It’s Monday, which means it’s time for Zippy’s and my weekly Warriors roundup.  First, I’d like to call out eBay seller [REDACTED] – your shipping times are abysmal, and you will not see the light of StarClan’s hunting grounds.  Since my copy of the Omen of the Stars books didn’t show up until Saturday, I spent most of this week working through the first two Warriors Super Editions.  What are Super Editions, I hear nobody ask?  Well, they’re longer standalone books that focus on individual characters from the main series.  The typical publication schedule for Warriors is two main series books and one Super Edition per year, so you often end up with a Magician’s Nephew situation where it’s unclear what order you should be reading books in (for example, Bluestar’s Prophecy is a prequel to the first arc, but it also has spoilers through Book V of the first arc.)  Thankfully the Warriors website has an entire page dedicated to the proper reading order of the series – or you could just do what I do and read them in (roughly) publication order.

Firestar’s Quest

Firestar’s Quest takes place between the first and second arc and focuses on Firestar, PoV character from the first arc, as he experiences the classic children’s media trope of searching for the n+1th thing in a group previously established to contain n things – in this case, the lost fifth clan, SkyClan, who was driven out of the forest when a housing development was built on their territory.  I’ve noticed that I tend to not like Warriors books built around a “quest,” and unfortunately Firestar’s Quest is no exception.  There’s some decent stuff in the forest territories as Firestar tries to make sense of some obvious signs from StarClan, then a boring travelogue adventure to SkyClan’s territory, then some mid stuff as Firestar and his mate Sandstorm gather up the surviving descendants of SkyClan and forge them into a new clan.  There are some strange vibes coming off this part of the book – imagine you’re living out in the woods by yourself, minding your own business, then this guy shows up and starts talking about your proud warrior ancestry, and how you have to come live with a bunch of other warrior descendants in a ravine and follow some weird code.  Real cult leader shit.  There’s also a sideplot where Sandstorm is jealous of Firestar’s spirit-guide-cum-old-crush Spottedleaf even though Spottedleaf is a medicine cat (i.e. celibate) and also dead.  This book is also the origin of the “kin of your kin” prophecy that was so important in the Power of Three arc, so I guess it’s fun to see that.

Bluestar’s Prophecy

I suspect one of the main appeals of the Super Editions is they allow readers to see firsthand events that are only referenced in the main series, but since there was no real status quo change between the first two arcs there’s not a lot of meat on the bone there for Firestar’s Quest.  Bluestar’s Prophecy, conversely, had a lot of potential there.  Bluestar was the leader of ThunderClan for most of the first arc and honestly a great character – I would describe her as “MILF-coded” (an older she-cat who mentored Firestar in a non-parental way and was strangely permissive of his antics) There was a lot of potential for a Bluestar Super Edition – Bluestar’s past is a major plot point in the first arc (specifically her Forbidden Romance and subsequent half-clan kits which she had to give up to achieve her ambition of becoming clan deputy) – but unfortunately Bluestar’s Prophecy doesn’t quite deliver.  Much of the book feels like trauma porn as she experiences one personal tragedy after another.  The fateful Forbidden Romance is effectively a one-night stand as Bluestar is too loyal to the Warrior Code to put her own happiness first for more than one night. The main conflict is Bluestar’s ambition to be appointed clan deputy over Thistleclaw, who is 1. Obviously Evil and 2. prophesied to bring about the destruction of ThunderClan should he ever become clan leader – she achieves this, obviously, but it’s not at all clear why she was chosen over Thistleclaw.  We’re meant to understand that giving up her kits was necessary for becoming deputy, but I don’t think the book makes a convincing argument that this had to be the case: the Warrior Code doesn’t require clan leaders/deputies to be childless and clan society doesn’t seem to have a cat equivalent of the gender employment gap.  The only real explanation given is that “the prophecy (i.e. that Bluestar would become clan leader) didn’t allow for kits” but “’cuz the prophecy said so” is super hack.

Outside of the main plot there’s some fun/interesting stuff in Bluestar’s Prophecy. The clan leader of ThunderClan for the first part of the book is Pinestar, who at about the halfway point of the book realizes that clan life sucks and makes the incredibly based decision to step down leader and live the rest of his last life as a kittypet (clanspeak for pet cat.)  I love this plot point because how much clan life sucks has been obvious to me since the first arc and I’m glad at least one character agrees with me.  We also get to see several other characters from the first arc in their earlier years, which is fun.  The one that sticks out the most is Tigerpaw, future first arc big bad and “dead evil [family relation]” Tigerstar.  Tigerstar’s future Obviously Evil status could easily be intuited from his treatment in this book; he’s the sole surviving member of his litter, his father Pinestar is an absent father (for obvious reasons,) he’s apprenticed to the Obviously Evil Thistleclaw, and the clan medicine cat Goosefeather is constantly saying ominous shit around him like “This was never meant to happen” and “that cat shouldn’t have survived.”  Crookedjaw (future RiverClan leader Crookedstar) is a cool character – I’m looking forward to his Super Edition.

Originally posted 5/12/2025