Book Review: SkyClan's Destiny by Erin Hunter (Warriors Super Edition #3)

So, um, hi. After getting my first two Super Edition review done, I logically just had to get to the others! This one takes place not long after Firestar's Quest. So let’s see how SkyClan is faring in this one! As always, spoilers ahead. Here we go.

A while after Firestar and Sandstorm left modern SkyClan, the new group of cats is thriving under Leafstar’s rule. She has also created a new sort of rank for nearby kittypets that want to try their paw at being a warrior during the day: daylight warriors. This causes some disruption within her Clan. Things seem to get more and more heated between the wild warriors and the daylight warriors. To add to that, Sharpclaw, Leafstar’s deputy, seems to not listen to her quite often, and the arrival of some other rogues that might have plans for SkyClan makes things all the more complicated.

Overall, I thought this was an all right book, as far as Super Editions go. I still put it below Firestar’s Quest in my 2019 rating list, simply because I didn’t think a lot of was going on in this book was as interesting as in that one. But, it’s okay I guess?

This is a book with pretty low stakes. There’s some small conflicts throughout it, such as a bunch of more rats they have to defeat or a wounded child, but none are really major, which didn’t exactly make them feel very interesting. It’s mostly a book about relations of the characters, with some conflict thrown in here or there, rather than having a big problem be the driving force behind the main character’s actions. There is a final big battle in this, but it doesn’t really directly concern SkyClan, and they only really help out because they feel it’s the right thing to do.

The characters were all right. While I do think Leafstar is a decent protagonist, I really found her to be too much of a pushover throughout SkyClan’s Destiny. Sharpclaw keeps making decision after decision for her and going behind her back, and she doesn’t speak up about it until the very end, where it’s revealed that he was just challenging her to make sure she was the best leader she could be. I’m like... okay, but you could and should have spoken up earlier, Leafstar.

The other characters were mostly uninteresting. I found Sharpclaw, although I disliked him in this, one of the few interesting ones, alongside some of the rogues who joined SkyClan. I did kind of have trouble attaching myself to the those cats, though, because in the end they’re more or less trying to use SkyClan in their own problem behind Leafstar’s back. They could’ve simply asked, which would’ve been way less manipulative than first joining and getting the Clan attached to you in order to help you achieve your goal.

Dodge, who I guess could qualify as the main villain in this, was incredibly underwhelming. He barely even had a presence in this, and was just doing it “because evil”, I guess? We never really get to know him that well. He’s just an antagonist, and I just think they could’ve done more done with it.

I do also have a problem with the daylight warriors concept. I get that SkyClan is small and doesn’t have a lot of warriors, and having non-Clan cats for a while to make their decision to join isn’t in itself a bad idea. However, having warriors that are kittypets at the same time is just an allround dumb plan and goes right against what Firestar taught her in the last book. If you want to have kittypets join, fine, but have them leave their Twolegs and stay in the Clan until they decide to go back to them, rather than half and half. I honestly wasn’t too mad at the cats who were against the daylight warriors because it’s so obviously a bad idea.

The multiple POV characters I thought was actually interesting. So far, in every Super Edition I’ve read, we’ve always been experiencing everything from the point of view of the protagonist. Here, however, we get two of them. Leafstar is of course the main one, but we also get short snippets of what went down at Stick’s Twolegplace and what drove him and his cats to get help in SkyClan. This felt refreshing, though I’m still not too fond of the rogue leader himself.

I do have to say that this book felt really long, even for a Super Edition. This is probably because there’s so relatively little going on in such a huge book. I feel like some things, like the smaller side-conflicts, could’ve been condensed a little to make more room for developing Dodge and his cats.

Overall, I think this was just an okay Super Edition. Not good, not bad, just okay. If you want to know how SkyClan is doing on its own after Firestar left, I’d say pick it up. But I don’t think it’s a very big loss if you decide to skip it. 

Rating: 3/5