Let's Read: Warrior Cats Series

[I r o n.]

'Caterwaul'.. wow, I think I've seen it about three or four times in Twilight or Sunrise.

[Arcaii]

Oh, and that's not even counting the prologue. There were, like, 5 uses of it.

[Arcaii]

Chapter 4

Yep, this one's got enough going on that it needs its own post.

Now, what I find odd immediately is that Ravenpaw makes sure to note that Oakheart was with the group of RiverClan warriors. Graypaw mentions that Oakheart is both a deputy and one of the best warriors in the Clans - in which case, he should have been called Oakclaw - but why is that information important right now? ThunderClan's deputy is dead, and, as we'll learn later, Ravenpaw had much more urgent news than just saying who was there and who wasn't.

And he even starts going on about battle moves before fainting in a way that makes a hilarious mental image. "Slithered off the Highrock". Really?

Anyway, fun first day for Firepaw. Dead warrior and all that. Tigerclaw shows up with Redtail's body, and-

Wait.

Wait a gorram minute.

Did they seriously create a male tortoiseshell? As in, that one color that is specifically impossible on a male cat without some severe mutations? You know, mutations like weak immune systems and sterility?

And you can't even say, "Well, maybe he was born a girl, but he wants to be a boy"*, because, no, according to Sandstorm's wiki page, Redtail is her father. Her biological father. Her biological mother is Brindleface, who has several kittens in the story, so she clearly is a queen.

So I'm being told that there's a male tortoiseshell just out there in the wild, which has a 1 in 400,000 chance of happening, and he's perfectly healthy and bodily capable, plus he's got a daughter, which means he can reproduce with no ill effects. And he was also specifically named just for his tail. Not, you know, his impossible coloring - nope, his tail is more important.

(Image by Altias)

Anyways, Graypaw gives a little more info on Clan culture, explaining StarClan and Silverpelt. Couple things I'd like to say about that.

Firstly, what a hamfisted way of describing Clan afterlife! Why couldn't Greypaw just say, "everyone's saying goodbye before he gets buried", or, if you must exposite, "we're sending him off to StarClan" and then get surprised that Firepaw doesn't know what StarClan is and gives a one-sentence explanation. Honestly, I would have reserved it for later, because then we could get into the afterlife and see how everyone feels about it. Imagine all the internal strife belief must cause... I hope we'll see that in the future!

Also, Silverpelt? Is that the title they decided on? Not something more mystical or reverent, like Shiningstream (as the Milky Way looks like a river) or Starpath (as it can also be interpreted as a pathway), but instead, a completely average and plain name that a warrior could have? That's...underwhelming.

Prepare for a lot of that, too.

Anyway, Firepaw and Graypaw watch the Clan gather around to bid Redtail farewell. Graypaw mentions that Dustpaw will be sad- I'm sorry, Dustpaw will be sad? Not Redtail's daughter and mate? Graypaw presumably grew up with Sandpaw and Brindleface. Wouldn't he know that they're family? Why wouldn't he mention them first? Was it because Erin Hunter didn't decide who fathered Sandpaw until much later in the books? Why am I even bothering with this?

After that, we go over to Tigerclaw and Spottedleaf, and immediately, Tigerclaw crushes the impression we had in the prologue by saying, "I've spent a lot of time training him up, and I don't want my efforts to be wasted after the first battle." [sic]

That's really weird, considering his reaction to seeing a cat get injured in the prologue is to rescue her andtell her run to where she'd be safe. Was she just strong in comparison to Ravenpaw? Does he just not like Ravenpaw in the first place? If that's the case, why did Bluestar pair him up with Ravenpaw? From what we've seen so far, Ravenpaw is nervous and prone to fainting (although that could just be this one situation). Tigerclaw is a big, brutish tom who clearly places value in strength and fighting. That's not a good combination for a mentor/apprentice pair.

There's this weird, slightly flirty air between Tigerclaw and Spottedleaf, which is creepy at best. Her teasing tones are mentioned several times, and she clearly doesn't mind touching him, given how she gently pushed his paw away when he jabbed Ravenpaw. He responds with a purr and calls her "dear Spottedleaf". I'm not the only one a little skeezed out, right? Like, that's just weird, especially considering that she's described as young and the implications here are that Tigerclaw is a fair sight older than her.

Plus, you know. She's a medicine cat.

And is it just me, or does Tigerclaw remind anyone else of Shere Kahn? Not the movie version, the book version. I mean, he's a big ol' cat who clearly has an agenda of some kind, doesn't like human-related things (Firepaw/Mowgli), and isn't afraid to flatter someone with power (the wolves). He's even called Tiger-. I wonder if that was intentional.

After he and Firepaw meet for the first time, Graypaw starts showing Firepaw the camp. He mentions that senior warriors usually eat together, and being invited to eat with one of them is a big deal. I don't ever recall that being mentioned again, but I haven't read the books in a while, so I could be wrong.

I like that the elders are chill in this book and share a mouse with the boys. A mouse is a little small to share between two cats, but then again, they are at low rations, so I won't complain. We get introduced to the elders, and, of course, I'm very quickly charmed by One-eye. You know, I have an old lady cat with one blind eye, and she's hardcore, even as a domestic cat. Maybe I just see some similarities. I know my cat isn't as senile, though. **

There's also a bunch of exposition going on in this scene, one of which being the most blatant "as you know" lines I've ever read:

Shouldn't Firepaw have asked why Bluestar needs to pick a deputy so quickly, and then Smallear told him? Why would he need to tell the other elders that? They all know - they'd know better than anyone, frankly.

Bluestar calls everyone together, and it's noted that the sky has darkened. Firepaw was recruited that morning, and we haven't time-skipped. Okay then.

Lionheart gets named as deputy, and for some reason, we focus on Tigerclaw's reaction. I have no idea why that matters. All you're doing is setting him up to be an even more obvious villain. I know he's not exactly subtle anyways, but come on.

We get introduced to Sandpaw, who quickly proves herself to be quite a little quim, and then more forced exposition about how Whitestorm is her mentor. Also, why is she so spiteful about an ex-kittypet? Nearly everyone else was pretty accepting towards Firepaw - even Longtail left him alone afterwards, and Tigerclaw spoke calmly to him. What's up with her?

Up next: Chapter Five.


*And, come on, Erin Hunter won't even write a gay character. Why would they put in a transgender one?

**I WAS CALLED TWO-EYES BEFORE THAT HAPPENED!

[I r o n.]

Yep. *listens ot the story* ahem, anway.. what you said about the chance of an animal being homosexual, I think mine is..

[Arcaii]

Chapter Five

Here's a weird thing: Firepaw wasn't immediately given a mentor. I'm sure you can argue that Bluestar wants to figure out his personality first, so he has a fitting mentor, but that's still really odd. Shouldn't they have assigned him a warrior to help him out in his new life, instead of leaving Graypaw to do it?

Firepaw gets led around the territory by Tigerclaw and Lionheart (which, can I just say, I love that they put the two "Big Cat" named warriors together so often) with Graypaw filling in commentary.

I can't understand how Firepaw already feels safe around his new Clan, given that one cat fought him and another spoke harshly and called him names. And how is the Clan already familiar to him? He's interacted with 11 cats total, and the Clan has 20-30 cats, so how come he just already recognizes the smell like he's lived there his whole life? Shouldn't he be overwhelmed with the smells of strangers?

As Firepaw sees Fourtrees, he asks why the Clans don't just join together and share their prey equally. The hilarious thing is that, whenever this question is asked in a story with four coexisting groups, they're met with horror and outrage for either comedic reasons or for laziness reasons (guess which one this is~). Firepaw gets outright insulted by Tigerclaw (what an odd flipflop of opinion) for even thinking of such a concept. I guess he doesn't like the idea of joining two Clans together.

Interesting that you think that, Tigerst- claw. Tigerclaw.

Anyway, Lionheart does answer Firepaw by saying that alliances are a fragile thing, which is actually a pretty good reason. And with a group as big as two Clans, managing everything wouldn't be done in a Clanlike way, where the goal is unity and a family-like structure. To join up the four Clans together would be to essentially destroy that way of life.

Here's the dumb thing about ShadowClan: they get introduced immediately by being "cold-hearted" and "foul-smelling". First off, every cat should smell foul to Firepaw. He literally just got there. Secondly, only ShadowClan is addressed as more than a name. WindClan isn't referred to as "speedy" or "wry", and RiverClan isn't called "proud" - in fact, I don't think they're insulted at all in this chapter, even though they're the ones ThunderClan is currently having strife with. Why immediately peg ShadowClan as the evil one?

Firepaw gets introduced to both the concept of monsters and the Thunderpath. While I haven't seen any cars capable of making branches on both sides of the trees move around as they pass (and believe me, I travel quite a lot), I can forgive it here, since these things should have that sort of godlike terror for the cats and everything about them would be exaggerated.

So the cats go home, and we meet Dustpaw, who's just as spiteful as Sandpaw. Granted, it helps set up a theme of bullying and fear of a new place (as was deliberately created by the Hunters), but I still have no idea why they specifically are the ones giving Firepaw the most trouble. None of the warriors so far (with the sole exception of Longtail) have openly been aggressive to Firepaw without reason, and hatred isn't something that's bred. You could argue that they're trying to impress each other, but Sandpaw was mean to Firepaw last night when Dustpaw was busy.

The next day, Ravenpaw goes out with Firepaw and Graypaw to train. I wouldn't think that his wounds would heal quickly enough that he could start work again - he lost enough blood to faint. Whatever.

Also, can we just note how Tigerclaw is openly mean to Ravenpaw and Lionheart doesn't do a thing about it? He's the deputy now - it's his job to ensure everyone is being treated fairly and there's a general sense of peace and unity. He just gives Graypaw a look when the apprentice notes that Tigerclaw's being rude. What gives?

In fact, why was Tigerclaw given Ravenpaw as an apprentice? Ravenpaw is openly nervous around him, and Tigerclaw just insults him at every turn. Why did Bluestar think those two would work well together?

Speaking of insults, how quickly did Tigerclaw switch from "I'll watch your progress with interest, Firepaw" to "You're a burden on this Clan already, kittypet!", right? Dude was totally chill the first time he met Firepaw, and now he's calling him soft and lumbering.

Again, you'd think Lionheart would do something about this. He has power now to shut down Tigerclaw, and given how openly cruel he is to Ravenpaw, probably move him to a more gentle mentor. Even Graypaw and Firepaw get to defending their fellow apprentice before the second in command does. Whatever, I guess we need a reason to hate Tigerclaw, even with his extremely obvious villainy.

And, no, I will not pretend I'm reading this for the first time and just assume that he's gruff but eventually becomes better at the end of the series, because I honestly don't believe Erin Hunter has the ability to pull off an arc like that. Every development of possible evil is too obvious to even a new reader, especially in the form of a big dark tabby named Tigerclaw. And that's not to mention Sandpaw and Dustpaw's arc, which is just embarrassing, but we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here, so let's get back to the story.

Lionheart mentions a "winter stream", which is funny, because they don't call it winter, they call it bare-leaf or no-leaf. Error one for Erin.

The apprentices get sent off to hunt for themselves, and Firepaw almost immediately catches his own mouse. I always find it weird when the hero of a story is just immediately good at a new craft (not that I'm guilt-free of doing this myself), but Firepaw is clearly intelligent and picks up on lessons quickly. He has gone hunting before, besides that, and he's clearly got something feral in his blood, so I can let it slide for now.

Up next: Chapter 6.

[I r o n.]

Is there a reason why Tigerclaw was so cruel? (not just to Firepaw and Ravenpaw) and ambitous to be the leader? It's been awhile since I've red the very first books.

[Arcaii]

Good question! The answer is no. There is no reason. He has no motivation whatsoever to want all that power. Not one bit.

[I r o n.]

Intresting. Normally there'd be a backstory reason to why they want so much power. Like Scourge.. I can't get over his death ;u;

[Arcaii]

Oh, boy. Scourge will be a whole different thing, my friend. A whoooole different thing. But we've got five books to get through before that, so you just hold on to that thought.

[Atheon]

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actually, as a young kit Tigerclaw's father (the leader of ThunderClan) went to become a kittypet. no wonder Tigerclaw hates kittypets! he was also described as the weakest, despite growing up over powered...