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Warriors Roundup: Super Editions III

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This past week-and-change, Zippy and I have been digging into the next batch of Super Editions: three books, set in three different time periods. Let’s see what we have…

Tallstar’s Revenge

This prequel biography-style Super Edition follows Tallstar, leader of WindClan during the first arc and the first half of the second arc.  At the time of Tallstar’s birth, WindClan warriors are divided into two categories: moor runners, who hunt prey on the surface; and tunnelers, who dig tunnels under the moor.  Tallkit’s parents are both tunnelers, so it’s expected that he will be a tunneler as well; however, he’s apprenticed as a moor runner.  This seriously strains Tallpaw’s relationship with his father Sandgorse.  Later, a group of visitors come to WindClan for the summer, and Sandgorse is killed in a cave-in while showing the tunnels to one of the visitors, Sparrow.  Tallpaw blames Sparrow for his father’s death, and when he becomes a warrior, he leaves WindClan to track him down and kill him.  On his journey to find Sparrow, Talltail meets Jake, an adventurous kittypet, who joins him on his quest for vengeance.  Over the course of their adventure together, Talltail and Jake become very close.  The two eventually track down Sparrow, but Talltail can’t bring himself to kill him.  Talltail and Jake tearfully part ways, with Talltail returning to WindClan and Jake returning to his twolegs.  Over the years, Talltail becomes deputy and then leader of WindClan.  During the ceremony wherein he receives his nine lives, the spirit of Sandgorse tells Tallstar that Sparrow didn’t kill him and asks him to watch over a certain cat, “kin of [his] dearest friend,” whose fate is integral to the fate of all the Clans.  Anyone paying attention should recognize this unnamed cat is Jake’s son Firestar.

This Super Edition has some interesting things going on.  First, I think calling Jake “[Tallstar’s] dearest friend” is underselling things a bit; the text all but explicitly states that their relationship is romantic in nature.  The descriptions/dialogue tags from Tallstar and Jake’s farewell (“Talltail’s throat tightened,” “Hope flared in Talltail’s chest,” “Pain stabbed Talltail’s heart” [Tallstar’s Revenge, pg. 432-433]) do not read to me like Tallstar and Jake’s relationship is purely platonic.  This, taken with the fact that Tallstar doesn’t seem to have ever taken a mate or fathered kits makes it clear to me that Tallstar prefers toms. It’s kind of a Frederick the Great situation, where if someone was really committed to the idea, they could probably convince themself that Tallstar isn’t gay and all it would cost them is looking incredibly foolish.

The relationship between Tallstar and Jake is interesting for reasons outside of its implications re: Tallstar’s romantic predilections.  When I realized a not insignificant portion of this book would be dedicated to Talltail’s quest to find and kill Sparrow, I was concerned, understandably so considering how “quests” in Warriors are typically super boring.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find Talltail and Jake’s quest to be reasonably engaging.  A lot of this is due to the interplay between Talltail and Jake; their different backgrounds, skillsets, and personalities allow them to play off each other well.  Jake saves Talltail from eating a poisoned rat by getting his twoleg to take him to the vet; Talltail teaches Jake to hunt.  When Jake and Talltail need information from a group of hostile rogues, Jake defuses the situation through his pure orange cat energy.  The vibes are far less “epic quest” and more “buddy roadtrip” and I love it – Talltail and Jake’s quest is by far the best quest in Warriors so far.

I also liked the way that the plot developed.  Tallpaw goes through so much misery in his youth and apprenticeship – latent guilt over the death of his littermate, being relentlessly bullied by his denmate, becoming estranged from his father – even though is immediately obvious that Sparrow was not responsible for Sandgorse’s death, it is totally understandable that in his grief Tallpaw latches on to the idea and becomes obsessed with exacting his revenge on him.  Vengeance in Warriors is a common motivation for villains (see: Tigerstar, Mapleshade) so it’s fun to see a less Obviously Evil character struggle with it.

Overall, one of the better Super Editions so far.

Bramblestar’s Storm

This Super Edition acts as a sequel/epilogue to Omen of the Stars.  After several (presumably uneventful) moons as new leader of ThunderClan, Bramblestar deals with the aftermath of a devastating flood that temporarily drives ThunderClan from their camp.

“Wait,” I hear you cry, “is that the only plot summary we’re going to get?” Well, kind of.  This book doesn’t really have a plot; much like SkyClan’s Destiny, it’s mostly a series of things that just kind of happen.  Here are a few things in this book that happen:

  • A group of three kittypets come and live with ThunderClan for a while.  One of the three stays permanently, adopting the warrior name Stormcloud.
  • Dovewing and Lionblaze struggle with the loss of their superpowers (this one is never really resolved.)
  • The Dovewing/Bumblestripe/Tigerheart love triangle continues – Dovewing is acknowledged as Bumblestripe’s mate for most of the book, but they break up by the end.
  • Bramblestar has a love triangle of his own – does he stay/rekindle his relationship with his mate and deputy Squirrelflight, or does he dump her for the kittypet Jessy? (He chooses Squirrelflight, unsurprisingly.)
  • Bramblestar continues his predecessor Firestar’s policy of interventionism, helping ShadowClan with both troublesome kittypets and badgers despite the ShadowClan clan leader’s explicit instructions to stay out of it.
  • Firestar’s spirit gives Bramblestar the TL;DR of his adventure with SkyClan, for some reason (?)
  • Bramblestar convinces the other clan leaders to pass a new rule in the Warrior Code advocating for collective security, thus giving legal cover for his inevitable future interventions and earning him the title of “the Woodrow Wilson of Warriors”

If I had to pick one main “plot” of this book, it would be Bramblestar’s relationship with Squirrelflight.  Bramblestar and Squirrelflight were two legs of a love triangle all the way back in the second arc – a love triangle that resolved itself with Squirrelflight choosing Bramblestar, Leafpool receiving an omen from StarClan that Squirrelflight made the correct choice, and the third leg of the love triangle (Ashfur) later trying to murder what he believed to be their children.  After the whole “Leafpool is the real mother of Bramblestar and Squirrelflight’s kits” thing came out, Bramblestar cat-divorced Squirrelflight and the two remained estranged for most of Omen of the Stars.  Then, when Hollyleaf somehow returned near the end of Omen of the Stars, Bramblestar and Squirrelflight seemingly made up, and soon thereafter when Bramblestar became clan leader he named Squirrelflight as his deputy.  Perhaps understandably, then, I came into this book with the understanding that Bramblestar and Squirrelflight were mates again, so you can imagine my confusion when Bramblestar started padding after newcomer kittypet Jessy.  I genuinely do not understand what I’m supposed to make of this plot point – are we supposed to understand Bramblestar’s behavior as a jerk move?  Were we not supposed to believe he and Squirrelflight made up?  I’m not mad per se, I’m just confused.

The other major “plot” of this book would have to be Bramblestar’s struggle to come into his own as leader.  He seems to struggle internally between doing things because he believes they are the right thing to do versus doing things because it’s what his illustrious predecessor Firestar would do.  This had the potential to be an interesting plot, but unfortunately the book whiffs it entirely.  First, there seems to be functionally no difference between “what Bramblestar thinks is right” and “what Firestar would do;” both have a somewhat interventionist attitude towards the other clans and are very accepting to outsiders.  Second, a large part of Bramblestar’s character arc during the New Prophecy was dealing with his evil brother Hawkfrost and the ghost of his dead evil dad Tigerstar – recognizing his own desire for becoming clan deputy mirrored their ambitions while rejecting the whole “being evil” thing.  Tigerstar’s whole evil plan during the New Prophecy is for Bramblestar and Hawkfrost to become clan leaders and then conquer the other clans, and the New Prophecy climaxes with Bramblestar rejecting Hawkfrost and Tigerstar’s “the ends justify the means” approach to obtaining power.  Well, in Bramblestar’s Storm, Bramblestar is clan leader, meaning he effectively is fulfilling Tigerstar’s ambitions for him, at least to an extent.  One might think that Bramblestar would struggle with this a little bit – with the nagging sense that, even though he rejected Tigerstar’s methods, he has still done what Tigerstar wanted him to.  Unfortunately, this isn’t really explored.  And, of course, since his ghost died in the Great Battle at the end of Omen of the Stars, Tigerstar can’t even show up as a voice in Bramblestar’s head to tempt him into darkness.

One recurring topic that again appears in this book is the role of kittypets.  As is consistent with most of the franchise, kittypets are shown to be just as competent as clan cats when they need to be; a group of kittypets fights ShadowClan and straight-up wins, and the three kittypets who join ThunderClan adapt to clan life just fine.  This wouldn’t be super notable were it not for the fact that this book was released between books 3 and 4 of Dawn of the Clans, the arc that seemingly forgot that kittypets were people, too.  Even more confusingly, the ghostwriter of Bramblestar’s Storm is the same ghostwriter of the two Dawn of the Clans books with Bumble.  I feel the need to ask – what in the Dark Forest was going on with Dawn of the Clans?

I also feel the need to mention that during the events of this book, longtime ShadowClan leader Blackstar lost his last life and moved on to StarClan.  As a self-professed ShadowClan partisan, I will grieve his passing as his successor Rowanstar seems like a piece of work.

This book was okay, I guess, but it mostly felt like 470 pages of filler.

Moth Flight’s Vision

This super edition acts as a sequel/epilogue to the Dawn of the Clans arc and follows Moth Flight, the first medicine cat.  This book is mainly the story of how many of the rules/norms of being a medicine cat came to be.

Moth Flight is a somewhat air-headed WindClan cat and the daughter of clan leader Wind Runner.  One day, a vision of a green moth leads her to the Moonstone, a local holy site in the forest territories, where StarClan tells her she is to be the first medicine cat.  She takes this information back to the Clans, an omen convinces them she’s not totally full of it, and all of the clans appoint medicine cats.  The medicine cats struggle to figure out healing herbs but get through by sharing information.  Moth Flight falls in love with SkyClan’s medicine cat, a former loner named Micah.  Micah dies, Moth Flight is distraught, then she discovers she’s pregnant with his kits (because of course she is.)  After she gives birth, Clear Sky gets back up to his old nonsense and takes Moth Flight hostage. A battle breaks out between SkyClan and WindClan and Wind Runner is grievously injured.  Moth Flight gets another vision of a green moth that directs her to take Wind Runner to the Moonstone, and when she does, Wind Runner is given her nine lives and her official clan leader name Windstar.  The other clan leaders soon follow suit.  Finally, Moth Flight realizes that she cannot properly care for her clanmates if she’s worried about her kits, so she gives them away to the other clans and makes the other medicine cats take an oath to never take a mate or have kits.

The highlight of this book has got to be our loveable trainwreck of a clan leader, Clear Sky/Skystar.  Whenever the pace gets a little stale, he’s always nearby to make some stupid decision to get things going again.  Sending a spy after his own medicine cat, causing the death of his own medicine cat, refusing to let his new medicine cat consult with other medicine cats, holding another clan’s medicine cat hostage – all classic Clear Sky behaviors.  Sure, his characterization has reverted a bit from where it was at the end of Dawn of the Clans but I’ll give him a pass.

One other strange subplot in this book is what is apparently an exploration of drug abuse.  At one point, a cat named Rocky is feeling ill, so Moth Flight gives him some catmint for his cough.  Unfortunately, at this point Moth Flight is very inexperienced so she gives him way too much and he gets a little loopy.  For the rest of the book, Rocky is seemingly constantly scheming to get more catmint – he complains that Moth Flight’s substitute medicine cat wouldn’t give him any, he asks if it’s good for sore paws, he offers to go collect some for her, that kind of thing.  It’s played for laughs, which makes perfect sense considering this is Warriors we’re talking about, but at the same time it feels a little strange for what seems like an obvious proxy for a serious real-world issue to be used for comedy. 

I think this is also a good point to mention something that has been bothering me for a while now – Warriors’ sheer number of birthing scenes.  It seems like every other book there is a scene wherein a PoV character partakes in, assists with, or is otherwise present at a birthing.  In this book, it happens twice.  Once again, this is Warriors, so there’s not really any graphic detail, but as someone who has only ever taken part in a birthing as the birthee, there’s still enough detail to make me a tad uncomfortable.  Maybe this is just a consequence of the series being primarily written and edited by women, or maybe I’m just a prude, but still, I felt like I had to mention it. 

Overall, a decent but not exceptional Super Edition.

Closing Thoughts

Another mixed bag of Super Editions.  Here’s my current ranking of Super Editions:

  1. Crookedstar’s Promise
  2. Tallstar’s Revenge
  3. Bluestar’s Prophecy
  4. Moth Flight’s Vision
  5. Yellowfang’s Secret
  6. Bramblestar’s Storm
  7. SkyClan’s Destiny
  8. Firestar’s Quest

Next up: back to the main timeline with a Vision of Shadows…

Warriors Roundup: Novellas I

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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.