Let's Read: Warrior Cats Series

[Wolvine]

oh maaan, as you know, im a massive fan of your sly digging and insults without being insulting, and this is four series worth of that. im so pumped. loving it so far, please never stop doing your hilarious and flawless writing bit

[Arcaii]

Oh, hot reservoir! I was wondering when you'd show up, Wolvine. I'm glad you're enjoying this ride.

The next post should be up in a few hours. I got distracted yesterday and forgot to update.

[The Lion Queen]

this is so great omg

I used to be a huge warriors fan but tbh I'm just kinda "meh" on the series now for the most part [especially the later books]

also, yellowfang is one of my favourites as well.

[Arcaii]

Marvelous! The later books definitely dropped in quality, but we've still got the first series to get through.

[MockSun]

Think I agree with you, Arcaii. I personally lost interest around Power of Three, guess I just wasn't into the cats having superpowers. I remember liking New Prophecy more than I did the original series, looking back on things, but that could just be nostalgia.

[mistywater]

Yellowfang is a very believable character in the first series, I think. The super edition about her felt like I was reading about a different cat. [I pretty much cried by the end of Last Hope, I don't know why.]

[Arcaii]

Chapter Nine

I can't believe I forgot to mention Yellowfang's name. Maybe it's because I was too busy fangirling about her.

But honestly, does anyone else find her name to be weird? It's mentioned that she has bad hygiene, yeah, but she's not a yellow cat, she's a very dark grey. She's got a scarred up face, which would have been more noteworthy to name for if she was renamed, but-

Oh.

I see. Very well then.

On to the actual story: Yellowfang is in an ugly mood, so she takes it out on Firepaw by insulting his heritage. Firepaw does his best to keep his temper, but his emotions get the better of him and he lets loose on Yellowfang, reminding her that she's both a prisoner and utterly helpless if any cat needs to take care of her. While he quickly tries to apologize, Yellowfang laughs and compliments him on his spirit.

Again, the quality of the dialog and writing somehow skyrockets when these two interact. It's almost startling, and it can't just be my adoration of their relationship - I know for a fact that Bluestar and Tigerclaw or Greypaw and Firepaw don't sound half as good or interesting.

And, of course, no good things last. Firepaw goes and gets some herbs from Spottedleaf, and here she's very carefully described as a lovely looking cat. They haven't interacted at all before this, and yet Firepaw takes note of how pretty she is in narration. But the interaction is brief, so we'll just talk about it later.

We cut to three days after Yellowfang shows up, and Firepaw feels the weather begin to get cold. Hang on- didn't Firepaw get recruited early in the spring? So by now it should be the middle of summer at the very latest. Why is autumn coming so soon?

And when Firepaw goes out to see Yellowfang-

Hunter...

And, again, Dustpaw and Sandpaw are still treating Firepaw poorly. I can't understand why they haven't given up yet, nor why they're still getting away with it, but I've complained about it a lot recently, so let's just get on with the story.

While Firepaw is taking care of Yellowfang (who makes him crack some fleas on her butt, bless her), the two notice some kittens pretending to be ShadowClan and ThunderClan warriors. They clearly irritate Yellowfang, who becomes more angry when Firepaw asks her about whether she likes and has had kits before. She says something vaguely about kits having bad luck around her, but before we can find out more she sends Firepaw to get some mouse bile.

As he walks, we see descriptions of the Clan fixing up some of the dens, including "weaving twigs and leaves into a dense green wall". Can cats weave things? At all? They don't even have opposable thumbs or rotating wrists. This isn't just a "cats aren't smart enough" thing, they literally don't have the tools necessary to do this. Why not just have them place more guards around or drag branches and brambles to the areas that need to be patched? I'd be able to swallow that more.

It is nice to see that the Clan is taking the disappearance of WindClan seriously, and carefully guarding their borders and camp. I would think they should warn RiverClan about what happened, but seeing as the two are currently locked in a war for territory, perhaps that wouldn't be on the top of their priority list.

And now Firepaw begins to very obviously have a crush on Spottedleaf. Gag me with a spoon, I hate this bit.

Like, you know how I complained about the weird semi-flirtation between Spottedleaf and Tigerclaw, especially considering he's a fair sight older than her? Now the tables have turned, only this time it's worse, since one's a medicine cat and the other one is an apprentice. And Firepaw's being creepy about it as well, noting her "warm, sweet breath" and watching her as she works. Spottedleaf is just as at fault here, as she notes throughout the series that she loves him, except he's the equivalent of a preteen right now and she's in her adulthood.

Even with that aside, this is such a lifeless and unnecessary part of the story, only serving to fuel angst on both ends. I cannot stand things specially designed to give someone something to whine about, and this is one of the worst I've seen. I used to really like this pairing when I was little - shows how good of a judge I was - but now whenever I see it I just groan and scroll past it as fast as possible. It's uninteresting, especially on a reread, where you know what's going to happen.

Anyways, we get back to Yellowfang, and it's noted that she has "blackened, broken teeth". So her fangs aren't even yellow, they're black/brown. That's the second most incorrect name in the story so far.

Afterwards, Firepaw and his two friends go hunting, and when they return, Graypaw tries to feed Yellowfang, only for Tigerclaw to stop him and force him to eat the mouse he was bringing. You know, this Clan really lets the bullies and rude cats get away with a lot of crap, and it really bothers me. Clans have rules and structures, all built to keep a thriving, harmonious community, and aggressive cats threaten that peace. Why aren't they duly punished? Tigerclaw is openly cruel to the apprentices, especially his own, and Dustpaw and Sandpaw are openly cruel to Firepaw. Longtail gets to insult Firepaw as well.

What is the point of the Clan system if the cats within it aren't working together, even with their teeth clenched?

Up next: Chapter Ten.

Wrong Name Count: 2.

[Arcaii]

Think I agree with you, Arcaii. I personally lost interest around Power of Three, guess I just wasn't into the cats having superpowers. I remember liking New Prophecy more than I did the original series, looking back on things, but that could just be nostalgia.

Power of Three is what lost me too. I didn't even bother with the fourth series. The New Prophecy isn't as bad, but it certainly has a massive issue in it that I'll discuss once I get to it.

Yellowfang is a very believable character in the first series, I think. The super edition about her felt like I was reading about a different cat. [I pretty much cried by the end of Last Hope, I don't know why.]

Oh, my dear Yellowfang, what have they done to you in your super edition? It's terrible, really - the one character who deserved a super edition, and they destroyed her character harder than any other.

[MockSun]

Think I agree with you, Arcaii. I personally lost interest around Power of Three, guess I just wasn't into the cats having superpowers. I remember liking New Prophecy more than I did the original series, looking back on things, but that could just be nostalgia.

Power of Three is what lost me too. I didn't even bother with the fourth series. The New Prophecy isn't as bad, but it certainly has a massive issue in it that I'll discuss once I get to it.

Can't wait, I'm looking forward to it. ^^

[The Lion Queen]

Marvelous! The later books definitely dropped in quality, but we've still got the first series to get through.

yeah the books drop in quality as the series goes on. the original series was decent. tnp dropped in quality but it was still decent. po3 was when it started getting not-so-okay, and oots certainly wasn't any better. I haven't read the newest one much yet but tbh I'm starting to wonder if I should even bother. I mean, warriors as a whole is a pretty meh series, and it just gets less and less good as the series goes on, so the chances of the new one being better is pretty slim.

Power of Three is what lost me too. I didn't even bother with the fourth series. The New Prophecy isn't as bad, but it certainly has a massive issue in it that I'll discuss once I get to it.

question: do you hate leafxcrow? cause I hate it also. I think it was one of my major problems with tnp

Oh, my dear Yellowfang, what have they done to you in your super edition? It's terrible, really - the one character who deserved a super edition, and they destroyed her character harder than any other.

I haven't read it yet and considering that most people seem to dislike it I don't think I will. i do know though that yellowfang deserved better.