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Recently after I reviewed the first arc of Survivors, some news came to light about one of its authors, Gillian Philip. Similar to J.K. Rowling, this writer turned out to be a transphobe. However, unlike Rowling, Philip was fired and will not longer be working under the Erin Hunter name, so no profits of the books will be going to her anymore.
With that said, I feel somewhat okay reading this book. I already bought this one before the whole transphobia of Philip was revealed, and I'm not sure if I'll be checking out the rest of arc 2 yet, as it'll require spending money on something she had a big hand in. However, I think I feel more okay spending money on the rest of The Gathering Darkness than Harry Potter books and merchandise, as J.K. Rowling is still actively having a hand in and profiting from her books, whereas Philip was fired. Whether I'll check out the rest of this arc is still up in the air for now, but I wanted to have a look at the one book I did already own by itself today! Spoilers ahead.
A Pack Divided centers around Storm after the final battle of arc 1. The Wild Pack has now been living in peace for a while, but they're far from unified. There's many stirrings among the dogs, and some unknown culprit seems to be purposefully causing more quarrels. Storm is determined to find out who.
For a first book, this is an extremely well-done one. You remember what I said about The Empty City, how it kinda failed as a setup book of arc 1 because of how much it dragged and how little happened in it? This book right here is the complete opposite.
Instead of the bland cast of book 1 we're given a group of dogs full of personality, a lot of which has already been established in earlier books. The plot is very interesting and I had no idea where it was going, even if there was no overall goal that was reached by the end of the book. The Pack dynamics continue to shift and be engaging. It's just all I could've asked for as a continuation of the Original Arc, which was quite weak in some places.
Storm is also a great protagonist. She has her flaws, but is very relatable and I enjoyed following her so much more in this one book than I did Lucky throughout all six of the first arc. She's also heavily implied to be asexual/aromantic or somewhere on that spectrum, so that makes for a nice change of pace for every other protagonist in Hunter books who seems to want a mate and/or offspring for whatever reason.
The pacing was really good and everything was so engaging that I honestly just wanted to keep reading. I also finished this book within a day's time, whereas usually lately I've been taking at least three days to complete any other one unless it was a novella.
I will say that the racism against the Fierce Dogs in this book was a bit uncomfortable.
Overall, for an arc's start, this is a very strong one. Whether you decide to pick it up (or any book by Gillian Philip for that matter) is up to you. Remember, she did get fired (good) and no longer makes any profit off of these books, and the Survivors series is not just written by here, it's a co-operation between authors. This review was written by a trans person.
Rating: 5/5
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