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hazel_oat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Animal cruelty, and Blood
ddane92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Murder
minoestrashrat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Also,
Moderate: Gore, War, Violence, and Animal death
vibingjaren's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, War, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Blood and Bullying
jasminawithab's review
3.5
ive complained that firehearts whole thing with spottedleaf felt hella forced and its just even more so in this one. the whole
imo the ending felt real anticlimactic? like yea the
the redeeming factor was the fact that we got more ravenpaw content and i love that lil man.
i listened to the audiobook by MacLeod Andrews and he actually meows sometimes and it is actually the funniest thing in existence, 10/10 would highly recommend
Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Genocide
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
littlebugg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: War and Murder
Minor: Grief
a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Ableism
mm1216's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, War, Animal death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent and Vomit
rokinjaguar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: War, Blood, Genocide, Grief, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism and Adult/minor relationship
samdalefox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The Darkest Hour continues on the story of the first series with the same style and pacing. The ending was tied up nicely and you could absolutely finish the series here and not continue on to read any of the subsequent books if you didn't want to.
I did find a few differences in this installment compared to the rest of the series. First, there seemed to be much more going on within the storyline. This isn't a bad thing it just means it might be a bit more confusing for younger readers who've not read the series' books back to back so you may need to take it slower. Secondly, this one was more violent. The violence is always within the context of nature, e.g., cats fighting like cats, cats hunting prey like cats, human road vehicles injuring cats as you would expect etc. However, in the 'big battle' scenes, there were defintiely a couple of descriptions that I thought were more violent compared to the rest of the books. On the whole there were more fights in this book, more blood, and one instance of killing without a good reason (explained below).
Other highlights:
- The book makes a bold first attempt at showing unecessary and ethically wrong violence by the killing of one cat (see spoilers above) in horrible circumstances. The offending cats are undertaking ethnic cleansing of 'half-clan' cats from a charasmatic leader who beleives in 'purebloods', it is implied that some cats actively participate and that others feel peer-pressured. I think the authors here are trying to depict the wrongness of white supremacy, genocide, and fascism in an accessible way. It is only a small part of the book, but it is disturbing and is something I would expect adults to discuss with child readers to make sure they understood what was happening and ask them how they are feeling.
- Demonstration of the different responsibilities and relationships to kin leaders have e.g.,
through Firestar becoming clan leader . - How religion can be weaponsied by claiming that your actions are morally just because of divine rules. e.g.,
Tigerstar claiming the support fo Starclan to justify his horrible power-hungry actions . - I was so sad when
Whitestorm died! I would have loved for him to have lived longer, I think this was a convenient plot point to usher inGreystripe as deputy and he had more to give to the story than the authors allowed. - I loved the greater involvement of Barley and Ravenpaw!
Minor: Racism, Blood, Violence, Death, and Animal death
The book makes a bold first attempt at showing unecessary and ethically wrong violence by the killing of one cat in horrible circumstances. The offending cats are undertaking ethnic cleansing of 'half-clan' cats from a charasmatic leader who beleives in 'purebloods', it is implied that some cats actively participate and that others feel peer-pressured. I think the authors here are trying to depict the wrongness of white supremacy, genocide, and fascism in an accessible way. It is only a small part of the book, but it is disturbing and is something I would expect adults to discuss with child readers to make sure they understood what was happening and ask them how they are feeling.