Review by zhespy - Yellowfang's Secret

zhespy 's review for:

Yellowfang's Secret by Erin Hunter

4.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow, who knew just how violent a children's book could get? Yellowfang's secret is bound to hurt your feelings every step of the way. Oh, you think you know her story because of the first series? Think again! Hearing it from her side just adds a whole new layer of pain when you think about her time in Thunderclan.

Wow all those kits dying was incredibly confronting in the last few chapters wowzers.

This book, however, does present more of the same issues the entire series has. She-cats always either want kits desperately or are convinced/pressured into wanting kits. Anytime a cat (obviously excluding the leader at the end of the book because he was a big ol' meanie) is disabled they just get shoved into either being a medicine cat or an elder with nothing in between

(like they realllllyy gloss over the fact that yellowfang could have learned to control her powers and just continued being a warrior. She was forced into being a medicine cat which is just so weird. With Jaypaw it feels more natural because we see him fight this decision but with her it's so weird. She does fight the decision and it affects her and her relationships but she can control it??? She just kind of accepts her fate.)

I also wish they explored Yellowfang's 'powers' more in terms of how it affects her. I like to think its part of the reason she is so grouchy most of the time because shes always in pain one way or another whether it's her own or someone else's. I wish that was more explicitly stated because she finds a way to control it and then its like it never was.

Content Warnings