While Zippy and I have been working our way through the next batch of Super Editions, we’ve also taken the time to read the first six Warriors novellas.  Let’s take a look…

Hollyleaf’s Story

This story follows Hollyleaf between her presumed death in Power of Three to her return in Omen of the Stars.  What was she doing during that time?  Apparently, she was living in underground tunnels with Fallen Leaves.  “Who is Fallen Leaves?” I hear you cry.  Well, Fallen Leaves is a ghost.  If you think that sounds interesting, unfortunately it isn’t.  Not really a lot to say about this one – a lot of this story is just seeing events we’ve seen before in Omen of the Stars from Hollyleaf’s perspective, and the rest isn’t particularly interesting.

Mistystar’s Omen

“Who is Mistystar?” I hear you cry.  Well, Mistystar is, as of the end of Omen of the Stars, the current leader of RiverClan.  This story covers her ascension as clan leader and her relationship with senior RiverClan medicine cat Mothwing. When the previous clan leader dies, Mistystar and Mothwing go to the Moonpool (the local holy site) to commune with StarClan and take part in Mistystar’s nine lives ceremony.  However, during the ceremony, Mistystar notices that Mothwing is missing.  This is because, as you may recall from my Omen of the Stars roundup, Mothwing is an atheist and therefore cannot astral project into StarClan.  Mistystar is seriously upset by this revelation because medicine cats are supposed to act as spiritual intermediaries between StarClan and the living (interpreting omens, performing ceremonies and whatnot) so she strips Mothwing of her title.  Shortly thereafter, when Mistystar’s son is grievously wounded, she receives a sign from StarClan to restore Mothwing to her position as medicine cat, which she does.  The novella ends with Mistystar learning to respect Mothwing’s beliefs and appreciate her dedication to the Clan.

I like this one.  There’s a fascinating bit near the end where Mistystar talks with the spirit of Mudfur, whom Mothwing apprenticed under.  Mudfur’s position is that Mothwing’s atheism isn’t really an issue – that StarClan can send signs to anyone, that she is still able to perform ceremonies, and that faith is mostly about “being loyal to whatever is most important to you.” (The Untold Stories, pg. 195) It seems clear from this interaction that StarClan is primarily concerned about the well-being of their living descendants and only really care about the living’s belief in them insofar as it affects said well-being.  I’d be interested in seeing a more thorough exploration of faith in Warriors later in the series; Mistystar’s Omen was a good start but there’s only so much you can cover in 80 or so pages.

Cloudstar’s Journey

“Who is Cloudstar?” I hear you cry.  Well, Cloudstar was the leader of SkyClan when they were driven from the forest territories due to real estate developers destroying their territory.  This story follows the last days of SkyClan in the forest before departing for their new territory, where the reformed SkyClan remains as of the end of Omen of the Stars.  Again, not a whole lot to say about this one – it’s mostly just standard Warriors filler (hunting, border patrols, battles, etc) with one dramatic scene at the end as SkyClan tells the other clans of their plight, the other clans refuse to help, and SkyClan departs.  I like this final scene, but I’d probably enjoy it more had I not already read it in the prologue to Firestar’s Quest.

Tigerclaw’s Fury

This one, set during the first arc, follows everyone’s favorite dead evil (relation) Tigerclaw/star.  Tigerclaw, deputy of ThunderClan, is exiled from ThunderClan after staging an attack on his own camp and attempting to assassinate his clan leader Bluestar.  Tigerclaw, with the guidance of an evil voice in his head, reforms his band of loyal followers and begins aiding ShadowClan, who is suffering from a bout of the plague.  Tigerclaw and his followers (many of whom are former ShadowClan cats) are invited to live with ShadowClan permanently.  When ShadowClan’s leader conveniently dies without a deputy, one of Tigerclaw’s followers fakes an omen that gets Tigerclaw declared as the new leader of ShadowClan as Tigerstar.

This one is interesting for a few reasons.  I don’t believe we’ve ever had a Tigerstar PoV before so it’s nice to see inside his head for once.  How Tigerstar became leader of ShadowClan is also an inherently more interesting concept to me than any of the prior novellas.  The evil voice in Tigerstar’s head turns out to be none other than…Mapleshade!  Another great appearance from our girlboss.  Overall, a solid novella.

Leafpool’s Wish

This one follows Leafpool between the second and third arc.  Leafpool realizes that she’s pregnant and freaks out due to the whole “medicine cats are supposed to be celibate” thing.  She talks with fellow medicine cat code-breaker Yellowfang in StarClan who tells her to figure it out.  Leafpool informs her sister Squirrelflight of the situation and asks her to raise her kits as her own, but Squirrelflight refuses until Yellowfang appears to her and tells her she’ll never be able to have kits of her own. Squirrelflight and Leafpool leave camp under the pretense of going on a journey, Leafpool births the protagonists of Power of Three, and they return to camp with Squirrelflight claiming the three as hers.

This one is okay.  By far the most interesting story beat is Yellowfang telling Squirrelflight that she will never have kits of her own – later, Leafpool points out that StarClan virtually never makes such explicit predictions about the future, to which Yellowfang admits that she was lying.  I like this plot point – on one hand it’s obvious Squirrelflight raising the kits is the best possible outcome, but on the other hand manipulating her into it by making her think she’s infertile is a messed-up thing to do. 

There’s also a scene where Leafpool’s Forbidden Romance partner Crowfeather shows up and practically begs her to come back, but she refuses.  This is interesting because of its implications for the timeline. In Power of Three, shortly after being apprenticed, Jaypaw encounters Breezepaw/pelt, who is Crowfeather’s son through a WindClan mate.  The fact that Breezepaw is an apprentice shortly after Jaypaw is apprenticed implies that they were born at roughly the same time, which in turn implies that 1. Crowfeather found a new mate basically immediately after ending things with Leafpool, and therefore 2. Crowfeather’s new mate is likely already pregnant with Breezepaw when he’s begging Leafpool to resume their Forbidden Romance.  What a jerk.

Dovewing’s Silence

This novella acts as an epilogue to Omen of the Stars and is primarily focused on the cats of ThunderClan grieving for those lost in the battle with the Dark Forest.  Paralleling the loss of their clanmates, the Three have also lost their superpowers, as since the Dark Forest has been defeated, they no longer have any need for them.  Another plot of this novella is the re-integration of those cats who trained in the Dark Forest into the clan; although all of the surviving Dark Forest-trained cats switched sides during the battle and fought against the Dark Forest (except Breezepelt) their clanmates are reluctant to trust them, for obvious reasons, but this is resolved after they demonstrate suitable heroism by fighting off an injured fox.

I like this novella.  I like the exploration of the distrust towards those cats who trained in the Dark Forest – it’s the kind of thing that would probably get exhausting if it was used as a plot in a Super Edition or full arc, but it works well in novella form.  I think Breezepelt got off way too easy; the guy seems to feel no remorse about fighting against the clans in the Dark Forest battle, but WindClan needs warriors and all the other Dark Forest-trained cats were pardoned so I guess we have to just overlook his obvious betrayal.  Purdy is great in this one, too – then again, he’s great everywhere, so maybe it’s just the fact that he plays a more prominent role in this novella than he tends to in the regular series. Also, what in the world is up with the Dovewing/Bumblestripe/Tigerheart love triangle? I thought Omen of the Stars ended with Dovewing pretty conclusively on #TeamTigerheart, but for some reason in this novella she seems to be back on #TeamBumblestripe. Don’t tell me we’re going to have another arc of this nonsense…

Closing Thoughts

Overall, a bit of a mixed bag for this first batch of novellas.  I think because they’re so short, the quality of a novella is going to depend greatly on how interesting the premise is, and some premises are clearly way more interesting than others.