Warriors: MEGA Review! Part Two

Image credit: Liu Ye

Fun Fact! My original post got deleted so I had to rewrite everything! Hooray!

Spoilers Ahead!!

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

Reminder: Victoria Holmes, the lead editor, outliner, and actual creator of Warriors, stepped away from the team in 2017. She created the storylines, concepts, and characters until 2017. She had two ghostwriters who are still writing the books. The book packaging company Working Partners took up the mantle right afterward and has been writing the books since. I’m saying this because I want you to be aware of that when I’m discussing the novellas. Also, remember that these books were (and still are) being pumped out. Victoria Holmes clearly did not have enough time to flesh out her plots and characters. I feel that with more time, she could have refined her ideas (Doesn’t excuse the lack of consistency though. A spreadsheet would have done wonders, Vicky). Pay attention to dates, especially with the novellas.

Arc Two: The New Prophecy (2005-2006)

2/10

I hate this arc. It’s the worst arc in the series. To be honest, I did not finish re-reading this one. It turned me off from Warriors initially and it damn near made me give up again.

We follow Brambleclaw, Tigerstar’s son, as he meets up with cats from the other Clans who had the same StarClan vision. At Fourtrees, he finds Tawnypelt of ShadowClan (his sister), Crowpaw of WindClan, and Feathertail of RiverClan. Feathertail’s brother Stormfur and Firestar’s daughter Squirrelpaw tag along on their journey to meet the badger Midnight on a beach for she has a message for them. Meanwhile, Leafpaw, Squirrelpaw’s sister and ThunderClan’s medicine cat apprentice, acts as our resident camera. Through her, we discover that humans are destroying the forest territories. Prey flees the destruction which starves out the cats. Water is being poisoned by the machinery. Their land shrinks. The cats are struggling. She also gets to know the new RiverClan medicine cat apprentice Mothwing and her shady brother Hawkfrost. They are the children of the kittypet Sasha and the dead tyrannical leader Tigerstar. Ooo scary.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, our traveling group meets up with Midnight and she tells them that humans are destroying the land and they need to move. StarClan could have just sent them a message but whatever. As they’re traveling back, they decide to traverse through the mountains as a shortcut. There, Stormfur gets kidnapped by a group of cats called the Tribe of Rushing Water. The Tribe is exactly like the Clans, but worse in every way. They stole Stormfur because their version of StarClan, The Tribe of Endless Hunting, gave them a prophecy about a silver cat who will save them from a murderous cougar. Our group rescues Stormfur, but stays awhile to help the Tribe. Blah blah blah Feathertail sacrifices herself whilst pushing a stalactite onto the cougar, killing it and fulfilling the Tribe’s prophecy. Stormfur and Crowpaw, who had a crush on Feathertail, mourn her death. They arrive home to find it devastated. The Clans bicker about leaving until StarClan sends them a sign that leads them to their new home. Along the way, Crowpaw receives his warrior name. He asks Tallstar if he can have the suffix -feather, in honor of Feathertail. Tallstar agrees and dubs him Crowfeather. They arrive to the lake and this is when the arc dips hard.

Tallstar is dying. Whilst dying, he changes the deputy from the abrasive Mudclaw to the (supposedly) gentle Onewhisker. Mudclaw is obviously upset by this and forms a coup with Hawkfrost. He tries to kill Onewhisker before he can receive his nine lives, but during a fight, Mudclaw is crushed by a falling tree. Conveniently, the tree forms the perfect bridge to the island, their new Gathering location. Leafpaw eventually finds the Moonpool and is named after it. Squirrelpaw also receives her name, Squirrelflight. Leafpool and Crowfeather “fall in love” and there’s a bunch of drama that comes from that. Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, and some background tomcat named Ashfur are in a boring as fuck “love triangle.” Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost are training with their evil dad in Kitty Cat Hell aka the Dark Forest. Cats in the Dark Forest can somehow pull living cats into the afterlife while they’re asleep (don’t worry, the lore only gets worse). A horde of badgers raid ThunderClan because the cats ran out a mother badger from her home. They deserved to be attacked tbh. Cinderpelt dies to a badger while protecting Sorreltail and her kittens. Rip Cinderpelt. Her death made me cry as a kid. Leafpool, who was going to leave the Clans with her bf Crowfeather (with StarClan’s blessing), come to her senses and returns home.

Blah blah blah, Brambleclaw becomes deputy because Graystripe, who was kidnapped by humans, doesn’t come back. Hawkfrost tries to kill Firestar with a fox trap but is then killed by Brambleclaw who finally realizes that his evil brother is evil. That’s it. It sucks.

Errors: As always all credit goes to the Warriors Wiki. The stuff in [brackets] is my own commentary.

Midnight: On the original cover, Brambleclaw has green eyes, when he actually has amber eyes. The book repeatedly states that four seasons have passed since the events in The Darkest Hour, but this is not possible, as The Darkest Hour took place in leaf-bare (winter), while Midnight starts off in greenleaf (summer); the delay is rather six seasons. Feathertail is said to have a flecked gray pelt. While Mistyfoot is talking to Leafpaw and Sorreltail about the disappearance of the four cats, she tells them Feathertail and Stormfur had undergone scrutiny about having a father in RiverClan, yet Feathertail and Stormfur's father was actually ThunderClan, and their mother was RiverClan.

Moonrise: The allegiances contain many mistakes, including the absence of the Tribe of Rushing Water, Rowanclaw's gender again being female [Hold on! This is not a mistake, this is a retcon. Rowanclaw was originally a molly but was mistakenly changed into a tom. The authors forgot his gender] and Sorreltail being listed as Sorrelpaw, despite earning her warrior name in the previous book. Purdy [an old tom the traveling cats met up with] exclaims "Great StarClan!" but it is established in Midnight that, before he meets the Clan cats, he does not know of StarClan, so it is unlikely he would use this phrase. Stormfur is misspelled as “Sormfur.” Leafpaw describes three cats from ShadowClan attacking ThunderClan; Russetfur, Cedarheart and a tabby tom. She explains that Cedarheart attacks her but then, in the next sentence, he is said to be fighting Brackenfur. Brambleclaw states that he scented rabbits before the eagle attacked, but this was never mentioned before now. In one of the sentences, "Clan" is spelled without a capitalized C. Stormfur is called “Stonefur.”

Dawn: Rowanclaw is once again listed as a she-cat [again this is not a mistake. Him being male is the mistake]. Blackstar is said to have a black pelt. Leafpaw mentions that only she, Firestar, Graystripe, and Cinderpelt knew about the fire and tiger prophecy, when two books previously Firestar had told Sandstorm about it. Tawnypelt is called Tawnypaw twice in the book, even though she has had her warrior name since Firestar's Quest. There is a word missing from a page. A sentence reads: "...lit up the ThunderClan's golden pelt. He (Firestar) lay very still with his eyes closed." when it should say, "...the ThunderClan leader's..." Also, with that comes Firestar being called golden, instead of ginger. Smokepaw is called a RiverClan apprentice [this one is pretty bad because when he falls off the cliff the text says “the ShadowClan apprentice” and then a paragraph later he is called a RiverClan apprentice]. Crowpaw is called a warrior when he was still an apprentice at the time. Tawnypelt is called pale bracken-colored [she is supposed to be tortie. Originally, when she was born, she was said to be pale ginger. They retcon her color later on]. Brightheart is said to have a 'tortoiseshell splashed coat' when she is in fact ginger and white. Leafpaw describes seeing 'white and ginger fur flashing through the undergrowth'- later, this is revealed to be Sorreltail and Brackenfur, neither of which are white and ginger [Sorreltail is tortoiseshell and white, Brackenfur is a golden-brown tabby]. As Squirrelpaw and Sorreltail run past the abandoned camp, the description reads "If they [the monsters] weren't careful, they'd tumble right into the ravine and smash themselves to bits on Highstones"- likely they meant the 'Highrock' as Highstones is far away from the ThunderClan camp. Squirrelpaw easily opens the catch to the cage when freeing Leafpaw from the monster, but without any instruction, she shouldn't know how. Firestar is called dark red. Firestar claims he and Ravenpaw have been through so much together, specifically referencing the death of Bluestar, yet Ravenpaw was not present for this.

Starlight: Blackclaw is called a WindClan cat. Whitepaw is called Whitetail. Blackstar is referred to as Blackclaw. It is stated that Brambleclaw was "basking in the warmth of the pale winter sun" when winter is referred to as leaf-bare. Mothwing is said to have blue eyes several times [she has amber eyes]. Squirrelflight is called Squirrelpaw when she has already received her warrior name.

Twilight: Mothwing has blue eyes again. Birchkit is said to have a gray pelt [he’s a light brown tabby]. Crowfeather is said to have amber eyes at least twice [he has distinct blue eyes]. Shrewpaw is said to have died on the journey to the lake, when he died shortly before the Clans left the forest. Leafpool is called Leafpaw after she received her full medicine cat name. Sootfur is said to have black fur. Brackenfur is said to have ginger fur.

Sunset: Brightheart is said to have two eyes twice. Mothwing is again said to have blue eyes. Stormfur is said to have blue eyes, twice. Crowfeather is again said to have amber eyes. Daisy is said to have gray-and-white fur. Ferncloud is said to have been appointed for a hunting patrol, when in fact it was Sandstorm who was appointed to the patrol. Firestar is said to have seven lives left when he only has five. Tigerstar is called Tigerclaw. Leafpool comments on the day of the quarter moon that the medicine cats will be meeting at the Moonpool that night. However, medicine cats meet on the half moon, and in the next chapter Brambleclaw remembers that Leafpool had just paid her half-moon visit to Moonpool.

Things I Hate

There’s so much wrong here. First, what the hell happened to Brambleclaw? Why is he stupid now? When he’s not being bossy and confrontational toward Squilf (Squirrelflight), he’s training with his evil dad in Hell, the tom he rejected when he was an apprentice! Why is he cool with him again? Tigerstar tries to sway Tawnypelt over to his side, but she tells him to fuck off. Good for her. But Brambleclaw? He regressed. His arc in The Prophecies Begin revolved around him proving to the world that he is nothing like his father, but here he is budding up with his father and half-brother in Hell. Squilf tells him that Hawkfrost is bad news and he goes “stop telling me what to do, woman!” He sucks and he only gets worse as the series goes on. Squilf deserves better…

I despise the Tribe of Rushing Water with every fiber of my being. They shouldn’t exist. They’re so damn boring and pointless. They’re just like the Clans except their leader and medicine cat are the same cat and they share food (something the Clans don’t do apparently according to the books even though we see them share food all the time). They’re just here to make the Clans look superior. All foreign cat groups are seen as inferior to the Clans. It’s tiring. Also, the Tribe exhibits a lot of uncomfortable Native Peoples stereotypes. Here’s a doc written by people more qualified than me that goes over all of that. Overall, the Tribe is filler. They add nothing to the story at all. They’re just here to eat up pages. I despise their existence.

Leafpool and Crowfeather’s “romance” is beyond forced. Crowf rescues Leaf from a cliff and now they’re in love, but it’s forbidden! They’re from separate Clans and Leafpool is a medicine cat. For cult reasons, medicine cats are not allowed to have mates. Oh, how scandalous! These chunks of wood do not have chemistry. We do not see them bond and fall in love. We are just told that they’re in love. So in love that they almost run away from the Clans altogether until Leafpool is told by StarClan that Cinderpelt died. It doesn’t even make sense why they’re together. What does Leafpool see in him? Crowf makes some sense. Leafpool reminds him of Feathertail and so he projects his grief onto her. Very unhealthy, Crowfeather. But Leafpool?? I don’t get it.

Somehow, the Erins have been pulling stories from this arc for nearly two decades now and I’m so sick and tired of it. Sunnyfall, a Warriors youtuber, made a video discussing the legacy of The New Prophecy. I hate this arc so damn much. Subscribe to her by the way. She makes great stuff.

Things I Like

Though I loathe it, there are some things I like. I like Firestar’s daughters, Squirrelflight and Leafpool. Squilf is a fiery, headstrong, stubborn little kitty with a strong sense of justice. I loved her as a child and I love her now. Leafpool is a quiet, kind, and dutiful. She doesn’t do too much in this arc until she starts swooning over whiny man-child Crowfeather, who I also like by the way. Crowf is annoying in this arc but he becomes more interesting in later arcs. Leafpool’s crush friendship with Mothwing is really cute. I love how supportive she is. Leafpool is one of the few protagonists who has friends. Also she keeps thinking about how pretty Mothwing is which is very suspicious. Why do you keep complimenting her, Leafpool? 🤔

Daisy is a barn cat who broke up with her mate Smoky and fled to ThunderClan with her kittens to escape the humans who were threatening to take them away from her. She’s a sweet girl who has a tough life. She settles into Clanlife with her kittens, Hazelkit, Mousekit, and Berrykit, relatively okay. She learns quickly that she is not cut out for basic warrior duties so she settles on being a nursery queen, a molly who watches over all of the kittens in the Clan. I love Daisy. She’s so sweet every time she’s on the page. For years, the fandom hated Daisy because she was “useless.” Being a daycare operator is not an easy job guys, damn. Here’s a video made by one of my favorite YouTubers that discusses all of that and Daisy in detail. Nowadays though, since (almost) everyone in the fandom is now in their mid-20s, there’s a lot of love for Daisy which is great. She deserves it.

Mothwing is hands-down my favorite Warriors character. She’s one step above Mudfur, who was fittingly her mentor. Just like our pacifist boi, she trained as a warrior before turning to a life of healing. Since she is an outsider, the cultists were weary about her being their spiritual leader. Mudfur waits until he receives a sign from StarClan. Hawkfrost rips off the wings of a moth and places them in front of Mudfur’s den. He sees it and then appoints Mothwing as his apprentice. Mothwing finds out about this which ruins her belief in StarClan. If signs can be faked, is StarClan even real? Like Cloudtail she is an atheist and this is awesome. As an agnostic who has… strong feelings about religious institutions, I relate a lot to Mothwing’s frustrations toward StarClan and the cult who worships them. She’s very critical of StarClan. She thinks the Clans are too reliant on them and thus make foolish decisions that harm them all. Even after witnessing StarClan and Dark Forest cats fight right in front of her eyes during Omen of the Stars, she still refuses to talk to them because she does not trust their judgment. This is awesome! I’m glad the Erins, to this day, have never changed this aspect of her character. Mothwing’s right! StarClan sucks!

I love her journey in this arc. She starts off as an eager but nervous apprentice who loses her mentor early into her training. She makes mistakes and doubts her abilities. With the support of Leafpool, she grows into a competent healer. I like her rocky relationship with her manipulative brother. He dangles the moth wing sign over her head as a way to control her. It’s sad really, but luckily once Hawkfrost dies, she is free from his shackles. I like her relationship with her kind apprentice Willowpaw, who works as her spiritual connection to StarClan. When Willowpaw/shine is old enough, Mothwing sends her off alone to the half-moon medicine cat meetings. She can’t be fussed about going to the Moonpool. She doesn’t like StarClan so why should she waste her time? Even when she did go, she just curled up and napped. That’s funny and relatable. Whenever my parents dragged me to church, I stared off into space and daydreamed. Mothwing is great. We love her here. Too bad she’s surrounded by cultists.

Massive Issue #3: The Clans Are a Cult

I keep making jokes about it, but legit the Clans are a cult. StarClan is made up of dead warriors and nothing more, yet the Clans treat them like they’re all-knowing deities. Mothwing calls this out in Night Whispers:

“They’re just dead warriors!” Mothwing hissed. “Do you think that when they die, they got clever and brave? Don’t you realize that some of them may be as foolish and wrong-headed as they were when they were alive?”

…a growl rumbled in [Jayfeather’s] throat. “You’ve never met a warrior from StarClan,” he spat. “You’re just guessing.”

“So are they!”

pg 217 Night Whispers

She’s 100% right, but the word of StarClan is law and to go against StarClan is to go against the Clans. Those who do not conform are shunned! Those who do not take on a Clan name (Daisy, Millie, Tree, etc.) are labeled outsiders forever. Those who do not believe in StarClan and who do not follow Clan ways are to be judged and looked down upon. To break the warrior code is to go against StarClan. Those who question the draconian warrior code are to be ridiculed and reprimanded. This is a cult. Outside ideas? No! Only StarClan and the warrior code! No suggestions.

Individualism is not allowed by the cult. One must sacrifice one’s body and mind to the Clan at all costs. Stop crying over your dead family, Bluefur! Get back to work! The Clan demands.

Those who are not useful are pushed away. Tree, a wanderer who joins the Clans in A Vision of Shadows, would have been chased away if he hadn’t proved himself useful to the cult. Leafstar creates a new role for him, the mediator- a cat who settles disputes between Clans. A much needed role as the Clans are always snapping at each other over the littlest things. Step one paw onto another Clan’s border and you will be accused of prey-stealing or some shit. You’re lucky if you just get chased. Warriors are trained to straight up attack intruders if they refuse to leave. You could be simply passing through, but every bit of land you step on- every single blade of grass- belongs to the Clans and trespassers are not tolerated. It’s draconian. In the forest territories, ThunderClan and RiverClan fought over Sunningrocks, a strip of land littered with massive sun-lit boulders, for generations. Cats died over a pile of rocks because they refused to share the land. The cult demands battle, not cooperation. You live for the Clan, you die for the Clan. The word of the cult leaders is law. If Brokenstar, a tyrant, tells you to steal children, by god you steal children. He was granted nine lives by StarClan! He is holy and you are lowly! Bow to his whim!

Mixing with the others is strictly forbidden. Clanborn cats are the best cat. Those who are not pure-blooded Clan cats are to be shunned and ridiculed. Kittypets? Weak, defenseless, and pathetic. Loners? Lazy, annoying prey-stealers. Rogues? Enemies to the Clans. Mixing with undesirables such as these is against the code. And don’t you dare think about mixing with the other Clans. A cat cannot have friends from the other Clans because they will have divided loyalties. Divided loyalties makes the Clan weak. Hell, simply doing actions that the other Clans do is suspect. How dare you talk about wanting to fish, Mousewhisker? Only RiverClan cats fish! ThunderClan scoffs at the notion! Taking a mate from another Clan is a faith worse then death! Half-Clan kittens?! How vile. They are diseased!

The Clans are a xenophobic, battle/work cult that worships a gaggle of dead idiots. Pinestar was right to get the fuck out of there when he could.

The Wasted Potential of The New Prophecy

The main reason why I hate this arc so much is because there is a lot of untapped potential present. Nothing pisses me off more than wasted potential. Hawkfrost and the WindClan civil war conflict are glossed over. As written, Hawkfrost is just Tigerstar 2.0. I disliked him for years until the graphic novel Winds of Change came out. In it, we see how Hawkfrost manipulated Mudclaw into believing that Onewhisker would become a puppet leader to Firestar. Onewhisker and Firestar were friends after all. Hawkfrost wants to be the leader and with this move, he seems to be attempting to forge his own little power circle. With Mudclaw in power, he has a paw in RiverClan. With Brambleclaw, who he is also manipulating, he would have a paw in ThunderClan. He fabricated the moth wing sign in order to have his sister in a position of power underneath him so that, when he becomes leader, his medicine cat would not undermine his decisions. And I feel if he succeeded in his goals, he would have gone after his half-sister Tawnypelt and tried to put her in a position of power as well. He could have strived to create his own network of puppet leaders. He could have been a more subtle and charming Tigerstar. I love manipulative villains like this. He has so much potential but none of it is realized.

Crowfeather is a main character and he was also the apprentice of Mudclaw, so we could have gotten a first-hand look at what was going on politically in WindClan, but no. I guess the Erins just didn’t find it interesting enough. They were too busy writing horrible romances. Mudclaw himself is an interesting antagonist. He’s not evil, he’s just gruff. He contrasted Tallstar’s more relaxed demeanor well. It makes perfect sense why he would be suspicious of Firestar and why he’s pissed about the change. Luckily, his graphic novel Winds of Change gave him some character development. He’s a gray character done well. Too bad all of that nuance is absent in The New Prophecy, where it matters most.

Tawnypelt. Oh Tawnypelt. Tawnypelt is one of my favorite characters and she is continuously shafted by the franchise. Tawnypelt is the daughter of Tigerstar. She left ThunderClan after being discriminated against for being his daughter. She joined her father in ShadowClan to escape the persecution. Out of all of his children, Tawnypelt is the only one who spent the most time with him when he was alive. We never learn what life was like for her there. We never see her finish her apprenticeship! In this arc, where she is supposedly a main character, she doesn’t do shit! She hardly speaks! She's a background character in her own arc and it doesn’t make sense for her to be. There are so many questions surrounding her that are never answered. What was life like for her in ShadowClan when she joined? What was her relationship with her father like? How did she feel about him at the time? How did he treat her? When he died, why didn’t she go back to ThunderClan? What was keeping her in ShadowClan? How does she feel about Brambleclaw? Hell, how does she feel about Hawkfrost and Mothwing?! They never talk! They never acknowledge that Tawnypelt is their half-sibling. Why? Did the authors forget?

She doesn’t do anything at all ever. She is the daughter of a tyrant, she left her birth Clan to join him in a rival Clan, she received the Midnight prophecy, she led her new Clan to the lake, and she found their home. She is ride-or-die for ShadowClan yet she never receives the credit and attention she deserves. It pisses me off to no end that her mate, some nobody named Rowanclaw, becomes deputy in Omen of the Stars and then leader in A Vision of Shadows. I know I’m jumping ahead a lot but this really irks me. Tawnypelt discovered their home! She has proven herself worthy of the position time and time again! It makes no sense for Blackstar to not appoint her to the deputy position. Her mate, children, and grandchildren all overshadow her. Her own son, Tigerheart, steals the leadership position away from her. Not literally, but he might as well have in my eyes. She should be the leader! She has sacrificed so much but yet is ignored by the Erins. She has sacrificed and proven herself more than Brambleclaw ever does and he becomes leader! She is never given a complete arc. She leaves ThunderClan and gets one powerful moment where she rejects Tigerstar in the Dark Forest to his face, and that’s it. She’s a background character forever and always.

Brambleclaw’s “arc” in TNP could have easily been given to Tawnypelt. She could have had some leftover baggage surrounding her father. Maybe Tigerstar didn’t mistreat her. Maybe he treated her well and because of that, she was able to see a softer side to him that no one else ever saw. That can lead to complex feelings. When he died, she was alone. She had no family or friends in ShadowClan when she was an apprentice. She could have been mistreated by her new Clanmates after his death. We don’t know. We never learn what life was like for her! Hawkfrost could have come to her and used her isolation to manipulate her. Perhaps, even after all that she has done for ShadowClan, she is looked down upon by this Clan of strangers. Hawkfrost could see this and encourage her to prove them all wrong by gaining power. Play into her own ambitions, a trait she inherited from her father. There’s a lot that could have been done, but the Erins instead chose to lobotomize Brambleclaw and throw Tawnypelt into the garbage. I will always be upset about this. Fuck this arc, man! Tawnypelt deserves to be in a better franchise!

Final Thoughts on Arc Two

I hate it.

Arc Two Novellas

Blackfoot’s Reckoning (2021) 3/10: Yet another wasted character. Here, we follow Blackfoot, deputy of ShadowClan, as he receives his nine lives. There in StarClan, he reflects on his past actions. Blackfoot was deputy under two tyrants: Brokenstar and Tigerstar. He killed Stonefur and Rosetail. He kidnapped kittens from other Clans. He drove out WindClan from their home. Blackfoot was a bad guy but here he is being appointed to the leader position. This book is supposed to be about him atoning for his sins but no, it’s him saying “I’m sorry. I was just following orders” and the StarClan cats going “It’s cool. Here’s you lives.” This sucks.

Blackfoot/star is one of my favorite leaders. Though he was a bad guy, he brought ShadowClan back from the brink of collapse and made them strong again. In The Power of Three, he becomes disillusioned with StarClan. He believes that they led them astray. Settling by the lake feels off to him. He is tricked by Sol into abandoning the Clans altogether until he is brought back by StarClan cats physically coming down and telling him to do so. As he grew old, especially after the Great Battle, he yearned for peace amongst the Clans. I like this guy. However, I hate how the novella brushes aside his evil deeds as “a loyal warrior following orders.” Let’s pause and dig into a larger topic.

Massive Issue #4: The Erasure of Gray Morality

The Erins seem to think that protagonists cannot be gray. They’re either black or white. It’s annoying. Blackfoot’s Reckoning, Leopardstar’s Honor and later Onestar’s Confession have this problem where instead of allowing these gray characters to be bad and do bad things and later redeem themselves, the books would rather have you believe that they were always good but were led astray by outside forces thus removing them from guilt.

I didn’t really talk about this problem in Leopardstar’s Honor because, frankly, I forgot what happened in it. After everything she did- damn near killing Fireheart in battle, making Graystripe’s life hell, allying with Tigerstar, and later manipulating Mistyfoot into becoming her deputy- Leopardstar should have changed. She should have realized what she did and atoned, but she never did. Her Super Edition would have you believe that she did learn her lesson but the narrative and her own father tell her “nah you’re fine. You had good intentions so it’s all good.” No! It doesn’t matter if she had good intentions! The road to hell is paved by good intentions. Cats got hurt because of her. She should have realized what she did, but she doesn’t. Leopardstar’s Honor portrays her as this impulsive but loyal, good warrior who was destined for greatness, but was unfortunately led astray, but in reality, she was a brash, ambitious, stubborn, battle-hungry young cat who was complacent in cruelty. Sure Tigerstar did manipulate her and it is safe to assume that she was too scared to oppose him, but joining up and forming TigerClan in the first place was a wild and horrible thing to do. Doing that led to her Clan's suffering and her deputy’s death. Once TigerClan is dissolved, she is clearly shaken up by the ordeal and expresses regret over it, but she doesn’t learn from this encounter. She remains a stubborn leader up until her death. She sided with Onestar during his unjust, random attack on ThunderClan in TPoT because ThunderClan kept “putting their noses in other Clan’s business.” ThunderClan, and especially Firestar, saved your ass multiple times, Leopardstar, but whatever. Sure.

I sound like I hate Leopardstar, but I don’t. I like her. She’s fun! She’s adds drama because she’s so hard-headed and brash. But her Super Edition is trying to gaslight me into thinking she was always good when no, she was not, and neither was Blackstar!

Blackfoot’s Reckoning makes him out to be a somewhat stupid, loyal warrior who was always good but got duped by evil tyrants. His actions were not his fault. He was just following orders. He killed Rosetail, a defenseless elder who was trying to protect the kittens he was going to steal, but that doesn’t make him bad! Brokenstar told him to steal the kittens even though the warrior code says a warrior does not have to kill. Blackfoot murdered a cat in cold blood. He did not have to side with Tigerclaw/star either but he did. He didn’t have to kill Stonefur, but he did. You can’t hand wave these actions with “he got led astray” because no he didn’t. The warrior code says the Clan leader’s word is law, yes, but it also says that kits should only start training when they hit six moons old, something Brokenstar violated which led to the deaths of many young cats including Blackfoot’s own nephew, Badgerfang. The code says that warriors should not have to kill, but Blackfoot did so out of cold blood twice. Blackfoot helped Brokenstar chase WindClan out of their home! They got rid of an entire Clan! But no Blackfoot was simply lost. He was always a good guy deep down. Screw you, Erins. You can’t just wave aside his atrocities with that! The book is called Blackfoot’s Reckoning. How come StarClan doesn’t question or challenge any of his excuses? Where’s the reckoning part!? All they do is give Blackfoot his lives without teaching him anything!

What I would’ve loved to see from this book is Blackfoot cowering before StarClan as they judge whether or not he should receive his lives. I want him to confront his actions head-on and at full force. The cats he killed, Rosetail and Stonefur, should be there to remind him of what he did. Tallstar, the leader he chased away, should reprimand him for never questioning his leaders. Raggedstar, a leader he respected, and Nightstar, the leader who banished him, should remind him that it is wrong for a deputy to blindly follow orders especially when their leader is blatantly breaking the code. Deputies protect the Clan. They uphold the code.

I want Blackfoot to try and make excuses for his actions, but they all get shut down by the cats of StarClan. He then, after some reflection, bows his head and vows to do better. He apologizes for what he did. He can no longer deny his actions. Rosetail and Stonefur do not forgive him (as they shouldn’t) and they leave. Tallstar however accepts his apologies before also leaving. Raggedstar, Nightstar, Yellowfang (ShadowClan’s old medicine cat and a cat he allowed to be exiled), his nephew Badgerfang, his mother and father, and his brother and sister accept his change of heart and give him his lives. Internally, Blackstar swears on his new lives that he will never repeat what came before him. He tells the cats of StarClan that he will make ShadowClan strong again before fading back to the present.

I want Blackstar to own up to what he did. No excuses. I wanted this book to be the start of his redemption arc. It’s so shitty that, as written, StarClan doesn’t say anything substantial and just gives him his nine lives while Blackfoot thinks internally about how unsure he is. It’s like the authors did not want their audience to feel anything toward a bad character. “Redemption arcs? Nah that’s too hard to write. Leopardstar, Blackstar, and Onestar (who I will talk about in detail in part three) were always good people even though they committed war crimes.” Gray morality is not a negative character trait. Protagonists are allowed to do bad things.

Back to Blackfoot’s Reckoning, Rosetail and Stonefur give him a life each and I hate that. They clearly resent doing so and I don’t blame them. Giving your murderer a life when he took away yours is so fucked up. What the hell Erins? The novella is 80% first arc retellings but this time we see the events through Blackfoot’s eyes. Bad. Just bad. 3/10

Errors: There are several mistakes within the allegiances: Despite dying before the book takes place, Whitestorm, Darkstripe, Tigerstar, Gorsepaw, and Stonefur, are all listed. Fernpaw is listed as Darkstripe's apprentice, even though Longtail was her mentor at that time. Thornclaw is listed as an apprentice, despite already receiving his warrior name. Tawnypaw is listed in ThunderClan, despite having left to join ShadowClan by that point. Brightheart is listed as Lostface, even though she had already had her name changed. Jaggedtooth is listed in ShadowClan, even though he had joined BloodClan by that time. Gorsepaw is said to be a very pale gray-and-white she-cat with blue eyes. [I don’t know how you can get this wrong. Gorsepaw is a brown tabby tom ffs] Darkstripe is called a black-and-silver striped gray tabby. Sagewhisker is called a tom. Fernpaw is called a tom. WindClan is referred to as ShadowClan. Mintkit and Marigoldkit are described as Yellowfang's half-siblings. Cinderfur is called a she-cat. Shadowstar gives Blackstar a life at his ceremony, despite it being established in River of Fire that the two have never met each other.

Mothwing’s Secret (2020): DNF/10 Another retelling of past events, but this time we’re following Mothwing. Boring. Didn’t finish.

Errors: Shadepelt claims she is the same age as Mudfur; however, he is several years older than her. Hawkfrost is called Hawkwing twice on the same page. Darktail is said to have been in the Dark Forest with Tigerstar and the others when he was alive and hadn't even met most of the cats by the lake at the time. [Darktail is the main villain of A Vision of Shadows. He doesn’t show up until years after The New Prophecy. This is a massive mistake]

Leafpool’s Wish (2014): 5/10 This is the only one worth reading out of this set. It’s about Leafpool realizing that she’s pregnant with Crowfeather’s kittens. She tells her sister about the kits and asks her to adopt them. Squilf is unsure so they go to the Moonpool where Yellowfang guilt trips Squilf into taking the kits.

“Why am I here? Is there a way I can help Leafpool raise her kits?”

“Yes,” mewed Yellowfang. “You can take them and raise them as your own.”

Squirrelflight looked horrified. “What? How could I do that? I would have to lie to Firestar, to all my Clanmates, to Brambleclaw!”

The old medicine cat blinked. “If a lie is what it takes to save these kits, so be it.”

Squirrelflight paced in a tight circle. “I’m sorry. I just can’t see how I could do this. It’s too much.”

“I can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to,” Yellowfang rasped. “I understand why you don’t want such a huge responsibility—not that I could appreciate it, of course, being a medicine cat.”

…

“But I have watched you, Squirrelflight,” Yellowfang continued, her voice barely louder than the wind against the stone. “I know you would make an excellent mother.”… “I am so sorry,” she whispered.

Squirrelflight stared at her, huge- eyed. “Sorry about what?”

The old she-cat sighed. “I wish that the stars had not sent this message to me to pass on. But it is my duty. Squirrelflight, you will never have kits of your own.”

Leafpool gulped. What?

Her sister rocked backward on her haunches. “Are you sure? How can you possibly know that?”

“Are you questioning StarClan?” Yellowfang hissed. Then she let her fur lie flat again. “Leafpool is offering you your only chance to be a mother. And Brambleclaw will be a great father. One day he will be the leader of ThunderClan! He needs kits to follow in his paw steps, don’t you think?”

Remember this. This is vital for a rant I will go on in part three. Also, I despise “he needs kits to follow his paw steps.” I really do not need to explain how sexist and gross this line is. “Your husband needs children and you can’t give him that. Take the kids.” Ugh…

Ignoring this, the novella is fine. It’s basically a prequel for the next arc. I like Leafpool and Crowfeather separately but together… man…

Errors: Spiderleg is said to be the father of Hazelkit, Mousekit, and Berrykit when he is not. Squirrelflight is said to have amber eyes. Yellowfang is said to have yellow eyes. Smokepaw is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in Dawn. Daisy is said to be the one who will nurse Jaykit, Hollykit, and Lionkit. In The Sight, Ferncloud was the cat who nursed them.

Final Thoughts on the Arc Two Novellas

Mostly pointless. Only Leafpool’s one is worth reading.

Massive Issue #5: Bad Romance

Warriors suck at romance. Instead of showing a couple growing closer and eventually falling in love, the Erins tell us two characters love each other after they have 1-2 interactions on the page. This is bad, obviously. If you want me to care, you have to at least try and make me care. Crowfeather and Leafpool are the poster children of terrible Warriors romance. They have a scant number of conversations and now they’re in love. They have no chemistry and their entire relationship is melodramatic as hell. I like both characters but their relationship is so forced that it ruins them. I wouldn’t mind their romance if it was built up and explored properly and thoroughly. Believe it or not, their “relationship” is not the worst one this series has to offer.

Tree/Violetshine is atrocious. I’m jumping very far ahead here so let me explain. Tree and Violetshine are characters from arc six, A Vision of Shadows. While on some quest, Violetshine and crew meet up with a bright blonde tomcat named Tree. He’s a wanderer who can see and summon ghosts (roll with it). Violetshine sees him and goes “Hm. He’s cute” and then, randomly, she’s pursuing him even though she hardly knows him. They barely speak to one another but they fall in love I guess. Then we get all this drama about Tree leaving and Violetshine being upset about that and I was so checked out and frustrated by that point. I don’t give a shit because the Erins didn’t make me give a shit! Violetshine is just horny. That makes more sense to me than them being in love. The same can be applied to Crowf and Leaf. They’re just horny, not in love.

You would think the Erins would put more effort into the protagonist’s romances since we’re in their heads but they don’t. All we get is Character A going “Character B is attractive” and that’s it! I’m not a big romance person in general but damn! If you’re going to have it you have to try! I like to see characters form relationships, no matter if it’s romantic or platonic. Bloom into You actually shows two people discovering and deconstructing their feelings for one another and helping each other navigate their troubles, growing ever closer in the process. Heartstoppers is the exact same thing and they’re both phenomenal because of how real and honest the emotions feel. We see Touko and Yuu and Nick and Charlie fall in love. I buy it because I saw it happen and the authors put in the effort to make it understandable. Writing good romance is deceptively hard. It requires you, the author, to intimately understand your characters and why they would want to be together. You have to know how they play off each other, why they like each other, what they have in common, why they work well together, etc. It takes effort to make good romance. Warriors is written on an assembly line. They don’t have time to put in effort. I don’t expect Warriors to be flawless nor do I expect it to dig deep into the Human Experience (TM) with these stupid battle cats, but I do expect it to at least try to show characters falling in love and/or becoming friends instead of fucking telling me. I can’t give a damn if you don’t.

And I haven’t even touched on abusive partners like Bramblestar. I will eviscerate him in part three.

Arc Three: The Power of Three (2007-2009)

4/10

Ages ago, after rebuilding SkyClan, Firestar received a prophecy from Skywatcher: “There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws.” Fast forward some time and the three have arrived, their names being Lionkit, Hollykit, and Jaykit, born to Leafpool and Crowfeather but raised by Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw. However, the kits and Bramble do not know the truth yet (Technically we don’t either, but shhh).

Hollypaw wants to be an important member of the Clan so becomes the medicine cat apprentice. Jaypaw and Lionpaw become warrior apprentices. Jaypaw is blind so he is given to the half-blind warrior Brightheart. Jaypaw hates being treated like he’s different and weak. He finds it insulting that Firestar chose the only other blind cat in the Clan to be his mentor. Poor Brightheart tries her best with him but he’s such a grumpy little brat that they end up not liking each other. Meanwhile, Lionpaw is trained by Ashfur and things seem to be alright between them for now. Hollypaw is struggling though. She has a hard time remembering herbs and when Graystripe and his new mate Millie rejoin ThunderClan, she gets squeamish around wounds. Jaypaw, however, can differentiate herbs by smell and can sniff out infection with ease. He can also travel into the dreams of others.

After being coerced by Leafpool and Firestar’s dead girlfriend Spottedleaf, Jaypaw and Hollypaw switch roles. Jaypaw hates being a medicine cat, despite being good at it, because he was forced into it. Hollypaw however is great at being a warrior. Fast forwarding, Lionpaw starts training in the Dark Forest with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. The Clans decide to have a daylight gathering, a one-time event where the Clans gather and put on competitions to showcase their skill and camaraderie. Lionpaw and Breezepaw, Crowfeather’s awful WindClan son, nearly get buried alive in a sinkhole. Jaypaw, having received a vision of their fate, rescues them. He is honored for this.

Fast forwarding, Jaypaw finds an ancient stick that summons an immortal, hairless ghost cat named Rock. Rock was a member of the first group of cats who settled around the lake. This group is called The Ancients. I’ll get to them later. Lionpaw and Heatherpaw, a WindClan apprentice, become friends and start visiting each other in the tunnels beneath their territories. Cinderpaw breaks her leg falling from a tree. Leafpool is too busy having Cinderpelt flashbacks so it’s up to Jaypaw to help Cinderpaw and he does.

After RiverClan announces that they’re staying on the gathering island for some time, Hollypaw sneaks out to talk to her friend Willowpaw. There Willowpaw tells her that humans are near their camp and blah blah blah fast forward. WindClan is being all aggressive so Firestar asks Leafpool and Jaypaw to ease the tension. While they’re there, a WindClan queen announces that her kittens are missing. Onestar immediately blames ThunderClan. Leaf and Jay return with the news. Lionpaw thinks the kits may be in the tunnels so he and his siblings go there to rescue them before a war breaks out. They find Heatherpaw and Breezepaw there too. They had the same idea so they assist our trio. Rain starts to flood the tunnels. They find the kittens but oh no the flooding is getting worse. A ghost cat named Fallen Leaves leads Jaypaw, who in turn leads the rest, out of the tunnels- saving their lives. No war happens. Yay.

The next book is about the Clans helping the Tribe. I skipped it. Next, Jaypaw finally tells his siblings about the prophecy. Jaypaw is basically a god and Lionpaw is invulnerable except when he’s not. Hollypaw is not sure what her power is. Jaypaw creates water therapy to strengthen Cinderpaw’s back leg which eventually helps her and she thus passes her assessment. Later, a patrol brings a genetic anomaly named Sol to the camp. Sol mentions “a great darkness” befalling the Clans.

Later, WindClan, using the tunnels, and RiverClan raid ThunderClan for reasons. Hollypaw gathers up ShadowClan for help. We get a 2 v 2 Clan battle that is admittedly really cool and intense. Lionpaw almost kills Crowfeather but is stopped by Crowf’s apprentice and Lionpaw’s friend Heatherpaw. Lionpaw accuses her of telling Onestar about the tunnels. She blames Sedgekit for blabbering but Lionpaw ain’t having it. She betrayed him. While they’re all arguing, a solar eclipse happens, terrifying the cats. They scatter.

Jaypaw is shocked that Sol knew about the eclipse. If he knew about that then he must know about the prophecy. He and his siblings sneak out to find him. Sol says he’ll help but as soon as they’re accosted by ShadowClan, Sol ditches the Three and fucks off to corrupt ShadowClan. Sol convinces Blackstar to leave the cult. Cinderpaw, Hollypaw, and Lionpaw receive their warrior names: Cinderheart, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze.

Next book, we learn that Midnight the badger told Sol about the eclipse. Tawnypelt and her kittens, Tigerpaw, Flamepaw, and Dawnpaw, seek refuge in ThunderClan. For some godforsaken reason, Tawnypelt never told her kits that their grandfather was an evil tyrant who nearly destroyed the Clans. Instead, she tells them that he was a strong, great leader. Tawnypelt… ugh whatever. Anyway, she tells ThunderClan that Sol has taken over ShadowClan. Tawny’s kits and our trio go to ShadowClan, fake a sign from StarClan in front of Blackstar and Littlecloud, which summons the real StarClan. They force Blackstar to rejoin the cult. He does and throws out Sol. Tawny and her kittens rejoin their Clan.

Greencough, a deadly chest infection, breaks out in camp. Jaypaw, for some fucking reason, decides to take a nap with his magical stick in the middle of this crisis which teleports him back in time. I will discuss what happens later. It’s stupid and I hate it. When he returns, he and Lionblaze steal catmint from WindClan’s territory and deliver it to the sick cats. Jaypaw finally receives his new name Jayfeather.

A storm happens. Lightning strikes a tree, setting it ablaze. ThunderClan flees their camp. Our trio and Squirrelflight are trapped so they have to scramble up the side of the cliff to escape the fire. They end up getting trapped between more burning logs when Ashfur shows up. He declares that he is going to kill the Three to hurt Squilf because she broke up with him. Squilf goes on about how he cannot hurt her that way because the kits are not hers. Ashfur and the trio are shocked by this. Ashfur decides that he will instead tell the Clans her secret. The Three discuss what to do and whether or not they’re actually a part of the prophecy. The Three warn Ashfur but he doesn’t budge. Jayfeather is determined to figure out who their real mother is so he investigates a strange herb the elder Mousefur spoke about. Right before the Gathering, Ashfur is found dead by the lake. He was murdered.

Lionblaze stops training in the Dark Forest. ThunderClan thinks Sol killed Ashfur so they hunt him down. They run into the friendly old cat Purdy who is now traveling with Sol. The Sol Patrol brings the two of them back. Meanwhile, Jayfeather discovers that the herb Leafpool accidentally gave Mousefur was parsley, an herb they use to dry up a mother’s milk. Jayfeather realizes that Leafpool is their mother. He tells his siblings and confronts Leafpool. Lionblaze then sets Sol free after the tom says he’ll help him discover his father.

In a dream, Yellowfang gives Jay a crow’s feather signifying that the dark gray WindClan tom is their father. Jay tells his siblings. Hollyleaf, who saw herself as the arbiter of the warrior code, shatters. She killed Ashfur to protect their reputation, but if her own existence is against the code she can’t be faithful to it. At the Gathering, Hollyleaf reveals her true parentage to everyone. Crowfeather denounces them. Holly flees, corners Leafpool in her den and tries to poison her. Leafpool states that she’ll suffer more alive so Holly flees once again, this time escaping into the tunnels which collapses on top of her, seemingly killing her.

Jayfeather realizes that one of Cloudtail’s granddaughters, Ivykit and Dovekit, could be the third cat in the prophecy. The end.

Errors:

The Sight: On the original cover for The Sight, Hollypaw and Jaypaw's eyes are yellow instead of green and blue respectively. Lionpaw, however, has yellow eyes on both when he actually has amber eyes. Brook is said to have gray eyes. Heavystep appears in the allegiances, even though he died in Sunset. Daisy is said to be a milky white she-cat, despite being cream-colored. Hawkfrost is called the former RiverClan deputy, even though he was never actually the deputy- he was only the temporary deputy for a short period of time. Jaykit is called Jaypaw before being apprenticed. Pouncepaw is called a brown tabby she-cat. Sandstorm is said to be in Firestar's den and leaving with a patrol at the same time. Jaypaw tells Sorreltail that Leafpool has gone to get catmint from WindClan, when she actually went to get it from RiverClan. Firestar is called Firestorm. Tallstar is called Onestar.

Dark River: Heavystep appears in the allegiances yet again, even though he died in Sunset. Berrypaw is said to have a long tail, when his tail is just a stub from being caught in a fox trap when he was a kit. Willowpaw mentions boats, when they don't know what a boat is. Firestar is said to have amber eyes again. Fallen Leaves is said to have amber eyes. Spiderleg is on the patrol when Cinderpaw falls off the Sky Oak and breaks her leg. However, when Hollypaw lists who is with her, Spiderleg is not mentioned, seemingly replaced by Ashfur. Mousepaw is called Mousefur. Rock is said to have white eyes. Weaselfur is called brown. Willowpaw is called Hollypaw. Sedgekit is called a tom throughout the whole book, despite being a she-cat in The Fourth Apprentice and onward. Mousefur is mentioned twice when she is not in a scene.

Outcast: For the third time, Heavystep appears in the allegiances although he died in Sunset. [This is a famous mistake. Heavystep is immortal. He refuses to stay dead]. Jaypaw is said to have black fur. Stormfur is again said to have blue eyes. Stoneteller is said to have gray fur. Rain That Rattles on Stones is said to be gray. Dawnkit is said to be gray. Squirrelflight is mentioned participating in a battle she is not present for.

Eclipse: Once again, Heavystep appears in the allegiances although he died in Sunset. Molepaw is said to have died as a kit when he died as an apprentice. Tigerstar is falsely called Firestar. Toadkit is said to have gray paws. Honeyfern and Poppyfrost are called by their apprentice names after becoming warriors. Firestar introduces Sol to Sandstorm before she arrives back to camp. Crowfeather is said to have green eyes. Briarkit is called "he." Hawkfrost is said to have amber eyes, when he has blue eyes. This was fixed in the reprinted edition.

Long Shadows: In the allegiances, Blossomkit is described as a pale brown she-cat with a darker stripe running along her spine. Sol is mistakenly listed as a brown-and-white tabby tom. Once again Heavystep appears in the allegiances, although he died in Sunset. [He refuses to go! He tells StarClan to piss off!] Hazeltail is called a tom. Jaypaw states that he has never seen Runningnose despite having seen him in Eclipse. Dawnpaw calls Lionblaze by his warrior name, but there is no way she would have known what his warrior name was, since she called Hollyleaf by her apprentice name earlier that chapter before Hollyleaf corrected her. StarClan is called ShadowClan [Pfft, lol yes worship ShadowClan instead]. Dawnpaw falsely states that she has a brother and a sister, when she actually has two brothers. Heatherpaw is said to have gray fur. WindClan territory is called ThunderClan territory. Stone Song is called Stone Shadow. Sol is said to have amber eyes. Brackenfur is said to have ginger fur. Broken Shadow is called Broken Shadows.

Sunrise: Jayfeather doesn't have a description in the allegiances. Whitewing is listed as a warrior instead of a queen. Heavystep is listed in the allegiances despite dying twice already [AHAHAHAHA! HE REFUSES TO GO!]. Blossomkit once again has the wrong description in the allegiances. Ashfoot is mistakenly called Ashfur. Hollyleaf is called Hollypaw. Spottedleaf is said to have green eyes. Brackenfur is once again said to be ginger. Tornear is called Turnear. 'Gray' is mistakenly spelled as 'grey' [“Mistakenly” Grey/gray are both correct, just one is British and the other is American.]

Things I Don’t Like

Massive Issue #5: The Filler

This arc is nothing but filler. The “plot” doesn’t happen until four books in when we see the incel Ashfur attempt to kill his ex and her children. Victoria Holmes mentioned that she had the fire scene planned out since the end of The New Prophecy, which is evident when you reread this arc and the previous one with that in mind. Ashfur is shady throughout the back half of TNP and all throughout this arc. He’s a bit snappy at Lionpaw, he’s standoffish, and he was the one who sent Firestar to the lake which led to him getting caught in the fox trap. Ashfur and his drama with Squirrelflight is the only thing that is built up. However, you can’t really build an entire arc around that, at least that is what Holmes thought. To buff out the page count, she created the magical powers plot line. Jayfeather can walk into other’s dreams, and can directly communicate with StarClan without going to the Moonpool. He is telepathic, he can see and talk to Fallen Leaves and Rock, and he can time travel. He’s a god. Lionblaze is invulnerable until he is not. Hollyleaf doesn’t have a power because Vicky couldn’t think up one for her. How in the world are you going to write a story called The Power of Three but you do not know what those powers are? Hollyleaf did end up with an interesting story, but it’s at the cost of her character. Her killer arc was not properly built up because Vicky was writing her with a power in mind.

We waste so much time doing stuff that doesn’t matter. Outcast is about the Clan cats helping the Tribe cats with their kittypet bully problem. It’s exceedingly boring and pointless. I skipped it as soon as the Clan cats met up with the Tribe. All the time traveling stuff is a waste of time. Hollypaw sneaking out to check on RiverClan is a waste of time. Lionpaw/blaze doesn’t do anything at all, really. All of his stuff with Heathertail is interesting enough and leads to a good scene where he thinks she betrayed him but other than that, he’s doing nothing important. All the stuff with Sol is disappointing. He shows up, fucks up ShadowClan, leaves, is brought back by ThunderClan for “murdering Ashfur,” and then leaves again. He stirs up some trouble but he doesn’t do anything that sticks. Sol is such a disappointment. He’s an interesting take on a Warriors villain. He uses words over claws to get what he wants. His origins are a mystery. I like the idea of Sol, but like Hawkfrost, he never reaches his full potential. This arc is filler. There’s hardly a plot and I found myself getting bored until Hollyleaf killed a man.

Filler is such a prevalent issue and I despise it. Filler should not be a thing in literature. Every word and every scene should progress one or all of these things (in my opinion): Plot, character growth, worldbuilding, and themes. If there is a scene that can be removed from the story without screwing up the plot, remove it.

Things I Like

Since there is no plot, we get more slice-of-life shenanigans which, while beloved by the fandom, I have mixed feelings toward. We have the sister trio, Cinderheart, Poppyfrost, and Honeyfern, and their drama. Cinderheart is the reincarnation of Cinderpelt (which I despise but I’ll get to it later). One day she breaks her leg and struggles with her healing process. Luckily Jaypaw/feather is there to help her heal. Poppypaw/frost nearly dies at one point but is pulled back from StarClan by Jayfeather. She and Honeyfern have a crush on Berrynose, the obnoxious rival of Lionblaze. Honeyfern gets with Berrynose but then she dies to a snake. Poppyfrost jumps in and replaces her. It’s really funny. The Breezepaw/pelt, Nightcloud, and Crowfeather side-drama is surprisingly interesting. Crowfeather has replaced Leafpool with Nightcloud to fix his reputation in WindClan and they are not having a good time. Breezepelt is such a whiny, needy little loser with daddy issues. I love him. Nightcloud is a talented but rude molly who only got with Crowfeather because she wanted a family. She’s trying her hardest to keep the family together but she and Crowfeather are so incompatible that her efforts only make things worse. I’ll gush more about this messy trio when I get to Crowfeather’s Trial. The background cast gets more to do than usual which is fine. I personally find a lot of it boring because none of it matters (except for the Breezepelt drama). But hey! At least ThunderClan feels more alive than usual.

Now onto things I actually like: Jayfeather and Hollyleaf. Jayfeather is a grumpy but incredibly talented and passionate medicine cat. Though he was forced into the position by Spottedleaf and Leafpool, he proves himself to be an exceptional healer. He invented water therapy for Cinderpaw/heart. He is able to sniff out infections with ease. He worked tirelessly during a greencough outbreak and stole catmint when they needed it. Later on in Omen of the Stars, he creates exercises for Briarlight after she becomes paralyzed from the waist down. He’s a very driven character who is unfortunately not given enough plot-relevant things to do. Since he’s so active, the Erins had to give him something so they made him time travel using a fucking stick. It sucks, but I love Jayfeather. He’s a very talented, passionate grump. He’s always snapping at people. It’s funny.

Hollyleaf. Now, Hollyleaf is a divisive character. Since Holmes had no clue what to do with her until the end, Hollyleaf does not have a solid personality and arc. At first, she is shown to be ambitious. She wanted to be important to the Clan so she became a medicine cat, but then she realized she was bad at it. As a warrior, she wants to be the best warrior and to be the best she has to worship the warrior code. The Clans do not have laws but they treat the warrior code like it’s a set of laws when it is not. The warrior code tells the cats that a good warrior always hunts for his Clan first. The code tells them to not kill people, etc. What happens when one breaks the code? I dunno know ask your leader. It’s silly. They don’t have actual rules, but Hollyleaf is one hell of a rule follower, except when she’s not. This is when her character becomes a problem. She’s reprimanding Lionpaw for sneaking out to frolic with Heatherpaw in the tunnels, but when RiverClan is camping on the Gathering island, Hollypaw sneaks out to talk to her medicine cat friend Willowpaw. Hollypaw? You little hypocrite. Reap what you sow. This hypocrisy is not called out in the narrative. She fucking murders a man just so her reputation doesn’t get destroyed but when she learns that her own existence is a violation of the code, she breaks down and confesses anyway. This last part is really interesting. She preaches for the code but she is willing to break it if it suits her needs. She’s self-righteous. She doesn’t see her own faults. I like this aspect of her. If only her downfall was built up and her flaws were better explored.

Thankfully, Sunnyfall made a TPoT and OotS rewrite called Paws of Stars. I haven’t finished reading it yet because of this damn project but so far it’s really good and it fixes a lot of issues with these two arcs. It greatly fixes Hollyleaf’s character too. Give it a look!

Final Thoughts on Arc Three

There’s no plot. Sol doesn’t do anything despite being an interesting take on a villain. Our main cast doesn’t do much until Hollyleaf kills a man. I despise all the time travel shit. Lionblaze is boring as fuck, but at least his siblings have something going on. 4/10

Arc Four: Omen of the Stars (2009-2012)

3/10

Eugh, this one. We are now following the granddaughters of Cloudtail, Ivypaw, and Dovepaw. We quickly learn that Dovepaw is the real third cat in the prophecy. She can hear, smell, and see things very far away. The Clans are suffering a drought. Dovepaw sees a group of beavers damming up the creek that runs into the lake. She suggests getting rid of them. She, Tawnypelt’s son Tigerheart, and a bunch of faceless names from the other Clans join up and go on a journey to chase away the beavers. Ivypaw is jealous that she got left behind.

Breezepelt is training with Brokenstar in the Dark Forest. Leopardstar died and now Mistystar is leader. Jayfeather frets about his stupid stick and about the prophecy. Dovepaw wants to remain friends with the cats she went on the journey with but the cult tells her no. After she hears that dogs are attacking WindClan, she and Ivypaw sneak out to visit Sedgewhisker, Dove’s traveling friend, to see if she is okay. They get caught and are escorted back to ThunderClan. Firestar reprimands them. He sends Ivypaw and her mentor Cinderheart out of his den so that he can talk to The Three alone. He reveals that he knows that they are the prophecied cats.

ThunderClan keeps finding ShadowClan scent on their border. Dovepaw realizes the scent belongs to Tigerheart. She confronts him and he tells her nothing. Ivypaw is jealous of Dovepaw’s special treatment. Whilst dreaming, she is visited by Hawkfrost who teaches her how to pounce. He promises her that he can make her a better warrior than her sister if she trains with him every night in the Dark Forest. Later, a tree falls into the camp- killing Longtail and injuring Briarpaw. Briarpaw is now paralyzed from the waist down. Jayfeather, being the awesome medicine cat he is, conducts exercises for her to perform that will keep her healthy and fit. Despite everything, she receives her warrior name, Briarlight. Briarlight’s mom, Millie, cries about how her daughter is “ruined” which makes Briarlight depressed. Millie sucks. We hate her.

Ivypaw and Dovepaw grow apart. Jayfeather talks to Yellowfang and Spottedleaf in StarClan. He tells him that Lionblaze thinks Tigerstar is training living Clan cats. Tigerstar and Hawkfrost convince Ivypaw to start a battle between ThunderClan and ShadowClan. Ivypaw convinces Firestar to fight for the strip of land he gave ShadowClan a while back. They fight. Firestar loses a life and Lionblaze murders the ShadowClan deputy Russetfur. Blackstar gives them the land but it is a Pyrrhic victory.

The Three try to figure out if the battle was orchestrated by the Dark Forest. Jay and Lion agree to look out for anyone who may be training with dead serial killers. While dreaming, Jayfeather spies on Ivypaw training with Hawkfrost. Lionblaze confides in Cinderheart about his guilt over killing someone. They go on a border patrol together and run into ShadowClan’s medicine cat Flametail who calls Lionblaze a murderer. While training with Ivypaw, Dovepaw overhears Lion and Jay. She sneaks off to find them but is followed by her sister. The two of them overhear the brothers discussing Ivypaw’s visits to the Dark Forest. Dove confronts Ivy but Ivy denies it and runs away. After all of this, Dove talks to Jay who tells her to leave Ivy alone for now.

We then suddenly switch over to Flametail. Blackstar has a bad feeling about ThunderClan’s intentions after the battle. He summons Flametail and Littlecloud. Since Littlecloud is sick, Blackstar orders Flametail to go to the Moonpool and commune with StarClan. There, StarClan warns him that a great battle is on the horizon. They tell him that StarClan is divided. The Clans must stand alone and focus on themselves. Flametail tells Littlecloud and Blackstar what they said. Littlecloud rightfully thinks this is a bad idea while Blackstar agrees to do what StarClan said.

While training in the Dark Forest, Ivypaw overhears Tigerstar calling ThunderClan weak. Ivy finally realizes that Tigerstar is evil. She flees and confesses to the Three. They decide to make her spy on the Dark Forest and report whatever she finds to Jayfeather.

Back to Flametail. Some ShadowClan cats are ice-skating on the lake. Flametail decides to come along but the ice breaks beneath his paws. Jayfeather, who is gathering herbs, hears this and tries to save Flametail, but Rock appears and tells him to let him go. It is time for Flametail to die. Jayfeather lets him go. Flametail drowns under the ice. Flametail’s spirit is captured by the Dark Forest cats. Brokenstar orders Ivypaw to kill him. Ivypaw prepares to strike but is stopped by Tigerheart. Tigerstar let’s Flametail go. Ivypaw doesn’t need to kill him to prove her loyalty.

Ivypool and Dovewing finally receive their warrior names. Jayfeather and Lionblaze believe Hollyleaf may still be alive in the tunnels. While asleep, Ivypool is called over by Thistleclaw, who has her train with Antpelt, a WindClan warrior. Antpelt is wounded and Mapleshade goes on about how loyal Ivypool is. And then the rest of Sign of the Moon is a Tribe story so I skipped it.

A fox has set up camp on ThunderClan’s territory. Meanwhile, everyone is gossiping about Bumblestripe’s affection for Dovewing. Dovewing feels awkward because she likes Tigerheart. Speaking of, Tigerheart tells her that Dawnpelt blames Jayfeather for Flametail’s death and is planning revenge. Molekit and Cherrykit are apprenticed. While out, they run into the fox and are saved by a mysterious cat. Later, Sol returns and Molepaw and Cherrypaw say that he was the one who saved them. For some reason, ThunderClan welcomes him back with open arms. Just last arc they were blaming him for killing Ashfur but whatever. Lo and behold, Sol is untrustworthy and is conspiring with WindClan. Dove and Ivy overhear his schemes and rush back to tell their Clan. On their way back, they run into Hollyleaf who is alive.

Hollyleaf tries to confess to killing Ashfur, but Brambleclaw covers for her, telling the Clan that Ashfur accidentally fell into the lake and drowned. Holly tried to save him but failed. Hollyleaf never reveals what happened and Bramble’s lie becomes the “real” story for the rest of the series. The authors straight up forget that Hollyleaf killed Ashfur in cold blood. Love this series. Flawless.

Cherrypaw and Molepaw realize that it was Hollyleaf who actually saved them. Now ThunderClan is suspicious of Sol… again. They prepare to fight WindClan in the tunnels. Blah blah blah, Ivypool trains in the Dark Forest and murders Antpelt. It’s pretty intense tbh. Jay finally tells Cinderheart that she’s possessed by a dead medicine cat and this causes her to have an identity crisis.

At the Gathering, Dawnpelt and Tigerheart accuse Jayfeather of murder. Even though he didn’t kill Flametail, Jayfeather steps down from his role for the time being. Blah blah blah, WindClan attacks via the tunnels. Luckily, ThunderClan trained for it and beat them back. Hollyleaf corners Sol. Sol goes on about how he felt slighted by the Clans because he used to be a part of SkyClan. SkyClan kicked him out because reasons (there are comics that explore this but I never read those so…). Due to this, he vowed to destroy the Clans altogether. Holly lets him escape, now realizing that there is no honor in killing him.

The Last Hope is about the Great Battle between the Clans and the Dark Forest. I’m skipping a vast chunk of the book because it’s boring. The Three learn that there is a fourth cat. After a lot of fretting, Bluestar tells Jayfeather that Firestar is the fourth cat. Ivypool tells everyone who trained in the Dark Forest that the obviously evil cats are evil. All of the trainees change sides and fight the Dark Forest. All except two, Breezepelt and some nobody named Redwillow. Hollyleaf is killed by Hawkfrost. Breezepelt threatens Lionblaze but is stopped by Crowfeather. StarClan cats descend from Heaven and join the fight. The elder Mousefur, Ferncloud, and Sorreltail (off-screen) are killed. Mapleshade double-kills Spottedleaf. Firestar watches his ghost girlfriend fade away into nothingness. It’s sad I guess. Brambleclaw kills Hawkfrost again. Yellowfang murders her son Brokenstar again. Firestar fights Tigerstar. He wins but lightning strikes a tree, blows it up, and once the dust clears, Firestar is lying down dead. It’s really funny! Seriously, as soon as Tigerstar’s body fades away, Firestar gets blown up by a tree. Now, granted, it is unclear how Firestar died. He was heavily wounded and he could have just collapsed from blood loss but honestly, it’s funnier to say he blew up.

Blah blah blah, the end.

Errors:

The Fourth Apprentice: Allegiances: Several characters were left out of the allegiances of the hardcover edition of the book, despite appearing. This includes Millie, Rainstorm, Otterheart, and Sneezepaw. Millie is listed, however, in the paperback release, while Sneezepaw, Otterheart, and Rainstorm are still missing. Only in ThunderClan, Medicine Cat is misspelled as "Medigine Gat.” [How do you even miss that in editing?] Gorsetail is listed as a tom in the hardback edition. Dovepaw's eyes are mistakenly described as pale gold twice.** Foxleap is mistakenly called Foxtail. None is spelled "non".

Fading Echoes: Bumblestripe is listed in the allegiances as Bumbleflight. Brokenstar is called a black tom. Lionblaze is mentioned to be standing next to himself. Blossomfall is called Blossompaw. Dustpelt blindsides Leafpool during a training session, despite Leafpool being on his patrol. Pinepaw is called a tom. Starlingpaw is called a she-cat. Owlclaw is called "Owlfur". The chapter header for chapter 24 is a repeat from the previous chapter when it should be the next in sequence. It says that Jayfeather recognized the camp from when he was with Sol, but he couldn't have, because he's blind.

Night Whispers: In the prologue, Mudfur is described as the WindClan medicine cat, when he was formerly the RiverClan medicine cat. Brackenfur is described to be russet-colored. Brambleclaw declares the battle with ShadowClan won, while in Fading Echoes, Thornclaw declares it won. Applefur is mistakenly described to be a tom. Brokenstar is described with black fur. Ratscar was misspelled as "Rat-scar."

Sign of the Moon: Fallen Leaves is called Falling Leaves. In Night Whispers, it states that Hollowpaw is already in the Place of No Stars, but in Sign of the Moon, it states that Hollowpaw was recently recruited. Troutstream is called a tom. It says Dovewing caught her first glimpse of the waterfall when she had to have seen it when she first walked into the cave. Kestrelflight is called Kestrelwing. Stormfur is said to be a prey-hunter when he is actually a cave-guard. Jay's Wing is mistakenly called Jayfeather. Fall and Slant are said to have met Jayfeather before, though neither appeared in Outcast. Cloud With Storm in Belly was called pale gray. Blackstar is described with one jet-black paw.

The Forgotten Warrior: Whiskernose is listed as an apprentice. When a fox attacks Cherrypaw and Molepaw close to the hollow, Dovewing is shocked she didn’t hear the fox, even though she knew her powers weren’t working earlier, ever since she came back from the mountains. Blackstar is mistakenly called Blackfoot. Briarlight is called Brightheart. Antpelt is listed in the allegiances, despite dying in Sign of the Moon. Rushtail and Troutstream are listed as apprentices. Brokenstar is called by his warrior name, Brokentail. Cinderpelt is said to have been the only medicine cat in ThunderClan at the time of the Great Journey, despite having Leafpaw as her apprentice at the time. Blackstar is mistakenly with one jet black paw. Hollyleaf is described as not knowing that a tree fell in the hollow, however, she knew about it since Hollyleaf's Story.

The Last Hope: In the allegiances, Poppyfrost is said to still be in the nursery, with Cherrypaw and Molepaw listed as Cherrykit and Molekit despite being apprentices now. Tawnypelt is called Tawnypeut. In the allegiances, Blackstar is said to have one jet-black paw. Furzepelt, Whiskernose, Rushtail, Troutstream, Mossyfoot, and Hollowflight are listed as apprentices in the allegiances despite being made warriors in previous books. Antpelt is once again listed in the allegiances, despite having died in Sign of the Moon. Heronpaw is not mentioned in the allegiances despite appearing later in the book. Jayfeather mentions that "every time he saw Leafpool or Squirrelflight or Brambleclaw, [he] felt the prick of betrayal", even though he is blind and has never actually seen any of these cats in his life. Ratscar is called fox-red. Molepaw is called brown-and-white. Sunstrike is called a tom. RiverClan is called ShadowClan when Jayfeather is going to visit. Mintfur is called a she-cat. Reedwhisker is called Reedfeather. Tigerheart is shown in the Dark Forest, but he is with Dovewing at the abandoned Twoleg nest at the same time. Tigerheart is called Tigerstar. Sparrowfeather is called a tom throughout the book. Rock is said to have both blue and white eyes. Troutstream is described as a tom. Raggedstar is called Raggedpelt. Brightheart is said to have two eyes. In Firestar’s dreams, he is fighting ShadowClan over Sunningrocks instead of RiverClan. Mosskit is mistakenly called a tom. Blackstar says that Rowanclaw shredded Lionblaze when it was Ratscar who defeated him. Tigerheart is said to have green eyes. Ivypool is called black. Cedarheart is shown in StarClan, but later on is shown helping Littlecloud in the final battle, before the StarClan cats show up. The Dark Forest is mistakenly called DarkClan again. Dovewing is called Dovepaw. Half Moon is said to be smoky gray. Crowfeather is called black. Dovewing is said to have known Honeyfern; however, Honeyfern dies before she is born. Brokenstar is called a black tom again. Hawkfrost is called a gray tom. Redtail is said to have given Firestar courage when he gave him justice, and Lionheart gave him courage. Redtail is said to be russet when he is a tortoiseshell. In the same place, there are two mistakes: A period is missing between two sentences. It is said that Dovewing tripped over an orange-and-white tom and "skidded to a halt next to Hollyleaf (missing period)" but this couldn't happen, as Hollyleaf was in the medicine den, but it is possible that Dovewing skidded into the medicine den.

**Wiki sidenote: Okay Dovewing’s eyes being gold is not a mistake. Her eyes were originally pale gold but were retconned to be green in later books. So technically, this is only a “mistake” in retrospect. I’m not a fan of how the wiki classifies retcons as mistakes in older books. It wasn’t a mistake when they were first published. Perhaps a section dedicated to retcons should be added.

There was some drama about what color Dove’s eyes were. The wiki said they were gold because one of the ghost writers said they were gold on Twitter (I think. It’s been awhile). Fans tried to change the eyes to green but the wiki doubled down on gold. An old wiki admin bullied people on Twitter who tried to correct them. This led to the fandom criticizing the wiki for being unusable, which it was. Y’all the Warriors Wiki used to be awful. Instead of individualized character histories, the wiki instead had a block of text going over the cat’s entire life. If you wanted to specifically learn about Firestar’s relationship with Sandstorm, you had to scour through the wall of text and come to a conclusion yourself.

The wiki did not showcase official artwork, so if you wanted to know what Jayfeather looks like, you had to rely on the godawful character portraits and descriptions. Back then, the wiki meticulously documented every little detail a character had and would apply that to the pixelated cat portrait. It’s hard to describe just how ugly the cat portraits used to be without a visual aid. Say, if a character was described to have spots at one point and, at another point, they were said to have stripes, the wiki would apply both stripes and spots to the portrait. It was hideous. I’m so glad they stopped doing this. There was a pretty funny meme awhile back going around where people would recreate the cats using the wiki descriptions. Here’s an example.

Eventually, the admin was kicked out and the wiki got a much-needed revamp. All of this drama over Dovewing’s eye color. Here’s Moonkitti’s video going over what happened after the drama. I can no longer find her video about the drama itself. Looks like she deleted it :(

Things I Like

Not much honestly. This arc is boring, much like the previous arc. Firestar’s hilarious death is definitely a highlight. My man got blown up! There’s a moment in this where Lionblaze, roided up on angst, fights a fox by himself and guys… believe me when I say I was laughing so hard the entire time. It’s written so dramatically but it’s the dumbest, most pointless thing I’ve read from this series. I could not stop laughing.

Warriors treat foxes like they’re coyotes and badgers like they’re bears and it’s bizarre. Foxes and European badgers are roughly the same size as a grown cat but Warriors would have you believe they’re gigantic and bloodthirsty. It’s really funny to me, especially the foxes. Foxes do kill cats sometimes, but I have a hard time imagining a lone fox taking on a large group of cats willfully. Hell, I have a hard time imagining a fox taking on one adult cat (unless the fox just desperately wants to kill the cat for whatever reason). Foxes are skittish much like cats so really, the cats should hardly deal with them. In Warriors, they’re the Clans’ main predators. I honestly wish the Clan cats had more predators. Give me actual coyotes. What a wild ride that’ll be.

In all seriousness though, I do like Dovewing. Her struggle with realizing she has powers and that she is a part of a prophecy is interesting. She just wants to be normal, but because of her powers and destiny, she can’t be. She has a hard time making friends in ThunderClan because Firestar, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather keep pulling her aside for destiny reasons. She finds friendship with cats outside her home, specifically with the cats from the beaver-killing journey. She relates a lot to Tigerheart who also likes having friends in the other Clans. I don’t like her romance with Tigerheart because I don’t like Tigerheart in general, but at least they have something in common, unlike other Warriors romances. Her relationship with her sister is strained and she wants to make amends but Jay and Lion’s interference and Ivy’s coldness make that task difficult. She and Ivypool never have a real reconciliation which sucks but overall, Dovewing is a sweet kitty who deserves to be happy. I like her.

Breezepelt is a good antagonist. I have a huge problem with the villains in Warriors, but Breezepelt is one of the few good ones (at least he is until Crowfeather’s Trial). His motivations make perfect sense. His family is a mess. It is obvious that his parents, Nightcloud and Crowfeather, do not love each other. There’s one scene in Night Whispers where he attacks Lionblaze over a thrush. Leafpool breaks up the fight and yells at Crowfeather for allowing his sons to fight each other. Nightcloud physically drags Crowfeather away from her and starts yelling at him. Then Breezepelt steps between his parents and defends his mother. Their family is dysfunctional. Their son should not be breaking up their fights. This dysfunction has made him bitter and mean. Crowfeather is not a good dad. We do learn later that he does love his son, but he is not good at expressing that. He is very critical of Breezepelt which makes his son think he doesn’t love him. When Breezepelt learns that his dad has a second family, he breaks. While they are visiting the Moonpool, Jayfeather, and a pregnant Poppyfrost are accosted by Breezepelt. The black tomcat threatens to kill them both. Luckily Honeyfern’s ghost stops him, but this is our first look at how dangerous he is. He rejects Jay, Lion, and Holly as his siblings. They should have never been born. He’s one of the more brutal trainees. He vows to seek vengeance on every cat who wronged him. During the Great Battle, he openly attacks one of his own Clanmates. When Hollyleaf is killed, he gloats over her body and prepares to kill Lionblaze. Breezepelt is easily one of the better emotional antagonists in the series, better than Ashfur in my opinion. Unfortunately, his potential is lost later on in the series but we’ll get there…

Things I Don’t Like

I know this is a controversial take, but I don’t like Ivypool. I find her clinginess to her sister offputting. She gets all pissy when Dovepaw is chosen to do stuff and she is left out. I understand the jealous side of it all, but her lines about how “we’re supposed to do everything together” gives me the ick. Why are you so clingy? Let her live her life, damn. I feel like if Dovewing stayed in ThunderClan, Ivypool would still be upset that Dovewing is spending more time with some tomcat and not her. That’s the feeling I get from her at least. I don’t like her. She’s weird.

I despise Tigerheart. I don’t care for his relationship with Dovewing. He’s never honest about what he’s doing most of the time, he sides with Dawnpelt when she blames Jayfeather for “killing” Flametail when he knows that is not right, and he’s weirdly clingy of Dovewing too. I don’t like him here, but I loathe him in A Vision of Shadows. Just you wait. I got a long rant brewing about this bitch’s behavior in that arc. I hate his existence.

Omen of the Stars has the worst plot in the entire series. Worse than The New Prophecy. Five books are nothing but filler and The Last Hope is anti-climatic. The Dark Forest has a terrible plan. For some reason, they expect the cats they’re training to kill their friends and family in battle. It is very easy for Ivypool to come in and convince most of the trainees to side against the Dark Forest. Why does the Dark Forest even want to destroy the Clans? They’re dead. They can’t hunt on the land. Revenge I guess, but what are they going to do afterwards? Haunt the lake? What about the trainees? If they won with the cats they tricked, what were they going to do with the trainees? Kill them too? It doesn’t make sense. It seems like Tigerstar did all this shit because he wanted to fight Firestar.

The Three don’t do shit. Ivypool is the only one in the main cast who is doing stuff. She’s spying on the Dark Forest only for her one job to be outclassed by her sister. The mystical powers the Three have do not affect the outcome of the battle in any way. Dovewing somehow hears the afterlife and she’s able to relay information, but that’s it. She doesn’t use her powers in the actual battle. Neither does Lionblaze or Jayfeather. The Erins had to manufacture some StarClan bullshit in order to give Jayfeather something to do. StarClan, more specifically Flametail, stupidly decides to split the Clans up at the last second and Jayfeather has to right that wrong by yelling at them. There’s also the last-minute “fourth cat” prophecy that is completely pointless. The Three fret over who the fourth cat could be only for Bluestar to tell them that it’s Firestar, as if Firestar had to be convinced to lay down his life for his Clan. The Last Hope is such a boring book. The Great Battle itself is half-assed and rushed. The entire arc feels that way.

The Cinderheart/Cinderpelt debacle. When Cinderpelt dies saving Sorreltail’s kittens, her spirit is put into the body of her niece, Cinderheart. According to StarClan, Cinderpelt’s destiny was ruined when she was hit by a car. She was destined to be a warrior so they put her soul into Cinderheart so that she could live the life she was meant to have. Since this is not a typical reincarnation, Cinderpelt is possessing Cinderheart’s body and sends her memories about herbs, cars, and badgers. Yellowfang, for whatever reason, forces Jayfeather to tell Cinderheart that Cinderpelt is possessing her. Cinderheart has an identity crisis and believes she needs to be a medicine cat. She and Lionblaze have a bunch of boring drama about how they can’t be together because she’s a medicine cat and Lionblaze has a destiny. Eventually, Cinderpelt leaves Cinderheart alone and now Cinderheart can live her life with Lionblaze. I despise all of this. 1) Cinderpelt chose to be a medicine cat! She was not forced to be one. I hate how this entire thing makes it seem like Cinderpelt regretted being a medicine cat. Sure she broke her leg, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have been a warrior, despite what Fireheart thought. Look at Jagged Peak from Dawn of the Clans. He broke his leg and he, after some work, was able to move around and keep up with everyone else just fine. Yellowfang offered the job to Cinderpaw while she was recovering because she saw how good the young cat was. Cinderpaw accepted the offer because she enjoyed being around Yellowfang and she liked the job! Saying that she was destined to be a warrior undermines her decision and makes it look like she made a mistake. 2) All of this Cinderpelt drama makes Cinderheart boring. I don’t like Cinderheart. Removing all of this reincarnation crap, she has nothing going on. She’s not a very exciting or intriguing character. Her relationship troubles with Lionblaze is some of the most forgettable shit in the series. It doesn’t make sense for her to suddenly think she needs to be a medicine cat when she finds out about Cinderpelt. No one told her that she needed to do that. All of this stuff was insufferable to read.

I don’t like the supernatural stuff in Warriors. Even as a kid, I hated it. It feels like the authors couldn’t think of what else to do with “cats living in the woods” after The New Prophecy so they gave cats powers and had StarClan physically come down to interact with the cats to fluff out the plot. There’s so much you can do with “cats living in the woods” if you’re creative enough. I like Warriors because I like the inter-Clan conflicts and politics. Some of the best stuff in the series for me is the family drama, the political stuff, the leadership drama, and the battles. As much as I complain about Warriors, there’s some great stuff here. Nightcloud and Crowfeather’s dysfunctional relationship is very interesting. Onestar ruining his friendship with Firestar to look like a worthy leader of WindClan is great! Mudclaw creating a coup is good and could’ve been better. I like the big battle scenes. The fight in Eclipse is fantastic. It’s intense, tragic, and awesome. Fast forwarding a lot, the latest arc A Starless Clan has my favorite plot yet. It is nothing but leadership/political drama with a flavoring of supernatural stuff. It’s peak Warriors. Dawn of the Clans 3: The First Battle is the best book in the entire series because it is nothing but intense familial/political drama with an epic, tragic battle to end it off. It was so good that it reminded me why I fell in love with Warriors in the first place.

This arc however is everything wrong with Warriors. Filler, meandering plots, stupid supernatural crap that ruins the lore, main characters who do nothing, background characters who are mostly pointless, and a lackluster ending that leaves me wanting more. I hate this arc.

Final Thoughts on Arc Four

I hate it.

Arc Four Novellas

Mistystar’s Omen (2012): 4/10 Mistyfoot is now Mistystar, leader of RiverClan. She finds out that her former apprentice and current medicine cat Mothwing is an atheist. This makes Mistystar go into a spiral because how can her medicine cat, the spiritual leader, not believe in StarClan!? Her son, Reedwhisker, gets mauled by a dog and is about to die. Instead of letting Mothwing do her damn job, Mistystar forces the inexperienced Willowshine to save his life. Her brother Stonefur and the former medicine cat Mudfur come down from the heavens to knock some sense into her. Mistystar realizes that Mothwing is awesome so she allows her to do her damn job finally. Lo and behold, Reedwhisker is saved. Yay.

Mistystar is a strange character to me. She’s Bluestar’s daughter and that’s it. She hardly has a personality of her own. She will fit into whatever role the Erins need her to be in, even if said role makes her look unreasonable, incompetent, and stupid. This is a forgettable novella.

Errors: In the allegiances, Bumblestripe, Blossomfall, and Briarlight are listed as warriors despite being apprentices at the time. In addition, Bumblestripe is listed as Bumbleflight. Leopardstar is said to have blue eyes. Tigerstar is mistakenly said to have died in the battle with BloodClan, despite dying days before. It is said that Bluestar revealed to Mistyfoot and Stonefur that she was their mother just before she died, when it was actually Fireheart who revealed the secret to them sometime earlier, in a battle for Sunningrocks. Icewing is said to be the RiverClan cat, along with Rippletail, to travel to find the beavers and bring back the water in The Fourth Apprentice instead of Petalfur. Pouncetail is said to have known Stonefur and to miss the forest, despite being introduced as an apprentice in The Sight. When the narrator is describing Stonefur, it says "this thick fur" instead of "his thick fur". Graypool is described as a pale gray cat. Feathertail is said to be a gray tabby. Silverstream is said to have delicate silver markings. Oakheart is called a dark brown tabby. Bluestar is said to be a dark gray she-cat. Mistystar is said to have known Graystripe since he was an apprentice, despite him not meeting her until he was a warrior. Willowshine is said to have blue eyes. Mothwing is said to have blue eyes multiple times. Mintfur is supposed to have gone on the patrol upstream alongside Mistystar, Icewing, and Grasspelt, but he is not mentioned again on the rest of the chapter. It is said that Mudfur stayed behind in the old forest because he'd grown too old to travel. However, Mudfur died before the journey to the lake even began.

Hollyleaf’s Story (2012): 4.5/10 This one is about Hollyleaf’s time in the tunnels. After she is nearly crushed to death by the tunnel collapse, she is nursed back to health by the ghost Fallen Leaves. With Fallen Leaves at her side, they explore the tunnels and whatever together. Holly stumbled across a fox kit at one point and takes care of it until it reunites with its mother. Fast forward, the kit is grown now and nearly mauls Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf helps out ThunderClan by providing herbs and whatever else. Eventually, she goes back. Hollyleaf owning up to what she has done and ultimately deciding to go back home to face the consequences was nice to see. There’s not much for me to say here. It’s fine.

I don’t like Fallen Leaves’ existence. There being ghost cats who roam around is too much for me. The supernatural stuff ruins my immersion, bro. I can handle the nine lives, prophecies, and the StarClan ceremonies, but I can’t handle ghosts roaming around, StarClan coming down from the Heavens to talk to the living cats, living cats killing ghosts, cats being dragged into Hell to train, and ghosts dying twice. It’s too much.

Errors: In the allegiances, Honeyfern is listed despite dying in Sunrise, which took place before this novella. Heavystep is listed despite dying in Sunset. Fallen Leaves is said to have blue eyes.

Ravenpaw’s Farewell (2016): 7/10 Now this one is sad. Ravenpaw is feeling nostalgic. He misses his friends Graystripe and Firestar and he reminisces about ThunderClan. His boyfriend Barley starts to feel like he resents leaving his old life to live with him, but Ravenpaw reassures him that he loves Barley and their farm. It is established that Ravenpaw has stomach cancer. It is not explicitly stated in the book, but it’s pretty obvious that is what’s happening. Barley’s sister Violet introduces them to her kittens, Riley and Bella. Riley and Bella have heard about the Clans who used to live in the old forest territories and want to become warriors. Ravenpaw, Barley, and the kits embark on a journey to SkyClan, the closest Clan to them. During his final days, he helps SkyClan battle off some vicious kittypets and watches with happiness as Riley and Bella are accepted into the reformed Clan. Silverstream, Bluestar, Lionheart, and a bunch of other passed-on StarClan cats tell him that his time is up. He tells them he is going to wait for Barley before he joins them in StarClan. With a final goodbye to his love Barley, he passes away. Now I didn’t like the traveling stuff. Travel stuff is so boring in Warriors, but I adored the ending so… yeah. This is a good one.

Ravenpaw is one of my favorite characters. He starts off as a nervous wreck who is deathly afraid of his murdeous mentor Tigerclaw. After witnessing Tigerclaw kill Redtail, Firepaw and Graypaw lead him to Barley’s barn to escape Tigerclaw who was plotting to kill him. With Barley, he grows in confidence and assists his friends in defeating the evil cat and eventually sees them off when the Clans go to the lake. He and Barley are the only confirmed gay couple we have in Warriors, and they are a couple. It’s so obvious reading this novella that they are lovers. Barley’s love and care for him is very heartfelt and, I’m not gonna lie, I got a little emotional when Ravenpaw said his goodbyes to Barley. Ravenpaw is a great character.

Errors: Duskpaw is called Dustpaw.

Dovewing’s Silence (2014): 7.5/10 This is an epilogue to Omen of the Stars. The Clans are reeling after the tragic battle. So many of their cats died. Sandstorm, Dustpelt, and Purdy, an old tomcat whom ThunderClan invited in, are hurting the most. Brambleclaw receives his nine lives. Brackenfur comes across the body of his beloved Sorreltail and wails to the heavens. No joke, this hurt me. I love Brackenfur so seeing him break down like this was hard. The former Dark Forest trainees, Ivypool, Birchfall, Blossomfall, Thornclaw, and Mousewhisker, are rejected by their Clanmates despite their change in allegiance. The leaders make the former trainees swear an oath of allegiance. The Three believe their powers are gone. They go to the Moonpool and talk to Rock and Midnight who confirm it. They say that their powers are no longer needed. They tell them that StarClan did not give them their powers, but some older force did. Who is that older force? I dunno. The two immortal beings reassure them that they do not need their powers to be strong warriors. They fade away and the Three wake up, feeling better.

I like this one a lot. Easily one of the better novellas. This is a tragedy. So many cats died during the battle and many more are heavily injured. We see characters like Purdy, who is normally the happiest cat around, mourn and bury his treasured friend Mousefur. It’s sad and it’s done surprisingly well. The Three losing their powers is interesting albeit meaningless as the Three hardly used their powers to combat the Dark Forest. I hate Rock and Midnight though. They confirm that the Three’s powers were given to them by an unknowable force, which brings up so many questions about the lore. Hell, their existence alone brings up so many questions. Regardless, this one is pretty good.

Errors: Brambleclaw is listed as Bramblestar along with Squirrelflight being deputy despite not going to the Moonpool yet. Purdy is called black. Ivypool is called gray and white. Purdy talks about the greencough outbreak from Long Shadows like he had been there, despite not arriving in ThunderClan until Sunrise. Seedkit is listed as both an apprentice and a kit, despite being a kit during the whole story.

Final Thoughts on the Arc Four Novellas

They’re fine. This set is a lot better than the previous one. Ravenpaw’s Farewell, and Dovewing’s Silence are genuinely good. Hollyleaf’s Story is a bit weird. If we removed Fallen Leaves and all the fox stuff, I feel it would’ve been more interesting. Hollyleaf is such a wasted character. She deserves better. Mistystar’s Omen is completely pointless. I don’t even know why they wrote it.

Massive Issue #6: The Nonsensical Lore

Warrior Cats’ lore is overly complex for no reason. We have living cats fighting and killing ghost cats, living cats dying in dreams which kills them in real life, magical stick time travel, and we have two immortal beings who, for some reason, care a lot about the Clan cats. It’s wild and I do not like it. Like all things in this godforsaken series, the lore was not thought out beforehand. Due to that, we get a lot of contradictions and retcons.

StarClan is extremely bizarre. Hardly anything about it makes a lick of sense. Originally, as in the first arc only, StarClan was portrayed to be a benevolent, mysterious, and magical force who watched over the Clan cats and guided them. However, as soon as the second arc rolled around, StarClan became more bonkers. First, we get introduced to the badger Midnight, an immortal creature that has a connection to StarClan for some fucking reason. And then we get dead dad hell training, and then, in the next arc, we got cats with superpowers, time travel, more dead cat battle training, and Rock. The Three’s power origins are confusing. In arc three, we are told that StarClan did indeed give the Three their powers to combat “a great evil.” BUT we learn over the course of Omen of the Stars that StarClan actually did not create the Three and in fact, they have no clue where the hell they came from! Which is it? Who gave the Three their powers? StarClan doesn’t even know where the “kin of your kin” prophecy came from. They’re just the messengers and apparently, all of the prophecies come to them from an outside source. So, who is the outside source? Why did they give the Three their powers? Why do they care so much about this weird cat cult?

Prophecies are deterministic until they’re not. In arc one, during his leadership ceremony, Firestar receives the prophecy “Four will become two, Lion and Tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest.” Tiger refers to TigerClan which is made up of ShadowClan and RiverClan cats. Lion refers to LionClan which is made up of WindClan and ThunderClan cats. So four become two. The two Clans join together to fight “blood” which is BloodClan. “Blood will rule the forest” seems to imply that BloodClan will win, but that did not happen. The Clans triumphed and Firestar killed Scourge so the prophecy was wrong. Due to that the prophecies can not be deterministic… right? In Goosefeather’s Curse, a story that took place years before TPB, the Clan’s greatest prophet, Goosefeather receives visions of events that happen no matter what he or his Clanmates do to prevent them. He is cursed to see the future and is doomed to helplessly watch it play out. Why does he have this power? Did this mysterious second party, who from this point on will be known as The Unknowable, give him this power? Why? How come prophecies always come true but the “Blood will rule the forest” one did not? I suppose The Unknowable was having an off day that day.

In The New Prophecy, Feathertail receives the Midnight quest from StarClan. In the Tribe of Rushing Water, Stoneteller receives a prophecy from their Heaven, which is called The Tribe of Endless Hunting, about a silver cat who will save them from a cougar. That silver cat was Feathertail who died killing the beast. She failed her quest for StarClan to fulfill the prophecy of another religion she does not worship. And then her spirit goes to The Tribe of Endless Hunting. Is The Unknowable in control of the TToEH too? If they are, did they send Feathertail on this journey to fulfill the Tribe’s quest or did they witness StarClan choose her for the journey and decide to send Stoneteller the prophecy about her afterwards? Since prophecies are deterministic, was she destined to die for another culture? Apparently, the cat heavens exist on the same plane of existence because Feathertail can travel between TToEH and StarClan. Why does one prophecy override another when prophecies are deterministic? I’m so confused. Of course, the real answer is that the Erins did not give a fuck about their own lore and just made it up as they went along without thinking about how their actions affected the story. BUT why is it so damn confusing? Why write it this way? Are they seriously that lazy?

Their lack of care really shows in the nine lives ceremony contradictions. Nine lives are an admittedly cool concept that plays off the whole “cats have nine lives” thing. Giving leaders actual nine lives in this spiritual ceremony is such a great idea… however, the execution has fallen apart over the years. Bright Guardian Akira made a video about the nine lives. It’s a good video and it brings up a great point: the nine lives are pointless. Whenever the Erins want to change leaders, they have to contrive up some way for the leader to lose lives quickly. Leopardstar is the best example of this. Leopardstar is only three years older than Firestar (according to the wiki), but she died before he did. Mistyfoot, her deputy, is older than both of them. She is four years older than Leopardstar. She was a full warrior and a mother by the time Rusty/Firepaw joined the Clans. So in order to have Bluestar’s daughter follow in her footsteps, the Erins had Leopardstar contract some mysterious illness (which the wiki says it was diabetes, but I personally think it’s funnier to believe she died from rabies) that ate away at her lives. The Erins removed six of her lives and had her last three be taken by the illness just to kill her off. How did she lose those six lives? We will never find out. The same thing happened to Blackstar. We do not know how he lost seven of his lives. Why give them nine lives if you’re just going to get rid of most of them just so you can appoint a new leader? How about reducing the lives to three or four? Nine is such a cumbersome number to the authors it seems. A character having nine lives and then suddenly losing all of them is jarring to the reader. Why, in-universe, does StarClan only give out nine lives specifically? We never learn.

When a leader finally dies, the deputy ascends and receives their lives from StarClan. It is unclear if their current life is replaced by a StarClan life. When Sunfall goes to receive his lives after Pinestar leaves, StarClan only gives him eight because Pinestar still has his last life. So I’m guessing they replace the leader’s current life, but later with Tigerheart/star, he dies next to the Moonpool and is revived by StarClan. He receives all nine of his lives. So I guess his ninth life was a StarClan life which revived him. Does that mean that the leaders die before being immediately revived by their new StarClan life? Moonkitti made a video discussing this idea.

Nightpelt/star, the elected leader of ShadowClan after Brokenstar’s imprisonment, is denied his lives because Brokenstar was still alive and had a few of his lives intact. But, years before this, they gave Sunfall eight lives, implying that StarClan can only give out nine total lives per Clan. I don’t understand why Nightstar was denied. In his graphic novel Exile from ShadowClan, Raggedstar tells Nightpelt/star that StarClan does not choose who gets to be the leader even though ShadowClan elected Nightpelt to be their leader. Clan cats do choose their leaders by selecting a deputy first. That deputy then goes to receive their lives when the time comes so Raggedstar is lying. Yeah StarClan themselves do not choose the cats, but they are the ones who approve them. Nightpelt was elected by his Clanmates much like how a deputy is chosen by the leader. Raggedstar approved of his leadership, but he still doesn’t give him his damn lives! The previous deputy and leader were exiled and/or imprisoned. They can’t run ShadowClan. Brokenstar was a monster and Blackfoot, at the time, was his loyal follower. They were terrible for ShadowClan! StarClan knew Brokenstar was bad, but they still approved him. Why, because he was deputy first?? Why does it work that way? Why does it have to work that way? Why didn’t StarClan just give Nightpelt the rest of Brokenstar’s lives like they did with Sunstar? It doesn’t make sense. I guess The Unknowable told StarClan no and they had to obey.

Okay so smaller things: Why don’t kittens grow up in StarClan? It’s so odd to see kittens who died young still running around as kittens years after they’ve died. What about still-birth kittens? Are they just… roaming around as weird small hairless things? That’s horrifying. I hope not. Why do only the leaders and the medicine cats receive visions from StarClan? I know medicine cats are the spiritual leaders, but why is it odd for regular warriors to receive prophecies? When Brambleclaw gets his Midnight vision he’s all like “Warriors don’t get visions.” Why not? Why the restriction? Fireheart, despite being a former kittypet, had a strong connection to StarClan as a warrior for some reason. Why? Is it because he was The Unknowable’s chosen prophecy cat? He has no ancestry here.

Fading. In Omen of the Stars, Yellowfang tells Jayfeather that spirits fade away as the memory of them dies. I like this idea but it’s not explained well. In order for say Thunderstar, the founder of ThunderClan, to exist forever the cats have to remember him forever. Okay sure. But the current Clan cats do not discuss their past and whenever we do see the Founders in leader ceremonies, the cats are like 0.0 “WHOA! THE FOUNDER! NO WAY!” So like why are they still here? In order to prevent fading, is it the living cats who have to remember them, or can cats of StarClan simply make themselves known to the other cats of StarClan and be remembered that way? It’s never explained and it doesn’t matter. Fading ironically fades away from the lore after Omen of the Stars. When we first meet Mapleshade in this arc, she is said to be translucent, but fast forward all the way to The Broken Code and she’s still there in the Dark Forest kicking around, no longer fading. It’s lame.

Now the Dark Forest. Originally in The New Prophecy, we learn from Tigerstar that the Dark Forest forces cats apart and makes them walk alone, but when we see him again in Omen of the Stars, he’s powing around with his son Hawkfrost. Alright, whatever. What the fuck even is the Dark Forest? I get that it’s Kitty Cat Hell, but how was it created? Does StarClan send bad cats to the Dark Forest? The answer is yes after a trial, but we do not get that answer until Squirrelflight’s Hope. Once we get to that cursed super edition and The Broken Code I’ll discuss the Dark Forest’s lore in detail. It’s a lot. Right now, how in the world are evil cats bringing living cats’ spirits into the Dark Forest? This took me out as soon as I read it in The New Prophecy years ago when I was a child. I would understand it if it was mental like how StarClan visits seem to be for medicine cats, but Dark Forest trainees physically get stronger and can inflict wounds on the ghosts and the other trainees… I’m sorry, WHAT? When Beetlewhisker is killed in the Dark Forest by Brokenstar, his physical body fades away. I do like how viscerally horrifying the thought of dying in a dream= dying in real life, but like… how the fuck do ghosts kill mortals? Why is the Dark Forest so damn powerful? Why are they able to enter the minds of cats who are not affiliated with them? It’s such a bonkers idea.

Alright, Midnight, Rock, and The Ancients. “The Ancients” is the name given to the original lake cats who eventually left the lake to create the Tribe of Rushing Water. Then, years later, these cats split and created the Clans that we know. So The Ancients are the ancestors of both the Tribe and the Clans. In Ye Olden Clan times, the cats have a coming-of-age ceremony where “softpaws” go into and then traverse the tunnels. If they find their way out, they become “sharpclaws,” which are basically warriors. Before entering, they scratch a stick that is guarded by the hairless abomination known as Rock. Those who survive claw over their mark, signaling the end of their journey. Fallen Leaves was a softpaw who died in the tunnels and now haunts it. In our time, Jaypaw stumbles across the stick and can feel how ancient and important it is. The stick brings forth Rock who becomes Jay’s spiritual guide. Jayfeather travels back in time twice. He goes in the form of his ancestor Jay’s Wing who he is a reincarnation of. There he flirts with Jay’s Wing’s girlfriend Half Moon and leads The Ancients to the mountains where they form the Tribe. The second time, he appoints Half Moon to the Stoneteller position, making her the very first cat to take the role. And then, at some point, Jayfeather gets angry at Rock and breaks the stick. Good riddance.

I hate all of this. It’s all filler and it muddles and confuses the lore. How in the hell does a damn stick make Jayfeather travel through time? I do not understand how any of this works. I do not understand why it’s even here other than expanding the page count. In the first arc, we are led to believe the forest territories were the Clans’ ancestral home, but no. In reality, the lake they escape to is their birthplace. That’s lame! It was better when it was simply them settling in a new place. Their old home may have been destroyed but the Clans are still the Clans. They do not need the forest as long as they are still intact. They go and find a new, better home where they learn to thrive. All of the emotional weight that came from the forest’s destruction is mute when you learn that that place was never their home. You can disagree with me all you want, that’s fine. I just do not like this change on a personal level. Now onto Rock and Midnight. What in the fuck are they?! Even when we see Rock with the Ancients, he’s already old and decrepit. At first, I thought he was a ghost, like Fallen Leaves, but no. He’s an immortal creature like Midnight who for some reason cares about the Clans. He and Midnight knew about the Three and were apparently waiting for them to appear, so I guess they work for The Unknowable. Or they are The Unknowable. I doubt that though. We never learn what they are or why they’re here.

Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovewing are reincarnations of Jay’s Wing, Lion’s Roar, and Dove’s Wing. What does this mean? Nothing. It means nothing. It seems like it was supposed to explain where their powers came from, but it doesn’t because Lion’s Roar and Dove’s Wing are not particularly notable. Jay’s Wing is just Jayfeather time-traveling. We don’t know who Jay’s Wing is/was before Jayfeather. We do know that he and Fallen Leaves went into the tunnels together, but when he comes back out he’s Jayfeather now. Jayfeather being there to form the Tribe creates this odd cyclical timeline where Jayfeather needs to exist in order for the Tribe and the Clans to be founded. In order for the Tribe to exist, Jayfeather had to time travel to lead the lake cats to the mountains, but in order for Jayfeather to exist, the Tribe had to had already split off to create the Clans, but in order for the Tribe to exist Jayfeather had to already exist in order to time travel to form the Tribe- you get it. It circles on itself forever. According to the official lore of Warrior Cats, ThunderClan’s medicine cat Jayfeather time traveled using a damn stick to form a whole different culture in order to bring forth his own existence.

If this was any other series, I would actually like this but I know that this time travel/Ancients shit is just page filler and nothing more. No real thought was put into how this fits into the timeline, how it affects the franchise as a whole, or what it even means. All of this is here to fill up time. That is all. It’s like the powers thing. It was only created because Vicky needed to find a way to stretch out The Power of Three to reach the fire scene, the scene she wanted to write. But she didn’t think it out at all! How do you do that?!

I feel like if Vicky was given enough time to actually sit down and think out the lore way before The Power of Three and Omen of the Stars, it wouldn’t feel so half-assed, contradictory, and distracting. A lot of this series’ problems could have been burned away and refined if it stayed in the oven for a few more minutes.

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End of Part Two…

Warrior Cats is a soulless corporate product made for generating revenue and that has never felt more true to me until I read these three arcs. I hate two of them and one of them doesn’t even have a story. I feel bad because I like Victoria Holmes. She created a series that is a fundamental part of my childhood and creative development. Plus she seems like a very nice lady. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for these silly cat books, but as an adult I cannot help but feel frustrated at how wasted this series’ feels. There’s a lot of potential here but none of it is ever reached. The pointless filler, the flat characters, the wasted characters (Hawkfrost, Jayfeather, looking at you), the boring plots, the perplexing lore, the numerous inexcusable errors, the uncomfortable messaging and themes, predatory romantic relationships, timeline craziness, and much much more. This series is a mess, to say the least.

But hey, it can’t get any worse, can it?