Warriors: MEGA Review! Part Three

Image credit: Liu Ye

Note: I am skipping arc 5 Dawn of the Clans. I’m doing that one last as it is a prequel.

Spoilers Ahead!!

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

We are officially in the Working Partners Era. Working Partners‘ editors differ widely from Victoria Holmes. They are more plot-oriented which leads to more interesting ideas but poorer characterization and overall planning. If you thought the characters were pretty bland in previous arcs, whoo boy aren’t you in for a ride through Hell. Mind you, there are some good things but the bad is real bad so, buckle in.

Arc Six: Super Editions Part One

These Super Editions take place right between Omen of the Stars and A Vision of Shadows. To understand the plot of A Vision of Shadows, you have to read these before reading arc six. I’ve mentioned this before, but let me restate it here: I hate that supplementary material like Super Editions is required. Super Editions used to be extra content you could read outside the main series. Now, however, you need to read them to obtain vital information for the main series. Crowfeather’s Trial is not required thankfully, but the others for this arc are and that sucks! If you’re a broke child and you’re about to read AVoS, you better pray that your library has Bramblestar’s Storm, Hawkwing’s Journey, and Tigerheart’s Shadow because if it doesn’t, you’ll be lost. Better start begging your parents for ~$40-$50 so you can read your homework.

Crowfeather’s Trial (2018)

8.5/10

This is my third favorite Warriors book. I’ve mentioned before that I like Crowfeather and his family drama and this book is the reason why. This takes place after the Great Dark Forest Battle. Crowfeather is having a hard time. Many cats, including his mother Ashfoot and his daughter Hollyleaf, died in the battle. He and the rest of the Clan do not trust Breezepelt and the other former trainees. Onestar allowed them in and trusts them, but since Breezepelt sided with the Dark Forest while the others turned before the battle, many- including Crowfeather- do not trust his loyalty.

Crowfeather is distant and angsty. He’s been that way since his rendezvous with Leafpool ended. He still loves Leafpool, but her job and the cult’s hatred of Clan mixing forbade them from being together. Since his reputation in WindClan was in the toilet, he got with Nightcloud- a well-respected member of the Clan. Being her mate made him look good by proxy. However, Crowfeather never loved her and she knew that. Since Crowf was so distant and cold toward her and their son, she was the only one keeping their dysfunctional family together. Nightcloud’s and Crowfeather’s mutual dislike for each other rubbed off on their son. Being the product of a loveless marriage is going to fuck up any child and it sure did with Breezepelt.

Since Crowfeather was too busy angsting in the corner to pay his son any attention, Breezepelt acted out. As an apprentice, he was hostile, disrespectful, and annoying. Crowfeather grew tired of his rudeness and thus always yelled at him and criticized him. On one occasion in Outcast, Crowfeather hit him for being obnoxious.

Purdy looked at him. “You’re right, I don’t catch prey no more. I get my food from Upwalkers. But I reckon just this once I might try eatin’ ill-mannered kits.”

“I’m not a—” Breezepaw began indignantly, only to clamp his jaws shut as his father lashed out a paw at his ear—a hard blow, though with his claws sheathed.

Power of Three: Outcast, Ch 16 (my pdfs do not have page numbers :I)

All of this negativity made Breezepelt susceptible to the Dark Forest’s manipulations. Brokenstar and the others fed Breezepelt’s growing resentment toward his father. The hatred hit its peak when the truth about Crowfeather and Leafpool’s kits was revealed. Breezepelt blamed Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Leafpool for his family’s turmoil. He grew to hate his father even more for loving a ThunderClan cat more than his own mother. He tried killing Poppyfrost and Jayfeather at the Moonpool. During the Great Battle, Breezepelt was one of a few living cats who sided with the Dark Forest. When Hawkfrost killed Hollyleaf, Breezepelt gloated over her body and threatened to kill Lionblaze. Crowfeather had to jump in and stop his sons from fighting.

Now in Crowfeather’s Trial, Breezepelt is struggling to prove his loyalty to the Clan. A horde of stoats has settled in the tunnels that run underneath WindClan’s and ThunderClan’s territories. A silly enemy but a unique one that we haven’t seen in Warriors. While exploring the tunnels, Breezepelt’s mother Nightcloud is attacked. Breezepelt tried to save her but had to flee when the stoats advanced. Many cats in WindClan believe Breezepelt left his mother to die which is absurd. Nightcloud was his only supporter during his life. He loved her, but logic doesn’t exist in WindClan. Now that Nightcloud is presumed dead, Crowfeather is Breezepelt’s only parental figure. Crowf, finally, realizes that his absence and harshness toward his son are what led to Breezepelt’s outbursts and descent into darkness. He struggles to rebuild a relationship he damaged as he has yet to fix the damage within himself. Even Onestar recognizes this. After Crowf’s mom Ashfoot died, Onestar elected Harespring to the deputyship. Many cats thought Crowfeather would be the next deputy but Onestar did not choose him because he is not mentally ready. Crowf’s instability in his family can rub off on the Clan.

WindClan battles the stoats over and over again to no avail. There’s one scene where Crowfeather’s apprentice Featherpaw disobeys his orders and rushes in to attack the stoats, becoming injured. Crowfeather told her previously to “be bold” when attacking an enemy. The molly took his words to heart and attacked the vicious creatures. Her parents scold Crowfeather for being careless and for always thinking about himself. He takes it hard. If he had chosen his words carefully, the molly wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Breezepelt sees how much Crowfeather cares about his apprentice more than he cared about him and is hurt by it. Crowfeather realizes the hypocrisy within himself. He loves his apprentices, but not his son. He unpacks that as the Clan discusses what to do with the stoats. Crowf suggests asking ThunderClan for help since the stoats are their problem too but Onestar vehemently rejects. Onestar dislikes ThunderClan and their meddling even though WindClan desperately needs help.

Crowf has a dream where Ashfoot and his dead girlfriend Feathertail tell him to do what’s right. So, Crowfeather disobeys Onestar and goes to ThunderClan for help. He convinces Jayfeather to talk to Bramblestar. Onestar is pissed that he disobeyed him, but he deals with it for now. Crowf goes to check on Breezepelt and we get this lovely scene. Breezepelt, still a bit injured from his fight with the stoats, has come back from spending time with Heathertail, the molly he likes. Crowfeather tentatively teases him about acting tough to impress a girl.

“How’s your injury?” [Crowfeather] asked.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Breezepelt responded with a dismissive flick of his tail. “Hurts a bit, but I can deal with it.”

“You know, Heathertail isn’t listening,” Crowfeather mewed, gently teasing. “You don’t have to act tough.”

Something flashed in Breezepelt’s eyes, and for a moment Crowfeather thought it was irritation. He felt panic beating inside him like a trapped bird, worried that Breezepelt wouldn’t take his comment in the way he meant it. Then he saw a faint gleam of amusement in his son’s eyes.

“Are you trying to tell me you’ve never done the same?” Breezepelt retorted.

“Well… I can’t remember a specific time,” Crowfeather replied, his pelt beginning to grow hot with embarrassment. “But I’m sure I must have acted tough to impress a she-cat at some point.”

Once again, as soon as the words were out of his mouth Crowfeather regretted them. Breezepelt must be thinking of how many she-cats I’ve loved.

But there was no hostility in Breezepelt’s expression. “I feel guilty, thinking only of Heathertail and my feelings for her,” he meowed, surprising Crowfeather with his honesty. “There’s so much else going on in the Clan, and we’ve lost Nightcloud…”

“Maybe that means you truly love Heathertail,” Crowfeather suggested, feeling daring. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Breezepelt said nothing, only giving his chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks. No wonder he feels embarrassed, Crowfeather thought. He’s young, and it’s hard to discuss she-cats with your father—especially when you don’t know your father all that well.

…

“You’ll be okay,” he mewed, risking a joke to reassure his son, “provided you make less of a mess of things than I did.”

He braced himself for a scathing retort, wondering yet again if he had said the wrong thing. But Breezepelt simply let out a snort of amusement. “That wouldn’t be hard!”

The two toms settled down together, gazing across the camp, in the first comfortable silence Crowfeather could remember between them. Even though it was a bad time for the Clan, even though he and Breezepelt were still grieving for Nightcloud, Crowfeather felt a pleasant warmth spreading beneath his pelt. Just for a moment, they were starting to feel like father and son. I can be a better father, he thought confidently. And if nothing else is going right… at least I’m making progress here.

Crowfeather’s Trial, Ch 16

He’s trying! I love how we see him second guess himself. Before, he never had a normal conversation with his son, but now that he’s actually trying, he’s nervous. It’s cute.

Later on, Onestar announces that he wants to block off the tunnels which would force the stoats to invade ThunderClan land. Crowfeather rightfully calls this out for being foolish. Further ruining their relationship with ThunderClan will only make things worse. Angered, Onestar banishes Crowfeather for two weeks. During his banishment, a cat named Yew tells him that Nightcloud went into town to get healing from a vet. Crowf gets Breezepelt, Heathertail, Nightcloud’s apprentice Hootpaw and his new mentor (and Breezepelt’s biggest critic) Gorsetail to go with him and search the town. After talking to some kittypets, they find the house Nightcloud is trapped in. She’s been living with a kittypet named Pickle (terrible name) who has grown attached to her. The cats free her and bring her back.

While they were gone, the Clan was attacked by the stoats. Onestar is pissed that Breeze and them left without his permission. Since there are so many injured cats and only one medicine cat, Crowf asks Onestar yet again to ask ThunderClan for help. This time the leader agrees. Crowf and Harespring go and retrieve Leafpool. Along the way, they are attacked by a stoat. Crowf is injured and he passes out. He wakes up in the medicine den and has a chat with Leafpool. He opens up to her about his family troubles. She tells him to open up and try to reconnect. Soon after, Nightcloud shows up to check on him and we get this exchange.

Crowfeather, who had taken a bite of the vole, quickly swallowed. Though he was struggling to find the right words, he remembered Leafpool’s advice, and realized that he had to try. “Nightcloud, I’m sorry if I offended you yesterday,” he meowed. “I wasn’t sure what to say to you, now that you’re back.” Nightcloud gave him a hard stare, and for a moment Crowfeather was afraid that once again he had said the wrong thing. Then the black she-cat seemed to soften.

“The truth is, I was badly hurt in the tunnels,” she began after a heartbeat’s hesitation. “And as much as I told those kittypets that I was a Clan cat, and I belonged with my Clan . . . honestly, after the Twolegs rescued me, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to come back to WindClan.”

“Not come back?” Every hair on Crowfeather’s pelt prickled with shock. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this from Nightcloud. She’s the most loyal WindClan warrior I know!

“At least, not right away,” Nightcloud continued. “I felt so weak and tired… I never seriously thought that I would stay away forever, but for the time being it was good to be a kittypet—to have food and warmth and safety without having to chase prey, or risk my life fighting foxes. And I was… well, I was adored just for who I was. I had never felt that before, and it was sort of nice. Even when I was prickly, my Twolegs and Pickle never stopped trying to make me happy and comfortable. Pickle may have been a kittypet, but he was kind to me. He let me share his nest, and gave up his best napping spots for me. He shared his favorite toys with me, even when I told him I didn’t play with toys. He acted like I was the most important cat in the world.”

Pickle? Stupid name! Stupid cat!

But despising Pickle couldn’t keep Crowfeather from hearing Nightcloud’s words… or from feeling the guilt they brought out. I never treated her that way, he realized. I never thought of her as being important. There had been warmth in Nightcloud’s voice as she described her life with Pickle. Kittypet or not, he’d tried to make her happy.

I was her mate… I should have made her feel happy and valued like that, but I didn’t. I failed.

His pelt grew hot with shame as he remembered that he had never paid much attention to Nightcloud’s nest or what she was eating, even when she was pregnant with their kits. He had always assumed she could take care of herself. And that, he realized, was because he had never loved her as he had loved Feathertail or Leafpool. Pain stabbed through his heart as he recognized how that must have felt for Nightcloud.

“Mind you,” Nightcloud went on, “if you tell any other cat I said that, I’ll claw your fur off and use it to line my nest.”

Crowfeather let out a mrrow of laughter. “You would, too!”

Suddenly the tension between them seemed to have vanished. Hungrily Crowfeather gulped down a few more mouthfuls of the vole, then dared to meow quietly, “I’m sorry, Nightcloud. I never treated you like your feelings were important. I’m sorry you had to wait to get that from a kittypet.”

Nightcloud said nothing, but when she looked down at him, her eyes were warmer than he had ever seen them.

“Should we… should we be mates again?” Crowfeather suggested hesitantly. Is that what I’m supposed to say?

Nightcloud shook her head, but when she spoke, her voice was gentle. “No, and if you’re honest with yourself, Crowfeather, you don’t want that either. Admit it: We don’t love each other, and maybe we never did.”

Reluctantly, Crowfeather had to recognize the wisdom in the she-cat’s words, though a pang of regret pierced him as he responded. “I think you’re right. But… I do admire you, Nightcloud. You’re an amazing warrior.”

Nightcloud let out a tiny snort. “You’re not so bad yourself. And remember,” she added “Breezepelt will always be our kit. We owe it to him to try to get along.”

“True,” Crowfeather sighed. “Nightcloud, I’m sorry that I’ve treated you badly. Can we be friends… if only for Breezepelt’s sake?”

“I’d like that,” Nightcloud purred. Rising to her paws, she stooped over Crowfeather and rubbed her cheek against his. “You need to rest, Crowfeather. Maybe we’ll talk later.”

CT Ch 27

It speaks for itself. I love this moment. Crowfeather has finally realized just how bad of a mate and father he was and now he has worked hard to mend those relationships. This is why I love this book so much. Crowfeather is no saint. He’s broody, quick-to-anger, distant, and whiny. He mistreated the women in his life and he didn’t show his son the love he deserved growing up. He replaced Feathertail with Leafpool and placed all of his angst about his past love onto her. He nearly made her run away from her duties as a medicine cat. Granted Leafpool isn’t immune to fault here, but he (and StarClan) was really pushing her to run away with him. After Leafpool, he got with Nightcloud, not because he loved her but because she had a squeaky-clean reputation (even though she was one of the cats who sided with Mudclaw during the coup, but the Erins forgot about that) that made him look good by proxy. He treated his son like crap because he was too caught up in his own bullshit to pay him any mind which made Breezepelt act up. Crowfeather is the root cause of his and his family’s troubles. It took him too long to finally realize that but he got there in the end.

Anyway, Ashfoot visits him in a dream and tells him that he finally understands what she’s been telling him: to open up and be a better father to his son. Crowfeather vows to do just that. At the next Gathering, the other Clan leaders offer to help WindClan with their stoat problem. Lionblaze speaks out against working with Breezepelt. Breezepelt and the other former trainees defend themselves, winning over some of the cats there. Crowfeather compliments him for speaking up and tells him that he has his support. Now I want to talk about Breezepelt’s characterization in this. In this scene, we are told that Breezepelt joined the Dark Forest because the cats there believed in him. He tells Crowf that he wasn’t fighting against the Clans which is not true in the slightest. He did fight against the Clans. He attacked his own Clanmates and tried to kill both of his half-brothers on two different occasions. Breezepelt is a completely different person here. I like the person he is here, but I have to admit that it is disappointing to see him go from a genuinely great antagonist with a lot of depth to a pitiful sad boi who is bullied by his Clan because he was “misguided.” You can’t handwave his crimes with “oh he was misguided.” It would’ve been nice to see him go through an actual redemption arc, but Warriors doesn’t do those (See my rant on Blackfoot’s Reckoning). The Erins seem to be reluctant to write redemption arcs for really bad cats like Breezepelt and Clear Sky. Instead, they change their personalities and tell the audience that they’re redeemed with no evidence. It’s infuriating. At least with Breezepelt, his crimes are nowhere near as egregious as Clear Sky’s so I’m not too bothered by it, but it is disappointing. It would’ve been nice to see him grow and change like his father throughout this book.

So the Clans get together to prepare for battle. Crowfeather and Breezepelt work together to draw the stoats out. When Breeze is overwhelmed by the horde, Crowfeather barges in and saves his life. Outside the tunnels, Crowfeather and Nightcloud fight side by side. Meanwhile, Lionblaze is swarmed by the stoats. Breezepelt recuses him and the two reconcile after the battle. And then Breezepelt collapses from his injuries. While he is recovering, Crowfeather joins a patrol with Cloudtail and Lionblaze from ThunderClan. He hangs back to talk to Lionblaze.

“There’s something I want to say to you,” he told the ThunderClan cat.

Lionblaze tilted his head to one side, giving Crowfeather a slightly suspicious look. …

“Okay,” Lionblaze mewed at last. … “How is Breezepelt?” he asked hesitantly.

“He’ll be fine,” Crowfeather replied. When Lionblaze acknowledged his news with a nod, he continued awkwardly, the words he had been waiting to say bursting out of him. “I’m sorry I didn’t accept you and your littermates when I found out about you. I’m sorry that I said I had only one kit, and that anything else was a lie. If I’d known…” He stumbled over his words and had to begin again, while Lionblaze listened, expressionless. “If I’d only known when you were kits, when you needed me, surely things would have been different. I have no excuses, but… I hope you can forgive me for the way I acted.”

Lionblaze paused for a moment before replying, his amber eyes gleaming with disbelief in the dim light of the tunnel, as if he was questioning why Crowfeather was even bothering to talk to him. “It doesn’t matter,” he responded at last. “I was a full-grown warrior by the time I found out that you and Leafpool were my parents. I don’t need to be your kit. Bramblestar was the only father we knew, and he was a great one. He’ll always be my father, no matter what.”

Crowfeather nodded, feeling the pain of rejection. He was glad that he had spoken, but he accepted that he could not control how his son responded. I guess Lionblaze and Jayfeather will always resent me.

“I’m not angry with you,” Lionblaze added. “I accept your apology, and I’m grateful for the way it all turned out.”

A little reassured, Crowfeather dipped his head again in acceptance. He began reaching out his tail to touch Lionblaze on the shoulder, then hastily drew it back again as he realized that would never be their relationship. This cordial agreement, with the air cleared between them, was the best he could hope for. And I have to learn to be okay with that.

Part of Crowfeather was sad at the thought of what might have been, but mostly he was filled with relief that he and Lionblaze had reached an understanding.

CT Ch 31

Aww. Reconciliation. Later when Breezepelt’s condition worsens, he goes to ThunderClan for help. There he chats with Jayfeather.

“He’s badly hurt. Kestrelflight says he has an infected stoat bite. He’s feverish and he doesn’t recognize any cat, and Kestrelflight told me he needs burdock root. He—”

“I’m sorry.” Jayfeather cut him off with barely concealed contempt. “I don’t have any to spare.”

The disappointment struck Crowfeather like a blow. For a moment he’d thought he understood the cranky, blind medicine cat… But I was wrong. And why shouldn’t I be? I barely know him.

Crowfeather felt a sinking feeling deep in his chest and was about to take his leave when he realized something: Jayfeather had said he couldn’t spare any burdock root, not that he didn’t have any at all.

“If you can lend me some, just for a little while,” he pleaded, “I’ll find more for you. I—”

Jayfeather interrupted again, every word spat out as if it were rotting crow-food. “Breezepelt tried to kill my brother. He said he was glad that Hollyleaf was dead, and that none of us should ever have been born. Lionblaze might have forgiven Breezepelt, but Lionblaze is a nicer cat than I am. Or a more stupid one.” His blind eyes glared at Crowfeather, the pelt on his scrawny figure bushing out. “I can’t forgive Breezepelt. I can’t forgive you. And I don’t have any burdock root to spare.”

Crowfeather stood still, his shoulders sagging as he took his son’s hostile expression. The thought crossed his mind that he could fight his way past Jayfeather and take the burdock root, but he knew how bee-brained that would be. I’d never make it out of the camp. But it was hard to know that the root to save Breezepelt was only a few tail-lengths away, at the back of the den.

“I’m sorry I treated you badly when I found out you were my kit,” Crowfeather meowed at last, breaking the long silence. “And I know that Breezepelt is sorry for what he did in the battle against the Dark Forest.”

If he had hoped for a sympathetic response from Jayfeather, he was disappointed. The medicine cat said nothing, only flicked his tail dismissively.

Crowfeather dipped his head in acceptance. “Good-bye,” he murmured. “I should have known that you would say no.” Then he turned and left the den.

I’ll go on around the lake and stop off in ShadowClan, and if that’s no good, I’ll visit RiverClan on my way home. Mothwing won’t refuse if she has the burdock root. But even so, every extra paw step takes time Breezepelt may not have…

The rain was still falling, depressing Crowfeather ’s spirits even more. He headed for the thorn tunnel, but before he reached it, he heard Jayfeather calling out behind him. “Crowfeather, wait!”

Crowfeather halted and turned. Jayfeather was approaching him, carrying something in his mouth. In spite of everything, Crowfeather was impressed by the way the blind cat found his way across the camp, even skirting neatly around a puddle that lay in his way.

When Jayfeather reached him, Crowfeather saw that what he was carrying was burdock root; he dropped it on the ground at Crowfeather’s paws.

“I still don’t forgive you,” Jayfeather mewed. “Everything I said is still true. But I’m a medicine cat, and I can’t just let a cat die when I could save him. Not even Breezepelt. So here is the burdock root.”

Crowfeather could hardly catch his breath. “Th-thank you!” he stammered.

CT Ch 32

I like how Jayfeather doesn’t forgive him, which is within his right. I’m glad that the Erins do not give Crowfeather everything he wants. He (and Breezepelt) destroyed this relationship and he cannot fix it. He has to live with that. Very mature, Warriors. I’m surprised. Anyway, Breezepelt recovers, he and Heathertail have kittens together, Crowf is happy. The end.

This is a fantastic book. I love interpersonal conflicts like this. I’m a character reader so I eat up juicy personal dramas, especially when the characters are multi-layered like Crowfeather. I love my dysfunctional black cat family.

Errors: Like usual, thank you Warriors Fan Wiki for the info. The stuff in [brackets] is my own commentary.

Feathertail is said to have a gray pelt. The sun-drown-place is mistakenly called the sun-drown-water. Gorsetail is called a tom. Weaselfur is described as a gray-and-white she-cat. It is said at a Gathering, Bramblestar gives his place to Blackstar to make a report, although Blackstar has already made a report. Furthermore, it is said that Bramblestar nods to Onestar to begin his report right after it is said that he gave his place to Blackstar.

Bramblestar’s Storm (2014): 3/10 We start high with Crowfeather’s Trial and then dive straight into the pits of Hell with this sack of crap. This one is so boring. A great storm hits the Clans and floods the forest. Bramblestar has to lead ThunderClan through it all. Some kittypets join ThunderClan for a bit until the storm passes. Blah blah blah, it’s boring as shit. The only important things here are Dovewing officially breaking up with Bumblestripe, Dustpelt dying to badgers, Bramblestar and Squilf getting back together, and a kittypet called Frankie joining the Clan and becoming Stormpaw/cloud. Bramblestar is such a boring character in this. He spends most of his time flirting with some kittypet named Jessie (who is admittedly really fun) and after a while, he rekindles his relationship with Squilf. They have two kittens, Alderkit and Sparkkit. Remember when Yellowfang told Squilf she was barren? Yeah, she lied so Squilf would take Leaf’s kittens. Thanks, Yellowfang! That wasn’t a horrible thing to do. Not at all!

Bramblestar is a terrible character in general. I have a lot of complaints about him, but we’ll get to them when I discuss Squirrelflight’s Hope. NEXT!

Errors: There are many mistakes in the Allegiances: Lilypaw is called tortoiseshell-and-white. Blackstar is said to have one jet-black forepaw. Ferretclaw is said to be black-and-gray. Pouncetail is called Pouncefoot. Nightcloud is called Nightpelt. Cherryfall is said to be Mousewhisker’s sister. [She is Molewhisker’s sister] Dewpaw is called a she-cat. Snowpaw is called a she-cat. Squirrelflight says that she was at Bramblestar’s first Gathering. However, she was not alive then. Mistystar is said to be WindClan’s leader. The sun-drown-place is, once again, called “the sun-drown-water.”Shimmerpelt is said to be black. Squirrelflight says that she was Bramblestar's apprentice, when she was Dustpelt's apprentice. Graystripe calls Mistystar and Stonefur his children. This was corrected in later editions of the book. Brackenfur is said to be light brown. Mistystar is called Miststar. Amberpaw, Dewpaw, and Snowpaw are said to have become apprentices before Lilypaw and Seedpaw. Dovewing is said to have blue eyes. Poppyfrost is said to be sitting with Dewpaw, Lilypaw, Seedpaw, and Whitewing when Dewpaw lists the names of the Fallen. But three pages later, she's said to be coming back into camp with Dustpelt’s hunting patrol.

Hawkwing’s Journey (2016): 7/10 This one is about SkyClan leaving their home at the gorge when a rouge named Darktail takes over. We follow Hawkwing, the son of Sharpclaw and Cherrytail. He comes across Darktail one day and brings him into their home. After deceiving them for a while, Darktail drives out SkyClan, and SkyClan scatters. This is a tragedy through and through. SkyClan has once again been chased out of their home. Many cats die including Leafstar’s mate Billystorm and Hawkwing’s father Sharpclaw. Many cats become kittypets like Parsleyseed and Curlypaw. The Clan loses cats, some leave, and some die as they travel to the Clans’ lake home. Along the way, Hawkwing is chosen for the deputy position and becomes mates with Pebbleshine, whom he loses along the way. Pebbleshine was carrying his kits. These kits end up being the main protagonists of the next arc.

I have mixed feelings about this one. This is a tragic book. To see the once great SkyClan be tricked and forced out of their home and lose so many cats along the way hits you in the gut. Leafstar struggles to keep her Clan together and their morale high. They have no clue where they’re going. They’re putting all of their trust in Echosong, their medicine cat, as she receives dreams about where they’re supposed to go. She ends up getting a wound that becomes infected. She is unable to recover and eventually dies, leaving the Clan one last cryptic message: follow the blood trail. Overall this is a good book, but I do not like our protagonist Hawkwing. He’s impulsive, and a bit dumb, but he’s mostly dull. I despise his relationship with Pebbleshine. At first, as apprentices, he and Pebblepaw hated each other, but after he saved her once from a badger and grieved the loss of her mentor Billystorm with her, they suddenly fall in love. I don’t need to explain my deep hatred for Warriors’ “romances” anymore. I think I’ve made myself pretty clear. Also, Pebbleshine is his first cousin. Way to go, Erins.

And then there’s Darktail, the main bad guy of A Vision of Shadows. Here, he is a suave manipulator. He told SkyClan that he knew where the other Clans were and led them into several traps. Hawkwing is too dense to see that Darktail is duplicitous and keeps vouching for him. Hawkwing even sees the shady tom doing some weird things right outside their camp and he doesn’t report it. One night, a gang of rogues attack SkyClan. Darktail initially pretends to help SkyClan but turns on them when he pounces on Bouncefire and bites his throat, killing him. While fighting off a rogue, Hawkwing witnesses Darktail sneak up and murder Sharpclaw. Eventually, SkyClan is forced to flee. Darktail is a very effective villain in this book. He’s manipulative, smart, and ruthless. He retains his ruthlessness but he loses his manipulativeness in AVoS.

This one is pretty good. I wish Hawkwing was a more interesting character though.

Errors: Hawkwing is called Hawkpaw shortly after receiving his warrior name. When a hunting patrol sets out, it includes Sagenose, Harrybrook, and Rain, even though Rain is not a member of SkyClan. When the patrol returns, Harrybrook is replaced by Firefern.

Arc Six: A Vision of Shadows (2016-2018)

4/10

Books 1-3:

The medicine cats all receive the prophecy “Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.” Leafpool and Jayfeather see Alderpaw spying on them in the shared vision. Alderpaw and his sister Sparkpaw are the children of Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. They are apprenticed to the sibling duo Molewhisker and Cherryfall respectively. Alderpaw has anxiety. He’s always second-guessing himself and doubting his abilities. His mentor, Molewhisker, loses patience with him after many failed hunts. Meanwhile, Sparkpaw is a prodigy. Hunting, fighting, and other things warriors do come naturally to her. Poor Alderpaw cannot compete. During a Gathering, he meets the ShadowClan apprentices Needlepaw and Sleekpaw. The two mollies show no respect toward Rowanstar and make fun of him, which shocks Alderpaw. Later, Leafpool and Jayfeather convince Bramblestar to make Alderpaw into a medicine cat apprentice. You see, any cat who has a connection to StarClan is immediately thrown into the medicine den. So Alderpaw becomes a medicine cat apprentice under the extremely critical and mean Jayfeather.

Alderpaw receives a vision about some unknown cats. He confides in Sandstorm, Firestar’s mate, and she tells them that he saw Echosong and Leafstar, SkyClan cats. Alderpaw tells Bramblestar and he recaps Firestar’s Quest. He sends Alderpaw on a quest to check on SkyClan, however they have to keep the fifth Clan a secret for some reason. Alderpaw, Sparkpaw, Cherryfall, Molewhisker, and Sandstorm travel to the gorge where SkyClan lives. Along the way, they run into Needlepaw, the rebellious ShadowClan apprentice. She followed them from the lake territory. She tags along against their will and befriends Alderpaw. After being injured by a fox, Sandstorm gets an infection and dies, much to Alderpaw’s dismay. The cats bury her before continuing on their journey.

Eventually, they run across the gorge and are escorted to “SkyClan’s” leader, Darktail. The Clan cats are weirded out by how strange and creepy SkyClan is. All except Needlepaw who has taken a liking to a gray tom named Rain. Alderpaw wanders out and runs across an actual SkyClan warrior, Mistfeather. He tells the medicine cat that the cats in the gorge are not SkyClan. They’re the rogues who drove out SkyClan from their home. Darktail shows up, kills Mistfeather, and imprisons Alderpaw and his group. One night, the Clan cats escape but split apart when crossing the river. Needlepaw and Alderpaw find each other and begin searching for the others. Along the way, they find two kittens in a tunnel by a road. Needlepaw names the black and white one Violetkit and Alderpaw names the gray one Twigkit. Thinking these kittens have something to do with the prophecy, they bring them back to the Clans. The other traveling cats had made it back safely. Once the apprentices arrive, a ThunderClan patrol takes the kittens to their camp, much to Needlepaw’s chagrin. At the Gathering, the cats discuss the kittens and their role in the prophecy. Since a ShadowClan cat found and named one of them, Rowanstar demands he take one of the kits so that ShadowClan can have a say in the prophecy. He takes Violetkit away from her sister.

The next book follows the sisters. Twigkit is raised by Lilyheart in ThunderClan and she’s having a good time. She hangs around Alderpaw in the medicine den and is eager to help. Rowanstar arrives and he tells Bramblestar that Littlecloud is dying. He doesn’t have an apprentice so ShadowClan will be without a medicine cat. Leafpool offers to help. She and Alderpaw, carrying herbs, go to ShadowClan. Before they leave, Twigkit gives Alderpaw a feather to deliver to Violetkit. In ShadowClan, Rowanstar and his deputy Crowfrost ask Leafpool to stay and train Puddlekit. She reluctantly agrees. Alderpaw meets up with Needlepaw. He talks about Needlepaw’s lack of involvement in Violetkit’s life. They go see Violetkit who is being raised by Pinenose, a molly who doesn’t want her. Alderpaw delivers Twigkit’s gift. With Needlepaw, they discuss a secret meeting between the sisters so that they can play together. Violetkit is not welcomed in the Clan. She’s alone the majority of the time. However, that starts to change when Needlepaw takes her out of camp to visit Twigkit and Alderpaw. The sisters play until it is time to go. Violetkit is sad to see her go and laments about being unwanted. Needlepaw vows that she’ll take care of her from now on.

Earlier Bramblestar sent out another patrol to the gorge. He told some of the cats that they left to search for Twigkit’s mother, but this was a lie. They come back and report that they found no one there. Later, a ThunderClan patrol reports seeing a group of rogues fighting WindClan. Bramblestar, Alderpaw, and some others go to help. Alderpaw is shocked to see Darktail and his group. Darktail orders his cats to flee. Furzepelt dies and Onestar loses a life. Alderpaw tells his father that those cats were the same ones who attacked his group at the gorge. Bramblestar forms patrols to go and warn the other Clans. Alderpaw is on the ShadowClan patrol. The rogues’ scent leads out of the pine forest. Later, Needlepaw and Sleekpaw take Violetkit out. Violetkit thinks she’s going to see Twigkit, but she learns quickly that the apprentices are going to see the rogues. Needlepaw flirts with Rain a bit as Darktail goes on about the Clans being draconian or something. Blah blah blah, the apprentices and Violetkit return home only to be cornered by Tawnypelt. Rowanstar reprimands Needlepaw for taking a kitten out of camp. Needlepaw challenges him, questioning the rules and Rowanstar’s ability to lead. Juniperpaw, Sleekpaw, Beepaw, and others agree with her. Rowanstar forces Needlepaw to muck out the elders’ den as punishment. Later, Needlepaw convinces Violetkit to visit Rain and the rogues. Violetkit is almost killed by an owl, but is saved by Rain and Raven. They allow her to eat and rest with them. Darktail goes on about how he understands how it feels to be unwanted or whatever, attempting to appeal to her. The next morning, the rogues escort her to the camp. There, they ask to join ShadowClan. Rowanstar refuses. The next day, they try again, this time offering prey. Rowanstar refuses again and sends them away. Needlepaw and a bunch of other young cats question Rowanstar’s decision. The argument peaks when Needlepaw declares that she is leaving and Violetkit is coming with her. Juniperpaw and Sleekpaw leave as well and no one stops them. A few days pass. At the Gathering, Leafpool tells Alderpaw that Violetkit was taken to the rogues by Needlepaw. Rowanstar tells the cats that ShadowClan was attacked by the rogues and more of his cats left to join them.

Four months pass, Twigpaw is apprenticed to Ivypool. She finally learns about the patrol that “was searching for her mother.” She confronts Alderpaw about this and he reveals that it was a lie. Since he is forbidden to tell anyone about SkyClan for some reason, Twigpaw is upset. She flees to find Violetpaw and asks her to join her in her search for their mother. She runs into Needlepaw (now Needletail) and Violetpaw. Violetpaw doesn’t really care about their mother. Now in Violetpaw’s POV, Needletail escorts her back to the rogues’ camp. Needletail’s boyfriend Rain questions Darktail’s authority which leads to a fight. Darktail wins and slashes one of Rain’s eyes, half-blinding him. Violetpaw is so shaken by this that she vomits and later flees back to ShadowClan. Rowanstar readily accepts her back. Dawnpelt becomes her mentor. After spending the day searching for herbs for Puddleshine, Dawnpelt and Violetpaw come back to find Rowanstar sick with an illness later called “yellowcough.” Puddleshine needs an herb called lungwort to cure the leader, but the herb only grows in WindClan’s territory. Puddleshine, Violetpaw, and some others go to WindClan, but are harshly sent away by Onestar. Onestar is deeply shaken by the rogues’s arrival and resents ShadowClan, more specifically Rowanstar, for not chasing the cats out of their land.

Twigpaw, Ivypool, Fernsong, and Alderpaw go to search for Twigpaw’s mother for real. Alderpaw leads them to the place where he and Needletail found the kittens. Twigpaw concludes that her mother was killed by a car. Later that evening, she sneaks into ShadowClan to tell Violetpaw, but Violetpaw already figured that their mother was dead. Twigpaw gets caught and is held hostage for leverage. Scorchfur and a few others believe if they keep Twigpaw trapped, ThunderClan may cave and help them coax Onestar into giving them lungwort. Not a great plan, but it’s something. The next morning, Crowfrost, Tawnypelt, and Scorchfur go to ThunderClan with their proposition. Leafpool and Alderpaw go to Onestar and are predictably rejected. Back in ShadowClan, Violetpaw likes having Twigpaw around. Twigpaw loves helping and so she assists Puddleshine in the medicine cat den. Puddleshine’s siblings, Lionpaw and Birchpaw, violently fight over a thrush which is weirdly seen as normal ShadowClan cat behavior. Twigpaw is shocked at how violent they are, making her uncomfortable in the Clan. Two days later, Bramblestar comes to take Twigpaw. Crowfrost lets them take her. Scorchfur and a few other ShadowClan cats are upset by this decision and question Crowfrost. Many cats within their camp are sick with yellowcough so it makes sense as to why Crowfrost wouldn’t want to fight ThunderClan for an apprentice especially since ThunderClan did act out their propostition, but it failed. Scorchfur is being difficult for no reason. Eventually, Crowfrost comes down with the sickness, leaving ShadowClan without a leader.

After the half-moon medicine cat meeting, WindClan’s medicine cat Kestrelflight and the deputy Harespring lead the other medicine cats to a patch of lungwort on WindClan land. Harespring and Kestrelflight conspired behind Onestar’s back because neither one could sit back and watch another Clan suffer when they could do something to help them. Back in ShadowClan, Crowfrost has died while Rowanstar recovered. Tigerheart becomes the new deputy. Gotta love that nepotism. Some cats refuse to listen to Rowanstar because he’s weak or some shit. Later, Darktail and his cronies show up and take over ShadowClan. Tigerheart, Rowanstar, and Tawnypelt all go to ThunderClan for refuge. Needletail manipulates convinces Violetpaw to stay with her even though Violetpaw doesn’t like the rogues. Needletail sure is a great friend… Later, Alderpaw gets his full name, Alderheart.

Next book, Alderheart receives another vision about SkyClan. The four Clans are prepared to battle the rogues out of ShadowClan territory. As they try to sneak in, Sleekwhisker finds them and alerts the rogues. They battle. Darktail pins down Onestar and whispers something in his ears. Onestar is so shaken by whatever Darktail said that he calls for a retreat, ruining the battle for the other Clans. Twigpaw is cornered by Needletail, Rain, and Violetpaw. Needletail urges Violetpaw to attack her sister. Twigpaw gets her leg trapped in a hole, twisting it, allowing Violetpaw to pin her down. She’s about to bite her when Lionblaze intervenes and saves Twigpaw. The Clans retreat. After a tense Gathering where everyone gangs up on Onestar, Alderheart talks to his dad and tells him that they need to tell the other Clans about SkyClan. Bramblestar agrees and finally tells ThunderClan and the few ShadowClan residents about SkyClan. Bramblestar, Alderheart, and some others go to RiverClan and WindClan to inform them. None of them care because the rogues are a bigger threat. Mistystar is not willing to fight again until her Clan has healed and Onestar is being defensive and unreasonable. He closes his Clans’ borders, effectively cutting WindClan off from everyone else.

In ShadowClan, Violetpaw is taking care of the elders whilst thinking about how horrified Twigpaw looked when she threatened her. Needletail storms in and tells Violetpaw to let the elders take care of themselves. Violetpaw reluctantly leaves them. She opens up to Needletail about Twigpaw and Needletail manipulates I mean, reassures her that the Kin are her family now and that she should forget about Twigpaw. They go to check on Darktail in the medicine cat den. The rogue leader praises Puddleshine for his help. Poor Puddleshine is overworked. When the mollies and Puddleshine leave, Rain decides to stay to watch over Darktail. Violetpaw lingers around in the shadows to watch them. When Darktail drifts off to sleep, Rain leans over and smothers him. Violetpaw watches in horror as Rain seemingly kills their leader. He spots her and begins to stalk toward her, only for Darktail to rise and slice Rain’s throat. He says that he always knew Rain would betray him one day.

Back in ThunderClan, Twigpaw’s leg has healed. Alderheart takes a nap and has another vision about SkyClan. He sees a tomcat who looks similar to Twig and Violet. He concludes that he is their kin. Back in ShadowClan, Violetpaw tells Needletail about Rain. Needletail is all broken up about her boyfriend’s death. Darktail starts treating Violetpaw favorably much to her dismay. Three random kittypets named Zelda, Loki, and Max are swindled into joining the Kin. Darktail makes them swear a blood oath and refuses to let them leave. In ThunderClan, Alderheart gets a dream about Hawkwing living in Barley’s barn. Alderheart tells his dad about this and then Bramblestar tells the Clan. The cats don’t think SkyClan is important right now however Twigpaw is happy to hear that the gray tom Alderheart saw may be her kin. Ivypool, her mentor, is against searching for SkyClan much to Twigpaw’s sadness. Later, Twigpaw goes missing. Alderheart tries to look for her, but then Purdy collapses. Purdy has a heart attack. Before he dies, he reassures Alderheart that he is a good medicine cat. The Clan (and the fandom) mourn over the death of a beloved elder. Alderheart concludes that Twigpaw went to search for SkyClan. He tells Bramble and then Bramble sends a patrol consisting of Dovewing, her secret boyfriend Tigerheart, and the third wheel Molewhisker to look for her. Ivypool, who is still weird about her sister, is upset that Dove and Tiger are near each other.

Some days pass. A few cats have left the Kin. Dawnpelt tries to coax Violetpaw into leaving with her but Violet refuses, wanting to watch over her “friend” Needletail as she mourns. Dawnpelt confronts Darktail. Violetpaw is shocked to see Darktail seemingly allow Dawnpelt to leave. We later learn that she was killed by Darktail’s minions. Meanwhile, Twigpaw is traveling. The next day, Darktail and his Kin gear up to attack RiverClan. The leader sends the ShadowClan elders and the kittypets into the fray first. RiverClan is defeated and chased out of their home. The kittypet Max, the ShadowClan queen Pinenose, and four faceless RiverClan cats are killed. Darktail holds the injured RiverClan warriors hostage and refuses to let the Clan cats bury their dead. Mistystar and her surviving warriors seek refuge in ThunderClan. Mothwing convinces Alderheart to help her sneak into her old den to check on the prisoners. The two of them run into Violetpaw, Needletail, and Raven. Mothwing tells them that they are here to take some of her herbs. The disillusioned Needletail allows them in as long as they tell Puddleshine what the herbs do. While Mothwing and Puddleshine chat, Alderheart asks Needletail where Dawnpelt is. She doesn’t know. He realizes that Needle is now scared of the rogues. The RiverClan prisoners are festering and starving. Darktail only feeds them when they swear loyalty to his cult. Only Reedwhisker holds out until Darktail tortures him. After this, Darktail talks to Violetpaw- saying weird shit about how she is the only cat he trusts. He talks about how some herbs were stolen. Violetpaw tells him that Moth and Alder took them. She is reluctant to tell him that Needletail allowed them. He lies and says that he won’t hurt Needletail. Violetpaw then confirms that her “friend” did do it. Darktail immediately makes Needletail a prisoner.

In ThunderClan, Dovewing, Tigerheart, and Molewhisker come back and confirm that they found Twigpaw’s blood on the road, suggesting that she was hit by a car. Ivypool and Alderheart blame themselves for not helping her initially. The next day, a patrol reports that the rogues are on their way. The Clan suggest talking to cats inside the Kin to help them out. Later, while out hunting with Darktail, Violetpaw sneaks away and flees to ThunderClan. There, she and the Clan elect her to be their spy. She is also broken up about Twigpaw’s supposed death.

That night, Violetpaw sneaks out a few of the prisoners. She and Alderheart discuss doping Darktail and his loyalists so that they can get more prisoners out. Meanwhile, Twigpaw was healed by a veterinarian and then she escapes to continue her search. Eventually, she finds SkyClan and her father Hawkwing. Back in the lake territories, Violetpaw tampers with Darktail’s food and delivers it to him. However, Sleekwhisker saw her doing something to the food and warns Darktail. He and Sleekwhisker take Violetpaw and Needletail to the lake. There, Darktail begins to drown Needletail until Violetpaw admits that she did dope the prey. Darktail finally allows Needle to prove her loyalty by killing Violetpaw. We get an intense scene where Violetpaw believes her “friend” is about to kill her but is shocked when Needletail jumps on her, claws sheathed, and tells her to run. She then jumps on the rogues, allowing Violetpaw to flee. Needletail sacrificed her life to save hers.

The Clans arrive at RiverClan to find the prisoners and the former ShadowClan cats already fighting the rogues. The rogues flee, liberating RiverClan’s home. The ShadowClan cats beg for Rowanstar’s forgiveness. They all go back to ThunderClan and find Twigpaw there with Skyclan. The medicine cats go to the Moonpool to commune with StarClan. Firestar tells them that all five Clans are needed to defeat the rogues. They need WindClan. A patrol goes to WindClan and finds them being attacked by the rogues. They help fend them off and then confront Onestar. Onestar finally tells them why he’s been acting shady and hostile. The cats leave to fetch their leaders and then he tells the tale. Long ago, back in the old territories, he dated a kittypet named Smoke. Pregnant, she begged him to let her into WindClan, but he refused her because he didn’t want to expose the relationship. She gave birth to only one surviving kitten. That kitten was Darktail. Onestar rejected him as well. Smoke then raised their son to hate him and the Clans. When the rogues arrived, Darktail declared that he would destroy the Clans hence why Onestar was desperate for Rowanstar to chase him away. During the battle for ShadowClan, Darktail whispered to him that a cat who kills his son would go to the Dark Forest. This scared Onestar so badly that he fled. He is on his last life and he didn’t want to find out if Darktail was telling the truth. The leaders reassure him and eventually, he finally agrees to join the fight.

During yet another StarClan meeting, Firestar tells the medicine cats to “remember the Clans’ names.” Alderheart figures out that Firestar is referring to the Clans’ “special skills” that they supposedly have. They plan their battle strategies around their strengths. ShadowClan sneaks up on the rogues, WindClan chases them down, ThunderClan faces them head-on, SkyClan falls from the trees on top of them, and RiverClan launches out of the water to startle them. Most of the rogues flee. Darktail and Onestar fight one-v-one, eventually rolling into the water and drowning.

We end the book with the Clans discussing what to do with SkyClan. The end… of the first three books.

Mid-Arc Discussion

This first half is pretty good. I like the first book, The Apprentice’s Quest, quite a lot though it is a bit boring and slow at points. Sandstorm’s death is admittedly sad, Alderpaw is a refreshing take on a Warriors’ protag, his friendship with Needlepaw is super cute and funny, and the traveling group trying to figure out what tf is wrong with “SkyClan” was tense and engaging. Book two, Thunder and Shadow, was fine. Onestar’s shadiness and paranoia about Darktail were intriguing. ShadowClan’s dysfunction, while a bit dumb and confusing, was fascinating. I like Twigkit but not Violetkit (I’ll get to it). Book three, Shattered Sky, is fantastic. No joke. It’s paced very well. Twigpaw leaving to search for her birth Clan was a great character moment for her. Her determination, righteous, and drive made me love her. Every scene with Violetpaw is intense, scary, and tragic. Darktail and the Kin are easily some of the scariest foes the Clans faced in a while. Darktail is ruthless and creepy. Rain’s death scene shocked me when I first read it. Incredible scene. Very scary. And though the final battle is silly, I love how it ended with Onestar wrestling his son down to the lake and drowning alongside him. That sacrifice was a great way to end such a controversial character.

All that praise aside, I have some major complaints that stop this first half from being all the way good. First,

Alderheart: Alderpaw was so interesting. He was always second-guessing himself, he doubted his abilities, and he feared disappointing his loved ones. His worrying led to him failing his warrior apprentice duties over and over. He had textbook anxiety. He was a very relatable character and a refreshing protag for Warriors. Even when he becomes a medicine cat and goes on his quest, he still doubted himself, and eventually, his quest failed. Sandstorm died and SkyClan was not found. However, he finds and names Twigkit, bonding with her and becoming a big brother to her. I really liked Alderpaw. And then he loses all of his personality by the start of book two. He becomes yet another Leafpool-esque camera character who is just here to give us a look into what is happening in ThunderClan. Unlike Leafpool, who is given more to do over the series, Alderheart is never given anything. His anxiety, gone. His personality, gone. His arc, gone. By book two, he is replaced by Twigpaw, who is admittedly more interesting. It’s disappointing to see a character who is so relatable to not only anxious kids, but anxious adults as well get shafted and pushed aside by his own story. RIP Alderheart’s potential.

ShadowClan: My god, what the hell is going on with the cats of ShadowClan? The apprentices are misbehaving in ways never before seen and the supposed cause for such disrespect is “Rowanstar’s weak leadership.” I’m sorry what? Tigerheart was Sleekpaw’s mentor. Dawnpelt and Crowfrost are her parents. So shouldn’t they share the blame too? And why is Scorchfur so combative? When Twigpaw was captured and then released, Scorchfur blames Crowfrost for not fighting hard enough for her when like… why would he fight? The Clan is slowly suffering, their young overworked medicine cat is struggling, their leader is leaking lives, and ThunderClan did what they asked but failed so why would Crowfrost fight for Twigpaw? Later, Scorchfur sides with Darktail and pushes out Rowanstar because “Darktail is a stronger leader.” I don’t understand this at all. These motherfuckers know Darktail and his cult murdered a WindClan cat, but they just let them in because fuck Rowanstar I guess. The older cats blame him for making ShadowClan look weak during peacetimes, but like… that was Blackstar. Blackstar during his final months after the Great Battle wanted nothing but peace amongst the Clans. He brought ShadowClan away from their ferocious past. Why are they blaming Rowanstar for that now? I’m just so confused and the unfounded Rowanstar slander only gets worse. I don’t even like Rowanstar, but I feel bad for him!

Darktail: Hawkwing’s Journey Darktail and AVoS Darktail are two different cats. HJ’s Darktail is suave, manipulative, cunning, and cruel. AVoS Darktail is cruel… and that’s it. I like the idea of Darktail. He’s basically a cult leader. He convinces unwanted cats to join his “family” and he rules over them with an iron fist. However, he’s too open with his evilness. It doesn’t make sense why the ShadowClan cats join him when they know he is a murderous monster who attacked WindClan and killed a Clan cat for seemingly no reason. If he was more subtle and retained his charm and intelligence from HJ, his devoted following would make more sense. We get a scene where he is manipulating Violetkit, saying that they’re the same and that he knows how it feels to be unwanted, but she never believes him because she witnesses him and his cronies doing evil shit. The rogues are always fighting each other. They don’t respect each other. Darktail slashes Rain’s eye, scaring the shit out of Violetpaw and making her leave. Not once does he attempt to convince the ShadowClan cats to follow him. They just do because fuck Rowanstar. It would’ve been so cool to see one of our protags get enchanted by his words and become devoted to his cause only to snap out of it when Darktail’s progressively worse actions start to conflict with her own morals. I want a cult leader villain! There are smatterings of that within Darktail, but like always with Warriors’ villains, his potential is wasted. He’s just a more effective Scourge at the end of the day. Lame.

And then finally,

Needletail

Before I get into the weeds here, I want to say that I do like aspects of this character. I adore her relationship with Alderpaw/heart. She’s a foil to him. He’s by-the-books and quiet, she’s rebellious and outspoken. It’s nice to see a male/female friendship that doesn’t turn romantic, especially in this godforsaken series. She teases him, but she likes him. It takes him a while to warm up to her. It’s cute. There’s this one part that melts my heart every time.

“Anyway,” [Needlepaw] went on, “what are you doing here with Leafpool?”

“She’s my mentor now,” Alderpaw replied. “We’re going to—”

“You’re a medicine cat apprentice?” Needlepaw’s eyes stretched wide with amazement. “You didn’t say that when we met before.”

“I wasn’t, then,” Alderpaw explained.

“Wow, that’s really cool!” Needlepaw sounded impressed. “You must get to learn lots of stuff.”

“Oh, yes, lots. Different kinds of herbs and what they’re used for, and how to stop wounds from bleeding . . .” For the first time Alderpaw found himself boasting, proud of his position as a medicine cat apprentice. “Tonight Leafpool is taking me to the Moonpool to meet with StarClan,” he finished.

“That’s awesome,” Needlepaw breathed out.

The Apprentice’s Quest, pg 107

Aww! She finds his job cool and it gives him an ego boost. That’s so cute! I like their contrast and unlikely friendship. A lot of people like her because she is this rebellious teenager-type character who is pretty dark gray morality-wise. BUT, her relationship with Violetkit/paw is toxic as fuck and it’s super sad and rage-inducing that the authors did not catch what they were writing. We are constantly told that they are close like sisters but… no. No they’re not. I don’t believe that. Needletail knows Violetpaw is lonely in ShadowClan so she uses that to control and manipulate her into remaining loyal to her.

Let’s start from the beginning. When Alderpaw goes with Leafpool to check on the dying Littlecloud, Alderpaw chastises Needlepaw for not looking after Violetkit. They arrange a meeting between the sisters and, later, we get this.

“But I belong with her! Not with ShadowClan.” Anger surged through Violetkit’s chest. “ShadowClan doesn’t want me. No one cares about me there. I’m so lonely!”

Needlepaw’s eyes glistened kindly. “I know how that feels, kit.” She ran her tail softly along Violetkit’s spine. Then she puffed out her chest as though she’d made an important decision. “But that’s going to change. From now on, I’m going to look out for you. You’re going to be fine.”

Violetkit blinked at her, a flicker of hope piercing her sorrow. It still hurt terribly that she didn’t have her sister in ShadowClan, and that so many of the cats there barely seemed to notice her. But she saw sincerity in Needlepaw’s eyes. Maybe now all that would change. Maybe now she finally had a friend.

Thunder and Shadow, pg 73

Needlepaw declares she will look after her. How sweet. Then her boyfriend Rain shows up and all that changes. When Needlepaw is punished for sneaking Violetkit out of camp, that night she begs the kitten to sneak out again alone and talk to her creepy boyfriend and his murderous friends. Violetkit, indebted to her, does this- risking her life.

But she’d never been in the forest at night alone. What if she met a fox? And what if she was caught? Rowanstar would be mad. Fear sparked beneath her pelt.

Needlepaw seemed to read her mind. “You’ll be fine. If a warrior patrol catches you, tell them I made you go. And keep an eye out for foxes and owls. Fox stench is easy to spot. Just stay away from it. Check the canopy for owls. Their eyes flash in the dark.”

Owls? Violetkit shivered. She never wanted to see an owl again!

“You have to go!” Needlepaw looked desperate. “Rain will be expecting me, and if I don’t turn up, he might not like me anymore.”

Sympathy filled Violetkit’s heart. Needlepaw was her only real friend in the Clan. She’d been so kind. No one else had taken her to see Twigkit. “Okay,” she agreed.

Thunder and Shadow, pgs 189-190

Violetkit, a young lonely child, is nearly killed by an owl whilst doing her friend’s bidding. Incredible friendship. This was the first instance that made me think Needlepaw didn’t actually care about her. She is using Violetkit’s desperation for friendship for selfish needs. This behavior only gets worse.

[Context: Needlepaw is leaving to join the Kin.]

Violetkit stared as Needlepaw padded past her. “Don’t go!” Her heart twisted with grief. Needlepaw was her only friend in the Clan. And yet she’d said that Violetkit was just another mouth to feed. Was I wrong to trust her?

Needlepaw met Violetkit’s gaze. “You’re coming with me.”

“I am?” Shock flashed through Violetkit. She felt limp with relief. She is my friend!

“You’re not staying here with these kittypets.” Needlepaw whisked Violetkit forward with her tail. She glanced back at Rowanstar. “I’m taking the kit because I found her.”

“You can’t!” Leafpool hurried forward. “She belongs to the Clans. StarClan needs her to be here.”

“I found her,” Needlepaw repeated.

Thunder and Shadow, pgs 221-222

“I’m taking the kit because I found her.” She doesn’t even ask Violetkit if she wants to come. Granted, Violetkit would have said yes because she is loyal to her, but it is telling how Needlepaw declares that Violetkit is coming with her regardless of what she thought. She found her so she owns her. Gross…

[Context: Twigpaw finds Violetpaw to talk about their mother.]

“Don’t you want to find her?” Frustration welled in Twigpaw’s throat. The bracken behind Violetpaw swished.

“Find who?” Needlepaw padded out.

Violetpaw jerked her muzzle round, her pelt pricking guiltily. “Hi, Needletail.”…

[Needletail] stopped beside Violetpaw. “Find who?” she repeated, her ears flattening.

Twigpaw lifted her chin. “Our mother,” she mewed, ignoring the fear rippling through her pelt. … “I think she might be alive and searching for us. I want Violetpaw to help me look for her.”

“Why?” Needletail leaned close, her eyes narrowing. “She has a family here with the rogues.” Her gaze flicked to Violetpaw. “Don’t you?”

“Yes,” Violetpaw answered quickly. “The rogues are my kin now. They’re way nicer to me than ShadowClan used to be. And Needletail is like a sister.”

Thunder and Shadow, pg 246

The “she has a family now [looks down] don’t you?” made my skin crawl. She is actively pushing Violetpaw’s real family away from her, isolating her further and forcing her to become more reliant on Needletail for support. This is controlling behavior. Needletail is not Violetpaw’s friend. The next chapter after this follows Violetpaw. In this scene, we see Needletail flirting with Rain and showing more affection toward him than she does Violetpaw, her supposed sister. After Rain’s eye is slashed, Violetpaw contemplates leaving.

She could hear Needletail murmuring beyond the long grass. Needletail had been growing closer and closer to Rain. She won’t leave him. Especially not now. And if they did become mates, would Needletail still have time for Violetpaw? I’d be alone here.

Thunder and Shadow, pg 259

I 100% believe if Rain and Needletail became mates, she would have abandoned Violetpaw. The only reason why Needletail is even with the rogues is because she has a crush on Rain. That’s it. She likes having Violetpaw around because she knows she can control her, but as she gets closer to Rain, her grip on Violetpaw loosens and the apprentice eventually leaves the evil rogues for her own safety. However, she feels guilty for doing so because Needletail’s manipulations are in her head. Back in ShadowClan, there’s a moment where she finds Needletail and Rain again while out looking for herbs.

[Truncated]

“Well, well.” Needletail slid out from behind a pine and blocked her path. “Look who we have here.”

Violetpaw’s heart leaped. “Needletail!” … Needletail scowled and looked over her shoulder. Rain followed her onto the path and stopped beside her. …

Violetpaw felt an icy chill settle in her belly. Needletail didn’t look pleased to see her. “I’m sorry I left like I did,” she mewed hurriedly. “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Needletail narrowed her eyes. “So you ran away in the night.”

“I wasn’t running away.” Violetpaw pushed back guilt. “I just didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore.”

Was that hurt sharpening Needletail’s gaze? Violetpaw leaned closer. “I’m really sorry. I should have talked to you. But . . .” Her mew trailed away as she glanced at Rain. Were Needletail and Rain mates now? Perhaps she’d chosen the right time to leave. Maybe Needletail didn’t have room for friends in her life anymore.

She realized that Needletail was staring at her, malice shimmering in her green gaze. There was no hurt there now, only threat. Violetpaw backed away. “H-how are the others?” she asked nervously.

“What do you care?” Needletail hissed. “You’re a ShadowClan cat now. That is where you went, isn’t it?” She sniffed Violetpaw’s pelt. “You smell like a Clan cat.” Violetpaw suddenly felt very small. “Why did you go back?” Needletail’s question sounded more like an accusation.

Violetpaw glanced at Rain again, staring at his lost eye. Rain’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “I think she was scared someone would spoil her pretty face.”

“Coward, eh?” Needletail stepped closer.

Violetpaw flinched. “I belong in a Clan,” she mewed quietly.

“Traitor!” Needletail’s ears flattened.You betrayed your Clan! Violetpaw wished she had the courage to say it. Needletail had been born in ShadowClan. They were her kin. They only took me in because of the prophecy. But Rain and Needletail were staring at her malevolently.

“Every cat has to find their own path.”

Needletail snorted. “You even sound like a Clan cat!”

“It’s where I belong.”…

Needletail backed away, her eyes glittering. “So you let me wake up alone, wondering where you’d gone!”

Violetpaw hesitated. That is sadness! Was the sleek silver she-cat truly hurt that Violetpaw had left her? “I couldn’t stay,” she mewed helplessly.

Needletail showed her teeth. “We could take you back with us now. I’m sure Darktail would be delighted to have his special Clan cat back.”

“I don’t want to go back to the rogues!” Violetpaw tried to stop her paws from trembling.

“Who says you get a choice?” Needletail hissed.

Violetpaw stared at her pleadingly. “I’m sorry, Needletail. I just want to go home.”

Needletail glanced at Rain. “What do you think?” she asked. “Should we take her back to camp with us?”

Rain stared at Violetpaw, his gaze betraying nothing. …

“Well?” Needletail pressed. “Should we take her?”

“No.” [Rain said] …

Twigpaw had left; Kinkfur had died; Needletail was no longer her friend. Did I think she would be, after I left her like that? She couldn’t forget the flash of pain in Needletail’s gaze as she’d spoken about waking up and finding Violetpaw gone.

Thunder and Shadow, pgs 380-385

A long passage, but an important one. This is where the story loses me. The narrative wants us to believe Needletail actually likes Violetpaw and was genuinely hurt when she left, however, I don’t buy it. Why is she being this fucking cruel to her if she cares? She’s guilt-tripping her! “How dare you leave me! Why didn’t you consider my feelings?!”

Not once in this scene or any other scene does she take Violetpaw’s feelings into account (unless you want to count her sacrifice but I’ll get there). Violetpaw may read her expressions as hurt and maybe Needletail actually is, but she’s still being a very bad friend here. Have you considered how a young teen witnessing a guy get his eye ripped out of his fucking skull by her leader might make her fear for her life just a little bit? Have you considered that she may be traumatized by such an event, Needletail? I guess not because you don’t care.

Needletail is selfish and demanding. She could have searched for Violetpaw but she didn’t. Why? Because she loves Rain, this dangerous rogue, more than the kitten she found and raised. Remember how she had to be guilt-tripped into caring for her by Alderpaw? She never gave a damn until she was called out. Then she realized just how great it is to have a young desperate obedient child cling to every word she says. This is someone she can use to fulfill her selfish desires. She can control this person. But then she met up with Rain and started spending more time with him, allowing the manipulated child to gain autonomy and leave her ass for safety. And Needletail is mad about that. Mad that her tool left her. She could have left too when Rain was hurt, but she didn’t because she didn’t care that much. Clearly. But when she confronts the molly who “abandoned her” she makes her feel guilty. Luckily, Violetpaw concludes that Needletail is not her friend… until-

Violetpaw glanced at Needletail, who was watching Rowanstar’s retreat with satisfaction. It’s like I don’t even know her, Violetpaw thought. But then she swallowed hard. Except I do. Hadn’t Needletail always questioned all the rules of the Clan? It was what had always scared Violetpaw about her—and thrilled her.

Violetpaw tore her eyes from Needletail and headed after her Clanmates.

“Wait!” Needletail’s mew sounded in her ear as she passed. The silver she-cat’s scent washed over her. “Where are you going? I thought you’d stay. Please don’t leave me again!”

Violetpaw met Needletail’s pleading gaze. Even as her paws tingled with eagerness to leave, the fact that Needletail wanted her to stay warmed a place deep inside her. “You don’t need me. You have plenty of friends here.” Her gaze flashed to Rain. “And you have him.”

“But they’re not my kin, not like how you are.” Needletail stared at her anxiously.

My kin. She’d felt the same way about Needletail. Guilt surged through Violetpaw. Needletail had been the only cat in ShadowClan who had always been kind to her, and she had repaid her by abandoning her without a word. Could she leave her again? Was that fair?

“Please stay,” Needletail begged. “We can make ShadowClan the Clan it used to be, before you came. A great Clan. A brave Clan. You’ll be proud to be part of it.” She looked around the rogues. “These are cats who understand what it’s like not to belong. They will be as loyal to you as I have been. We’re like kin now. Can you say that about any other cat you’ve known?”

Grief clawed at Violetpaw’s heart as she remembered how ThunderClan had let Rowanstar take her from her sister without lifting a paw to stop him, and how Twigpaw had walked away from her to return to her Clanmates. Needletail was right. She was the closest thing Violetpaw had ever known to real kin.

She blinked at Needletail. “Okay,” she mewed. “I’ll stay.”

Thunder and Shadow, pgs 418-420

My hatred! My rage! “But they’re not my kin, not like how you are.” “They will be as loyal to you as I have been. We are kin now. Can you say that about any other cat you’ve known?” Fucking vile, dude. It can’t just be me who sees just how manipulative and disgusting this is, right? Again, the Erins really want us to believe that Needletail loves her like a sister but I don’t buy it! Needletail has a family! Real kin! Berryheart and Sparrowtail are her parents! Scorchfur and Snowbird are her grandparents. She has a fuckton of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and some of them are in the Kin with her. But no, Violetpaw is her real kin. She knows how desperate Violetpaw is for family and connection and so she uses this card again to control her and to further isolate her from Twigpaw! She has never shown loyalty to Violetpaw. The only time she ever did anything selfless for Violetpaw before her “valiant sacrifice” was when she took her out to see Twigkit and Alderpaw. That was it. Other than that, she’s been leading Violetpaw around. Violetpaw was loyal to her until she gained some independence and rightfully ran away only to be swindled back in by her shit-ass “friend” who guilt-trips her into rejoining this dangerous group of rogues she doesn’t even like!

“Can you say that about any other cat you’ve known?” Yes! Twigpaw! Violetpaw’s actual sister who you’ve been pushing away! Granted, Violetpaw is being all weird about Twigpaw “leaving her” when she was captured by ShadowClan, but Needletail is further isolating her by saying this shit and making Violetpaw not trust her own sister! This is vile. The abuse is so blatant and it grosses me out that the Erins want us to see them as “close friends.” How can you write this and not be aware of how disgusting this is? Needletail is toxic and abusive. Period. I can’t see it any other way.

Moving on, we get this infamous scene in Shattered Sky.

As Twigpaw turned around, wondering what she could do now to help her Clan, she spotted a small black-and-white cat emerging from the shadows underneath a bush. “Violetpaw!” she gasped.

Her sister halted, and the two she-cats stared at each other for a moment. Twigpaw could see that Violetpaw looked thinner and taller than when she had seen her last. Blood trickled from a scratch on one of her ears, but to Twigpaw’s relief she looked mostly unhurt.

“Are you okay?” Twigpaw blurted out after a moment.

Violetpaw’s eyes widened at the question. She didn’t reply, and for a couple of heartbeats neither cat moved. Twigpaw knew that she should spring into attack, but every hair on her pelt shrank from the thought of hurting her sister.

“I miss you,” she whispered.

Violetpaw’s jaws parted as if she was about to speak, but just then a snarl came from behind her.

“What are you waiting for?” The long-furred gray rogue, Rain, ducked out from beneath the same bush, followed by Needletail, who had grown larger and more formidable since Twigpaw had last seen her. They separated, moving to either side of Twigpaw, their eyes menacing. Twigpaw flinched back, trying to keep all three cats in view.

“She’s the enemy,” Needletail hissed to Violetpaw.

Twigpaw could hardly believe what she was hearing. Is this the same cat who used to bring Violetpaw to play with me when we were kits?

Rain draped his tail over Violetpaw’s shoulders. “We’re your kin now,” he growled.

Violetpaw gave one desperate glance from Needletail to Rain and back again. Then she gathered herself and sprang at Twigpaw, claws outstretched to slash at her shoulder.

For a heartbeat, Twigpaw could do no more than stare at her, stunned; then she recovered enough to stumble backward, out of range. But before she could take more than a couple of paw steps, one of her hind paws caught in a hole behind her. She fell heavily onto her side, wrenching her leg, and she let out a screech as hot pain clawed through her body. Violetpaw stood over her, staring down with her teeth bared.

Pgs 36-37

Violetpaw is pressured by her “friend” and her boyfriend into attacking her own sister, someone she loves and cares about. We then get this scene a few chapters later that further cements Needletail’s insidiousness.

“Have you got something on your mind?” Needletail asked. “Spit it out!”

Violetpaw hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I can’t stop thinking about hurting Twigpaw,” she confided shyly. “I feel so bad about it. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but she was trying to get away from me and she hurt her leg. What if . . .” Under Needletail’s intent gaze she found words for her greatest fear. “What if I’ve crippled my sister?”

Needletail touched her nose reassuringly to Violetpaw’s ear. “No cat ever got crippled from a little fall like that,” she stated. “Twigpaw will be fine. You had to fight her, Violetpaw. ThunderClan and the other cats attacked us, didn’t they? The Clan cats are our enemies now. And that includes Twigpaw.”

Violetpaw listened, knowing that what her friend was saying made sense, but still unable to shake off her feeling that something was terribly wrong. How can my sister be my enemy?

“You did what you had to do,” Needletail went on. “And now you need to forget about Twigpaw. We’re your kin now —me and the rest of the cats here. We’re the ones who care about you.”

Violetpaw couldn’t find words to protest. But whatever Needletail says, I can’t forget my sister!

Shattered Sky, pg 64

It’s beyond disgusting to have her say “Me and the rest of the cats here. We’re the ones who care about you” when Twigpaw has shown time and time again to care deeply about her sister! Needletail is just lying and it’s so gross! It’s blatantly clear that the rest of the Kin do not care about Violetpaw at all (now if they were written to be an actual cult then this would make more sense). Needletail is just calling Twigpaw the enemy to, yet again, isolate Violetpaw more. Luckily, Violetpaw doesn’t fall for it but holy shit.

Now that I’ve made my case about how horrible Needletail is, let’s discuss her sacrifice. After her boyfriend is murdered by Darktail, Needletail becomes disillusioned with the cause. She helps Alderheart and Mothwing check on the prisoners and takes the fall for it. She sacrifices herself to save Violetpaw after she is caught trying to poison Darktail. This sacrifice is supposed to make the audience forgive the error of her ways and prove to us that she always cared about Violetpaw deep down. Nah. Fuck off Erins, no. You can’t just pull a Severus Snape and expect me to forgive all of her sins just because she died doing the right thing. No! That’s not how you write a redemption arc! She still sucks! Besides, like Snape, she didn’t even start doing good things until after her love interest was killed by the guy she swore fealty to. If Rain hadn’t died, she would still be on Darktail’s team. 100% no question. If Rain had killed Darktail like he wanted to, she would be ride-or-die for him even if he did all the same shit Darktail did, including mistreating Violetpaw. Needletail was selfish her entire life until the object of her affection died. Then, and only then, did she decide to do the right thing for the cat she abused at the very last moment. And much like Harry, Violetshine ends up naming her fucking daughter after the cat who abused her, I-

Fuck off, Erins. Absolutely not. Needletail can rot in Kitty Cat Hell.

Now… here’s the thing. I wouldn’t mind Needletail being a massive sack of shit if Violetshine, as an adult, reflected on how awful Needletail was to her. She was emotionally abused. Point blank period. Her reflecting and discussing how bad Needletail was to her, even though she has some good memories with her, would’ve been a sad, but real and important lesson for children to learn. Being able to spot and avoid toxic people (especially subtly toxic people) is a survival skill. People can really fucking suck and it’s important to teach children how to avoid the Needletails of the world. But no. The Erins don’t see what I see even though they wrote the damn thing! They look at Needletail and see a misguided youth who discovered the errors of her ways, but that’s not what they wrote. They wrote an extremely selfish, controlling, manipulative brat who abused and isolated a desperate young girl for her own benefit. I hate Needletail.

This dissonance and lack of self-awareness is a recurring problem in Warriors and, in my opinion, it’s the biggest problem this series has, but I’ll save that rant for part five because it’s a big one.

Man… now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, let’s continue.

Books 4-6:

It’s all downhill from here…

The prologue follows a highlighter yellow tomcat named Tree. He’s a wanderer who he can see ghosts. Needletail’s ghost comes to him and they chat.

Back to the Clans, ThunderClan’s camp is overcrowded. Shadowclan returned home, but RiverClan and SkyClan are staying. RiverClan’s camp is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt and SkyClan doesn’t have a camp. Alderheart is happy to have SkyClan because that means they fulfilled the prophecy, however his sister Sparkpelt doesn’t want SkyClan around. She doesn’t even consider SkyClan to be a real Clan. She wants them to go back to the gorge now that the rogues are no longer there. This confuses Alderheart (and me). StarClan literally told them to bring SkyClan back. So does Sparkpelt think the whole reason why they went on the journey was to find SkyClan, see if they exist, and not bring them back??? Sparkpelt’s logic does not make sense.

At the Gathering, cats are heckling Rowanstar again for “being weak” and question his status as leader. Shadowclan is missing a lot of cats and the other Clans do not trust the ones who sided with the rogues. Some of them don’t even consider ShadowClan to be a Clan. And then Mistystar declares that RiverClan is closing their borders as they rebuild. Mistystar just lived through a crisis that was partially caused by another Clan shutting itself off from the others and she’s like “yeah, imma do that.” She and RiverClan leave and then Leafstar, leader of SkyClan, talks about how they were driven out of their home and cannot travel. Tigerheart speaks for his father and offers them a slice of ShadowClan’s territory so that they can have a place to stay. Remember that he does this. It becomes important later.

The next day, Twigpaw passes her Thunderclan apprentice assessment. Skyclan is preparing to leave and Violetpaw goes with them in order to be with their father Hawkwing. Twigpaw decides to leave as well, much to the shock of ThunderClan. In SkyClan she remains an apprentice to learn SkyClan’s ways of life. She is apprenticed to the gruff Sandynose. Though she is upset by this, she does form a friendship with Sandynose’s son Finpaw. Later, while out with Dewpaw and Finpaw, a branch falls on Finpaw’s tail, damaging it. Twigpaw fetches Puddleshine since the cats are unable to lift the branch off of Finpaw. Puddleshine uses a sharp rock to somehow cleanly amputate his tail. How a cat is able to precisely cut through bone with a fucking rock is beyond me. These cats are just people in feline bodies. Anyway, Finpaw is all depressed and Twigpaw stays by his side to comfort him.

Time passes. Fernsong asks his third/second cousin-mate Ivypool if she wants kittens. She says not yet. Back in SkyClan, Leafstar decides they should venture out to the gorge to search for their missing clanmates. Hawkwing, Violetpaw, and two faceless names go to ThunderClan to ask for another cat who can guide them to the gorge from the lake. Molewhisker agrees to go. At the Moonpool meeting, Firestar tells the medicine cats to bring RiverClan back and SkyClan’s late medicine cat Echosong delivers the prophecy “the dark sky must not herald the storm.”

Meanwhile during the SkyClan journey, Violetpaw sees Needletail’s ghost. One of the worst characters in the entire series just won’t leave this poor cat alone. Meanwhile meanwhile, Dewpaw teases Twigpaw for liking Finpaw. Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Alderheart is mad that his dad won’t do anything about the prophecy. As the medicine cats go around to deliver the prophecy, they learn that Rowanstar thinks the prophecy means that SkyClan is up to no good so he increases border patrols. Harestar has a bad feeling about everything so he does the same. Mistystar will not see them because the borders are closed.

Blah blah blah, boring boring boring. The SkyClan traveling group find more cats and Twigpaw spies Dovewing and Tigerheart having a tense conversation. Later, Willowshine finds Alderheart and tells him about a vision she had. She saw a six-toed cat and is unsure what it means. She and Alderheart go to the other Clans to tell the medicine cats. Later, the SkyClan traveling group find more cats. They rescue their medicine cat Frecklewish from an apartment building. Blah blah blah, a big storm happens. Skyclan sees this as a sign that they need to leave. Twigpaw is growing more and more frustrated with Sandynose. A ThunderClan patrol informs SkyClan that Dovewing is missing.

Back with Violetpaw, Needletail’s ghost leads her to Tree. Needletail thinks Tree can help the Clans. The patrol are suspicious of Tree and his eccentricities, but they allow him to join them on their way back. At the Gathering, Rowanstar announces that Tigerheart is missing. With his son gone and his Clan constantly beating him down, Rowanstar announces that he can no longer lead his Clan. He steps down, ShadowClan dissolves, and he joins SkyClan. Violetpaw’s patrol returns and they are confused to see ShadowClan cats amongst them. Leafstar announces that it is time for Twigpaw and Violetpaw to become warriors. Violetpaw becomes Violetshine in honor of her late mother Pebbleshine. Just as she is about to give Twigpaw her name, Twigpaw stops her and says that she is going back to ThunderClan. Violetshine is all mad that Twigpaw is leaving her again, but Hawkwing calms her down and supports Twigpaw’s decision. As she is leaving, Finpaw tags along, saying that he wants to be with her in ThunderClan.

Later, Tree, the medicine cats, and the remaining ShadowClan cats meet up by the lake. There, Tree uses his ghost summoning powers to call forth Dawnpelt, Birchbark, Lioneye, Mistcloud, and Beenose. They’re all dead, having been killed by Darktail for leaving. The spirits urge Rowanstar to fight for his Clan but he is so dejected that he refuses and asks to be called Rowanclaw.

Next book, Twigpaw and Finpaw run into Sparkpelt as they make their way over to ThunderClan. Sparkpelt is uncharacteristically aggro toward them. Twigpaw feels uncomfortable because she too realizes how out-of-character this is for her. Sparkpelt brings them back. Bramblestar allows her to rejoin with the catch that she has to remain an apprentice. She is given to Sparkpelt whilst Finpaw is given to Larksong. Meanwhile, Violetshine is out collecting bedding. She asks Tree to help but he says no. Violetshine thinks he’s lazy. Leafstar tells Tree that if he is to stay with them, he has to contribute to the work cult. He is unsure if he is fit to be a warrior so he tries being a medicine cat.

RiverClan is still closed for no good reason. Twigpaw is upset that she’s still an apprentice and is being taught basic skills. She complains to the manager and Bramblestar orders Sparkpelt to teach her advanced techniques. However, the next day, Sparkpelt falls ill so Twig trains with Finpaw and Larksong. Back in SkyClan, Violetshine runs into Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker, former ShadowClan turned rogue cats. Yarrowleaf is pregnant and is close to giving birth. They ask the patrol what happened to ShadowClan and then ask to rejoin. Leafstar refuses them because of their crimes. Later at the Moonpool, Twigpaw sneakily follows Alderheart and the other medicine cats. Once they leave, she sneaks in and touches her nose against the Moonpool. She then receives a vision of a camp on fire. Yellowfang jumpscares her away. She runs back and doesn’t tell anyone what she saw. Back in SkyClan, Leafstar tries indoctrinating Tree into the cult again. Violetshine offers to take him out hunting. Tree demonstrates his “bush” hunting technique. He sits very still and waits for the prey to come to him. Violetshine finds it funny. They then spy Juniperclaw sneaking around the territory. They follow him and find that he has been taking care of Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker in the old ShadowClan camp. Violetshine and Tree take all of them back to SkyClan and report to Leafstar. Several ShadowClan cats reveal that they have been helping the former rogues behind Leafstar’s back. She’s pissed, but Tree suggests they stay until Yarrowleaf’s kits are born.

At the Gathering, Leafstar announces Sleekwhisker’s and Yarrowleaf’s return. Cats aren’t happy. Back in ThunderClan, Twigpaw is worrying about the prophecy. She sneaks out to talk to Violetshine. They determine that Tawnypelt would make a good leader for ShadowClan. They run the idea by Leafstar, but she is pissed. She is tired of cats undermining her authority. Tree convinces her that ShadowClan needs a leader. She agrees, but vows to never let in anymore cats. The sisters talk to Tawnypelt and she says she will think about it. Yarrowleaf gives birth to her kittens.

In ThunderClan, a huge storm fucks up the camp. Lightening strikes a tree, setting it ablaze. The forest burns. Some kittypets, Fuzzball and Velvet, find ThunderClan, seeking shelter. Their homes were destroyed by the fire and their humans left them. Bramblestar allows them to stay. Alderheart treats their wounds. Fuzzball, a small ginger tom, annoys the shit out of Jayfeather. It’s really funny. Alderheart likes Velvet. The fire reaches RiverClan. Bramblestar and some others leave to assist RiverClan. Meanwhile in SkyClan, they are sheltering out of the storm. They also leave to assist RiverClan. Mistystar and her cats take shelter in ShadowClan’s old camp. At the next Gathering, RiverClan rejoins the Clans. Leafstar forges a new role for Tree, the mediator.

Days later, Briarlight falls ill. She later dies. RIP Briarlight. She was a wonderful character. Back in SkyClan, Yarrowleaf’s kits and Tawnypelt are missing. Yarrowleaf was drugged by poppy seeds. Sleekwhisker is also gone. Violetshine, Yarrowleaf, SkyClan warrior Macgyver, and Rowanclaw follow Sleekwhisker’s scent out of the territories. They run in ShadowClan’s kittypet bully Jacques (who I forgot existed tbh). He is holding Tawnypelt and the kittens hostage. Sleekwhisker slinks out of the shadows and blames her grandfather Rowanclaw for everything bad that has happened during Darktail’s rule. She vows to make him suffer by killing Tawnypelt. Nettle, the kittens’ father, says he is going to take the kittens. Rowanclaw attacks Nettle. Tawnypelt and Yarrowleaf grab the kittens. Rowanclaw is mortally wounded by Sleekwhisker and her cronies. Whilst dying, he tells Tawnypelt that he has seen Tigerheart’s return in his dreams. Tawnypelt mourns his death.

Back in ThunderClan, Velvet and Fuzzball go back to their homes. Alderheart is all sad that the girl he likes is gone. Jayfeather sits him down and tells him that medicine cats aren’t allowed to love because cult reasons. Twigpaw finally becomes a warrior. Violetshine and Hawkwing have been invited to the ceremony. She becomes Twigbranch and Finpaw becomes Finleap. Just then some faceless ShadowClan cats barge in and tell Hawkwing to come quickly. Tigerheart is back and he’s dying. A bunch of cats race to the Moonpool. There they see a group of cats dragging Tigerheart’s dead body to the Moonpool. After awhile, he walks out, alive and well. He is now Tigerstar II. Dovewing and her newborn kittens are with him. Dovewing goes to ThunderClan and introduces her kittens to Ivypool’s kittens but says that she is going to live in ShadowClan with Tigerstar II now. Alderheart leaves to give Velvet her emotional support toy that she left behind. He gives it to her, they say their goodbyes and then later at the Moonpool, Cinderpelt comes to him and tells him that she loved Firestar but for cult reasons she had to let go of her love. This book is boring as hell. Next.

The Raging Storm is infuriating. All of a sudden, Tigerstar II starts antagonizing SkyClan by attacking them and destroying their camp. Tigerstar II’s new deputy Juniperclaw fucking poisons SkyClan’s food, ffs! Tigerheart gave them that slice of land so that they could stay by the lake, but Tigerstar is now deadset on chasing out the Clan StarClan sent numerous prophecies about. StarClan wants SkyClan by the lake but Tigerstar II goes against them and terriozes them, becoming one of the most infuriating characters this series has ever produced. I hate Tigerstar II so damn much.

Oh and let’s not forget the Twigbranch/Finleap discourse. Finleap, a previously bubbly and cute tomcat, becomes the worst boyfriend ever. He’s all upset that he has no family in ThunderClan, something he did to himself, but instead of looking inward, he pressures Twigbranch into having kittens with him so that he can have a family. Twigbranch is understandably hesitant because she just became a warrior and she is too busy working with her new apprentice Flypaw. But does Finleap care? No. Eventually they do come to a compromise, but oh my god we did not need to witness the brutalization of Finleap’s character. Now I hate Finleap. Twigbranch deserves better. Violetshine’s plotline revolves around convincing Tree to stay with the strange, battle cult he doesn’t feel safe in. All of a sudden, Violetshine is in love with Tree even though they have NO chemistry. They don’t even feel like friends. Tree is a bit of a flirt and I like that about him, but he had nothing in common with Violetshine. She becomes weirdly attached to him and randomly Tree returns her affections and they become mates. To me, Tree feels like a wizened old soul while Violetshine is a blank slate with no personality. But whatever, I guess. Our protagonists can’t be single! They must have a mate by the end of the arc.

Alderheart’s story is more interesting. Puddleshine is sick with a mysterious illness. Alderheart treats him with the skin of deathberries. Later, Puddleshine recovers and Alderheart is praised. Juniperclaw uses the discarded deathberry seeds to poison SkyClan which nearly makes them leave. Juniperclaw later dies in a flood while saving Violetshine and Shadowkit. Background character Cloverfoot becomes the new deputy of ShadowClan. Oh and we meet Shadowkit here, one of the protagonists for the next arc. He has intense visions which cause seizures. The cats hold him down whenever he has a fit. I’ll go into detail on why this is deeply wrong in part four.

After Juniperclaw’s sacrifice, the leaders finally sit down and have a civil conversation about where SkyClan is going to live. Each Clan agrees to give up some of their lands and shuffle their borders to give SkyClan the slice of land between ShadowClan and ThunderClan. The end.

Errors:

The Apprentice’s Quest: Beetlewhisker is listed in the allegiances, despite having died in The Last Hope. Dustpelt is said to have died in the Great Storm, when he was actually killed by badgers. Alderkit is called by his apprentice name shortly before his ceremony.

Thunder and Shadow: Larkwing is listed as an apprentice. Beetlewhisker is listed again, even though he is dead. Tawnypelt is called the ShadowClan deputy. Violetkit is said to have amber eyes. Despite Cloudtail being told to guard Furzepelt’s body, he is seen back at camp. Juniperpaw is called a she-cat. Twigpaw is called Twigkit after receiving her apprentice name. Wavepaw is called a tom on multiple occasions. Brindlepaw is called a tom. Twice on one page, Alderheart is called by his apprentice name after being made a full medicine cat. The stream that separates ThunderClan territory from WindClan territory is said to separate WindClan from ShadowClan [which is wild because WindClan is no where near ShadowClan]. Crowfrost is said to be ShadowClan’s leader during a confrontation with Bramblestar. Puddleshine is called Pinenose. Violetkit is called Violetpaw before receiving her apprentice name. Twigkit is called Twigpaw before receiving her apprentice name. Rowanstar is said to have green eyes.

Shattered Sky: Wasptail is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in Thunder and Shadow. "Body" is misspelled as "bodily". Rain is said to have both of his eyes despite losing one. Beetlewhisker is once again shown to be alive despite dying in The Last Hope. Snowbird is said to have two kits, when she is nursing three kits at the time. Twigpaw is called Violetpaw. Petalfur is said to be alive despite dying earlier. Hawkwing is said to have amber eyes throughout the entire book [he actually has yellow eyes]. Violetpaw is said to have amber eyes [she also has yellow eyes].

Darkest Night: Beetlewhisker and Heronwing are listed in the allegiances, despite dying in earlier books. Furthermore, Beetlewhisker is given his own apprentice, Harepaw, even though he’s supposed to be dead. [This mistake is very egregious. Beetlewhisker died in the Dark Forest. He was killed by Brokenstar. When he died, his body disappeared, so he is super dead] Dewpaw is called a brown tabby. RiverClan's territory is said to border ThunderClan's. Larksong is called a gray-and-white tom. Violetpaw and Twigpaw are said to have barely opened their eyes when Pebbleshine went missing. However, when Alderpaw and Needlepaw originally found them, their eyes were still closed. Cloudmist is said to be tortoiseshell-and-white. Harestar is called Harespring twice. Needletail is called a ShadowClan warrior, despite never earning the rank officially. Twigpaw is called Violetpaw. Molewhisker is seen following Lionblaze into camp to help Snowbush despite being on the journey with SkyClan's group. Tree says that he met Needletail when she was an apprentice, and didn't see her again until after she died, but in the prologue he calls her Needletail instead of Needlepaw despite having no way to know she had changed her name if that was the second time he had seen her.

River of Fire: There are multiple mistakes in the allegiances: Millie is called a silver tabby. Finpaw and Twigpaw are listed in SkyClan, despite having left to join ThunderClan in Darkest Night. Beetlewhisker is listed, yet again. He also still has an apprentice. Heronwing is listed, despite dying in Shattered Sky. Cherrytail and Cloudmist are not listed in the allegiances, despite joining SkyClan in the previous book. Bramblestar tells Twigpaw that he was an apprentice when Graystripe left to join RiverClan, but he was a kit at the time. Blossomfall is called Blossomheart. Tree is called a rogue. Jayclaw is called Heronwing multiple times. Twigbranch is called Twigpaw after receiving her warrior name.

The Raging Storm: Millie is called a silver tabby again. Beetlewhisker is still alive and has an apprentice. Heronwing is still alive. Cherrytail and Cloudmist are not listed in the allegiances, despite joining SkyClan. The word doorway is used [the cats don’t know what a “door” is]. The word "mood" is spelled with an extra "o." The word "they" is missing from a sentence. Alderheart states that Juniperclaw collected deathberries, when it was actually deathberry seeds. It is stated that Tawnypelt and Scorchfur are guarding Juniperclaw, however in the next scene, it says that Tawnypelt and Strikestone were guarding him. SkyClan is called StarClan. Gathering is spelled with a lowercase "g". Leafstar says that she has nine lives, but she actually has seven lives.

Things I Like

The first three books are good (minus Needletail). Twigbranch is okay. She’s not as interesting as Fireheart/star, Squilf, or Jayfeather but compared to Alderheart and Violetshine, she’s golden. Tree is a breath of fresh air! I love Tree. He’s this drifter-type character who is good with words. He creates a new role, the mediator. They need one, that’s for sure. Oh, and he can speak to and summon ghosts. Warriors is wild. I despise his ”””romance””” with Violetshine but hey! I’m glad he’s here. He’s phenomenal in The Broken Code.

Things I Hate

There’s so much wrong here, starting with Violetshine. She is boring. She has no personality and once Darktail dies she no longer has a story worth following. Her arc is about feeling isolated and eventually finding companionship and family. A good arc. Too bad it’s not done well. Instead of giving Violetshine a personality, the Erins make ShadowClan treat her like shit for no reason to make us feel for her. She doesn’t even try to fit in. She just sits around. It’s hard for me to care about an inactive, blank slate character. I don’t understand why Pinenose, her adopted mother, treated her so badly. It was very odd, especially when contrasted to how Twigkit was treated by Lilyheart. Is Pinenose just an asshole? Everyone is an asshole in ShadowClan really. You would think Rowanstar would attempt to make her feel welcomed since he was so deadset on splitting her away from her sister, but nah.

I don’t get why Violetpaw doesn’t join ThunderClan after she flees the rogues. She thinks about it, but decides to go back to ShadowClan even though there is nothing for her there. ThunderClan has Twigpaw but nah, ShadowClan. She gets all mad when Twigpaw leaves after being held hostage by ShadowClan. I hated that. Twigpaw clearly did not like being in ShadowClan and ShadowClan’s plan failed so there was no point in keeping her further. Violetpaw is incredibly selfish for getting mad at her for leaving instead of taking the time to think about why Twigpaw was there to begin with or her feelings. I know Violetpaw is a teenager and teenagers are selfish by default but it’s hard for me to feel anything for her when she could have left ShadowClan to join her sister in a Clan known for adopting strays. Violetpaw/shine’s chapters are only interesting because of the drama with Darktail. Once he is dead and she joins SkyClan, she is beyond flat. Her arc is complete and now there is nothing for her to do. I’ve seen people call her Diet Ivypool, but I reject that label because no, she’s is nothing like Ivypool. She shares Ivy’s weird petty dislike for her sister but, Ivy has a personality (albeit a dull one). Violetshine has nothing.

Now onto the back half. Good lord, what happened?! The last three books range from boring to rage-inducing. None of our protagonists have anything to do now. Alderheart’s personality was already gone by book two so the Erins gave him a short forbidden love plot line and then randomly had Puddleshine fall sick with a mysterious illness just to give Alderheart a plot. Poor Twigpaw/branch is stuck being an apprentice in two different Clans as she struggles to decide where she wants to be. And then she gets saddled with man-baby Finleap. When she becomes a mentor, she struggles to connect to her apprentice. This is interesting. We haven’t had a mentor protag since Lionblaze and we haven’t had a character struggle being a mentor since (I believe) Fireheart. However, instead of showing Twigbranch thinking up new ways to teach her apprentice, the Erins skip all that. We instead get a paragraph telling us that Twig figured out everything off page. Wow, how boring. The Finleap crybaby plotline was more important apparently.

In the fandom, I’ve seen this “bad leaders make for good drama” sentiment floating around for years and I have a lot of opinions about that. While I agree that irrational leaders create good drama, the Erins don’t do it right most of the time. Instead of having the leader’s personality lead to misbehavior, they instead lobotomize the character to create plots. Let’s compare Mistystar and Onestar. Onewhisker was Firestar’s good friend. While Tallstar was on his deathbed, he made Onewhisker his deputy which pissed off the previous deputy Mudclaw. Tallstar chose Onewhisker over Mudclaw because he thought Onewhisker’s friendly and collaborative nature would lead WindClan into an era of peace in their new home. Because of the strange circumstances surrounding his ascension, a lot of WindClan cats did not support his rule. So, to make up for this, he adopted Mudclaw’s mannerisms and became a hissing mess. He made his dislike for ThunderClan clear, destroying his friendship with Firestar in the process. He did the opposite of what Tallstar wanted. And then Darktail happened. Darktail is the direct result of his mistake. Confronted by the result of his dishonor, he cowers, runs away, and shuts himself off- unable to face the consequences. When Darktail threatens to destroy all of the Clans, he finally reveals why he’s been acting the way he has and then dies alongside his bloodthirsty son, ridding the forest of the evil he created.

Onestar is not a good leader by any means. He’s impulsive, selfish, confrontational, and unhelpful. But he became that way because he felt like he had to. He shut down his borders because he was a coward. This action almost led to the destruction of all of the Clans. Onestar is a complex and controversial character, which in my eyes, makes him good. I like Onestar because he is multi-layered. He is also a great example on how to do a bad leader correctly. His rash actions align with his arc and traits. Now let’s look at Mistystar.

Mistyfoot/star is Bluestar’s secret daughter, her brother Stonefur was killed by Blackfoot/star and… that’s it. Mistystar doesn’t have much else going for her. She (and RiverClan in general) are hardly present. Despite being a mostly blank-slate, she is not meant to be an irrational leader. She supposed to be wise, smart, and honorable like her birth mother. However, the Erins would reduce her brain cell count to artificially create problems because they are creatively bankrupt. “Oh but Maya, all fictional stories are artificial.” Yes I know, but good authors hide that fact. Stories should flow naturally based on the logic of the world and the personalities of the characters. When the author(s) lobotomizes their characters or world to create a plot, they are a bad writer. They also do this to regular warriors (COUGH COUGH Finleap COUGH COUGH). I hate it.

Now let’s talk about Tigerstar II. After Darktail, ShadowClan is floundering. Many cats are missing, their camp is in shambles, and they’re very anti-Rowanstar for no good reason, but instead of staying behind and helping his Clan, Tigerheart fucks off to chase after his forbidden girlfriend. Him leaving breaks his father’s spirit which thus dissolves the Clan. Tigerheart’s selfishness directly causes the destruction of his family and home. And then, when that motherfucker’s corpse is revived by StarClan, he is immediately causing trouble by attacking SkyClan over a slab of land HE GAVE TO THEM! I don’t hate him because he’s a bad person. I hate him because he is not a consistent character nor does he have an actual arc that tracks with this behavior. Again, look at Onestar’s arc. We see his shift. We know why he is the way he is. Tigerheart/star doesn’t have an arc whatsoever. Before AVoS, he is nothing. He is not a person. All he is is Dovewing’s boyfriend who trained in the Dark Forest. That’s it. And then, all of sudden, he’s causing all kinds of problems for everybody around him. He continues to be a complete asshole for the rest of the series, forever damning him to the pits of my hatred. There was nothing in his story that led up to this shift. This is bad character writing point blank period. At least with former blankslate Ashfur, we had hints of his shitty behavior near the end of TNP and throughout PoT so him trying to murder Squilf and her adopted children felt earned (if you were paying attention). Ashfur’s change in personality tracks with his story. Tigerheart/star’s does not because the Erins didn’t fucking write it. Tigerstar II’s accolades feel unearned because he was a blankslate with nothing going on. He is just given stuff by the narrative because the Erins wanted another Tigerstar. And then afterwards, he is a combative, ruthless, stubborn, and selfish cat who antagonizes the world and we don’t know why this change in his personality happened. I hate character writing like this. It’s lazy as fuck.

If Tigerheart/star was like Onestar where there was an actual reason for why he is behaving like an ass, I would not mind him being an antagonist. Warriors needs an ever-present antagonist. A reoccurring antagonistic force is a good thing to have for conflict, especially in a longrunning series like this. However, I find his awful character writing to be too egregious for me to accept. I hate his existence in general. I hate that we have a second Tigerstar. It’s so forced and cringey. Why does he even exist?

Final Thoughts on Arc Six

A Vision of Shadows sucks. It started good, but got real bad halfway through. It’s my third least favorite arc. It’s nowhere near as bad as The New Prophecy and it didn’t piss me off as much as Dawn of the Clans did, but it is not good. Violetshine, Alderheart, and Twigbranch are some of the weakest protagonists we’ve ever gotten. Darktail was good but once he died, the arc died alongside him. Tigerheart/star sucks, Finleap is a man-child, and Needletail is an abuser. Don’t like it. 4/10

Before I started this project, I heard fans say AVoS was one of the better arcs in the series. They said the same about Dawn of the Clans. Me thinks I’m out of sync with the fandom :/

Arc Six: Super Editions Part Two

There are so many Super Editions… and most of them are bad.

Tigerheart’s Shadow (2017): 3/10 This brick is 400 pages of pointlessness. Dovewing is pregnant. She fears that her kittens will be harmed or some shit in ThunderClan’s nursery so she flees the Clans. Tigerheart abandons his Clan during a crisis to chase after his girlfriend. He tracks her scent to a city, a new setting for Warriors, and runs into some city cats. Blah blah blah, he helps them out by turning them into Clan cats because Clan cats are the best cats. Their kittens, Shadowkit, Lightkit, and Pouncekit, are born. There’s this seer-like character named Spire who is a member of the city cats. He has visions and speaks in riddles. He risks his life to save Pouncekit and as he is dying, Tigerheart makes him a warrior so that he can go to StarClan (even though Spire does not believe in his religion), giving him the name Spiresight. Blah blah blah, Tigerheart, Dovewing, their kits, and some lost ShadowClan cats trek their way back to the Clans. Tigerheart is gravely wounded by a hawk whilst saving Hollowkit, Berryheart’s kit. He dies. Dove and the others drag his body to the Moonpool. He is revived by StarClan and becomes the leader of ShadowClan. The End.

I hate this book. It’s so pointless and boring. To be honest, I skipped the majority of it once I realized that this was yet another story about a Clan cat turning a foreign group into a pseudo-Clan because Clan ways are simply better than any other way of life. Even though the city cats (or the guardian cats, as they’re called) are a functioning society, the Erins made them incompetent so that dumbass Tigerheart could save them. It’s the Tribe all over again. So yeah, I skipped all that nonsense because I hate it. I went straight to the end where the important stuff happens. This one sucks. Don’t read it.

Errors: Millie is called a silver tabby. Beetlewhisker and Heronwing are still listed even though they’re dead. Pouncekit is called "he". Cinnamon is called orange. Yarrowleaf is said to be Berryheart and Rippletail's littermate. Rowanclaw is said to have green eyes. Lightkit is called Shadowkit. Softly is misspelled as "softy." Rippletail is shown to have escaped the Kin along with Berryheart, Cloverfoot, and Sparrowtail and joined Tigerheart's patrol back to ShadowClan, although Slatefur is the one intended to join the aforementioned three and join the patrol as seen in River of Fire while Rippletail became a kittypet. Fog is referred to as "the Fog".

Onestar’s Confession (2022): 2/10 Yet another completely pointless book with some of the worst pacing this series has ever produced. This is about Onestar’s life. We don’t need a book about Onestar’s life because we already read it via the main series. The Erins know that so they copy and paste old events to fill up pages and when they’re not doing that they’re speedrunning past the stuff we actually want to see (ie. WindClan’s exile, his relationship with his dead apprentice Gorsepaw, his relationship with Fireheart/star, the build-up to the Eclipse battle, etc.). Since the Erins hate gray characters, they change Onestar’s Smoke abadonment story to make him look better. Instead of his cowardice and shame being the reasons why he abandoned Smoke and Darkkit, they instead retconned it and had the event take place when the Clans were about to leave the forest while it was being destroyed. WindClan could not afford to feed more mouths as they were starving and their home was gone. So it makes sense why Onewhisker/star would leave Smoke behind. This change removes the grayness that made him a good character to begin with. Also Darktail was just born evil. He wasn’t raised to hate the Clans by his mother. No no no. He was already brimming with evil when he was concieved. This book sucks.

Also this book canonized Ashfoot and Onewhisker/star being siblings and Heathertail being his daughter. So Heathertail and Breezepelt are second cousins who fuck and have kittens cannonically. Way to go, Erins.

Errors: Ashfur (ShaC) is listed as an elder under Raggedstar's leadership, though he didn't retire until after Brokenstar took over. Brightflower is not listed in the allegiances, though she should be a warrior of ShadowClan at the time. Onepaw is called Onestar. Melody is called Tansypaw by Onewhisker as he recalls events. Leaf-bare is referred to as winter. When Crowpaw tells WindClan about Midnight and her message, the Clan is initially split whether they should leave the forest and some have a hard time believing Crowpaw. In Dawn, however, Crowpaw tells Brambleclaw that they "accepted Midnight's words without question." When Crowpaw and Tallstar go out to meet with the other Clans at Fourtrees to wait for the sign of the dying warrior, Barkface isn't accompanying them, despite Dawn stating that every journeying cat brought their leader and medicine cat. Onewhisker worries that he and the other WindClan cats will get overlooked when Firestar divides his warriors into patrols to help ShadowClan. By the time Onewhisker asks "What about me?", however, Firestar has already assigned all present WindClan cats to patrols except for Tallstar and Onewhisker. Brushpaw is called Leo despite never going back to being a kittypet. Bird is called a gray tabby. The beginning of the sentence "Then all his wondering" is in italics when it should be normal. Onestar mentions how it's the first Gathering since the Great Battle, but it's actually the second. Onestar mentions that WindClan has two apprentices, when they actually have four. Whitetail is guarding the camp despite being an elder. Tigerheart is mistakenly called Tigerstar before he becomes leader. ShadowClan is called ThunderClan. Onestar is mistakenly called Heathertail. Heathertail explains that she's expecting another litter of kits, though it will be over a year until they are born.

Squirrelflight’s Hope (2019)

1/10

Easily one of the worst books in the entire series. So the Clans shifted their borders to make room for SkyClan and they’re not happy about it. For some reason, the cats are incapable of hunting on different land because they’re ethnocentrists. “ThunderClan only hunts in the forest, not the moor!” It’s so weird. The leaders and deputies have a meeting and they discuss what to do with the borders. Squilf suggests moving SkyClan to the unoccupied land just above ThunderClan and ShadowClan. The other leaders are down except for Leafstar and Bramblestar. Leafstar doesn’t want to move and neither does Bramblestar because he thinks doing so will isolate the new Clan from the others. After the meeting he starts yelling at Squilf, calling her idea stupid.

At the edge of the clearing, she darted in front of Bramblestar. As he stopped, she blinked at him eagerly. She had kept the leaders from fighting. But her heart lurched as she met his gaze. He was glaring at her.

“What’s wrong?” she mewed.

“I don’t think SkyClan should move,” he growled.

“I know,” Squirrelflight mewed sympathetically. “But something needs to change. Tigerstar’s solution might have been the best one at the time. But the Clans are growing. We all need territory. This plan means that no one has to give up land.”

“No one except SkyClan,” he muttered darkly.

Squirrelflight blinked at him. “They’ll have new land. They’re used to moving, and this might be the last move they ever have to make. This land beyond the abandoned Twolegplace might be perfect for them.”

“Might be.” Bramblestar’s tail twitched angrily. “Or it might be overrun with snakes, or dogs, or foxes. Warriors might die thanks to your idea.”

Pgs 23-24

The argument then turns to having more kittens. Earlier, Squilf suggested having more kits with Bramble but he clearly doesn’t want them. Squilf is worried about her legacy and her relationship with him. She feels disconnected from him and fears that he will outlive her because he has more lives than her, being a leader and all. He makes her feel guilty for wanting something.

“But we’d all have bigger territories if SkyClan moved.” Squirrelflight hurried after him. “And you heard Harestar and Leafstar. The Clans are growing. There’ll be more kits by newleaf, more mouths to feed, more apprentices to train—”

“More kits!” Bramblestar lashed his tail. “Is that all you think about now?”

His words stung like claw marks. She watched him disappear into the grass, her chest tightening. “Don’t you think about it?” … “Don’t you think about kits, Bramblestar?”

“I have kits,” he snapped.

“Alderheart and Sparkpelt? They’re grown up now!”

“I know!” Bramblestar didn’t look at her. “They’re old enough to look after themselves. Why are you so desperate to be responsible for new lives? Isn’t being deputy enough?”

Pg 24

And then, after he apologizes, he immediately belittles her idea again, saying that the two of them should be in sync aka she should nod to whatever he says and remain quiet.

His gaze shimmered suddenly as though he saw her pain. “I’m sorry.” He hurried to her side and pressed his muzzle against her cheek. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I was angry. I felt you weren’t on my side at the meeting. I was trying to protect SkyClan.”

“So was I!” She pulled away indignantly. “I was trying to find a solution that would keep the peace.”

“Maybe you’re right. But that isn’t the point. You’re my deputy.” ... “You’re supposed to back me up in front of the other Clans. We need to look united. You know how quickly Tigerstar smells weakness, and how he exploits it.”

“It’s not weak to have different opinions.” Squirrelflight’s pelt pricked.

“It looks a lot like weakness when a deputy disagrees with her leader in public.” … “You should know better! You should have discussed your idea with me in private and we could have taken it to the other Clans together.”

Pgs 24-25

This is so weird to me. Bramblestar knows Squirrelflight. He knows that she is opinionated, head-strong, and righteous like her father, Firestar. She will always do what she thinks is right and he knows that so why is he trying to hold her down? Squilf’s idea is liked by everyone (except Leafstar but she comes around eventually) but Bramble is making her feel bad for speaking her mind. He wants a puppet not a deputy.

Later Squirrelflight leaves behind Bramble’s back to fetch Leafstar so that they can scout the new territory. They go and are accosted by a group of massive mollies who can speak to ghosts. They’re called the Sisters. Leafstar is hurt and they are captured. The leader of the Sisters is a pregnant molly named Moonlight. She tells them that they are a nomadic group and only settled in the territory to wait out Moonlight’s pregnancy. They will leave and let SkyClan take the land after her kittens are born, so in about two months. The Sisters are a strange, but kind group. They do not have any adult toms with them. Once a tom is old enough, he is sent out to wander the Earth. The Clan cats find this odd when in reality, the Sisters are the closest thing we have to a real-world cat colony. Actual colonies are mostly female and once the males hit breeding age, they are chased out to wander. But the Clan cats are CiNOs so they find real cat behaviors weird.

Anyway, the Sisters treat them with kindness and Squilf finds herself liking the group, especially Moonlight. Eventually, SkyClan and ThunderClan cats rescue Leafstar and Squilf. We learn that Tree is Moonlight’s son and he hates her. Bramblestar scolds Squilf like a kitten, saying that for now on all of her decisions must be ran by him first.

Bramblestar waited for her to push through the ferns, then followed her out of camp. … “What in StarClan were you thinking?”

[Squirrelflight] dipped her head, bracing herself for the argument she knew must be coming. “I’m sorry.”

“Going off like that on a hare-brained mission without telling me!”

She could feel his gaze burning through her pelt. “You’d have stopped me if you’d known,” she mewed.

“Of course I would have!” he snapped. “Now look what’s happened. You’ve found a whole new group of cats to fight with over territory. As if ShadowClan and WindClan weren’t enough!”

“But we don’t have to fight with them,” Squirrelflight objected. “They’re happy for SkyClan to have the land when they’re finished with it.” … “Don’t you see? I’ve found SkyClan the land they need! Now the Clans won’t have to fight over territory ever again.”

“Don’t be naive.” Bramblestar stared at her. “New territory will probably mean new battles. Since when was any Clan satisfied with what they have?”

“When each Clan has enough, then the fighting will stop.” Why was he being so negative? “We haven’t gotten the borders right until now. But once SkyClan moves, every Clan will have plenty.” …Squirrelflight caught up to him, irritation spiking her fur. “I had a good idea and I followed it through,” she snapped. “Leafstar likes the new territory, and now SkyClan will have somewhere they can finally make a real home. You just don’t want to admit I was right!”

“Nonsense!” … “I’m Clan leader. I welcome ideas from any of my Clanmates, and if it’s a good idea, I’m happy to be proved wrong.”

“My idea is a good idea!”

“You’re only seeing it from your point of view,” ... “Have you really thought about what it would be like for SkyClan to move again so soon? To build yet another camp? To learn about new territory? How do you know there aren’t Twolegs here? Or a family of foxes? Have you checked every tail-length of this land? What if one of their kits is killed by a snake here? Will you take responsibility?”

“Life is risky!” Squirrelflight ignored the doubt shimmering at the edge of her thoughts. “There will be risks wherever SkyClan lives!”

Bramblestar ignored her. “And how does it make SkyClan look—agreeing to live where the other Clans choose again? Do you think the other Clans will treat them as equals once they’ve finished pushing them around?”

“That’s not my problem!” Squirrelflight shot back. “It’s up to SkyClan! Leafstar wants to move. She knows what she’s doing.”

“I hope so.” … “Are you sure that, after a few seasons living among these hills, SkyClan won’t feel like they’ve been pushed outside the Clans again?”

“Why should they? This land is right next to ours, and ShadowClan’s. And they’ll have a strip of territory right down to the lakeshore. They’ll be as much a part of the Clans as we are.” … As the trail opened into another valley, Bramblestar spoke again.

“I was worried about you, you know?” … “Sparkpelt was worried too,” he told her. “More so because you asked her to keep your secret. She didn’t know whether telling me was betraying you, or remaining silent was betraying me. You should never have put her in that position.”

Squirrelflight shrank beneath her pelt. “I know,” she mewed softly. “I just wanted to make the Clans okay again. How was I to know we’d be taken prisoner?” As she spoke, resentment bubbled in her chest. Bramblestar wasn’t even trying to understand. Was he enjoying making her feel bad? “But we weren’t hurt, and it was good to see how other cats live. The Sisters have an interesting way of life.”

“And we don’t?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” He was acting like a kit! “They treated us well.”

“What about Leafstar’s wound?”

“She tried to escape.”

“And you didn’t?” He shot her a reproachful look. “Did you like the Sisters so much that you didn’t want to come home?”

“Don’t be mouse-brained!”

“‘Mouse-brained’!” He glared at her. “You force me to lead my Clanmates into hostile territory on a rescue mission and you call me mouse-brained. You’re Clan deputy, for StarClan’s sake! You’re supposed to be protecting your Clan, not putting them in danger. And you’re my mate. If there’s anyone I should be able to rely on in ThunderClan, it should be you!”

“You can rely on me!” The ground seemed to shift beneath Squirrelflight’s paws. Didn’t he trust her anymore?

“Not when you behave like a reckless apprentice.” Bramblestar glared at her. “From now on, I want you to run every decision by me. No more going off on your own ridiculous missions. No more arguing with me at Gatherings. If a deputy can’t support her own leader, perhaps she’s not fit to be deputy.”

Pgs 61-62

This is toxic. All she was did was try and find a solution to all of their problems. Instead of seeing past her capture and realizing what she did was ultimately good, he punishes her for going against his orders. What a shit leader. She knew full-well that he would have said no to her scouting. Bramblestar isn’t coming up with ideas but she is. But no. Independent thinking is against Bramble’s rules. Now, she has to run by every single one of her ideas past him- ideas he’s not going to listen to because he doesn’t respect her.

The xenophobic Clan cats hate the Sisters. After awhile, ShadowClan attacks them. The giant Maine Coon-like mollies beat their asses, shredding Strikestone’s ear, causing him to go deaf in that ear. ShadowClan now hates the Sisters and are deadset on chasing them out. During the attack, one of the Sisters, Tree’s littermate Sunrise, is gravelly wounded. They go to ThunderClan for help. Bramblestar, being incredibly cruel, refuses to let any of the medicine cats heal Sunrise because he’s afraid of what Tigerstar II would do if he found out. Bramblestar sends Alderheart and Jayfeather to the Moonpool to consult with StarClan. This theocratic cult will not save a cat’s life unless their gods say so. StarClan gives Alderheart a vague prophecy. After much arguing, Bramble relents and allows Leafpool to do her job.

At the Gathering, the leaders complain about the borders and the Sisters again. Tigerstar II, Harestar, and Mistystar are all ready to chase the mollies out of the land so that SkyClan can take it. Even though it is obvious that Leafstar wants the land, she has not given a definitive answer because she knows that doing so will cause the Clans to injure the Sisters. Tigerstar II is real horny about chasing them away and will not listen to reason. All he has to do is wait another month or so for Moonlight’s kittens to be born but nah. They have to leave now because ShadowClan cats can’t hunt on RiverClan’s marshland (even though their original home back in the old forest was a marsh. You would think the older cats would teach the newer ones how to hunt on marshland but then we wouldn’t have a conflict).

ThunderClan also sucks at adapting. They don’t hunt well on the moorland they now have and it’s pissing off WindClan. Harestar and Bramblestar strike up a deal: they will share the land until SkyClan is ready to leave. Tigerstar II and Mistystar learn about this and are pissed. They’re incapable of coming to compromises because they’re stubborn so they chastise Bramblestar for sharing his land with WindClan. Tigerstar II threatens the Sisters again and tries to coax Bramblestar into joining him. Fast forwarding a lot, Sparkpelt is having kittens with Larksong. After eating a mouse that ate a poisonous flower, Larksong gets sick and eventually dies. Sparkpelt has her kittens without Larksong and one of them dies. Blah blah blah. We have the same arguments over and over. It’s boring and frustrating. Eventually, the Clan cats agree to attack the Sisters.

“This time SkyClan wants to move!” The ShadowClan leader swung his muzzle toward Leafstar. “You want SkyClan to have the new territory, right?”

Leafstar hesitated.

“Right?” Tigerstar glared at her.

“I don’t want the land if it means hurting the Sisters,” Leafstar told him, her gaze clouding with uncertainty.

A snarl rang from the back of the clearing as Emberfoot jeered at the SkyClan leader. “You’d rather see war in the Clans than chase a few rogues from land they don’t even want?”

Yowls of agreement exploded around him and rippled through the crowd. Squirrelflight froze. She pictured the Sisters going about their duties, unaware of the storm building here, ready to sweep them away. Her paws pricked with fear.

Leafstar stared desperately at Tigerstar. “Why can’t we wait until the Sisters leave?”

Harestar flattened his ears. “Why should we?”

“The Sisters don’t need that land!” Mistystar snapped.

Tigerstar held Leafstar’s gaze. “Is SkyClan willing to move?”

“Not yet,” Leafstar answered shakily.

“But would you move once the Sisters are gone?” Tigerstar pressed.

Leafstar stared at him, then nodded. “Yes.”

Tigerstar rounded on Bramblestar. “SkyClan has made its decision. They want to move. Now ThunderClan must support us. The Sisters have to leave.”

Squirrelflight’s heart pressed in her throat as Bramblestar hesitated. Why don’t you object? She lifted her muzzle. “None of us want—”

“Silence!” Bramblestar cut her off with a look. It glittered with rage. “My deputy does not speak for me.” As he dragged his gaze back to Tigerstar, Squirrelflight felt numb. She stared at him. Was Bramblestar going to declare war on the Sisters? Five Clans against a small band of she-cats, and possibly a squealing litter of newborn kits. Shame washed Squirrelflight’s pelt. Was there no honor left in the Clans?

Bramblestar squared his shoulders. “ThunderClan won’t join a war,” he growled.

Tigerstar’s gaze flashed. “But you won’t stop us?”

Bramblestar looked away. “No.” Squirrelflight stared at him, unable to believe her ears as he went on. “I don’t care what happens to the Sisters. They’ve made it clear that they’re no better than rogues…”

Pgs 154-155

Remember: all they had to do was wait for the Sisters to leave but they’re so impatient and xenophobic that they are willing to attack a few mollies and their newborn kittens. It’s disgusting. Leafstar suggests Tree go talk to the Sisters, and after a lot of hesitation, he agrees. However, negotiations fail because Moonlight is stubborn. And her overdue kittens have not been born. So the Clans prepare to attack the Sisters and we get this argument.

Squirrelflight looked away. There was nothing she could do to stop this. She slunk into the shadow of the Highledge, huddling away from the rest of her Clan. She didn’t want to hear their eager voices. How could so many of her Clanmates approve of this plan? Would they be acting like this if she were leader? She hunched tighter, crouching against the earth. What was the point in wondering? She’d never be leader, just like she’d never go along with this fox-hearted plan.

The shadows deepened as evening gave way to night. Squirrelflight fluffed her fur against the chill.

“What about you?” Bramblestar’s question took her by surprise.

She looked up. He stood over her, his gaze dark. Behind him the clearing was empty. “What do you mean?” She sat up.

“Can I count on your support tomorrow?” There was hostility in his mew. “You are my deputy, after all.”

“And your mate.” Her pelt pricked uneasily. What did he expect her to say? “But that doesn’t mean I have to support you in everything. I can’t support you when I don’t agree with you.”

“You’re my deputy. I expect you to support me no matter what,” he snapped. “How can the Clan trust my decisions when you constantly challenge me?”

“You’re their leader. They’ll support you,” she mewed. “No matter how wrong you are.”

Bramblestar bristled. “So you doubt your Clan too?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you meant.”

“You haven’t understood what I’ve meant for a moon!” Squirrelflight flattened her ears. “If you did, we wouldn’t be arguing now, and you wouldn’t be leading a battle patrol against an expectant queen!”

“Is that all that matters to you?” Bramblestar’s eyes blazed with frustration. “Some rogue and her kits? There’s more to life than kits!”

“And there’s more to life than fighting!”

“Of course there is!” Bramblestar held her gaze. “Do you think I don’t know that?”

“You’re acting as if borders and battles are the only thing you care about,” Squirrelflight spat.

“And you’re acting like the Sisters are the only cats you care about!” Hurt edged his mew.

“You think I don’t care about ThunderClan?” Thorns seemed to pierce Squirrelflight’s heart. “Of course I care! I care about them, and I care about you! More than anything! But you don’t seem to respect me anymore—not as your mate, not as your deputy—and I don’t know why.”

“Of course I respect you.” Bramblestar’s mew softened. “But you don’t seem to agree with anything I say or do. I have a Clan to lead. How can I lead them when the cat I care most about thinks I’m doing everything wrong?”

Pg 165-166

Notice how he’s twisting her words and is making her out to be the one who doesn’t care about others? He says he respects her but he doesn’t. He’s been beating her down the entire book. He doesn’t want a deputy, he wants a follower who never questions him even when he is blatantly wrong. Everyone is wrong except for Squirrelflight. She (and Leafstar but she relents after being pressured by Tigerstar II) is the only one who understands that chasing out the Sisters is wrong and cruel but the others are so desperate to harm them for no good reason.

In this scene, Bramble goes on about how he doesn’t want to harm the Sisters but he feels like them leaving is the best thing for the Clans and again, it’s hard for me to sympathize when all they have to do is wait a fucking month. All of this is ridiculous. That night, Squilf has a nightmare about kittens being harmed. She checks on Sparkpelt and her kits, finding them safe. She runs into Leafpool and the two of them conclude that the dream was about Moonlight. They dash toward the mollies’ camp. Moonlight is having her kittens. There are some complications. Leafpool and Squirrelflight help her. The Clans arrive. Squilf and Leafpool move Moonlight and the kittens away from the Clans. They go to a cave on the territory while Squilf talks to the Clans. Tigerstar II and the others call Squilf disloyal for… saving a new mother and her kittens. I hate this book. The Clans attack. The Sisters flee, but the Clans chase after them, trapping them and Leafpool in the cave.

Evil-ass Tigerstar II orders his warriors to cause a cave-in. The roof begins to crumble. Squilf barges in to rescue her sister and the kittens. Just as Squilf and Leaf save the last kit, the roof falls on top of them. Squilf wakes up and find herself in StarClan. They’re dying. And then we get the worst scene in all of Warriors.

Squirrelflight shivered. It was good to see so many old friends, but she wasn’t ready to stay. ThunderClan’s forest was home, not here. Her gaze flitted around her old Clanmates. They were glancing anxiously at Leafpool. Had her sister said something wrong?

Firestar’s tail twitched. “I’m glad you’re happy here,” he meowed. “But I’m not sure you can stay.”

Squirrelflight pricked her ears. “Does that mean we’re not going to die yet?” She looked at him eagerly.

Firestar’s gaze darkened. “We don’t know,” he mewed. “But even if you do, you may not be allowed to stay in StarClan.” His gaze flitted from Squirrelflight to Leafpool. “Either of you.”

Shock sparked in Squirrelflight’s belly. “What do you mean?”

Leafpool’s eyes widened. “Does StarClan think we’re bad?”

Squirrelflight stiffened. Had Bramblestar been right? Had she betrayed her Clan by supporting the Sisters? She was Clan deputy after all. Had StarClan seen her hesitate before defending Bramblestar against Flurry’s attack? I was about to save him.

Leafpool shifted beside her. “It’s because I lied about my kits, isn’t it?” She moved closer to Hollyleaf. “I had to. I had no choice. Giving up my medicine cat duties would have been as much of a betrayal.”

“It’s not me but the whole of StarClan you have to convince.” Firestar stared at her gravely. “They believe that you broke the warrior code.” His gaze moved to Squirrelflight. “You both did. You lied to your Clan.”

Squirrelflight stared at him. “Every cat makes mistakes,” she blurted.

“Yes.” He shifted his paws uneasily. “But you must be held to account for yours before you’re allowed into StarClan.”

“How?” Leafpool’s question was barely more than a whisper.

“StarClan must review your lives.” …“Follow me.” Firestar led her across the hillside while their Clanmates trailed behind and Leafpool padded at her side.

… “Where are we?” The place reminded her of Fourtrees, where the Clans had gathered every moon before the Great Journey to the lake.

“This is where StarClan meets to decide the fate of every cat,” Firestar told her. As he spoke, starlight glittered between the trees. On every side, StarClan warriors padded from between the trees. …

Leafpool moved closer. “Where will we go if StarClan won’t take us?” Fear shimmered in her gaze.

Firestar’s gaze clouded. “I don’t know,” …

Squirrelflight could hardly believe her ears. What if there wasn’t anywhere else? Did that mean she and Leafpool would just disappear? Would they become nothing but a fading memory for the living? Or would they end up wandering the forest forever? Perhaps Tree would be able to see them. Or the Sisters. “How will you decide?” she breathed.

Firestar shifted his paws. “I won’t decide,” he croaked. “I could never turn you away from StarClan. It is up to others.”

A black-and-white tom with a long, thin tail padded from between the trees. His pelt sparkled with starlight. Squirrelflight recognized him at once. Tallstar. As he stopped at the head of the clearing, a large, blue-gray she-cat took her place beside him. Firestar dipped his head to her. “Bluestar.” Squirrelflight felt Leafpool’s fur bristle against her flank as a large brown tom with a twisted mouth crossed the clearing. “That’s Crookedstar,” Leafpool whispered. …

A skinny, battle-scarred she-cat followed, with bright wide-set orange eyes. “Yellowfang.” Firestar greeted her as she stopped beside Tallstar, Crookedstar, and Bluestar, and then dipped his head to a snow-white she-cat who was padding across the clearing. “Moth Flight.” He blinked politely as a small brown tabby tom followed. “Littlecloud.” As they lined up beside the others, Firestar’s gaze flicked back to Squirrelflight. “These cats will decide if you deserve a place in StarClan.”

… Leafpool was staring at Firestar. “How will they decide?”

“They’ll hear what you have to say,” he told her. His tail twitched uneasily. “You’re lucky in a way. Most cats don’t have the chance to speak for themselves. Their fate is decided before they reach us.”

Squirrelflight stared at him, fear jabbing her belly. “Are we supposed to be grateful?” She and Leafpool had served their Clan since they’d been given their apprentice names. They shouldn’t have to plead for a place in StarClan.

Firestar eyed her nervously. “Please think before you speak, Squirrelflight,” he whispered. She dipped her head apologetically and forced her pelt to smooth. “Okay.”

Moth Flight lifted her muzzle. “Leafpool. We’ll start with you.”

Leafpool’s eyes flashed with alarm. …

“Leafpool.” Moth Flight frowned. “You had kits even though you were a medicine cat. I know how that feels. I was the Clans’ first medicine cat. I gave up my kits and it broke my heart. That’s why I made the rule that no future medicine cat should have kits. I wanted to save you all from such pain.”

“I fell in love,” Leafpool mewed simply.

Littlecloud’s pelt ruffled. “Do you think that is an excuse?”

“Every cat falls in love at least once,” Tallstar mewed. “You didn’t have to act on it.”

“You broke my rule.” Moth Flight’s gaze was still fixed on Leafpool.

“I had to.” Leafpool lifted her chin. “But being a medicine cat was too important to give up.”

“Was it worth lying for?” Moth Flight pressed.

“What else could I do?”

Moth Flight eyed her coldly. “You put your feelings before your Clan.”

That’s not true! Squirrelflight want to yowl out, but she could see Firestar’s pelt pricking. Think before you speak. She blinked at Leafpool. Tell them how giving up your kits broke your heart too! Tell them it was the hardest decision you’ve ever made! Her sister was staring back at the StarClan cats, her eyes round. Wasn’t she going to defend herself?

Bluestar nodded to her. “Have you nothing to say?”

Leafpool met the old she-cat’s gaze, unblinking. “I’m waiting for you to say that the father of my kits was from another Clan.” Around the clearing, the gathered StarClan cats murmured softly to one another, their pelts shimmering beneath the shadow of the trees as Leafpool went on. “Why defend myself from one accusation only to face another?”

Squirrelflight stiffened. Leafpool sounded angry.

“All right.” Moth Flight’s tail twitched ominously. “You had kits with a cat from another Clan.”

“Have you no respect at all for the warrior code?” Littlecloud’s eyes flashed.

“I’m not a warrior,” Leafpool straightened. “I’m a medicine cat. And being a medicine cat means more to me than anything. I gave up Crowfeather. I gave up my kits. Yes, I broke the code, but I chose my Clan over myself.” She faced them, her pelt prickling defiantly. “If you want to keep me out of StarClan, it’s up to you.”

Bluestar’s pelt sparkled as she stepped forward. “Would you make the same choices again?”

Leafpool hesitated. “Of course I would! I can’t imagine my life without Lionblaze, Jayfeather, or Hollyleaf. I’d never choose a life without them.” She narrowed her eyes. “If they’d never been born, we might all have been lost to the Dark Forest.”

Bluestar frowned. “That has nothing to do with you breaking the code,” she snapped.

Yellowfang glanced at the ThunderClan leader. “Didn’t you have kits with a cat from another Clan, Bluestar?” she mewed softly.

“Bluestar wasn’t a medicine cat,” Moth Flight growled.

Yellowfang tipped her head to one side. “You had kits, Moth Flight, before you decided you were the first and last medicine cat who could. Is that fair?”

“It was for the good of the Clans.” Moth Flight glared at her.

“It seems to me”—Yellowfang’s ears twitched—“that Leafpool sacrificed everything she loved to be a loyal medicine cat to her Clan. Can we ask more than that?”

“Of course we can!” Littlecloud glared at his Clanmates. “What’s the point in having rules if cats can break them whenever they like?”

“Leafpool didn’t just have kits,” Crookedstar reminded them. “She had kits with a cat from another Clan and lied about it to every cat.”

Yellowfang flicked her tail crossly. “She gave them up to be a medicine cat, just as Bluestar gave up her own kits to be a leader. I did the same in my time, and I am still a member of StarClan.”

Bluestar held her gaze for a moment, then dipped her head. “Yellowfang has a point. We can’t condemn Leafpool for breaking rules we’ve broken ourselves.”

Crookedstar spoke for the first time. “Leafpool is right about her kits. They helped save the Clans from the Dark Forest.”

“Only because we chose them,” Moth Flight snapped. “We could have chosen any cat.”

…

“Don’t argue over me,” Leafpool mewed suddenly. “I don’t regret having my kits. Only that I lied about being their mother. I wish I’d had more courage, but I thought I was doing the best for everyone by choosing to remain a medicine cat. If you decide that I can’t join StarClan, then I must accept your decision. But please don’t turn Squirrelflight away.”

Squirrelflight’s heart leaped into her throat. Don’t sacrifice your place in StarClan for me!

Leafpool went on. “Everything she did was out of loyalty to me. I couldn’t wish to have a better sister. She wanted to protect my kits and me, and she was willing to sacrifice everything to keep us safe. If some cat must be punished for what we did, punish me, not her.”

Squirrelflight’s gaze clouded. Star-flecked pelts swam before her eyes. She could only focus on Leafpool, awaiting the judgment of StarClan. Squirrelflight pressed against Firestar. “She deserves to be here,” she whispered.

“So do you.” Firestar nudged her forward.

Squirrelflight’s pelt spiked. Bluestar was looking at her expectantly. Heart quickening, she padded toward the ThunderClan leader. Leafpool blinked encouragingly, but Squirrelflight could see fear in her sister’s gaze.

Crookedstar padded forward and glared at Squirrelflight. “You lied to your Clan,” he told her bluntly. “You lied to your mate. You told them that Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather were yours. Why should such a deceitful cat have a place in StarClan?”

Squirrelflight looked at her paws. Her pelt burned. “That was my only lie,” she mumbled. “I have been loyal to my Clan in every other way.”

“Really?” Bluestar’s mew was sharp. “We have seen you choose the Sisters over your Clan time and time again in the last moon. They are strangers to the forest, and yet you put your own Clan at risk to protect them.”

“Some cat had to!” Squirrelflight raised her head.

“Why?” Bluestar’s eyes flashed.

“Moonlight was expecting kits.”

Crookedstar frowned. “Cats can have kits anywhere. If you’d let the Clans drive her off sooner, she could have had her kits far from Clan territory. No cat would have been hurt. Instead you put the kits in danger, as well as the Sisters and your Clanmates.”

“My Clanmates were never in danger,” Squirrelflight insisted.

Bluestar’s eyes widened. “Have you forgotten the landslide already? Doesn’t that count as danger?”

Guilt clawed at Squirrelflight’s heart. “I was just trying to protect every cat.” She stared helplessly at the StarClan cats. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I wanted to protect Leafpool when I lied for her. I wanted to protect Bramblestar when I lied to him. Does it matter if rules get broken if it’s to stop cats getting hurt?”

Crookedstar’s gaze darkened. “Without the warrior code, we are nothing but rogues.”

Bluestar glared at Squirrelflight. “Are you saying we should live without it?”

“No!” Panic flared in Squirrelflight’s belly. “This isn’t fair! I’m just trying to explain…” Her mew trailed away. Think before you speak. Firestar was watching her, his eyes glittering with worry. She blinked at Bluestar. “I’m sorry. I know that a warrior shouldn’t lie. And that they must put their Clan before everything. I have failed you. I’ve failed my Clan.”

Tallstar’s ears twitched. “Bluestar.” He blinked at the ThunderClan leader. “Why be so hard on her?”

“She broke the rules.”

“She told you why she did it,” Tallstar pressed.

Yellowfang narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Is it such a crime to protect those you care about?”

She met Bluestar’s gaze. “Surely it matters more why she broke the warrior code than the fact that she did? If Squirrelflight broke rules, it was out of compassion. Is that so bad?”

Squirrelflight’s heart swelled with gratitude. “I know the warrior code is important,” she blurted. “I never would have broken it if I hadn’t felt I was doing the right thing. I hope that the mistakes I’ve made, I’ve made out of love.”

Crookedstar swapped glances with Bluestar, then nodded to Leafpool and Squirrelflight. “Thank you.” With a flick of his tail, he turned away and padded into the shadow of the forest. Bluestar, Tallstar, Moth Flight, and Littlecloud followed.

Squirrelflight stared after them, hardly able to breathe. Was that it? “Are we allowed into StarClan?”

Yellowfang glanced at her. “We’ll let you know once we’ve discussed it.” With a nod, she headed after the others.

Firestar hurried across the clearing. He stopped beside Squirrelflight and Leafpool, his pelt rippling nervously along his spine. “You spoke well, both of you.”

“I hope so.” Leafpool gazed anxiously at Squirrelflight. “If they stop you joining StarClan because of me, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Squirrelflight touched her nose to her sister’s cheek. ... “Whatever they decide, you’re the best sister I could have asked for.”

“So are you.” Leafpool pressed against her, her breath warm on Squirrelflight’s neck.

Pulling away, Squirrelflight saw affection shining in her eyes. She purred. “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”

“Squirrelflight.” Firestar’s mew jerked her attention away. He was staring across the clearing. Bluestar, Crookedstar, and the others had returned from the shadows.

“We’ve made our decision.” Crookedstar beckoned Squirrelflight and Leafpool forward with a flick of his tail.

Squirrelflight’s chest tightened. She felt her breath quicken. Staying close to Leafpool, she crossed the clearing and stopped in front of him.

“We’ve decided that both of you did more good than harm. If this is truly the end of your lives, you may remain in StarClan.” The RiverClan leader’s eyes shone. “But remember that we are still watching. If your lives are not over, we’ll reconsider them when you return. You still have to earn your place in StarClan.”

Ch 24 (the entire thing)

There is SO MUCH wrong here. Let’s go bit by bit.

The lore is getting worse and worse: This is the first time in the entire series we hear of a StarClan trial. In OotS, Bluestar told Jayfeather that it was not their place to judge whether or not a cat deserved to be in StarClan. But here we see that they do judge so was Bluestar lying?! It makes NO SENSE why Squirrelflight and Leafpool are put on trial when the murderous incel Ashfur got let in. Nothing they did is worse than what Ashfur did. If he got let in, by default they should be let in. Leafpool has been a dedicated medicine cat her entire life. Her forbidden children were the chosen ones! Their birth was destined. And Yellowfang tricked Squilf into taking the kits in Leafpool’s Wish! She used Squilf’s supposed barren-ness to guilt-trip her into taking the destined kittens. StarClan is horrible.

Also, Moth Flight says they chose the Three. No they didn’t. The Unknowable did (read part two for context). StarClan had no clue where the Three came from! What the fuck is she saying here?

Hypocrisy: I guess it is fitting that the leaders of a religion are hypocritical. Very true to life. Doesn’t make it any less frustrating though. Bluestar’s behavior feels out of character. She had kittens with a tom from another Clan and gave them up to become leader, much like how Leafpool gave up her kits to remain a medicine cat. Both mollies sacrificed their kittens for the good of the cult, but here Bluestar is lambasting Leafpool for doing the same shit she did! It doesn’t feel right for Yellowfang, another medicine cat who had kittens, to remind her of this. This is not my Bluestar. Who is this imposter?

Crookedstar feels out of character too! His mate, Willowbreeze, was the child of a WindClan tom and a RiverClan molly. His daughter died giving birth to her half-Clan kittens. He, of all people, should, at the very least, sympathize with Leafpool’s plight but no. The rules are more important.

And then there’s Moth Flight. I’m saving my rant about her for part five.

The warrior code > your feelings: The Clans are such a cult. The warrior code is the code of ethics the cats live by and they treat it like a holy text. Apparently, breaking the warrior code out of love is worse than trying to murder a leader or his daughter (Ashfur). Squilf and Leaf have proven time and time again that they are loyal ThunderClan cats through and through. It’s aggravating as fuck that Squilf in particular is being raked across the coals for breaking a few stupid rules when her father did the exact same things when he was a warrior. Fireheart snuck out at night to talk to cats from other Clans to solve a murder. He lied to Bluestar about Ravenpaw’s fate to keep his friend safe from Tigerclaw. He solved a dispute with WindClan when Bluestar was being unreasonable to avoid a war. Squirrelflight is exactly like her father! She will do whatever it takes, even if it hurts her, to do the right thing. But here, she is punished repeatedly by StarClan and by her supposed lover Bramblestar. Why is she being punished so hard for breaking the fucking rules?! Why are the rules so important that you can go to Hell for breaking them? The Clans are a cult.

The trial scene is awful. It doesn’t make sense at all. It feels like the Erins had a vendetta against Firestar’s daughters and wanted them to suffer, especially poor Squirrelflight. What the fuck did she do to deserve so much pain? Speaking of pain, let’s discuss Bramblestar and why they should break up. Bramblestar, throughout this, has been nothing but cold to her for no reason whatsoever. Squilf is 100% in the right but he punishes her, belittles her ideas, undermines her, twists her words, and is cruel to her. Everything Squilf does is for the greater good, but instead of reflecting on her actions and backing her up, he beats her down and threatens to replace her! Not once does he take the time to think on his own behavior. Even after she revives and Leafpool dies, he says

“Don’t be sorry for anything. I was so worried. I love you so much. We should never have let things get so bad. I’ll never let it happen again.”

Pg 214

We? WE?! No you dumb motherfucker, you caused this! Your stubbornness, impatience, and lack of trust toward your own deputy caused this! All she wanted to do was solve the Clans problems in the most painless way possible but he trampled her! He was too impatient to wait for Moonlight to leave and he was too scared to challenge Tigerstar II’s craziness. Bramblestar lets Tigerstar II walk all over him and the others. He’s so weak. Evidently, Tigerstar II’s mood is more important than saving the lives of kittens. That evil motherfucker caused a cave-in that killed Leafpool! Moonlight ends up dying due to her injuries caused by bloodthirsty Tigerstar II and the others, leaving her poor kittens without a mother. But nah, Squilf is to blame.

Bramblestar keeps saying that a deputy is supposed to support the leader but that is not true! A deputy is supposed to work with the leader, not bow to their every whim. If Bramblestar wanted a blind follower, he should’ve picked someone else. In OotS, after everything has been resolved, he chose Squirrelflight for the position because he believed she was perfect for the role. At that point, they were officially broken up so he didn’t choose her because they were a couple. He chose her because she challenged him and thought outside the box. He thinks this very thing in Bramblestar’s Storm!

I hate Bramblestar. He’s so awful in every scene he’s in. Whenever he’s a protagonist, the Erins portray him as slow-witted, dull, and arrogant, but he’s not supposed to be. He’s supposed to be smart, strong-willed, and honorable. Trash tier character writing. But when he’s a side character, he is distant, combative, and boring (at the best of times). When he becomes the leader, he hardly consults his Clan unlike Firestar who always spoke to his medicine cats and warriors with nearly every decision he made. Bramblestar feels isolated from ThunderClan. Because of that, his actions here feel so much worse! It feels like he cares more about Tigerstar II’s feelings than his own Clan!

Please watch Moonkitti’s video about Bramblestar. It’s well-made and she explains Squirrelflight’s and Bramblestar’s relationship better than I can. It’s sad. Squirrelflight deserves better.

To wrap up this, Leafpool dies, Moonlight names her kittens Squirrel, Leaf, and Moon before succumbing to her injuries, the Sisters leave the land, SkyClan moves in, and they have a heartfelt funeral for Leafpool. I despise this book. 1/10

Errors: Millie is listed as a silver tabby in the allegiances. Snaptooth’s name is misspelled as "Snapptooth" in the allegiances. In Squirrelflight's flashback, Leafpaw is mistakenly called Leafpool before she receives her full name. Eaglewing is called a tom twice. Leafpool is mistakenly referred to as Leafstar. Tree is called a warrior. Ambermoon physically appears to rescue Squirrelflight and Leafstar, despite dying a moon beforehand. Flippaw and Hollytuft are present when the Sisters bring Sunrise to ThunderClan's camp, but in the next chapter, they both are seen coming into camp and unaware of the events that transpired. Strikestone is shown leading Squirrelflight, Jayfeather, and Alderheart back to ThunderClan territory, when earlier, it was Scorchfur leading them back. Thriftpaw is called a tom. While learning about meadow saffron, Squirrelflight notes that they may have found the cure for Sparkpelt's sickness, though it was Larksong with the sickness. Petalfur is shown fighting the Sisters despite dying in Shattered Sky. Crookedstar is said to have spoken for the first time, when he spoke on the last page. Fidgetflake is mistakenly called a she-cat.

Final Thoughts on Arc Six Super Editions

Two of them are good and the rest are some of the worst books in the entire series. I’m glad to be done with them.

Arc Six: Novellas

Tree’s Roots (2020): 7/10 Pretty good. Here, we learn about Tree’s time with the Sisters. Like the Clans, the Sisters are a weirdo cult that forces the toms of their group to leave once they hit 6 months old. Tree, formerly known as Earth, doesn’t want to leave because he doesn’t feel ready. Toms born to the Sisters can “speak to the earth” and are charged to guard the land or whatever. I like the Sisters but they’re very strange, even for this series. They can speak and summon ghosts. It’s wild. Anyway, Earth cannot speak to the earth. He tries to stay with the Sisters but his mom forces him away. Earth is lonely and resents the Sisters for this. Then he runs into Root, his father. He and Root stick together and Earth chooses the name Tree to further distance himself from the Sisters. Unfortunately, his father is killed by a fox. Tree wanders alone for months until he meets Pebbleshine. His father’s ghost comes to him and warns him about a fox. He saves Pebbleshine from the fox and she offers him a spot in SkyClan. He refuses, choosing to go his own way despite missing the company of another cat. He speaks to his father and Root tells him that though he is dead, he is always by his side. He vanishes but Tree no longer feels alone.

This is a good one. I love Tree and his backstory is interesting. It also shows just how fucked up the Sisters’ system is. For no other reason than he’s a tom, Tree is sent away at a very young age when he was ill-prepared. He would have died if it wasn’t for Root saving him and teaching him. The Sisters’ reason for pushing out the males is that if they don’t “bad things” will happen. The Clans and the Sisters are cults, I’m telling ya. Anyway, good book.

Errors: It is said that Root has a squirrel dangling from his jaws, but in the next paragraph it is said he "dropped the rabbit".

Pebbleshine’s Kits (2020): 5/10 Meh. This one is about Pebbleshine after she was separated from SkyClan during Hawkwing’s Journey. It’s boring, but passable.

Errors: None are listed on the Wiki.

Tawnypelt’s Clan (2019): DNF/10. This takes place right after AVoS. It’s about Tawnypelt feeling like she no longer belongs in ShadowClan because the ShadowClan she once knew is gone or whatever. Shadowkit has visions about the Tribe and so Tawnypelt and Dovewing bring him there. Thats when I gave up. I hate the Tribe and I hate that this is what Tawnypelt’s novella is about. I want to know what life was like for her when she joined ShadowClan during her father’s reign, not whatever the hell this is. Even in her own novella, Tawnypelt is a background character. 2/10. Hate it.

Errors: There are a few mistakes in the allegiances: Beetlewhisker is listed, and has an apprentice despite being dead. Harrybrook’s name is not in bold print or capitalized. Heronwing is listed despite being dead. The word "winter" is used twice, despite Clan cats referring to it as "leaf-bare". Bramblestar is mistakenly called Brambleclaw twice. It is mistakenly said that Tawnypelt hadn't visited the Tribe since leaving the old territories, when she visited them in Outcast.

Final Thoughts on the Arc Six Novellas

Tree’s Roots is the only one worth reading.

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End of Part Three…

Whoo boy now this was a tough one. I didn’t think I had this much to say about arc six. The Broken Code is nowhere near as messy as A Vision of Shadows, but it has problems too. Hopefully, part four is nowhere near as long as this.