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samantha_duncan 's review for:
Yellowfang's Secret
by Erin Hunter
dark
medium-paced
Strap in, y'all, this one definitely doesn't pass the Bechdel Test.
So the Yellowfang we meet in The Prophecies Begin is kind of a grumpy cat, so much so that I remember wondering, wtf is her problem? And...well, perhaps this book is the answer to that. Yellowfang is yet another cat in Warriors lore who lacks agency throughout her life. She serves as yet another chess piece with which the Erins can play their destiny game and suffers greatly as she is stripped of choice after choice in her life.
Often in this series, if a cat is straying from its destiny, there will be some kind of supernatural sign steering them to the correct path. In this case, it's Yellowfang's ability to feel others' pain. Emotionally, yes, but also physically, and so it's impossible for her to ignore the triaging that must occur after hard-fought battles. By the time she fully realizes Starclan doesn't want her to be a warrior, she's quick to accept her fate, but some things are a bit too late. Namely, her relationship with Raggedpelt.
Ugh, I hate the medicine cat celibacy code. I hate it! The amount of suffering that policy alone has caused is ridiculous. Here, it stipulates that rather than be a mother, Yellowfang must give up custody of her kit. Who does this benefit, exactly? The argument is that medicine cats must give their full attention to treating/healing their clan and motherhood gets in the way of that. But does it? Especially with an involved father like Raggedpelt?
That said, I wonder if Yellowfang being more of a presence in Brokentail's life would have changed the horrifying outcomes of anything. Destiny being a thing and all. Perhaps she would have fought it, taught him to be a better cat than he was, but we'll never know and I digress.
The initial relationship between Raggedpelt and Yellowfang is nice. She feels his pain of not knowing his father so deeply that she helps him find out the truth. What the relationship devolves into when their kit is born and Raggedpelt takes full custody while being promoted to leader is disappointing. That said, Raggedstar is an interesting character, one you can have ambiguous feelings about, and I wonder if we could get a book about him sometime.
There are some pretty rapid changes in leadership. Deputies and leaders come to power and die, quickly. The suggestion being that all of this is somewhat orchestrated in order to install Brokenstar as leader. But maybe the clan is the frog in the pot of boiling water, as well. If there's anything particularly interesting in this Super Edition, it's the politics. Raggedstar isn't a bad cat, but his son is and that's all it takes for an oligarchy to prevail. Brokenstar takes Shadowclan into full-on authoritarianism (he, like Tigerstar, is another Trump, imo), prioritizing battle training over hunting (military over basic needs). He also banishes anyone who dissents and cats who he thinks have outlived their usefulness (i.e. elders). His plans all appear to be working by the end of the book, with everyone either falling in line or being exiled to a separate part of the forest.
Why. Are we fighting. So many. RATS?! They are vicious! We are outnumbered! It is a death wish!
The actions of Starclan are...questionable at best. They take advantage of the cats' full devotion to them and aid the authoritarian takeover by Brokenstar, giving him the leader's nine lives. It's a harsh lesson in putting all your eggs in the divine basket that the cats seem to never learn, doomed to repeat their unwavering faith in an entity that consistently ushers in waves of death and destruction. Why don't we have more atheists in the lore?!
If it seems like I'm not talking much about Yellowfang it's because the book deals more in her proximity to terrible males than in her life and legacy. Imo. I will say I've come through it liking Yellowfang more than I initially did, it's just frustrating to read about men around her constantly wronging her.
I didn't love this Super Edition, but acknowledge it's a perfect bridge, using the perfect cat, to tie all the prequel shit to the regular series. It's worth noting that it's an integral book to understanding how Shadowclan came to be - what we see as a purely evil clan in The Prophecies Begin is more humanized (felinized?) in this book, revealing that not every last one of them are malicious. The slow burn of their descent is enough to make me consider bumping this to four stars, tbh.
Anyone who wants a shortened prequel journey should absolutely do the Crookedstar-Bluestar-Yellowfang trifecta of Super Editions.
Often in this series, if a cat is straying from its destiny, there will be some kind of supernatural sign steering them to the correct path. In this case, it's Yellowfang's ability to feel others' pain. Emotionally, yes, but also physically, and so it's impossible for her to ignore the triaging that must occur after hard-fought battles. By the time she fully realizes Starclan doesn't want her to be a warrior, she's quick to accept her fate, but some things are a bit too late. Namely, her relationship with Raggedpelt.
Ugh, I hate the medicine cat celibacy code. I hate it! The amount of suffering that policy alone has caused is ridiculous. Here, it stipulates that rather than be a mother, Yellowfang must give up custody of her kit. Who does this benefit, exactly? The argument is that medicine cats must give their full attention to treating/healing their clan and motherhood gets in the way of that. But does it? Especially with an involved father like Raggedpelt?
That said, I wonder if Yellowfang being more of a presence in Brokentail's life would have changed the horrifying outcomes of anything. Destiny being a thing and all. Perhaps she would have fought it, taught him to be a better cat than he was, but we'll never know and I digress.
The initial relationship between Raggedpelt and Yellowfang is nice. She feels his pain of not knowing his father so deeply that she helps him find out the truth. What the relationship devolves into when their kit is born and Raggedpelt takes full custody while being promoted to leader is disappointing. That said, Raggedstar is an interesting character, one you can have ambiguous feelings about, and I wonder if we could get a book about him sometime.
There are some pretty rapid changes in leadership. Deputies and leaders come to power and die, quickly. The suggestion being that all of this is somewhat orchestrated in order to install Brokenstar as leader. But maybe the clan is the frog in the pot of boiling water, as well. If there's anything particularly interesting in this Super Edition, it's the politics. Raggedstar isn't a bad cat, but his son is and that's all it takes for an oligarchy to prevail. Brokenstar takes Shadowclan into full-on authoritarianism (he, like Tigerstar, is another Trump, imo), prioritizing battle training over hunting (military over basic needs). He also banishes anyone who dissents and cats who he thinks have outlived their usefulness (i.e. elders). His plans all appear to be working by the end of the book, with everyone either falling in line or being exiled to a separate part of the forest.
Why. Are we fighting. So many. RATS?! They are vicious! We are outnumbered! It is a death wish!
The actions of Starclan are...questionable at best. They take advantage of the cats' full devotion to them and aid the authoritarian takeover by Brokenstar, giving him the leader's nine lives. It's a harsh lesson in putting all your eggs in the divine basket that the cats seem to never learn, doomed to repeat their unwavering faith in an entity that consistently ushers in waves of death and destruction. Why don't we have more atheists in the lore?!
If it seems like I'm not talking much about Yellowfang it's because the book deals more in her proximity to terrible males than in her life and legacy. Imo. I will say I've come through it liking Yellowfang more than I initially did, it's just frustrating to read about men around her constantly wronging her.
I didn't love this Super Edition, but acknowledge it's a perfect bridge, using the perfect cat, to tie all the prequel shit to the regular series. It's worth noting that it's an integral book to understanding how Shadowclan came to be - what we see as a purely evil clan in The Prophecies Begin is more humanized (felinized?) in this book, revealing that not every last one of them are malicious. The slow burn of their descent is enough to make me consider bumping this to four stars, tbh.
Anyone who wants a shortened prequel journey should absolutely do the Crookedstar-Bluestar-Yellowfang trifecta of Super Editions.