages from the spirit-cats.”

“Yes!” Clear Sky’s voice was a shaken purr. “At last there are cats who will tell us what we have to do.”

… “So that’s why you’ve been so protective and so hostile!” Gray Wing turned to his brother, his gaze full of compassion. “All this time your responsibilities have been too much for you. You tried to do the right thing, but you asked too much of yourself.”

Clear Sky turned his head away in shame. “I’m so sorry. . . ”

Pg 15-16, The Blazing Star

Gray Wing no! Don’t confirm his excuses! Oh my god 😒. The cats break off into their groups. Acorn Fur leaves with Clear Sky because her parents, JDC and Hawk Swoop, are dead. Without them, the moor does not feel like home… so she goes to live with the tomcat whose greed and bloodlust led to her parents’ deaths. Yeah alright Acorn Fur. You do you. As Thunder and his group go back, they run across three newcomers, a molly named Holly and two toms named Mud Paws and Mouse Ear. Fast forwarding, the leaders- Gray Wing, Thunder, Clear Sky, Tall Shadow, River Ripple, and Wind Runner- meet up at Fourtrees and there the ghost cats tell them that there is a blight in the forest and that “the blazing star can blunt the claw.” They tell the living cats to spread and grow like the blazing star. The cats are confused and discuss what this could mean. As they’re discussing, a neon yellow and white molly intrudes on their conversation. She approaches Thunder, who is immediately smitten by her. She says that she has been dying to talk to him and then she leaves. Back with Clear Sky, while out patrolling, he runs into Tom. Tom informs him that he is a wild cat now and wishes to join Clear Sky’s group. He then introduces his new friend, One Eye, an obviously evil tomcat with a missing eye. One Eye attacks Tom randomly and demands Clear Sky to let them into his group. Clear Sky, the dumbass he is, lets them in even though he just saw One Eye attack his “friend.” Gray Wing, Thunder, and Mouse Ear visit and disapprove of Tom and One Eye for obvious reasons. Instead of actually listening to any of their warnings, Clear Sky gets mad, and then yells at them. He then apologizes for acting out, but he still doubles down on keeping these evil toms in his group. Clear Sky is an idiot.

On the moor, Pebble Heart finds a sickly mouse and informs the cats that there is incurable sickness infesting the prey. Cloud Spots suggests that the sickness is “the claw” the spirit cats mentioned. This causes another debate amongst the group. The newcomers mention that the blazing star could be a plant. They found some growing in what will become ShadowClan’s territory. Tall Shadow, Pebble Heart, Thunder, and Mouse Ear go to the marshlands. However, before they can cross the road, One Eye pounces on an infected bird nearby. Pebble Heart stops him from taking a bite. Clear Sky shows up and Tall Shadow tells him about the sickness and the blazing star herb. Clear Sky gets mad that the others didn’t come and tell him about their discovery before they went out on their expedition. He sends his cats back, but One Eye refuses to listen to him. After an intense staredown, One Eye leaves. Clear Sky tags along and they find a yellow flower with five petals. They pick a few of them and then go back to their homes. In Clear Sky’s camp, One Eye is training the other cats in some fighting moves. Then Turtle Tail’s daughter Sparrow Fur shows up, looking for Tom. She asks to join in their sparring. One Eye then jumps her. She fights back, refusing to leave until she sees her shitty dad who kidnapped her. One Eye keeps goading her to fight and she relents. Clear Sky sits back and watches One Eye tear Sparrow Fur apart. He’s about to kill her when Tom pounces on his back. Clear Sky and Acorn Fur patch up Sparrow Fur. Just as they’re about to bring her back to camp, Clear Sky looks over and sees One Eye standing over Tom’s dead body. Clear Sky confronts him as the others take Sparrow Fur away. He orders One Eye to leave his group, threatening to kill him if he ever steps foot on his land again. One Eye leaves… only to rush back and pounce on Clear Sky. He nearly gouges out Clear Sky’s eye. The silver tom is able to scramble away. One Eye threatens him one last time before slinking back off into the woods.

Back on the moor, Wind Runner’s kitten Morning Whisker falls ill to the sickness. Gray Wing is worried about Sparrow Fur. Jagged Peak allowed her to go to Clear Sky’s place to find Tom. Jagged Peak tells Gray Wing that he needs to stop being so protective of his adopted kittens. They’re not small anymore. He then tells Gray Wing that he is having kittens with Holly. Clear Sky shows up, injured and terrified. He tells Gray Wing what happened to Sparrow Fur and One Eye. Gray Wing turns on Jagged Peak and blames him for Sparrow Fur’s injuries. He says Jagged Peak is not ready to be a father. Jagged Peak pounces on him and they start fighting only for Clear Sky to break it up. Gray Wing and Owl Eyes leave to visit Sparrow Fur. Gray Wing questions why she left to see Tom and Owl Eyes says they were always curious about Tom and it is hard knowing only one parent. With their mother dead they feel like orphans, he says to his adopted father who raised them. Owl Eyes then backtracks and says that they love Gray Wing, but he’s not their real dad. Even though their real dad’s actions caused their mother’s death, Owl Eyes and Sparrow Fur still want to know him. Understandably heartbroken, Gray Wing tells him Tom is dead. Owl Eyes is upset so he goes back to the moor. Gray Wing visits Sparrow Fur, but leaves feeling unwanted and unneeded. He goes to Fourtrees to think, running into River Ripple who invites him to hang out with him and his cats by the river.

Thunder is worried about Gray Wing’s disappearance. He’s been gone for three days. Clear Sky shows up on the moor asking about Gray Wing and the sickness. He, Thunder, and Tall Shadow arrange a meeting to discuss the sickness again. Morning Whisker dies and Wind Runner is heartbroken. After burying Morning Whisker at Fourtrees, Wind Runner decides to leave the moor cats, citing that since she’s join them, she has been hit with nothing but death and grief. She and her family break off to form their own group. Then Gray Wing returns with River Ripple and he tells Thunder that he just needed some time to himself. He didn’t want to stifle Thunder’s growth as a leader or some shit. Now that all the leaders are here at Fourtrees, Gray Wing suggests the cats split into groups, but the others disagree. Gray Wing decides to stay with River Ripple. Then the mysterious bright yellow molly from before shows up and flirts with Thunder again. Her name is Star Flower. She says she was named after the blazing star and if you look into her eyes, they’re shaped like cartoon stars ⭐️. I guess the cats know geometry. Anyway, dumbass Thunder is all horny for this molly he knows nothing about. Then she leaves again.

As Clear Sky is returning home, he is accosted by One Eye who took over while he was at the meeting. One Eye has Sparrow Fur locked up in some brambles. He carved an eye shape into the paw pads of each cat, branding them as his now. More of his rogues show up and surround Clear Sky. Outnumbered, Clear Sky races over, rescues Sparrow Fur and the two of them sprint back to the moor for safety. Back with Gray Wing, he is enjoying his time in River Ripple’s camp. While going back home, he comes across Wind Runner and her new group. He meets up with a new character, Slate, who is boring as hell and I don’t like her.

Now with Thunder, he and his best bro LT are out hunting. Star Flower emerges from nowhere and starts talking to Thunder. LT doesn’t trust her. He leads Thunder away from her and tells him that he doesn’t like her. Thunder ignores this and goes to hang out with Star Flower. He tells her his entire life story and then she tells him that the blazing star is a healing herb. Then they split apart and Thunder goes back home. There he finds Gray Wing and is happy to see him. He also sees his dad who tells him about One Eye. Then Jagged Peak runs in and tells everyone that Holly has the sickness.

Thunder tells them that the blazing star is an herb that can heal Holly. Gray Wing puts Jagged Peak in charge of the expedition party which consist of Clear Sky and LT to fetch the blazing star. Along the way, Clear Sky and Jagged Peak make amends and they gather up some of the herb. Then they are accosted by One Eye and his gang. They fight them off, but are unable to bring back the flowers. Jagged Peak is upset that his quest was a failure, but Gray Wing reassures him. Gray Wing and the rest of them hatch a plan to defeat One Eye. Star Flower shows up and tries to offer her help, but she is hissed away by LT. Back to planning, Clear Sky volunteers to lure One Eye out.

While out scouting for a good spot to ambush One Eye, Gray Wing is attacked by a fox. Slate shows up and rescues him. Then he starts catching feelings for her. Fuck Turtle Tail I guess. The next day, Thunder and LT are out to talk to Wind Runner about the plan. LT tells him again that he doesn’t trust Star Flower, but Thunder doesn’t listen. Wind Runner refuses to help. They then go to River Ripple’s camp. LT stops talking to Thunder out of anger. Thunder gets annoyed and starts yelling at him. LT tells him that he is loyal to the group and not Thunder. Thunder asks if he’s jealous of him. LT jumps him and yells at him for falling for Star Flower’s trap. Blah blah blah, they stop and go to River Ripple’s camp and ask for his help. He agrees. Back on the moor, Star Flower is there chatting with Tall Shadow. LT walks off in disgust while Thunder pads over to her. She tells them that she’s found some blazing star. They leave only to realize that the herb she found is not the blazing star. Thunder then tells her about Gray Wing’s plan.

The time for the plan has arrived. Clear Sky is ready to lure out One Eye. The other cats hide away getting ready for the ambush. However, One Eye ambushes Clear Sky. The moor cats, the river cats, and Wind Runner’s cats (she decided to help after all) run down to save Clear Sky. One Eye was expecting them and brought a whole army of cats. His daughter, Star Flower, informed him of their plan. While the others are retreating, Gray Wing hatches a new plan to use the trees to get the upper hand on One Eye. The sun is bright so when One Eye looks up at the trees, he wouldn’t see the group. Blah blah blah, the cats jump down and attack One Eye. Thunder, Cloud Spots, Gray Wing, and LT tear One Eye apart. Star Flower is grief stricken and ask the cats to bury her father. Out of kindness, they do so and then Thunder tells her to fuck off. While they’re burying One Eye, some cats left to fetch the blazing star. Holly is healed, Birch and Alder are healed, but Petal, their adopted mother and Clear Sky’s loyal ally, dies. Snake, a cat who sided with One Eye, attacks Clear Sky. Clear Sky kicks him out and he leaves. And then Holly has her kittens. The leaders have dreams where the spirit cats tell them again to spread and grow like the five petals of the blazing star. We end the book where we started, with the cats arguing about what that means.

Book five, A Forest Divided, is the worst book in the arc. We start off with Clear Sky and the other leaders having the same damn dream where the spirit cats tell them to untie or die and spread like the blazing star. Clear Sky thinks the ghosts want them to unite as one big group. Clear Sky is stupid. While at the moor, he talks to Gray Wing, Thunder, and Tall Shadow about his dumb idea. They disagree and say they should split into new groups. Thunder doesn’t want the moor cats to split. A lot of rifts happen within the group so they cast a vote. Jagged Peak, Holly, their kittens, Pebble Heart, Mouse Ear, Mud Paws and Gray Wing agree to go with Tall Shadow and live in the marshy pine forest. Dappled Pelt and Shattered Ice agree to live with River Ripple by the water. Sparrow Fur, Owl Eyes, Acorn Fur, Cloud Spots, LT, and Thunder (reluctantly) agree to go live with Clear Sky in the woods. Thunder only agrees to go because he doesn’t trust his father’s leadership skills and wants to keep an eye on him. Very funny. Gray Wing is sad to see his adopted kittens split from him but Thunder tells him that he has to let them go. They’re not kittens anymore. All the other cats say their goodbyes and split off.

As Gray Wing and pine forest group make their way over, he detects some strange cat scents. He investigates and sees a ragged looking tom and molly arguing. The tom’s name is Slash and he’s forcing the molly, Fern, to spy on the pine forest cats and see what they’re up to. Slash was a member of One Eye’s group. Gray Wing hurries back his group and decides not to tell Tall Shadow about the evil cat who is spying on them. He sticks with this decision throughout the book. Jagged Peak is taking charge and argues that they should cross the road now instead of later. Gray Wing and Tall Shadow comment on how much he has changed. Holly, overhearing this, says:

“It’s amazing what a little love can do.” Was that reproach in her mew? Gray Wing felt a flash of guilt. Had he been too hard on his younger brother when all he needed was a little kindness?

Pg 40, A Forest Divided

I hate Holly. I’ll eviscerate her later. Anyway, Gray Wing has a coughing fit so Jagged Peak helps him cross the road. Back with Clear Sky and Thunder, the two of them are out exploring the territory when they come across Star Flower. She and Thunder argue about past events. She acts all pitiful and begs to join the group. Now that her beloved dad is dead, she has no one else. Clear Sky is hesitant, but dumbass Thunder who, for some ungodly reason, still has feelings for her so begs his dad to let her join. Clear Sky reluctantly agrees.

Back with the pine cats, it’s been two weeks and Gray Wing is having troubles breathing. After being healed by Pebble Heart, Gray Wing talks to Holly about building a den for her and her kittens. As he is helping her build, Jagged Peak barges in and demands that he will help build the den with her and pushes Gray Wing aside. Then Slate arrives and checks up on them. Gray Wing suggests hunting since the prey pile is low. He starts organizing patrols. He suggests Slate can help but Tall Shadow takes offense to this and tells Slate to hunt for her own group. She tells Gray Wing that it is not his place to organize patrols. Jagged Peak tells him that he gave up leadership and so he can no longer make demands. Gray Wing is hurt by this, saying that he only wanted to help. Tall Shadow then apologizes and says Gray Wing is too weak to help because of his breathing. Gray Wing is pissed, but then he scents Fern just outside the camp. He races out and chases after her.

Gray Wing confronts Fern at Fourtrees. She tells him that Slash sucks and that she’s only working for him out of fear. He then tells her to convince Slash to leave them alone. She tells them that Slash won’t leave them alone but she does tell them that she can try to delay his attack. He agrees and tells her to stay at Fourtrees for her safety. After Fern leaves, he catches a rabbit. A kitten races out and confronts him. Then his mother and sister show up. The mother’s name is Milkweed and she’s terrified and hungry. Gray Wing lets them have the rabbit and tells them to go seek shelter with Clear Sky. He’ll give them a home. After some hesitation, Milkweed agrees and leaves. He goes to sleep and has a dream about Stoneteller. It’s not important. He is awoken by the sound of screeching. He races toward it to find Slate being cornered by a fox. He fights off the fox and gets injured. She takes him back to Wind Runner’s camp. Wind Runner asks if he misses the moor and he says he does. He stays with her group, feeling like he is not needed anymore in Tall Shadow’s group.

Back with Clear Sky, he is patrolling the borders when he comes across Star Flower. They chat about shit I don’t care about and she says they’re very alike (No you’re not but whatever). Clear Sky says he didn’t betray anyone like she did. She then says Gray Wing, Thunder, and the cats he killed would disagree. He gets all guilty. Star Flower says she understands Clear Sky. She knows he doesn’t trust her so she vows to prove her loyalty to him. Now following Thunder, he begs his dad to let him join a patrol he’s going on. Clear Sky says he wants to be alone. Thunder doesn’t buy this so, putting LT in charge of the group, he follows his dad and finds him flirting with Star Flower. He gets jealous and runs back to the camp. He tells LT that Star Flower is rubbing against Clear Sky to gain power. Thunder declares that he no longer wants anything to do with Star Flower. She only cares about herself.

Now that he’s back in camp, Clear Sky and Thunder get into an argument. Clear Sky, being the horrible leader he is, is not allowing his cats to hunt. It’s winter but he’s only been sending out two hunting patrols each day. There isn’t enough prey in the camp and cats are getting antsy. Clear Sky says he doesn’t want to hunt out all of the prey before they had time to recover from the sickness. Thunder argues with him about how dumb this is. Cats are going hungry, but Clear Sky stands his ground. Remember when he said he didn’t want to see cats starve? I guess he forgot. He yells at Thunder for not knowing how things work in the forest. Thunder yells at him for speaking to Star Flower. He tries to warn his dad about Star Flower’s tricks and asks if he’ll stop seeing her. Clear Sky doesn’t respond and leaves. Then Star Flower tries to talk to Thunder, but he hisses at her to stay away from his dad. While out hunting with Leaf, Leaf complains to Thunder about how he doesn’t like Clear Sky taking in weak cats like Milkweed and Pink Eyes, an old albino tomcat. Thunder finds his comments uncomfortable. After catching some prey, they head back. Thunder asks LT where Clear Sky is. Clear Sky left with Star Flower. This is the last straw for Thunder. He waits for Clear Sky to return so that he can tell him that he’s leaving.

Back with Clear Sky, he’s flirting with Star Flower at Snakerocks. She asks if he trusts her. Clear Sky says his son doesn’t want him to. She feels bad for hurting Thunder, but declares he will get over it. Clear Sky wonders if he should heed Thunder’s warning. They go back to find Leaf yelling at Milkweed’s kittens for eating his mouse. Clear Sky breaks up the quarrel and questions why Leaf was out hunting when he didn’t put him on patrol. Leaf tells him that Thunder said he could. Clear Sky gets mad and rounds on his son. Thunder says nothing at first. Then Clear Sky announces that he is the leader and what he says goes. If cats don’t want to be here, they should leave. Then Thunder speaks up and says that he is leaving and forming his own group away from Clear Sky. Owl Eyes, Cloud Spots, Leaf, LT, and Pink Eyes all go with Thunder. Later on, Milkweed and her kittens join him. Bothered, Clear Sky brings his son over to a secluded spot so that they can speak in private.

“What are you doing, Thunder?” He desperately searched the young tom’s gaze.

… “I thought, when I came here, that I could help you lead. But you’re not interested in my opinion. You always ignore my advice. It’s pointless, me being here.”

Clear Sky’s ear twitched. Thunder was whining like a spoiled kit. Help me lead? What makes him think he’s so important? “Did you think you’d get special treatment because you’re my son?”

“No! I was no cat’s son on the moor, but the cats there respected me.”

“So you’re abandoning us because you’re not getting the respect you deserve?” Clear Sky couldn’t keep scorn from his mew.

Thunder thrust his muzzle close. “I’m leaving because I don’t want to watch you make any more dumb decisions.”

“I’ve explained why I won’t let my cats hunt more prey.”

“That’s not the dumb decision I meant.” Thunder’s eyes flashed with rage.

Clear Sky drew in a sharp breath. “You mean Star Flower.”

“You should banish her from the forest,” Thunder snarled. “She’s nothing but trouble.”

“Stop acting like a kit who’s upset he can’t get first pick from the prey pile!”

“I’m not!”

Clear Sky snorted. “I’m your father. You can’t tell me who I can take as a mate any more than you can tell me how to lead my group.”

“That’s the problem, Clear Sky.” Thunder lashed his tail. “I can’t tell you anything. You think you know it all. But you don’t! You can’t tell good from bad. You never could. But you’re so determined to be ‘right,’ you’ll twist everything to prove it. If you mistook a fox for a rabbit, you’d keep calling it a rabbit while it tore out your throat, just because you’d rather die than admit that you were wrong.”

“That’s not true!” Clear Sky snapped. “If Star Flower had chosen you instead of me, you wouldn’t be leaving. You’re blinded by jealousy.”

Thunder lowered his voice to a hiss. “But Star Flower would never choose me. I’m not enough like One Eye.” He turned, his tail whipping past Clear Sky’s muzzle, and leaped back to the clearing. Clear Sky’s chest tightened. He thinks I’m like One Eye? Stiff with shock, he watched Leaf, Pink Eyes, Cloud Spots, Owl Eyes, and Lightning Tail gather eagerly around his son. With a flick of his tail, Thunder led them out of camp.

Grief dragged at his bones, as heavy as water. I just wanted my kin near me. Jagged Peak and Gray Wing were in the pine forest. Thunder was leaving. His eyes misted. I’m sorry, Fluttering Bird. I’ve failed you, and now I’m alone again. Somehow, I always end up alone.

A familiar scent touched his nose. “Star Flower?” Paws scuffed the earth beside him, and he turned to see her green eyes shining through the darkness.

Her soft gaze met his. “It’s been a tough day.” She reached forward and brushed her cheek with her muzzle. “But don’t be sad. A few troublemakers have left, that’s all. This is your chance to build the loyal, strong group you always wanted. Let Thunder go if he wants. His only ambition is to fill his belly. He will never be the leader that you are.”

Clear Sky let her words lull him. She wove around him, her thick pelt warming his. Icy weather was coming. He could smell it on the wind. Let Thunder find a new camp as leaf-bare tightened its grip. He still had a loyal band of cats. He rubbed his muzzle into the soft fur of Star Flower’s neck.

At last, he had a mate worthy of him.

Pgs 94-95, A Forest Divided

All of my hate. Thunder and his group settle in what will become ThunderClan’s camp. While out scouting, he runs across two new cats who smell of the mountains, Sun Shadow, Moon Shadow’s son, and Quiet Rain, the mother of the three brothers. After a lot of chatting, Thunder leads them to Tall Shadow’s group. Tall Shadow is elated to meet her nephew. Quiet Rain, who is old and wounded, gets treated by Pebble Heart. Jagged Peak greets his mother only for her to yell at him for not raising his kittens right and for having a lame leg. Great mom you got there, Jagged Peak. She then chats with Thunder and he tells her that he’s Clear Sky’s son. Blah blah blah, she learns the fates of her old friends, good and bad. She’s devastated at all of the lives lost.

Thunder goes to fetch Gray Wing from Wind Runner’s group. Along the way, Gray Wing gets his leg trapped by a rabbit snare. Fern shows up to help him. Fern and Thunder lead Gray Wing to Tall Shadow’s camp. There, Fern gets interrogated by everyone. They let her stay blah blah blah. Gray Wing asks Thunder to fetch Clear Sky. He hesitates because he doesn’t want to talk to his dad. Gray Wing tells him to stop acting like a baby and go fetch Clear Sky. He does and we learn that Star Flower is expecting Clear Sky’s kittens. It’s only been a few days, but these cats are horny af. Clear Sky and Thunder go back to the pine forest. Unbeknownst to them, Star Flower follows them.

There, the three brothers explain DotC to their mother. Quiet Rain is shocked and sickened to learn that Jagged Peak and Gray Wing fought Clear Sky. They explain how all of their friends died, but once they get to RSF, Gray Wing and Jagged Peak turn to Clear Sky. Clear Sky admits that he killed her. Quiet Rain is floored. She orders her other sons to get out so that she can talk to Clear Sky alone. We then get this scene:

“I did not think I could raise a kit to kill his Tribemate,” she hissed.

“You don’t understand what it was like!” Clear Sky felt the words rise from his throat like the pitiful wail of a kit. “We were in a strange land where the rules of living were very different from what they’d been in the mountains. We had no Stoneteller to advise us. I thought I was doing the right thing!”

“To turn on your kin and your Tribemates?” Quiet Rain snarled. “To slay them?”

Clear Sky leaned close to his mother. “I made a mistake,” he groaned desperately. “You have to forgive me. You’re my mother.”

Pain sliced his nose as Quiet Rain lashed his muzzle with her paw. He ducked away, staring in disbelief at her. This was the cat who had suckled him at her belly; she had watched him bring back his first prey to the cave with eyes shining with pride. Now she stared at him with cold eyes.

“I’m sorry.” The words choked in his throat.

“You are no kit of mine.” Quiet Rain curled her lip. “Get out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”

Clear Sky blinked at her, hoping for a heartbeat that she would hear her own words and realize how cruel she was being. “Forgive me,” he breathed.

“Never.” Her eyes were round with rage.

Clear Sky turned and fled from the den, shocked as snowflakes whipped his muzzle. He squinted through the whiteness, his gaze blurring with grief.

Pg 134, A Forest Divided

For the first time since he’s been in the woods, Clear Sky is facing some consequences for his actions. He was a tyrant but for some reason the other cats don’t punish him for it. They just leave him be and let him continue to do his bullshit. But here, his mother is laying into him, finally making him see at full force just how horrible his actions were. It’s a powerful moment that should’ve been a wake up call for Clear Sky. We should’ve had him actually confront what he did and change. I say “should’ve” because that is not what we get. Instead we get this scene right after Quiet Rain rejects him.

“There’s a hollow in the brambles over here,” Star Flower soothed. “We can rest there until the morning.”

“I want to go home,” he mumbled.

“We must stay.” Clear Sky felt her warm flank against his and let her guide him across the snow. As they neared the brambles, she nudged him softly. “Wait here.” He stared blankly as she hollowed snow from beside the prickly camp wall, digging a den in the shelter of its stems. When she’d finished, she hopped from the shallow dip and nosed him forward. “We’ll be warm in here.”

His paws scuffed over the snow and slid into the earthen hollow. Star Flower slipped in beside him. “Lie down.”

He dropped to his belly, his paws buckling, and she curled around him, wrapping her tail over him as though he were a kit. Her gentle purr throbbed against his trembling flank; her warmth slowly seeped through his pelt. Like snow melting, his thoughts cleared. “Am I a monster?” he whispered hoarsely.

“No.” Star Flower’s whisper was firm. “You’re a hero and a leader. You make the tough decisions that other cats fear. There is no shame in that.”

His heart ached, and he pressed hard against Star Flower. He felt her tongue lapping his cheek. Closing his eyes, he let the warmth of her lull him into sleep.

I hope that she is right. . .

Pg 135, A Forest Divided

All of my hate! Oh and that’s not all! After this, Holly’s kittens go missing. Clear Sky risks his life to save them. While he is out doing that, Quiet Rain starts dying. Clear Sky returns and he and his brothers sit around her as she says her last words.

[Truncated]

“Quiet Rain.” Gray Wing leaned closer as Clear Sky crouched beside him. “Clear Sky’s here now. You asked for him, remember?”

Clear Sky stiffened as Quiet Rain groaned. She opened her eyes slowly. “You came to me.”

“Yes.” Clear Sky tried to keep the grief from his mew.

“I knew you would, my dear friend.”

Friend? I’m your son. “It’s me, Clear Sky.” He moved his muzzle closer so she could smell his scent.

“It’s good to see you, Shaded Moss.”

She thinks I’m Shaded Moss! The brambles rattled behind him as Jagged Peak hurried in. He slid next to Gray Wing. “How is she?”

“She thinks she can see Shaded Moss,” Clear Sky breathed.

The fur rippled along Jagged Peak’s spine. “Does she even know we’re here?”

Gray Wing’s shoulders drooped. “I don’t think so.”

“Shaded Moss.” Quiet Rain’s gaze fixed on Clear Sky. Grief shuddered through him. She doesn’t know me. He swallowed, fighting the urge to run away. “This is the final part of the journey, dear old friend.” Quiet Rain struggled for breath between words. Her ears twitched weakly, as though she was trying to hear something. “What was that you said?” A frown furrowed her brow. “Forgive him? But he killed a Tribemate! He drove his brothers away.”

Clear Sky stiffened, heat washing his pelt. Gray Wing glanced at him. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

But it’s true. Sadness gripped his heart like claws, digging so deep he wanted to groan with the pain. … her eyes slowly opened. He flinched away, his heart lurching. There was sudden clarity in their blue depths. She was staring straight at him.

“It’s me—Clear Sky,” he told her. He didn’t want her to call him Shaded Moss again.

“I know,” she murmured. Her gaze flicked to Gray Wing, then Jagged Peak. “All my sons are here.” There was satisfaction in her mew. “Don’t be sad when I’m gone. It will be a relief. I have had a long life, and a good one. I’ve known hunger and cold, but I’ve known love too.” She blinked softly at all three of them, her gaze coming to rest on Clear Sky. “And I forgive you, my firstborn. Shaded Moss has spoken to me. He explained...” …Quiet Rain rasped as she struggled for breath. “Shaded Moss told me.”

“Told you what?” Clear Sky thrust his muzzle closer.

“Let her rest.” Jagged Peak reached out his paw and placed it gently on her flank. “She must save her strength.”

“Save her strength for what? She’s dying!” Clear Sky trembled. “What did Shaded Moss say?”

“It was all foretold,” Quiet Rain rasped. “You could not help what you did. It had to be that way. I forgive you, Clear Sky, and now”—she drew in a shuddering breath—“you must forgive yourself.”

Clear Sky felt grief rush over him like a wave as Quiet Rain’s eyes clouded and grew dull. Her head dropped limply onto the heather and her flanks fell still. Clear Sky pushed himself to his paws and, leaning over Quiet Rain, closed her lifeless eyes with gentle laps of his tongue.

Forgive yourself. Her words rang in his mind. For what? His thoughts whirled. So much had happened! What was the crime he was supposed to forgive himself for?

Pgs 151-153, A Forest Divided

ALL OF MY HATE!! You cannot be serious! Let’s pause the recap and discuss Clear Sky.

I Hate Clear Sky

He is easily the worst character this series has ever produced. In the first three books, he is a monster. He commits so many crimes and only stops when he realizes that he is about to kill his brother. There he as a moment of clarity. You would think this would make him change his ways, but then Ghost Storm comes down and tells him that fear is what drove him to commit all these crimes. This makes no sense whatsoever. Fear did not make him starve JDC. Fear did not make him reject Thunder when he was a newborn. In book four, Clear Sky is relieved to have the spirit cats guide them. Gray Wing says “so that’s why you acted the way you did! You just needed guidance.” This also makes no sense whatsoever. Him being overworked and lacking guidance does not explain why he murdered cats, rejected Thunder, manipulated Thunder into joining him, abused his own cats, over-hunted his land, or starved JDC. Fear and lack of guidance are just excuses Clear Sky puts up and Storm and Gray Wing accept without critique. He never takes accountability for what he did. Instead the Erins keep giving him excuse after excuse after excuse and tells us that he’s changed. We never see him change!

What’s baffling about all of this is that after they give him all of the excuses in the world, he still makes horrible decisions that put everyone at risk! He stubbornly refuses to listen to his brother or son about Tom and One Eye which led to One Eye taking over his camp and damn near murdering Sparrow Fur. In book five, he doesn’t listen to the concerns of his own cats. He doesn’t allow his cats to hunt even though it’s fucking winter and they’re hungry. He doesn’t listen to his son again and starts flirting with the molly who betrayed them in the last book. If Star Flower was written by writers who gave a shit, she could have easily betrayed them again and overtook Clear Sky’s camp just like her dad because he’s that stupid and easy to sway. He never fucking learns!

In the scene where Thunder rightfully calls him out for being stupid, Clear Sky laments about how “he just wanted his kin near him.” Motherfucker, you sure didn’t try hard enough to keep him! He didn’t even try to compromise with Thunder on the hunting issue. Due to his stubbornness and stupid pride, he refused to listen to Thunder and yelled at him for daring to make suggestions. Ffs, Thunder even tried to go on patrols with him (you know spend time with him like father and son) but Clear Sky pushed him away so that he could flirt with the girl his son likes! And then he has the balls to feel bad for himself and go “I’m so lonely” after his son leaves. And then fucking Star Flower goes “let the troublemakers go. This is your chance to build loyalty.” Star Flower is literally blocking him from learning from his mistakes! He loses his son because of his actions again and instead of allowing him to realize that and change his ways, the Erins just give him a mate who constantly feeds into his delusions and makes excuses for him! WHY?!

And then we have the Quiet Rain scene. His mother, disgusted by his deeds, disowns him. As I mentioned, this should’ve been a wake up call for him. This should’ve been the moment where he stopped making excuses for what he did and take accountability. He kicked out his little brother after he broke his leg doing a stunt Clear Sky wanted him to do. He prioritized his group over his family which made Storm leave which in turn led to her and two of his kittens’ deaths. He rejected, ignored, and then manipulated his son when he realized how good of an asset he could be to him. His behavior drove a wedge between him and his son twice. He killed a mother and contemplated killing her kittens. He killed an innocent kittypet and then pretended like he didn’t. He abused his cats and made them fear him. He starved Jackdaw’s Cry for no reason. He caused a battle which led to the deaths of many cats. He killed a friend he knew his entire life. He didn’t listen to his brother and son’s warnings and allowed an obviously evil and untrustworthy cat to live with him which caused so much chaos in the forest. He was a monster who caused nothing but mayhem and death. And for the first time in his life, he is facing real consequences for what he did. His mother rejected him. She clawed him out of disgust, sadness, and anger. Everyone else around him forgave him and made up excuses for him, but not his own mother. This should have been the start of his redemption arc. It’s a book late, but better late than never. We should have seen him actually try and go out of his way to change… but as you have read, that is not what happens. Instead, fucking Star Flower shows up and calls him a damn hero! He is “a great leader who is not afraid to make the tough choices”, says the cat who knows nothing about him. She wasn’t there when he was losing his mind! How the fuck can she say he’s a hero when all he has done is cause chaos and death?! This piece of shit character ruins whatever redemption arc Clear Sky could have had. He NEVER learns from his mistakes because Star Flower is right there making excuses for him. AND THEN, as she is dying Quiet Rain says “IT wAs FoReToLd.” Clear Sky “could not help what he did” because he was destined to behave like an ass to everyone around him. I guess, according to the Erins, he had no agency in what he did. The gods made him do it. Quiet Rain asks him to forgive himself and this stupid fuck thinks “Forgive myself for what?” Excuse me, WHAT?!

Working Partners would rather retcon a character’s personality, sand down their edges, erase their agency, remove whatever nuance they had, and butcher them into “bullied sad bois” who were not in control of their actions, and then lie to their audience that the character is redeemed instead of writing a real redemption arc. This is objectively awful writing. This horrible trend of ruining characters and pretending they did nothing wrong/ weren’t in control of their actions started with Clear Sky, the worst offender of them all, and bled over to Blackstar, Leopardstar, Onestar, and Breezepelt in their respective books. This level of laziness makes me sick.

The WP Erins want us to sympathize with Clear Sky. They want us to forgive him, but they don’t put in the work to make us forgive him. We never see Clear Sky work to improve himself. I suppose they want us to see him standing up to One Eye and saving his nieces and nephews as signs that he has changed. Doing a few good deeds does not make up for the crimes he committed in books 1-3. He still abused his cats, he still drove away his son twice, he still killed RSF, Misty, and Bumble. He needs to deal with the fallout of what he did, he needs to take accountability, and prove himself to the other cats that he has learned and changed. But that is not what we get. Instead the Erins have Star Flower tell him he did nothing wrong and even after all of this, the Erins continue to write Clear Sky as an unhinged maniac in the other books! What even is this character writing?! How do you write something this fucking bad and not fix it?!

Clear Sky is the worst character this series has ever created. Period. There is no contest.

Book 6

We have one more book to go. Let’s power through.

Path of Stars is worthless. In the end of the last book, Star Flower gets kidnapped by Slash (remember him?). For her return, Slash demands a cut of their prey rations or whatever who cares. In the beginning of this one, Clear Sky freaks the fuck out and rounds up the other leaders. Gray Wing hatches a plan behind Clear Sky’s back. While his dumbass brother is screaming at Slash to give him his mate back, Gray Wing and some others go rescue Star Flower from Slash. They’re successful, but uh-oh Star Flower’s kittens are coming early. I think it’s only been like… two weeks. Somehow the kittens come out fully formed and fine. Yeah no that’s not possible, but whatever. Blah blah blah literally nothing fucking happens. The leaders worry about Slash a bit. Thunder spies on his group and there he meets Violet, a molly he instantly falls for without talking to her. Thunder is so horny, jfc dude. The good cats convince the rogues to rise up against Slash and they do. The former rogues join the groups and then the book is about the leaders not trusting the newcomers and it’s super boring and doesn’t matter. Gray Wing has kittens with Blank Slate. Now he’s a “real” father. The rogues who decided to stay earn new names in a proto- naming ceremony. Violet becomes Violet Dawn. She literally has no personality at all, but Thunder is in love with her I guess. At the end, Slash kidnaps one of Gray Wing’s annoying ass kittens and Clear Sky rescues him, risking his life in the process. Slash just leaves and we don’t see him again. Gray Wing’s asthma is killing him and as he is dying, he and his obnoxious kittens give the Clans their names. Then he dies in an admittedly touching scene and the book ends. It’s over! Free at last!

Errors: Thanks fan wiki for your service.

The Sun Trail: Snow Hare is called Stone Hare. Shattered Ice is said to have silver fur instead of white and gray fur.

Thunder Rising: Leaf is described as gray-and-white instead of black and white. This is later fixed in the reprint. Lightning Tail is called a she-cat. Tall Shadow says "It's many moons" when it should either be "It's been many moons" or "It has been many moons.” Wind Runner is called Wind, despite changing her name earlier in the book. Sparrow Fur is said to have green eyes instead of amber eyes.

The First Battle: Moon Shadow and Misty are listed in the allegiances, despite both dying in Thunder Rising. Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur are listed as kits in the allegiances, despite being old enough to participate in the battle at Fourtrees. Birch is called brown-and-white. Leaf is called gray-and-white. Pebble Heart is called a brown tabby. Fircone is said to be mottled brown-and-white. Quick Water is called Quiet Water. Thunder is referred to as golden. Morning Whisker is called a tom. Thorn and Dew's descriptions and genders are swapped with one another (Thorn being a tom, and Dew a she-cat) in The First Battle, despite being correctly listed in the allegiances. Thorn is also referred to as a brown tom. Acorn Fur is called Acorn Leaf. Fircone is called mottled gray. Pebble Heart is called Pebble Eyes. Owl Eyes is called Owl Eye.

The Blazing Star: Falling Feather is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in The First Battle. In the allegiances, Mouse Ear is listed as Mouse Ears. Leaf is listed as gray-and-white. Snake is listed as a gray tom. Birch is listed as brown-and-white. In the allegiances, Morning Whisker, Moth Flight, and Dust Muzzle are listed under Clear Sky's camp. Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur are listed as kits in the allegiances. Pebble Heart is called a brown tabby. On at least two occasions, Clear Sky is said to have killed Rainswept Flower before the battle began.

A Forest Divided: Leaf is called gray-and-white. Birch is called brown-and-white. Pebble Heart is called a brown tabby. Storm Pelt is called a gray tom with "bue" eyes instead of "blue" eyes. Snake is called gray. Storm is called dark gray. Despite Jagged Peak being the one who is supposed to be giving Eagle Feather a badger ride, the kit is seen with Mouse Ear, with his siblings climbing on older cats, instead of Jagged Peak being the one giving the ride. Sparrow Fur is called brown. Clear Sky is referred to as a she-cat. Moon Shadow is said to have died on the journey from the mountains, when he died from a fire later. Star Flower is said to have amber eyes. Slash is called gray. Gorse Fur is called Gorse. River Ripple is called River Rippled.

Path of Stars: Despite appearing in the book, Bee, Beech, Splinter, Ember, Moss Tail, Pine Needle, Drizzle, Raven Pelt, Juniper Branch, Red Claw, Violet Dawn, Frog, Willow Tail, and Dawn Mist aren't listed in the allegiances. Slate is described with only one missing eartip. Despite the tabby rogue who fought Lightning Tail and Leaf being a she-cat, she is said to be a tom a few pages later. Lightning Tail's name is misspelled as "Lighting Tail." Slash is called gray. Quiet Rain is called Quiet Water. Blossom is falsely called Leaf. Fern Leaf is called Fern despite changing her name. Clear Sky is spelled Clear Sly.

Things I Like

The first three books.

Things I Hate

Where do I even start?! For The Blazing Star, we end the book where we started making the whole thing feel pointless. Nothing of consequence was accomplished except for Tom dying I guess. A Forest Divided is one of the worst books I have ever read. Not just in this series, but in general. The last book of what is supposed to be an arc about the founding of the Clans is about dealing with fucking rogues again! It’s so boring. Slash is a very lame villain and I don’t give a damn about the slew of new characters who are forced upon us. In fact, I dislike a majority of them. Let’s begin with Holly because I feel like I’m the only one in the fandom who hates her existence.

Remember Rainswept Flower? The Erins don’t. After she is killed by Clear Sky, she is reduced down to a footnote in his life. Her grief over her father’s death, her empathy, and her close friendship with Jagged Peak are forgotten about. We see RSF comfort Jagged Peak after his injury. We see her always by his side, listening to him, comforting him, and giving him things to do. She is hyper-attentive of his mood and knows exactly what to say to make him feel better when he’s down. She is his closest friend and what does he do when she is killed by his shitty brother? Nothing. He doesn’t even mourn for her! The narrative doesn’t even remember they were friends! She was the one who was always helping Jagged Peak. She helped him find a sense of purpose. She helped him with his leg exercises and was right by him when he was baby sitting Turtle Tail’s kittens. He went to her for advice and to voice his concerns. She was right there helping Jagged Peak grow and find meaning in his life when he was mentally at his worse. But is she ever acknowledged for helping him? No. Holly is. This random nobody takes credit for his strength and development and it makes me so mad!

“It’s amazing what a little love can do,” she says reproachfully to Gray Wing aka the guy who left his home behind to rescue Jagged Peak, the guy who looked after him after his injury, the guy who actively changed his behavior when RSF told him to give Jagged Peak a chance to prove himself, and the guy who sent Jagged Peak on his first mission and reassured him when he failed. This random fuck has the balls to act like she did something to change Jagged Peak when she wasn’t even there when he was at his worse. The only thing she does is give birth to his kittens. That’s it! Her love was not the catalyst for Jagged Peak’s growth and strength. The love, patience, and dedication of his brother and RSF combined with his own perseverance are what made Jagged Peak into the strong competent cat he now is. Holly didn’t do shit! I hate Holly. I hate how the narrative forgets about RSF’s character and gives this stupid, annoying cat all of the credit for Jagged Peak’s success. It’s such awful, inattentive writing. Plus Holly is so annoying. I can’t stand her rude attitude toward Gray Wing and I hate how she keeps speaking for Jagged Peak as if he can’t speak for himself. She’s such a bad character who honestly should not exist. I wish RSF never died! I don’t want her and Jagged Peak to be together (honestly she’s too old for him), but they were such good friends and it would’ve been nice to see them hang out together in Tall Shadow’s camp. Jagged Peak didn’t need to have a mate and kittens at the end of this arc. That could’ve happened in a novella or something. Or at the very least, if you have to kill her, have Jagged Peak mourn for his lost friend! It’s like he never gave a shit about her! It’s so awful!

What the hell happened to Gray Wing? Gray Wing is written so inconsistently from books 3-5. He’s a different person in book 4. In that one, he believes no one needs him anymore. He thinks he’s getting in the way of Thunder’s growth. This doesn’t make any sense since Thunder keeps going to him for advice and guidance. Thunder simply asking for advice is not going to stunt his growth. After Thunder asks for advice, he thinks no one needs him so he just fucks off to hang out with River Ripple, making everyone who cares about him worry about his safety. It’s so irresponsible for him to not tell anyone where he is. It feels out of character for him to act this way. And then in book 5, he finds out there’s another evil guy out to get them and he doesn’t tell anyone until book 6! His reasoning is he didn’t want to spoil Tall Shadow’s happiness in the pine forest. Gray Wing, that makes no fucking sense! And in book 6, his arc is yet again about feeling unneeded and under appreciated. So, yet again, he disappears to hang out with Wind Runner and her group. Gray Wing is given nothing to do in these books so he flips flops around and it’s annoying. Now let’s talk about Blank Slate and how much I hate her existence. I already wrote about how much I love Gray Wing and Turtle Tail’s relationship. Well, now that she’s dead for no reason, Gray Wing has to have another cat to fuck because god forbid a male in this series is single by the end of it. Slate is such a boring character and I don’t care for her. Her existence undermines his love for Turtle Tail. He doesn’t mourn Turtle Tail enough. He hardly thinks about her! It’s like the love they had in book 3 didn’t exist! It just feels so shitty and poorly thought out.

I really hate how Turtle Tail’s kittens and Thunder stop treating Gray Wing like their father. You already read Thunder say he was “no one’s son on the moor.” That is not true! Gray Wing is his father! He raised him! Why does Thunder stop seeing Gray Wing as his father figure? And then we have Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes. I don’t like Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes all that much. Owl Eyes is boring and hardly has a personality and Sparrow Fur… she’s weird to me. I don’t understand why they feel so connected to Tom, their mom’s abusive mate who kidnapped them. Their kidnapping led to Turtle Tail’s death. Why does Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes care so much for the dude who inadvertently killed their mother? Gray Wing raised them! He’s their father as far as they are concerned, but I guess fuck Gray Wing. Tom is here! Like, I understand wanting to know who your other parent is, but you would think that since their father lied to them and kidnapped them they would want nothing to do with him, especially since we saw this exact storyline play out with Thunder and Clear Sky. Once Thunder got to know his dad, he rejected him and after Clear Sky’s “redemption arc” they still had a rocky relationship.

Pebble Heart is the only one out of the four who still treats Gray Wing like a father. Even though he has kittens, Quiet Rain tells him that he should have kittens of his own.

[Quiet Rain] “Why don’t you have a mate?”

Heat flushed beneath his fur. “I had a mate,” he murmured. The ache in his heart was still sharp when he thought of the loss that he had suffered. “Turtle Tail.”

Quiet Rain’s eyes brightened a little. “You noticed her at last.”

“Yes.” The ache tightened in his chest. “We were happy together, though I wish we’d had longer before she died.”

“Did you have kits?”

“She was carrying someone else’s kits when we became mates.”

Quiet Rain blinked. “Whose?”

“A kittypet.” Gray Wing dropped his gaze, trying to hide his bitterness at the memory of the arrogant, selfish tom. “Turtle Tail and I raised them together.”

“Where are they now?”

“Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes live in the oak forest. Pebble Heart has been caring for you.”

“Pebble Heart is Turtle Tail’s kit?” Quiet Rain’s tail twitched. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think to.” So much else had been going on.

“Now I know why he looks to you whenever you speak, and with such fondness,” Quiet Rain commented. “Does he know you’re not his real father?”

“Of course.”

“You must have raised him well to have inspired such affection.”

Gray Wing dipped his head. “I hope so.”

“You shouldn’t spend the rest of your life mourning.”

Gray Wing jerked up his head. “Who said I was going to?”

Quiet Rain looked at him fondly. “You should have a mate and kits of your own.”

Pg 148, A Forest Divided

He did have a mate and he does have kittens of his own. I hate how Warriors treats adopted parents and children. To this day, in the main series, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are still not treated like Squilf’s kittens even though they are hers! She raised them! They are her kittens! Not once in AVoS is it mentioned that Jayfeather and Alderheart are basically brothers. They don’t even mention that they’re kin. The Erins treat Leafpool’s kittens and her lineage like they’re illegitimate, but that’s a rant for A Starless Clan. We’ll get there one day. Why do they treat adopted parents this way? Being a father is more than impregnating someone. Gray Wing raised them kittens! They’re his kids! He doesn’t need to have kittens of his own! What the fuck is wrong you,Warriors?! Plus his bio kittens are so fucking annoying, my god! I love MacLeod Andrews and his narration, but please stop with the high pitched kitten voices. They’re even more grating when the characters all have the exact same stock kitten personality. They honestly should not exist. They’re pointless.

What the hell happened to Thunder?! Why is he stupid now? As soon as Star Flower shows up, his IQ drops into the negatives. He has three conversations with her and now he’s “in love.” Lightning Tail is right to distrust Star Flower and brings up reasonable points, but Thunder yells at him for being mean to his love. He then begs his dad to let Star Flower into the group even though she broke his heart and then he gets mad when she starts flirting with his dad. Bro you caused this. You can only blame yourself. I hate his little childish whining to Gray Wing when he was told to fetch Clear Sky so he can see his dying mother. I hate Clear Sky too, but the man deserves to see his mother during her last moments. Thunder was being so pissy, it was annoying. I really fucking hate the insta-love shit with Violet Dawn. She is not a person at all. Again, we can’t have any of our main characters be without a mate at the end. Thunder is not given much to do so he’s just sitting there being boring and annoying. I liked him standing up to Clear Sky again, but once he leaves to form his own group, he’s boring and we should’ve stopped following him. What a waste of a great character.

I despise One Eye and Slash. They’re just generic rogue villains #157 and #158. They’re so boring and pointless. One Eye shows up and then dies in the same book. Slash is not a threat at all in book five and he’s hardly a threat in book six. He fucking runs off and we don’t know what happens to him until Riverstar’s Home. He didn’t even need to be here. We get introduced to so many new cats and none of them are interesting or even important. I loathe Path of Stars. All of the characters stagnate as they fret about Slash and their new former rogue den mates. There’s a whole chapter dedicated to battle training and my god it is so boring! I put the book on 3x speed just to get through it and I missed nothing. I will admit Gray Wing’s death at the end is touching, but it doesn’t redeem the bore-fest that is Path of Stars. What a fart of an ending.

And then there’s Star Flower.

The Wasted Potential of Star Flower

As you already read, I hate Star Flower and I hate what she does to Thunder’s and Clear Sky’s characters. However, she is worse than Tawnypelt when it comes to wasted potential. As much as I hate her, I weep for what she could have been. I’m a huge fan of manipulative antagonists. I love it when antags lure their targets in and crush their hearts for their own gain. It’s good drama, especially when interpersonal stuff like romance, family, and friendships are involved. The juicy personal drama that creates is fantastic and allows for some deep exploration into emotions and characters. Good shit. I like it. Star Flower could’ve been that type of villain. She’s a seductress who flatters Thunder to get information for her father, but then her father dies. After that, you think she will do the same to Clear Sky and try to take over his group in honor of her father but no. She “falls in love” with him, saying some stupid shit about how they’re alike and can relate to each other. No you can’t! What the fuck is she talking about?! Why would the Erins take this villainous seductress and turn her into yet another mate for Clear Sky? Her involvement with Clear Sky makes both of them worse. She could’ve been a fantastic, effective villain. She could’ve been a good replacement for Clear Sky as he’s going through his redemption arc. She could’ve tested him.

There’s a line One Eye says about how Clear Sky isn’t liked by many of his cats. Makes sense. Dude was crazy! This line fascinated me and pissed me off. If we got rid of One Eye completely and just had Star Flower, she could have used her charms to turn Clear Sky’s cats against him. Say, Clear Sky, after the battle, is trying his hardest to be kinder. He starts bringing in more cats- showing the world that his borders are now open and cats can walk freely. He invites Star Flower, a pretty molly who is seeking shelter. In the group, Clear Sky’s authority is shaky. Some of his cats, like the newcomers Milkweed and Pink Eyes heard tales of his deeds and are wary of him. His biggest critics, Quick Water, Leaf, and Nettle (who’s best friend Fircone was killed due to Clear Sky’s actions) are skeptical of his “change.” Snake (who loved his violent ways), Thorn and Dew (two cats who don’t do anything in canon) try to goad Clear Sky to be the monster he was before. His loyalist, Petal and her adopted kittens, Birch and Alder, are by his side no matter what. Star Flower, being the smart attentive cat she is, sees this rift and plays with it. Using her charms, she sways a lot of the cats to her side. Clear Sky, at first, sees her as a good asset. She seems to be able to settle disputes better then he does. Deep down, he doesn’t like how the cats seem to respect her more, but since he is trying to be a better leader who listens to his cats, he lets a lot of her antics slide. As Clear Sky frets about the lack of prey, the sickness, the spirit cats’ message, and his own hangups, Star Flower is turning his cats away from him. Star Flower convinces Quick Water, Leaf, Nettle, Milkweed, her kittens, and Pink Eyes that he is not fit to be a leader. He is too unhinged and cruel. It is only a matter of time before he becomes a tyrant again. She convinces Snake, Thorn, and Dew that he has gone soft and his open borders put them at risk. When he returns from a Fourtrees meeting with the other leaders, Star Flower has taken over. She brought in some of her rogue friends to buff out her numbers. Clear Sky tries to fight her off but her friends and his cats push him out. Petal and her kittens go with him as he tries to figure out what he can do. As he does that, Star Flower kicks out Quick Water. To her, the mountain cats are the cause of all of this mayhem. The forest was peaceful before they arrived. With them gone, the forest can go back to the way it was. Now she’s threatening all of the cats and it’s up to Clear Sky and his allies to get rid of her and prove to the cats of the forest that Clear Sky has changed and will never do what he did before. I can go on and on with my fanfic. I think it would’ve been great to see him actively work to change himself as a person, as a father to Thunder, and as a leader. You know? A real redemption arc. And Star Flower could’ve been the catalyst for this change! It would’ve been great! But no we don’t get that. In the canon we have, Star flower is nothing more than a cumdump for Clear Sky who makes excuses for his crimes.

I will never understand why they did this to her. If she’s just here to be Clear Sky’s mate, why do all that shit with One Eye? Why build her up to be this grand seductress when she stops being that a book later? Why does she exist if she amounts to nothing? Why have Clear Sky go after the cat his son likes? That’s super weird Erins. Bad choice. You could’ve made a whole new cat for Clear Sky to fuck. RIP Star Flower’s potential.

Massive Issue #12: Sexism

So many mollies in Dawn of the Clans are sidelined, forgotten about, killed, or reduced down to kitten-makers. Warriors, in general, has a huge sexism problem. It’s really bad. I’m just gonna link Sunnyfall’s video because she goes way deeper into this topic. I’m not going to do so because this post is already way too long. Let’s just focus on this arc because it’s the worst offender. Fluttering Bird, Bright Stream, and Storm hardly have personalities and only exist to die. Falling Feather has two moments where she’s cool and then she is killed and not mentioned again. I already said my piece about RSF, Turtle Tail, and Bumble. They were all done so dirty by the Erins. Slate, Violet Dawn and my nemesis Holly are flat, boring, and annoying characters who only exist to give the dudes some kittens. Star Flower is stripped of all of her potential so that she can be yet another mate for Clear Sky. Quick Water is hardly on the page. I honestly forget she exist sometimes. Hawk Swoop was hardly a person. Dappled Pelt, Sparrow Fur, and Acorn Fur are fine, but not that interesting or deep.

And then there’s Tall Shadow and Wind Runner. I adore these two. They are two out of the five founders and do we follow them as they build their Clans? No! We’re too busy following Gray Wing as he does nothing. We’re too busy following Thunder as he does nothing. By book four, Gray Wing should have stopped being a POV and we should’ve started following Tall Shadow. It makes no sense why we’re following him at that point. It becomes even more annoying when we get to book five and we’re doing this obnoxious back and forth with Thunder and Clear Sky as they fight over a girl. I want to see Tall Shadow build her Clan! I want to see her bond with her nephew Sun Shadow! Tall Shadow is one of the best characters this arc has given us and we don’t follow her! Mollies are constantly pushed to the back to make way for the way worse male characters. It’s horrendous. Again, please watch Sunnyfall’s video on this topic. She goes over even more of this bullshit in great detail. It’s such a big problem in this series.

Final Thoughts on Arc Five

I hate Dawn of the Clans. It started off so good, but got extremely bad in the back half. It has some of the worst character writing I have ever witnessed. It’s not even a good origin story for the Clans because we learn nothing about their traditions. Terrible. 2/10

Arc Five: Super Editions

Moth Flight’s Vision (2015) 2/10: This post is way too long and I have too much to say about this book. So here’s a link to the review. TLDR, I hate this book. It’s supposed to be about Moth Flight forging her own rank in WindClan to show her bossy, overbearing mother Wind Runner that she is useful in her own way. But instead we get a bad book where Moth Flight is just told by StarClan what her destiny is and the only thing she does for the rank is establish the widely hated “medicine cats cannot have children” rule all because her Clan, for whatever reason, refused to help her babysit her kittens as she worked. Fucking awful!

Errors: Slate is said to have only one missing ear tip. White Tail is called Black Ear. Willow Tail is called a tom. Silver Stripe is called a tom. Spotted Fur is called Spotted Tail. Cow is said to have yellow eyes. Fern Leaf is called gray-and-white. Star Flower is said to have purple eyes. Micah is said to have amber eyes. Dappled Pelt is called Dappled Spots. Moss Tail is called Swift multiple times. Dappled Pelt is called Dappled Leaf. The book states that Moth Flight has not shared a nest with anyone besides Dust Muzzle prior to sharing one with Micah in the RiverClan camp. However, she shares one earlier with Spotted Fur after running away from WindClan. Red Claw is described as red twice. Tigerclaw/star is said to have yellow eyes. Spottedleaf is shown giving Firestar his last life, when in reality Bluestar gives it to him. Dangling Leaf is called Shade Pelt. WindClan is spelt as "Wind Clan". Silver Stripe is called Silver Pelt. Leafstar and her mother are described as brown-and-white tabbies. Storm Pelt is called Dust Muzzle. Honey Pelt says "No it doesn't,” but there should be a comma between his first two words. Bubbling Stream is called Bubbling Spring.

Riverstar’s Home (2024): 3/10 DotC’s River Ripple is a calm, chill, mysterious, and distant cat who made occasional appearances throughout the arc. He stayed mostly out of the mountain cat drama because it didn’t involve him. He only involved himself in problems if he is needed. He accepted to role of leader with grace. He already had a group so officially merging with the proto-Clans was fitting. He allowed cats to come and go as they please. He liked having cats around, but he doesn’t force them to stay. We learn at the end of Thunder Rising that he came from a park far away from the forest. There he was mentored by a cat named Arc, who taught him everything he knows. Then his home was destroyed and Ripple was swept away by a river current. The river led him to the forest and there he changed his name to River Ripple to honor the river that saved his life. In Secrets of the Clans we are told that Riverstar was the one who created the mentoring system. There’s a lot of juicy stuff to work with with this mysterious fun character. Does Riverstar’s Home deliver on that? No. Not in the slightest.

I’ll be frank here, I tried reading this one when it came out and I did not finish it. It was agonizingly boring. I tried re-reading it for this project and I still couldn’t do it. It’s a big disappointment and a waste of time. River Ripple here is not the River Ripple we know. He went from a kind, but aloof figure to a whiny needy little boy who gets upset when cats decide to leave his group. He had to be taught how to swim by two other cats and he wasn’t even good at swimming until the middle of Dawn of the Clans, which makes no sense at all. His supposed spiritual connection to the water is not present either. Slash is back and he’s terrorizing people in Riverstar’s park home. His mentor, Arc, comes back, but he is heavily injured by Clear Sky, who is back on his bullshit once again! Along the way back to the park, RR loses one of his lives to drowning whilst saving another cat named Drizzle. I skimmed this shit, I don’t remember who Drizzle is. River Ripple, the cat who lives by the river and is said to love water, fucking drowns! What?! Ugh! And now he has two love interests who are both boring and pointless. First there’s Flutter, a park molly who has only one line before she is fridged in the very beginning and Finch, a molly Riverstar mates with at the park. At first, once she realized she is pregnant with Riverstar’s kittens, she doesn’t want to leave her home to live with him in the forest. But then randomly she comes running back to be with Riverstar, all of her agency thrown aside for a man. We skip past the creation of the mentoring system and the establishment of deputies for no good reason. That could’ve been the whole book right there. You know, have Riverstar share a bit of his heritage with the Clans and establish a teaching system that he had when he was at the park. But nah. Can’t have that. The Erins are too busy filling the pages with shit we’ve already read in Dawn of the Clans. Oh and at the end, Clear Sky attacks RiverClan because a tree fell over the river while Riverstar was too busy pushing Slash over a waterfall. Deranged maniac Clear Sky saw the tree as a sign from StarClan and started invading RiverClan. I hate Clear Sky’s character writing so damn much.

This books sucks. Lemme just link Sunnyfall’s review of it since she goes into more detail about the issues. I’m just going to pretend it didn’t happen so I can continue to enjoy Riverstar as he was in DotC. I will say I do like Night, Riverstar’s deputy and friend. She’s cool.

Errors: Barkface, a modern timeline RiverClan cat, appears in the allegiances for the online previews and the digital version. Dart is called Dash. River Ripple is called "River Rippled.” When Gray Wing says that he needs to return to the fire to search for Clear Sky, he says the same dialogue twice nearly word-for-word. Leaf is called gray-and-white. River Ripple is called "Ripple", despite having his Early Settler name by that point. Dappled Pelt heading across the camp is written as "head across the camp." Fircone is called brown-and-white. Wind Runner is called "Gorse Fur.” One Eye is said to have both eyes. Shattered Ice is referred to as Ice Shattered. Dappled Pelt is referred to as Dappled Tail. Moth Flight is called Moth Wing. Drizzle is said to have gone to the rapids with Spider Paw, Pine Needle, Mist, and Croak, but then in the next sentence, she is said to be collecting moss with Dew and Shattered Ice. Pine Needle is called Pine after having changed his name. Shine is called a tom. Finch is taught the warrior code despite it not existing yet. Riverstar also later refers to it when SkyClan invades his territory. Moss Tail is called a dark brown tabby. Riverstar is called RiverClan, and Windstar is called WindClan.

Arc Five: Novellas

Thunderstar’s Echo: 4/10 We skip past the establishment of deputies and the mentoring system to get a dull story about life in ThunderClan. Dogs attack, they kill Lightning Tail, Thunderstar loses a life, he mourns his boyfriend, he has kittens with Violet Dawn, he chooses Owl Eyes to be his new deputy, and then the story ends. I like Thunder and Lightning Tail’s bromance, but that’s it. Very boring.

Errors: Slate is said to have only one missing ear tip. Riverstar is said to have amber eyes. Willow Tail is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in Moth Flight's Vision. Thorn is called a tom. On the cover of the novella collection, at the bottom where it lists the titles, it is mistakenly listed as "Thunder's Echo" instead of "Thunderstar's Echo." Lightning Tail is said to have been part of Windstar's group on the moor, but Lightning Tail never lived in Wind Runner's group, instead living in the one led by Tall Shadow, Gray Wing, and Thunder. "StarClan" is written as "Star clan.”

Shadowstar’s Life: 7/10 Pretty good! Shadowstar and her nephew/deputy Sun Shadow are attacked by dogs. Sun Shadow dies and Shadowstar loses a life. As she was dying she saw a pair of amber cat eyes watching her. When she comes back, she realizes that she is on her last life. She becomes paranoid of the amber-eyed cats around her as she mourns her nephew’s death. Meanwhile, Skystar is worried about humans encroaching on his territory. He and his Clan fear that they will have to leave. While out scouting for land for SkyClan, Shadowstar is pushed onto the road right in the path of a car. Luckily, the car misses her. The attacker then pounces on her and tries to kill her. Shadowstar is able to fight them off and her Clanmate and later deputy, Raven Pelt, chases them away. She discovers that her old tribemate Quick Water was her attacker. The next day, Shadowstar confronts Skystar about Quick Water. He exiles Quick Water, but the molly is brought back into the Clans after she gives her case at a Gathering. Shadowstar and Windstar team up to kill Quick Water and get her out of the Clans for good. They fight ThunderClan and SkyClan. Quick Water and Shadowstar kill each other. As she dies, Quick Water confesses and apologizes. She killed Sun Shadow and tried to kill Shadowstar again because she thought that ShadowClan would dissolve without its leaders. With ShadowClan gone, SkyClan could take their land. Despite doing the exact same thing Juniperclaw did generations later, she is allowed into StarClan. Like Juniperclaw, she attacked another Clan to help out her own Clan. And, like Juniperclaw, she apologized for what she did and atoned. Unlike Juniperclaw, she is allowed into StarClan while he was forced to suffer in the Dark Forest, forever blocked from entering Heaven. StarClan sucks so much.

Also this is not the Quick Water I know. In DotC, she is Clear Sky’s biggest critic. She questions him openly, but here she’s a loyalist who went out of her way to murder a deputy and almost murdered a molly she knew her entire life. It feels off. I guess with Petal dead, they needed a new diehard Clear Sky fan and chose Quick Water out of a hat. I don’t like that. That’s lazy. Anyway, this is a good one! It was nice to be with Shadowstar as she struggled with trust issues and her own mortality. I also loved seeing Windstar back her up.

Errors: Slate is said to have only one missing ear-tip. White Tail, Silver Stripe, Black Ear, Drizzle, and Pine Needle are called kits despite being listed as hunters. Willow Tail is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in Moth Flight's Vision. Dusk Nose is called a tom. Shadowstar refers to SkyClan hunters as warriors, despite the rank not yet existing. Skystar is seen reprimanding Quick Water for breaking the warrior code, but the code wasn't created until later. Sparrow Fur is said to have green eyes.

Final Thoughts on the Arc Five Novellas

Meh. I don’t like the novellas in general. A lot of them are needless.

Massive Issue #13: Laziness

I really hate how for an arc called Dawn of the Clans we learn nothing about the Clans’ traditions. We see proto-naming ceremonies and Gatherings, but we don’t see the establishment of the mentoring system, we don’t see the development of regular border patrols, and we never learn how they started their naming/hierarchy convention. Hell, we don’t even learn how the cats developed their names for house cats, humans, and roads. They just had the terms “kittypet, Twoleg, and Thunderpath” unlocked from the very beginning. Where did the cats get the word “medicine” from? I dunno. Where did they get the season words “greenleaf, leaf-fall, leaf-bare, and newleaf” from? Oh the settlers adopted the words from the local rogues. We don’t even get their “special skills” explained or established. All the Clans, in the past and present, feel the same! You would think Clear Sky would recruit cats who like to jump or Wind Runner would find cats who are fast, but nah. Who gives a shit about the origins of the Clans? The Erins don’t care enough. In Moth Flight’s Vision, the Erins couldn’t think of a way to explain the nine lives ceremony, so they have Moth Flight witness cats like Firestar getting his lives so that she could later drag her mother to the Moonstone to be revived. There’s that cyclical timeline bullshit again. The laziness is out of control.

These books are products, not art. Putting in effort means they have to spend more time drafting these books. Time wastes money and they can’t afford to waste money. Dawn of the Clans could have been a phenomenal arc about the creation of the Clans, but instead we get a horrible arc, some mid-tier novellas, and two awful SEs that skip the interesting stuff to give us more horrendous character writing.

Massive Issue #14: Lack of Self-Awareness

The lack of self-awareness has done irrevocable damage to this series. The incest, the timeline issues, the rampant amount of errors in each book, the sexism, the inconsistent character writing, legitimately harmful themes/views, the warped themes surrounding religion, and StarClan in general all stem back to the authors’ lack of self-awareness. Since the Erins are pumping out these books at a rapid pace, they are unknowingly and uncritically putting unchecked biases and misconceptions into their work, creating numerous problems that wouldn’t exist if they gave more of a shit and were aware of what they are writing. This lack of awareness led to the promotion of truly heinous shit towards children. The obfuscation of Bumble’s abuse, Shadowsight’s seizures, and Spottedpaw’s grooming are all portrayed horribly and without critique. For Bumble, they call her abuse “bullying” and tell her to suck it up and go back to her abuser, teaching their audience that victims should not be listened to nor helped. For Shadowsight, the cats pin him down while he is having a seizure, teaching kids that this is what you’re supposed to do when dealt with this situation. For Spottedpaw, her novella teaches that it’s totally cool for an adult to pursue a child romantically as long as they wait for the child to grow up and they don’t train with dead serial killers in Hell. Let’s focus on that last one a little bit. For Spottedleaf’s Heart’s, they completely botched what is supposed to be a cautionary tale about child grooming. How the fuck do you even do that!? That’s legitimately dangerous! That book should have never been written. All of these things paint Warriors in a very negative light. If the Erins gave more of a damn about what they’re writing and were more critical of their themes, none of this would have happened.

Honestly, this issue and the wishy-washy quality of the books make it hard to fully enjoy this series sometimes…

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End of Part Five

This sucked. I had an awful time writing this. I despise Dawn of the Clans. I’m so glad to be done with it. Now all that’s left is the finale! Hooray! Stay tuned for that. Once that’s out, I’m taking a break from Warriors for a long time.