In this installment of Warriors Roundup: our penultimate batch of novellas. Let’s see what we have…

Redtail’s Debt

“Who is Redtail?” I hear you cry.  Well, Redtail was the deputy of ThunderClan at the very beginning of the first arc until he was killed offscreen in like chapter 2, and this novella is essentially his life story.  As a young apprentice, Redpaw is saved from a hawk by Tigerclaw (future Evil Tigerstar) who seems to believe that Redpaw now owes him a life debt.  Later, as a young warrior, Redpaw assists Tigerclaw in fabricating a pretense for attacking WindClan by materially misrepresenting some relatively minor trespassing by a WindClan apprentice.  Redpaw feels super uncomfortable doing this, and when the battle with WindClan starts going poorly and Bluefur is injured he assumes command and calls a retreat, which Tigerclaw really doesn’t like.  Later still, Bluestar is the leader of ThunderClan and Redtail is deputy.  Redtail and Tigerclaw go on a patrol to scent mark perennially disputed territory Sunningrocks.  They encounter a RiverClan patrol and Tigerclaw instigates a battle.  In the battle, RiverClan deputy Oakheart threatens to murder Tigerclaw’s apprentice Ravenpaw, and Redtail responds by killing Oakheart.  Tigerclaw then murders Redtail so he can be made deputy.  While ascending to StarClan, Redtail’s spirit looks down on the ThunderClan camp and sees Rusty, the future Firestar, being brought into ThunderClan for the first time.

This novella has one glaring issue: it contradicts the continuity.  Tigerclaw’s narrative of the battle is that Oakheart killed Redtail, and Tigerclaw killed Oakheart in revenge; however, later in Into the Wild, Ravenpaw’s gives a version of events wherein Redtail killed Oakheart, then Tigerclaw killed Redtail.  This is consistent with the events of the novella.  However, two books later, in Forest of Secrets, Fireheart tries to tell Bluestar Ravenpaw’s version of events, but she doesn’t believe him because she refuses to believe that an honorable warrior like Redtail would kill Oakheart.  This leads Fireheart and Graystripe to do some sleuthing, wherein they learn from RiverClan that Oakheart died in a rockslide and therefore his death was an accident.  Therefore, the version of events presented in this novella, while consistent with Ravenpaw’s recollections in Into the Wild, directly contradicts what later books consider to be the canonical account.

This is far from the first or only continuity error I’ve encountered so far – The Broken Code arc couldn’t seem to decide which of Tigerstar and Dovewing’s kits Spiresight died saving – but this one is hard to miss.  The exact sequence of events in the battle at Sunningrocks depicted in this novella is a major plot point in the first half of the first arc.

Anyway, besides the continuity error, there isn’t much to say about this one.  We do get to see a young Ravenpaw who, under Tigerclaw’s tutelage, seems to be on the road to being Obviously Evil, which contrasts jarringly with the timid Ravenpaw we see in Into the Wild.  I suppose you could consider this a continuity error, but I like the idea that Ravenpaw had the fear of StarClan put into him after witnessing his mentor murder the clan deputy.

Overall, a pretty mid novella.

Tawnypelt’s Clan

Five entire arcs after her first introduction, this novella finally gives us a PoV from the OG token ShadowClan cat, Tawnypelt.  Tawnypelt’s Clan takes place during the events of A Vision of Shadows, shortly after Tigerstar and Dovewing come back from the big city with their kits.  Tawnypelt is deputy, but she and Tigerstar struggle to earn their clanmates’ respect due to their close familial ties with sucky former leader Rowanstar.  Shadowkit is having recurring seizures accompanied by visions of a waterfall, which Tawnypelt and Dovewing recognize as the home of the Tribe of Rushing Water.  Tawnypelt, Dovewing, and Shadowkit go on an adventure to the Tribe of Rushing Water despite Tigerstar’s objections.  Shadowkit’s visions save the Tribe from being crushed by a fallen tree, and the Teller of the Pointed Stones (the Tribe’s combination clan leader/medicine cat) does what he can to treat Shadowkit’s seizures.  Tawnypelt briefly considers staying to live with the Tribe permanently, but ultimately decides to return to ShadowClan, where she steps down as deputy so a younger cat can take her place.  Of course, her successor Juniperclaw would later flagrantly violate the Warrior Code, almost incite a war with SkyClan, and ultimately end up in the Dark Forest, but that’s neither here nor there.

In my reading order, this is the first time we’ve seen the Tribe of Rushing Water since the beginning of Dawn of the Clans (if their ancient ancestors count) or Omen of the Stars (if they don’t.)  This has ultimately been a good thing for the series in my opinion, as I find the Tribe of Rushing Water to be interminably boring.  Their culture differs from the clans, but not enough to really provide any meaningful commentary on clan society, which is a shame.  The main character arc of this novella was Tawnypelt deciding whether to stay with the tribe or return to the Clans, but that didn’t really feel like much of a plot.  Dovewing and Tawnypelt didn’t really interact very much either, which is disappointing as I think they could have had a fun dynamic.

In short, another mid novella.

Shadowstar’s Life

This novella takes us back to the Dawn of the Clans era and follows Shadowstar, formerly Tall Shadow.  The peace which has prevailed between the clans for moons is threatened when twolegs start intruding on SkyClan territory.  Returning from a Gathering, Shadowstar and her deputy Sun Shadow are attacked by dogs and killed; Shadowstar returns, but is on her last life.  While scouting potential new territories for SkyClan, Shadowstar is attacked by SkyClan warrior Quick Water.  Shadowstar confronts Skystar (formerly Clear Sky) and he exiles Quick Water, who finds refuge in ThunderClan.  At the next Gathering, the clan leaders discuss what to do about Quick Water, with Windstar and Shadowstar in favor of exiling her from the forest entirely, Thunderstar and Skystar opposed, and Riverstar abstaining.  Ultimately Quick Water is allowed to stay and is invited back into SkyClan.  Incensed, Shadowstar and Windstar instigate a battle with ThunderClan and SkyClan to drive out Quick Water.  In the battle, both Shadowstar and Quick Water are mortally wounded; Quick Water confesses she tried to kill Shadowstar and her deputy so SkyClan could take over ShadowClan’s territory, but Shadowstar forgives her.  Both are allowed into StarClan, where they witness the future of the Clans: SkyClan’s departure, the journey to the lake territories, and SkyClan’s eventual return.

This is another mid novella.  Shadowstar’s arc is “coming to terms with her own mortality” which had potential but there’s only so much you can do with it in 80 pages.  Our old friend Skystar shows up again, but he’s a bit out of his element – he’s entirely too reasonable, which makes him boring.  I like Quick Water as a villain – not necessarily her evil plan or her personality, but the way she is able to convince Thunderstar and Skystar of her innocence.  The text is written such that it really is somewhat ambiguous whether Quick Water is behind the attempts on Shadowstar’s life until her dying confession.  Also, not sound like a broken record, but I’m certain in past books it was established that StarClan couldn’t see into the future the way that they can at the end of this book.

Pebbleshine’s Kits

Have you ever wondered what Pebbleshine got up to between getting separated from SkyClan and dying horribly, leaving her kits Violetkit and Twigkit to be found by Alderpaw and Needlepaw?  No? Well, this novella contains the answers anyway.  In brief, she meets a few friendly kittypets, then gets trapped in and escapes a shed.  Pebbleshine is within sight of the lake when she is struck by birthing pains.  She gives birth in a storm drain under a road, her birth assisted by the corporeal ghost of Micah, the first SkyClan medicine cat.  Shortly thereafter, her kits are threatened by a badger, and Pebbleshine is hit by a car leading it away.  Pebbleshine dies, but instead of joining StarClan, Pebbleshine decides to stay in the material world as a ghost to watch over her kits.  Pebbleshine watches as Alderpaw and Needlepaw discover her kits and promises to always be with them.

I wasn’t a fan of this novella.  It’s a quest book, and in general quest books are some of the weakest entries in the Warriors franchise.  Pebbleshine isn’t an interesting character, she’s just generically nice.  StarClan cats are once again shown to be able to just physically materialize, which is my least favorite element of StarClan lore and I thought got left behind in Omen of the Stars.  Honestly, reading this novella felt like the literary equivalent of biting into an unripe watermelon.

Tree’s Roots

This novella follows A Vision of Shadows character Tree.  Earth is a young tom, the son of Moonlight, a member of the Sisters.  Like all toms borne to the Sisters, Earth is forced to leave the group when he reaches the age of six moons.  Earth is reluctant to leave the Sisters for several reasons – he’s still grieving the loss of his littermate Stream, who was struck by lightning; he doesn’t know how to the ghost-seeing powers he should have as a Sisters tom; he generally does not know how to take care of himself – but Moonlight will have none of it and forces him away. Earth wanders around miserably for a while until he is saved by a tom named Root, who turns out to be his father.  Under the tutelage of Root, Earth (who takes the new name Tree) learns how to live as a loner.  After several moons, the two are attacked by a fox and Root is killed.  Much later, Tree encounters Pebbleshine, who is on her journey to the lake territories; Root’s ghost appears to Tree to warn him of a fox, and because of this advance warning Tree and Pebbleshine are able to drive off the fox.  Pebbleshine asks Tree to come with her and join SkyClan; Root declines, but recognizes experience with Pebbleshine has shown him that having friends and loved ones can be a good thing despite his past personal tragedies.

In past Warriors works that featured the Sisters, the Sisters’ society was often presented in direct contrast to clan society.  Because we as readers spend a lot of time with the clans and their societal flaws are familiar, in said past books it was easy to have a positive impression of the Sisters’ society.  It is refreshing, then, that Tree’s Roots does not shy away from showing the inherent cruelty of the Sisters’ society.  I am, of course, referring to their policy of throwing out toms once they reach six moons of age.  At six moons, Tree is obviously not ready to live on his own: he can’t defend himself, he can barely hunt and he’s still grieving his deceased brother.  Moonlight, who ostensibly loves him, will have none of it and uses the same trick clan cats use to justify their obviously reprehensible behavior: appeal to mysticism.  It’s “bad luck” for toms to stay with the Sisters past six moons.  Despite all evidence to the contrary, Moonlight and the rest of the Sisters are convinced that Tree will get along just fine after being kicked out by his entire family.  When Tree thinks “this is unfair, my family is sending me to my probable death,” he’s completely correct.  Not to strawman a fictional cat, but I have to wonder what the Sisters would do if one of their tom kits was born blind or with some other disability that precluded him from being able to survive without support.  Would they send him to certain death?  Do the Sisters practice eugenics?  I don’t know.

All that aside, I liked this novella.  In the main series Tree brings a fun outsider dynamic to the clans that is sorely missing otherwise, and this novella works pretty well as a backstory for him.  I think it’s heartwarming that his son Rootspring is named after his deceased father, and the episode with Pebbleshine is fun (honestly, much more enjoyable than anything in her novella…)

Mothwing’s Secret

This novella serves as a biography for everyone’s favorite atheist medicine cat, Mothwing.  The novella begins with Mothwing and her brother Hawkfrost having recently become warriors in RiverClan.  In the forest territories, Mothwing and Hawkfrost are the children of Evil Tigerstar and a former kittypet named Sasha; Sasha brought the two to live in RiverClan when they were young, but kept the identity of their father secret.  Mothwing decides she wants to become a medicine cat.  She starts training under Mudfur, but since she wasn’t born in the clan he decides to wait for a sign from StarClan before officially making her his apprentice.  Hawkfrost fabricates a sign, and Mothwing is made a medicine cat apprentice; when Hawkfrost reveals his deception, Mothwing loses any faith in StarClan.  Later, after the clans have moved to the lake territories, Hawkfrost blackmails Mothwing into fabricating a vision to get his main rival for the deputyship kicked out of RiverClan.  Even later, Mothwing sees Hawkfrost’s body being returned to RiverClan camp; the official story is that he was killed in a fox trap, but Leafpool tells Mothwing that Hawkfrost was killed by Brambleclaw after he tried to kill Firestar.  Later still, during the Great Battle at the end of Omen of the Stars, Mothwing sees the ghost of Hawkfrost fighting with the Dark Forest cats.  When StarClan cats join the fight, Mothwing finds she can no longer deny the existence of StarClan.  Faced with the Problem of Evil for the first time, Mothwing concludes that, while StarClan exists, it is neither omnipotent nor omnibenevolent and therefore relying on them to solve the Clan’s problems is folly.  With this new perspective, Mothwing continues to care for her clanmates the best she can.

This novella is an interesting one.  For one, it contains virtually no new material – practically every plot point in this novella is something we already knew about or saw in some previously published material (mostly the New Prophecy and Omen of the Stars arcs, Mistystar’s Omen novella, and Tigerstar & Sasha graphic novel.)  That said, it works – this novella reads like a greatest hits compilation for a (personally) much-beloved character; how could I not like that?

A lot of focus is paid in the first two thirds of this novella on the relationship between Hawkfrost and Mothwing.  In the New Prophecy, we mostly saw Hawkfrost from Brambleclaw’s perspective, so it’s nice to see him through a different set of eyes.  Because this novella is so condensed, it also gives a good perspective of how Hawkfrost changes as he spends time with the ghost of his dead evil dad, Evil Tigerstar: over the course of this novella he goes from “let’s be the best warriors we can be so RiverClan accepts us!” to “once I am clan leader, I’ll conquer ShadowClan and then Brambleclaw and I will rule the lake territories with an iron paw.”

Of course, I would be remiss to discuss this novella without touching on its handling of StarClan.  Although I liked Mothwing as an atheist, I think she works just as well as a cat who acknowledges StarClan’s existence but also recognizes their total ineptitude.  Mothwing’s first reaction when she sees the spirit of her mentor Mudfur for the first time is literally “Where were you?” (A Warrior’s Spirit, pg. 285) and I completely empathize with her position: where was StarClan? Mudfur’s response is that StarClan can’t see everything, and even when they can there’s not always something they can do, from which Mothwing draws the entirely reasonable conclusion that the clans rely on StarClan way much.  Again, she is completely correct: despite their spotty track record, whenever a problem arises, the clans’ first instinct is to run and ask for StarClan’s guidance.  Anyway, Mudfur’s appearance to Mothwing ends (hilariously enough) with him, standing in the RiverClan camp after the Great Battle, surrounded by the bodies of the injured and dying, telling her “StarClan makes no mistakes.”  (A Warrior’s Spirit, pg. 286) Okay, Pangloss, whatever you say; by the way, how’s Ashfur doing?

Conclusion

Another mixed bag of novellas.  The first four ranged from “okay” to “80 pages of nothing,” but Mothwing’s Secret and Tree’s Roots were both solidly entertaining.  Only three novellas remain, but before them: another batch of Super Editions and the final completed arc published to date, A Starless Clan…