You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
In this Warrior's Novella collection was Pinestar's Choice my favorite. I don't think much about the novellas so most of the time I rank them for how much they add to the story.
Therefore is second place Thunderstar's Echo, the middle was boring but the end was fine.
Last place is Spottedleaf's Heart, it was unnecessary, it added nothing and it would make no difference if it exist's or not.
Therefore is second place Thunderstar's Echo, the middle was boring but the end was fine.
Last place is Spottedleaf's Heart, it was unnecessary, it added nothing and it would make no difference if it exist's or not.
emotional
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Since I read these three novellas within the same book, it's a little hard to give all three an overall rating, so I'll rate each one individually.
Spottedleaf's Heart: 2/5. This novella doesn't make much sense, and it doesn't fit into the general canon very well. Spottedleaf is a bit irresponsible emotionally, which we already knew from her fondness for Firestar, but what we didn't know until this book came out is that Firestar was not her first love. Spottedleaf's relationship with is insanely creepy and, from what I can tell, pointless to Spottedleaf's story. He literally starts pursuing her romantically when she is a kitten small enough to still be nursing from her mother, and he's completely grown. Their entire relationship is very uncomfortable to read, and I get the feeling the relationship was only written in the book as a way to tell the readers . It's also very unclear if Spottedleaf wanted to be a warrior or a medicine cat. At some points, she acts like she really wants to be a medicine cat and only chose to train as a warrior to be with her warrior pursuer, and at other times, it looks like she never wanted to be a warrior. It's a confusing story that I really don't think added anything valuable to Spottedleaf as a character.
Pinestar's Choice: 3/5. The story felt extremely rushed, but it gets a simple point across -- Pinestar never really wanted to be a warrior once he learned what kittypet life was like. Its redeeming quality is that it explores a warrior's desire to live a different life, which is something I think is not depicted enough in the universe. In reality, I imagine many feral cats would rather give up that harsh life to live with people! I do believe most warriors would choose to stay with the Clans even after considering kittypet life, but I do find it odd that this is one of extremely few times when a cat even questions their natural loyalty to the Clans. I enjoyed seeing the birth and early days of Tigerclaw. I could see that Pinestar's lack of interest in being a father and not spending time with Tigerkit very likely had some contribution to Tigerclaw growing up to be who he was.
Thunderstar's Echo: 4/5. I may be biased towards this book, because I loved the entire Dawn of the Clans arc and all its characters. I was glad to see how Thunderstar was coping as a proper leader of ThunderClan, and it was nice to see how all the Clans still got along so well. The book is an interesting look into Thunderstar figuring out how to best lead his Clan, which is bound to be hard when he's the first ThunderClan leader!
Spottedleaf's Heart: 2/5. This novella doesn't make much sense, and it doesn't fit into the general canon very well. Spottedleaf is a bit irresponsible emotionally, which we already knew from her fondness for Firestar, but what we didn't know until this book came out is that Firestar was not her first love. Spottedleaf's relationship with
Spoiler
ThistleclawSpoiler
that Thistleclaw was evil and training in the Dark ForestPinestar's Choice: 3/5. The story felt extremely rushed, but it gets a simple point across -- Pinestar never really wanted to be a warrior once he learned what kittypet life was like. Its redeeming quality is that it explores a warrior's desire to live a different life, which is something I think is not depicted enough in the universe. In reality, I imagine many feral cats would rather give up that harsh life to live with people! I do believe most warriors would choose to stay with the Clans even after considering kittypet life, but I do find it odd that this is one of extremely few times when a cat even questions their natural loyalty to the Clans. I enjoyed seeing the birth and early days of Tigerclaw. I could see that Pinestar's lack of interest in being a father and not spending time with Tigerkit very likely had some contribution to Tigerclaw growing up to be who he was.
Thunderstar's Echo: 4/5. I may be biased towards this book, because I loved the entire Dawn of the Clans arc and all its characters. I was glad to see how Thunderstar was coping as a proper leader of ThunderClan, and it was nice to see how all the Clans still got along so well. The book is an interesting look into Thunderstar figuring out how to best lead his Clan, which is bound to be hard when he's the first ThunderClan leader!
Spoiler
Violet Dawn has Thunderstar's kits, which added to what was already one of my favorite relationships from their arc. Lightning Tail is killed in this book, and it was heartbreaking, as he and Thunderstar were such good friends. We see the process of Thunderstar realizing there must always be a deputy, and how he comes to the conclusion of who his next deputy should be.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Abandonment
This is probably closer to a 3.5 than a 3, but when I averaged my ratings for the three stories the outcome was closer to 3 than to 4, so I rounded down. I'll go into detail on my thoughts for each story in a spoiler section, but I can say my favorite was definitely Thunderstar's Echo. It had exciting yet predictable moments, the relationship between Thunderstar and Violet Dawn was extremely adorable, and it was just a cute little "slice of life" story. There were some conflicts, but mostly it focused on the overall life of ThunderClan. I actually didn't know there was any controversy surrounding Spottedleaf's Heart until I read it, but I'll get into my thoughts on that later. I just think it would have been a lot more effective if it had been told from Thistleclaw's point of view. Pinestar's Choice wasn't terrible, but it seemed pretty badly paced in my opinion and as a result the character development was underwhelming. My overall ratings for each story is as follows:
Spottedleaf's Heart: 3/5 stars
Pinestar's Choice: 3/5 stars
Thunderstar's Echo: 4/5 stars
Spottedleaf's Heart: Before everyone gets their pitchforks and torches out, let me say that I wasn't as disgusted by the romance between Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf as everyone else was. Yes, I agree it was wrong, but I have different reasons than most people. The age difference didn't really bother me that much. Sure, it was a bit weird to see a newly made apprentice with a warrior, but look at some of the most beloved ships such as Ferncloud and Dustpelt or even Spottedleaf and Firepaw (even though it didn't go anywhere while they were alive). Some people said Thistleclaw was in love with Spottedleaf as a kit, and if that's the case I do agree the age thing is very disgusting, but while I was reading it I honestly didn't see his feelings like that. He was actually pretty great with all of the kits and while he did show favoritism to Spottedkit, she was the one who showed the most concern for him, so that only seems logical. Stormtail showed affection to Moonflower from the moment she was born, and even if he was an apprentice rather than a warrior that'd be like a 12 year old kid having feelings for a newborn according to reader logic. I don't agree that that's fine either, I'm just confused about why the age thing is suddenly a problem because one of the warriors involved is evil. The thing that put me off about their relationship was how abusive Thistleclaw was and how shallow their "love" turned out to be. Thistleclaw would get angry at Spottedpaw for seemingly no reason, them come crawling back trying to make her laugh and feel happy only to hurt her again. As someone who has been a victim of child grooming, his mood swings with Spottedpaw are what gross me out. I was in a very similar situation where I would deny an adult male certain things and he would lash out, only to apologize and try to make me feel bad by putting himself down. I always thought of him as a friend, not even a romantic attraction of any sort, but now I realize how gross his actions were and it made me very uneasy to see Thistleclaw acting that way. I understand that the author did this to explain why Thistleclaw went to the Dark Forest (for preying on a much younger cat) but it was completely unneeded and just tarnished him as a character for me. Then to see the two split up over a difference of opinions just makes me wonder why the author even decided to concoct this messed up "love" story when the love wasn't even real at all, but a physical attraction if anything. This story should not have involved Spottedleaf at all, in my opinion. It would have been way more interesting to see through Thistleclaw's perspective as he turns from loving mate and father to ambitious, bloodthirsty Dark Forest trainee all because of his devastation over Snowfur's death and the fact that fighting makes him forget about his feelings of loss. This would have avoided the whole controversial relationship and addressed the facts that Thistleclaw was supposedly devastated by the loss of Snowfur and that Spottedleaf supposedly knew from kithood that she wanted to be a medicine cat. I only gave this novella three stars instead of two because Bluestar is my favorite warrior, and I actually thought it was interesting to see the side of her that shows in this novella, especially since many readers pointed out that she was extremely biased about the whole Thistleclaw situation (and her driving Thistleclaw from StarClan was way more interesting than him just being there because of an attraction to an apprentice. If Ashfur is in StarClan than why couldn't Thistleclaw be?)
Pinestar's Choice: I thought this was an interesting novella because I had never considered a backstory on Pinestar. I was always content in my dislike of him for abandoning his mate and kits to live a cushy, sheltered life, and I thought this story tried too hard to excuse that choice. Why does every cat have to be good or bad? Why can't there be shades of gray? Instead we get this convoluted explanation of why Pinestar decided to become a kittypet. The pacing was extremely awkward and if the author wanted to start at the beginning of Pinestar's apprenticeship, a Super Edition would have been much better. Except it would probably be extremely boring at the end considering this story has been told over and over and over. There were a few chapters of Pinestar as an apprentice being introduced to a kittypet who saved his life, and I liked this part as a way of introducing him to the idea that not all kittypets are defenseless and lazy. Then we jump right into his time as deputy and becoming a leader. We just skipped so much of his life, and instead of stopping on the interesting part right before Doestar's death we just go straight into Pinestar as the new leader. Then he becomes friends with Shanty almost immediately and he seems to harbor an obsession for her. His feelings for her were a lot more than friendship if he trusted her more than anyone in his Clan, including his own mate. It would have made him much more complex if he found out Leopardfoot was having his kits at the same time that he was realizing his feelings for Shanty and that was why he decided to leave. I like that idea a lot better than the vague remarks of "you and Leopardfoot are close, I'm sure you'll be having kits soon." If you're going to tell a story about Pinestar choosing to leave his family, shouldn't you at least try to establish his family? Or was there really that little of a connection between him and Leopardfoot that explaining it would just be showing their physical attraction to each other (which couldn't be done in a kid's book)? Then we see Pinestar receiving the prophecy that Tigerkit has the power to destroy his Clan, and he is literally warned that he can avoid this future by raising Tigerkit to be a good warrior. So the obvious course of action? Hand the responsibility off to someone else, even though you were specifically told you were the only one who could guide him to a brighter future, because you just can't handle loving your own family. He never once says that he feels love for his mate or kits. Coming right out and saying that he never loved Leopardfoot and didn't want kits with her would have been a great plot point. Instead he keeps up this pretense that he only thought of Shanty as a friend, despite the fact that losing her was harder than abandoning his own mate and kits, and he decided to become a kittypet to make her Housefolk feel less lonely. Personally I think him admitting he isn't connected to his warrior family in any way and running away to become mates with Shanty would have made a better story than what we actually got, which was awkwardly paced and an obviously desperate attempt to make Pinestar seem redeemable.
Thunderstar's Echo: My favorite novella of this set by far. This was an adorable slice of life tale that was supposed to detail some of the struggles that Thunderstar faced as leader, but they weren't really serious or long enough to take up the entire novella on their own. Sure, the dogs presented a threat and did kill Lightning Tail, but I'd say if all of his "struggles" only cost him the life of one cat he seems to be doing a pretty good job. Don't get me wrong, Lightning Tail's death was definitely sad, but it also wasn't as heart wrenching as some other losses simply because there was resolution. It was more bittersweet than bawl-my-eyes-out, and I liked that. Death is a natural part of life, and since Thunderstar saw Lightning Tail in StarClan he knows he'll be with him again some day and that until then his friend is watching over him. So while the threats didn't seem to hang over the Clan like say, the threat Tigerstar posed to the Clans before and after his death, it was still engaging enough to keep my interest piqued. I didn't see Lightning Tail's death coming at all until Thunderstar noticed how much he was bleeding from his wound. I wasn't a fan of Skystar, as usual, but I adored Dew Petal and how quickly she got along with Thunderstar. I always felt so bad for Thunderstar being the one kit that Skystar never really bothered with, and still doesn't exactly get along with. It was sad to see Thunderstar realize at the end that he still wants his father's approval, and I admired him for believing his father became a better cat by raising Star Flower's kits. I know I'd still be ticked at him for not even bothering to reconcile their relationship. I adored the relationship between Thunderstar and Violet Dawn. Their love for each other is so apparent, they have adorable banter (especially when Thunderstar tells the kits their mother is always right), and they really seem to love each other just as strongly even after having kits, which isn't always the case in Warriors. They might be my new favorite couple in the series because of how adorable they are. I loved that Thunderstar named his daughter after Lightning Tail at the end, and the thunder and lightning coming together was so perfect I wanted to believe it was a sign from Lightning Tail that he was watching over them (even though I don't think StarClan can control the weather).
Spottedleaf's Heart: 3/5 stars
Pinestar's Choice: 3/5 stars
Thunderstar's Echo: 4/5 stars
Spoiler
Spottedleaf's Heart: Before everyone gets their pitchforks and torches out, let me say that I wasn't as disgusted by the romance between Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf as everyone else was. Yes, I agree it was wrong, but I have different reasons than most people. The age difference didn't really bother me that much. Sure, it was a bit weird to see a newly made apprentice with a warrior, but look at some of the most beloved ships such as Ferncloud and Dustpelt or even Spottedleaf and Firepaw (even though it didn't go anywhere while they were alive). Some people said Thistleclaw was in love with Spottedleaf as a kit, and if that's the case I do agree the age thing is very disgusting, but while I was reading it I honestly didn't see his feelings like that. He was actually pretty great with all of the kits and while he did show favoritism to Spottedkit, she was the one who showed the most concern for him, so that only seems logical. Stormtail showed affection to Moonflower from the moment she was born, and even if he was an apprentice rather than a warrior that'd be like a 12 year old kid having feelings for a newborn according to reader logic. I don't agree that that's fine either, I'm just confused about why the age thing is suddenly a problem because one of the warriors involved is evil. The thing that put me off about their relationship was how abusive Thistleclaw was and how shallow their "love" turned out to be. Thistleclaw would get angry at Spottedpaw for seemingly no reason, them come crawling back trying to make her laugh and feel happy only to hurt her again. As someone who has been a victim of child grooming, his mood swings with Spottedpaw are what gross me out. I was in a very similar situation where I would deny an adult male certain things and he would lash out, only to apologize and try to make me feel bad by putting himself down. I always thought of him as a friend, not even a romantic attraction of any sort, but now I realize how gross his actions were and it made me very uneasy to see Thistleclaw acting that way. I understand that the author did this to explain why Thistleclaw went to the Dark Forest (for preying on a much younger cat) but it was completely unneeded and just tarnished him as a character for me. Then to see the two split up over a difference of opinions just makes me wonder why the author even decided to concoct this messed up "love" story when the love wasn't even real at all, but a physical attraction if anything. This story should not have involved Spottedleaf at all, in my opinion. It would have been way more interesting to see through Thistleclaw's perspective as he turns from loving mate and father to ambitious, bloodthirsty Dark Forest trainee all because of his devastation over Snowfur's death and the fact that fighting makes him forget about his feelings of loss. This would have avoided the whole controversial relationship and addressed the facts that Thistleclaw was supposedly devastated by the loss of Snowfur and that Spottedleaf supposedly knew from kithood that she wanted to be a medicine cat. I only gave this novella three stars instead of two because Bluestar is my favorite warrior, and I actually thought it was interesting to see the side of her that shows in this novella, especially since many readers pointed out that she was extremely biased about the whole Thistleclaw situation (and her driving Thistleclaw from StarClan was way more interesting than him just being there because of an attraction to an apprentice. If Ashfur is in StarClan than why couldn't Thistleclaw be?)
Pinestar's Choice: I thought this was an interesting novella because I had never considered a backstory on Pinestar. I was always content in my dislike of him for abandoning his mate and kits to live a cushy, sheltered life, and I thought this story tried too hard to excuse that choice. Why does every cat have to be good or bad? Why can't there be shades of gray? Instead we get this convoluted explanation of why Pinestar decided to become a kittypet. The pacing was extremely awkward and if the author wanted to start at the beginning of Pinestar's apprenticeship, a Super Edition would have been much better. Except it would probably be extremely boring at the end considering this story has been told over and over and over. There were a few chapters of Pinestar as an apprentice being introduced to a kittypet who saved his life, and I liked this part as a way of introducing him to the idea that not all kittypets are defenseless and lazy. Then we jump right into his time as deputy and becoming a leader. We just skipped so much of his life, and instead of stopping on the interesting part right before Doestar's death we just go straight into Pinestar as the new leader. Then he becomes friends with Shanty almost immediately and he seems to harbor an obsession for her. His feelings for her were a lot more than friendship if he trusted her more than anyone in his Clan, including his own mate. It would have made him much more complex if he found out Leopardfoot was having his kits at the same time that he was realizing his feelings for Shanty and that was why he decided to leave. I like that idea a lot better than the vague remarks of "you and Leopardfoot are close, I'm sure you'll be having kits soon." If you're going to tell a story about Pinestar choosing to leave his family, shouldn't you at least try to establish his family? Or was there really that little of a connection between him and Leopardfoot that explaining it would just be showing their physical attraction to each other (which couldn't be done in a kid's book)? Then we see Pinestar receiving the prophecy that Tigerkit has the power to destroy his Clan, and he is literally warned that he can avoid this future by raising Tigerkit to be a good warrior. So the obvious course of action? Hand the responsibility off to someone else, even though you were specifically told you were the only one who could guide him to a brighter future, because you just can't handle loving your own family. He never once says that he feels love for his mate or kits. Coming right out and saying that he never loved Leopardfoot and didn't want kits with her would have been a great plot point. Instead he keeps up this pretense that he only thought of Shanty as a friend, despite the fact that losing her was harder than abandoning his own mate and kits, and he decided to become a kittypet to make her Housefolk feel less lonely. Personally I think him admitting he isn't connected to his warrior family in any way and running away to become mates with Shanty would have made a better story than what we actually got, which was awkwardly paced and an obviously desperate attempt to make Pinestar seem redeemable.
Thunderstar's Echo: My favorite novella of this set by far. This was an adorable slice of life tale that was supposed to detail some of the struggles that Thunderstar faced as leader, but they weren't really serious or long enough to take up the entire novella on their own. Sure, the dogs presented a threat and did kill Lightning Tail, but I'd say if all of his "struggles" only cost him the life of one cat he seems to be doing a pretty good job. Don't get me wrong, Lightning Tail's death was definitely sad, but it also wasn't as heart wrenching as some other losses simply because there was resolution. It was more bittersweet than bawl-my-eyes-out, and I liked that. Death is a natural part of life, and since Thunderstar saw Lightning Tail in StarClan he knows he'll be with him again some day and that until then his friend is watching over him. So while the threats didn't seem to hang over the Clan like say, the threat Tigerstar posed to the Clans before and after his death, it was still engaging enough to keep my interest piqued. I didn't see Lightning Tail's death coming at all until Thunderstar noticed how much he was bleeding from his wound. I wasn't a fan of Skystar, as usual, but I adored Dew Petal and how quickly she got along with Thunderstar. I always felt so bad for Thunderstar being the one kit that Skystar never really bothered with, and still doesn't exactly get along with. It was sad to see Thunderstar realize at the end that he still wants his father's approval, and I admired him for believing his father became a better cat by raising Star Flower's kits. I know I'd still be ticked at him for not even bothering to reconcile their relationship. I adored the relationship between Thunderstar and Violet Dawn. Their love for each other is so apparent, they have adorable banter (especially when Thunderstar tells the kits their mother is always right), and they really seem to love each other just as strongly even after having kits, which isn't always the case in Warriors. They might be my new favorite couple in the series because of how adorable they are. I loved that Thunderstar named his daughter after Lightning Tail at the end, and the thunder and lightning coming together was so perfect I wanted to believe it was a sign from Lightning Tail that he was watching over them (even though I don't think StarClan can control the weather).
Spottedleaf's Heart: 1/5
Pinestar's Choice: 3/5
Thunderstar's Echo: 3/5
Pinestar's Choice: 3/5
Thunderstar's Echo: 3/5
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No