(if anyone digs back into this thread and finds old posts of mine, please ignore them,, for the most part I was young and naive, and my opinions on characters and plot points have likely changed quite a bit-)
Thistleclaw. Just Thistleclaw.
Anyone who’s read Spottedleaf’s heart or at least knows the plot of it will understand.
I would go more in depth, but I don’t really think that would be CS appropriate to be honest-
Even before that book I didn’t like him though so oOf-
Dovewing.
Ohhh boy, never liked her, and doubt I ever will.
She’s whiny, but not in an understandable way like her sister. She’s just absolutely unbearable to listen to and her complaints are the definition of first world problems in the warrior cats universe. “Oh no! I’m in a love triangle! Let’s choose the guy who it’s literally against the law of our world to be with!” “I don’t want to be special! Wah!” I get that the rest of the three did that last one too, but not to the degree that she did. Like dear god please stop. Even when reading the books when I was younger, I was genuinely tempted to skip some of her PoV chapters simply because I can’t stand her.
Also, speaking of Dovewing, I was actually ranting to someone the other day and brought up the fact that the only good development in her character was after the journey in the first book, she became attached to the cats she traveled with and her powers made it hard not to worry about them. For example, hearing the Windclan cats were attacked by a dog and then sneaking into their camp with Ivypool to see if they were alright. I found that really interesting and thought it was really dumb that they sort of dropped the idea and just didn’t do anything else with it except the stupid Tigerheart relationship??? Then I noticed something even more infuriating.
This would have been an absolutely amazing plot if they had given Hollyleaf Dovewing’s power and used it with her instead. I mean, just think about it this way; Hollyleaf has Dovewing’s power, goes on a journey of some sort with the other clans (a more interesting take on the beavers perhaps) becomes attached to them as friends (and nothing more than simply friends) and the power causes her to worry about her friends, but this hugely contrasts her devotion to the warrior code, and causes a constant inner struggle with her will to help them or stick to it. Huge missed opportunity in my eyes.
Again, I haven’t read A Vision Of Shadows yet, so maybe Dovewing is better in that series? Doubt it though.
Also, I really don’t like the new cover art of the books. Like, sure, it’s nice and all, but they just seem really tacky and have none of the charm that the originals did. I believe they changed them out of respect because the original cover artist died or something, so that’s understandable, but they could have at least tried a little harder with the new ones. There’s nothing that separates them from any other fantasy animal book series now. Before I could look at a warrior cats cover and instantly be able to distinguish it as one, but now they just blend in and it takes me several minutes before I realize what I’m actually looking at.