Book Review: Warriors Arc 2: The New Prophecy by Erin Hunter

I’ve done my review on arc 1 of Warriors, so you bet your barnacles I’m gonna review others as well. Why don’t we sit down and have a look at Arc 2, The New Prophecy. Spoilers ahead, and here we go!

Book One: Midnight

Starting off with the first book, Midnight.

In this one, Brambleclaw, together with three cats, each from another Clan, are visited by StarClan in their dreams with a message. So, the group, consisting of Brambleclaw, as well as Tawnypelt, Feathertail and Crowpaw, together with tag-alongs Squirrelflight and Stormfur, sets out on a journey to the mysterious sun-drown-place, where they’ll have to listen to what Midnight tells them.

Overall, I think this is just an all right installment. It sets up the basics of this arc, but it’s not exactly a book you can pick up without any context of the series and get into. There’s a lot of things that are brought up briefly, but new readers probably won’t understand on their first read.

The story also isn’t too engaging. It’s really just a traveling book, and we don’t know what really is going to happen until near the end of the book. The journey isn’t really too engaging, either. The cats come across some problems on the way, but it’s usually solved within a chapter or two, making it not feel very perilous. I honestly enjoyed the first parts, back when Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight were still in ThunderClan, more than the journey itself.

There’s also the one chapter that takes place in the Twolegplace, which, so far, has been the most tedious chapter I’ve ever read in a main Warriors arc book. Each time I’d re-read this book, I’d dread just having to get through the part where the cats get lost in Twolegplace with Purdy. The fact that some of them seem even kind of grateful towards him in the end despite him doing really nothing of worth aside from getting them lost and then solving it himself just irks me. He’s just been a nuisance to them and got them lost in the place that makes them most uncomfortable.

Another thing that bothers me is that the group of traveling cats is said to have become one by the end of the book, but it doesn’t feel like that at all. They continuously bicker throughout the book, and aside from Crowpaw becoming slightly less of a jerk, I still don’t get the idea of this close friendship having bloomed between them. The constant disagreements between the group that somewhat even continues after this book just doesn’t make them feel like “one” at all, really.

The POV of Leafpaw also doesn’t do too much. Aside from her seeing Cinderpelt interpret the tiger and fire prophecy, and the epilogue at the end, it doesn’t do much for the overall story. These things could’ve also been conveyed by some simple exposition dialogue without spending chapter after chapter with Leafpaw that overall doesn’t add much to the plot.

The pacing was rather slow in this one, making it not the most engaging of reads, either.

Finally, the characters...are kind of...eh. Brambleclaw isn’t a very interesting lead in this book, he’s mostly just doing the right thing and ordering others around. Squirrelpaw is somewhat annoying, but at least she has a defined personality to speak of. Leafpaw is more quiet and down-to-earth. Tawnypelt is just a bit snappy but has very little lines. Crowpaw is another character with a clear personality, but I really don’t enjoy him, as he’s just a jerk. Feathertail and Stormfur really don’t have much to them.

I just feel like the characters could’ve been done better. Given them more distinct personalities, and Tawnypelt more of a presence. It’s just not very fun to read about these characters, a lot of which feel just uninteresting.

So, yeah. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan of Midnight. The journey is just rather boring and tedious, and, despite us getting a multiple POV book series this time, the characters itself aren’t too interesting.

Rating: 3/5

Book Two: Moonrise

Will things get better? Let’s check out Moonrise.

Now on their way home with the message of StarClan that says Twolegs will destroy the forest, Stormfur and his company have to cross the mountains. On their way they come across a desperate Tribe of wild cats called the Tribe of Rushing Water. Their problem is that a mountain lion named Sharptooth is hunting their Tribe members, and supposedly a savior will come to them in the form of a silver-coated cat. The Tribe presume Stormfur to be this cat, which causes them to keep him prisoner. Though he and the other travelers eventually escape, they finally decide to face the threat Sharptooth poses head on, which leads to a huge loss. While this is going on, the forest back at home is slowly being destroyed.

Another book that’s not too great, but at least it has more going on than the last one, where the main focus was the journey. Here, we have a major threat in the form of Sharptooth, and of course the introduction of another group of feral cats.

I was disappointed by how little presence Sharpclaw really has. He’s mostly mentioned, and he attacks a few times, but he still does very little other than kill a cat and then be defeated by Feathertail. He could’ve had more to do, maybe chase after our main characters or something, to give him more of a presence and make him feel even more threatening.

The pacing was a more on point in this book, with there being more of a real buildup and there being a real climax, rather than the meetup with Midnight in the last book.

The characters were still not mightily great. Stormfur is a rather bland protagonist, and Leafpaw isn’t much better, though at least her POV does more this time, with us getting to know Mothwing and the problem of the vanishing forest cats. I also wasn’t a big fan of the kind of insta-love Stormfur has with Brook.

Another kind of aspect that kind of bothers me is that it should’ve been obvious Feathertail was the chosen cat, not Stormfur. Yes, her coat is darkened by the water when the Tribe first meets them, which leads them to them hailing Stormfur as their hero, but as soon as Feathertail is dry and her coat is silver again, it should be obvious that the cat of prophecy is her, not her darker gray brother. The book itself even points this out, but never addresses why the Tribe didn’t start seeing Feathertail as the promised savior as soon as she’s dry.

While I do think this book is slightly better than Midnight, I’m still not a big fan of it. I simply do not feel enough for the main character to actively care what’s happening to him, and, while there is more going on, it’s still not on par with anything of arc 1. It’s okay, but still not as good as it could be. 

Rating: 3/5

Book Three: Dawn

Now, let’s continue with the next book. This is Dawn.

In this installment, the remaining travelers arrive back home in the forest, where the destruction is going on. Most of the Clans have been affected by the Twoleg invasion in at least some way by now. When Brambleclaw and his company return, it is up to them to convince the forest Clans to leave home and travel over the mountains to a new place to live. The last part of the book is them doing this, and losing some cats along the way, before finally arriving at the lake.

The plot of this book just feels mostly lacking. It really just is a book connecting the more plot-heavy books 2 and 4 together. The best way I can describe this book is “things happening”. The cats get kidnapped by Twolegs and they have to get them back. They have to convince the Clans to leave. They must travel together. While these are all part of the overarching plot, it just feels rather dull since there isn’t even a real climax. We just see the cats lingering in the forest before finally deciding to leave.

The characters were all right. I do enjoy Squirrelpaw more as a protagonist than Brambleclaw or Stormfur, that’s for certain. Her feisty attitude at least makes for a more interesting character. I’m still mostly neutral on Leafpaw and a lot of the other characters. Cody I surprisingly liked, and I also really enjoy Mothwing still.

The pacing was rather slow. Since there isn’t much exciting stuff happening here, it feels like it drags a lot. I will give it credit for the journey to the lake territories not taking as long and not being as tedious as in Midnight, but it still just feels dull.

Not too bad, but it could be a whole lot better. I’d fix this book by having much more of a separate plot in it, with a decent structure and climax, rather than how it was done here. 

Rating: 2/5

Book Four: Starlight

Anyhow, let’s move on to the next one, Starlight.

Now that the Clans have arrived at the lake territories, it is up to them to divide these new lands for themselves. Not only that is going on, but there’s also a civil war happening in WindClan as previous deputy Mudclaw wishes to claim the leadership position from Onewhisker, who was given the second-in-command position just moments before Tallstar’s death.

I thought this one was... all right. At least miles above the last one. There’s a real plot going on this time, and the story is structured much better and had a good pace. We’ve got more character depth happening, as we get to see Crowfeather fall in love again, this time with Leafpool, WindClan face the challenges of Mudclaw, Brambleclaw growing closer to his half-brother, and Squirrelpaw being extremely peeved with the latter.

The characters were all right. Brambleclaw I like more in this book than his first POV story, Midnight. He has more clearly defined goals, as he now craves the deputy position due to Graystripe’s absence and wants to have a bit of a friendship with Hawkfrost.

Squirrelpaw I thought was extremely annoying here, unfortunately. She distrusts Hawkfrost merely because of Leafpool doesn’t feel comfortable around him, either, while she really doesn’t have much evidence against him yet at first. I’m okay with her being extremely suspicious of him after he assists Mudclaw in his attempt at a coup in WindClan, but before that he really didn’t do that much that would warrant him to be treated the same way as one would treat Tigerstar.

Leafpool I think still isn’t the most interesting character, but I at least cared more for Crowfeather in this book. However, I simply did not buy their romance at all. Leafpool showed no signs of being in love with Crowfeather until she suddenly confirmed she felt the same way after he saved her. Maybe I’m just blind because I don’t understand romance, but I didn’t buy Leafpool having feelings for him for a single moment. Crowfeather being in love with her I could at least understand, but it really wasn’t clear to me what Leafpool saw in him, especially after he acted really brisk towards her.

The plot of the WindClan civil war was very interesting to me, as I don’t think we’ve seen a war between two cats who want to be leader before in this series. It was executed pretty well, but I honestly thought it maybe would’ve been better if we’d also had some WindClan POV chapters in this installment? We’ve already got Crowfeather established as a character, and we’ve had non-ThunderClan POV’s before in this arc, so I really don’t get why they didn’t at least give us a few chapters about the civil war from Crowfeather’s point of view. It could’ve made it even better that way.

I’d say this is one of the better books in this arc. 

Rating: 3/5

Book Five: Twilight

Next, we take a look at Twilight!

In this installment, Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are still quarreling about Hawkfrost, while Leafpool and Crowfeather grow closer, now having admitted their feelings for one another. While this is going on, a cete of badgers prepares to attack the Clans after the cats keep driving them away from the lake territories.

Out of all the books of The New Prophecy so far, I feel like this one is the best I’ve read so far. I enjoy the story and like the unexpected climax of the badgers attacking. I also quite liked the characters in this...well...sorta.

While I think Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are being well-developed here, with Squirrel mistrusting Hawkfrost and feeling hurt over the dark tabby, and Brambleclaw wanting to be deputy and training in the dark forest, their quarrel got really annoying after a while. They were constantly trying to hurt or one-up the other, which just made them both rather unlikable after a while.

I do think Leafpool and Crowfeather got a better developed relationship in this book, and I grew to like the latter more here. We also get the return of Midnight the badger, which was cool.

This book also has a devastating death in it, with poor Cinderpelt dying prematurely. She was just such a good character, and I felt genuinely sad when she died.

The pacing was quite good, too. I felt like this book had about the best buildup and plot structure out of all the New Prophecy books. Things were spread out nicely and it never felt like it dragged too much or there wasn’t really any deeper plot going on other than traveling, like with book three.

I don’t really have much to complain about for Twilight. It’s just a solid installment and somewhat reminded me of The Prophecies Begin when it comes to quality. 

Rating: 3/5

Book Six: Sunset

Let’s dive into the final one for this arc: Sunset.

The training of Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw starts to pay off in this installment: a while after the badger fight and reuniting with Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw finally becomes deputy. However, Hawkfrost seems to be up to nefarious deeds, until brother and brother finally come face to face in the climax, and Firestar’s life ends up being on the line.

Another pretty good book. I enjoyed Brambleclaws POV over here, and things came together well enough. I enjoyed the revelation of Mothwing actually having lost her faith in StarClan due to Hawkfrosts, actions, too.

The pacing was good and there was a proper buildup to everything, so that was nice.

I also quite enjoyed some of the characters here. Like I said, I thought Brambleclaw was better here than in the other POVs he’s had in The New Prophecy. It was really nice to see him and Squirrelflight make up and be together. I did think he was a bit on the not-so-smart side by trusting Tigerstar to train him to be a good leader after everything his father’s done, but at least in the end Brambleclaw realized where his loyalties lay. I also found it annoying that Brambleclaw has a lot of attention for two of his siblings, Tawnypelt and Hawkfrost, but completely ignored Mothwing. It’s as if she barely exists for him, which I just think is kinda dismissive. I’d have loved to see the dynamic between the two of them.

Other characters I enjoyed in this book were Mothwing and Leafpool. I’ve always liked the former, I think Mothwing’s a good character, at least in this arc, I haven’t read further yet. Leafpool I used to dislike for a long time, but she’s actually not as bad as I remember. There’s a helpful character and, though she made some stupid and irresponsible decisions, it’s totally clear where she’s coming from.

Ashfur goes through a big change here after being rejected romantically by Squirrelflight, and his jealousy starts turning him into a very bitter cat. The main villain is Hawkfrost. And, while I enjoy reading his character...I think he’s pretty underutilized in this arc. He doesn’t really start acting totally beyond redemption until the climax of this book, which means that a lot of the page-time he got he was doing villainous things, but he wasn’t really the main villain yet. We didn’t get to see him do a big bunch of heinous things to make him as hate-able as Tigerstar.

He does do bad things, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not until the final climax that we get him as main villain and obstacle to totally overcome by Brambleclaw. I kinda wish we got to see more of Hawkfrost as a character, too. He just really felt like a Tigerstar clone here, also in personality, and not so much as his own individual. He just could’ve been used more or at the very least better to be a more engaging character.

I did enjoy this book, for the most part.

Rating: 4/5

Final Thoughts

Overall, I unfortunately think The New Prophecy is a bit of a dud after The Prophecies Begin. Especially the first half of it just doesn’t do that well comparing it to arc 1. The traveling takes up a lot of time and is tedious, and the characters aren’t always as likable or personality-full. I simply do not care much for especially the first half of the arc. The latter half is a bit of an improvement, but still not on par with what we got in The Prophecies Begin in quite a few areas. For a continuation of such a good arc I’d hoped for something a little better and at least more engaging.

However, if you want to check this arc out and are a fan of the first, I think it wouldn’t necessarily hurt your view of the series. If you enjoyed The Prophecies Begin, maybe check it out, but, if you’re just getting into these books, I’d suggest starting at the beginning, both because it’s better and you’ll need the context to understand much of what’s going on in The New Prophecy.

So, yeah, that was my review of the second Warriors arc! Let me know your thoughts on this arc in the comments! Do you agree with me? Disagree? Either way, I’d love to hear! Happy reading!