Book One: The Apprentice's Quest
In book one we meet Alderpaw, son of Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. He receives a vision, which leads to him going on a quest to find the long-lost SkyClan. Instead, however, they run into a band of rogues and two lost kittens.
This was a book I greatly enjoyed, more so than The Last Hope for sure. We meet a largely new cast which gets the proper focus, rather than the old characters being shoved back into the limelight when they’ve already had their time to shine. The only character that this really happens to is Sandstorm, but it has a great payoff as she finally goes to join Firestar in StarClan after receiving an infected injury.
Alderpaw made for a great change of pace for a main character. He willingly becomes a medicine cat, rather than him being more or less forced into the role like Jayfeather. He also has some real anxiety issues, rather than the confidence a lot of apprentices seem to have. I just really enjoyed his POV. My favorite character, however, is Needlepaw. She was such a fun yet rule-breaking character, I just really liked her. The other new cast is good, too, and I can’t wait to learn more about Violetkit and Twigkit.
Overall, I’d say this was a great start to this arc! I’m looking forward to seeing where things go next.
Rating: 5/5
Book Two: Thunder and Shadow
In book two we continue the journey as we now also follow Violetkit and Twigkit, the two sisters ripped apart by the Clans. The rogues who took over SkyClan’s territory now settle near ShadowClan, causing more and more tensions within said Clan, and with the others.
Another great book, probably even a step up from The Apprentice’s Quest. There’s much more going on, and tensions are very obviously rising. I just loved the struggle with the two sisters, how they both have trouble functioning in their respective Clans and how different their situations are. You really feel for both of them and just want them to be alright.
The characters are once more great. They feel so very distinct and memorable, and you just root for them so much. Heck, even Needletail, though she changed immensely between books, is still very enjoyable. I really enjoy a major character that just completely breaks the rules for once, rather than sticking to the warrior code endlessly.
The conflict also felt really interesting. The rogues post an interesting new threat, especially once a lot of ShadowClan ends up staying with them rather than leaving. I also can’t wait to learn more about Darktail, who seems to be built up to be our main villain of the arc. Whatever happens next, I’m looking forward to it.
Rating: 5/5
Book Three: Shattered Sky
This was definitely a high point for the arc, and probably my favorite book of A Vision of Shadows until now. All of the tensions and buildup come together in one strong book.
Darktail is a very good villain in this, and we also finally learn his backstory. Needletail shows her true loyalty to the bitter end, and the Clans finally put their differences aside to fight the rogues as a unit. The final climax of this book was definitely one of the highest points of Warriors history if you ask me, with Darktail’s and Onestar’s deaths being very memorable.
We also finally get the plot point of SkyClan meeting the other Clans, and the reveal that Hawkwing is the father of Violetpaw and Twigpaw. Just an all round awesome book with great characterization.
Rating: 5/5
Book Four: Darkest Night
Darkest Night continues the story after book three and shows us how SkyClan settles in the aftermath of the battle against the rogues. WindClan has a new leader, RiverClan closes its borders to recover, and the medicine cats receive a new vision that still tells them to seek out the “sixth claw”.
This book did quite well in delivering on what I hoped we’d get after book three. Having our central antagonist be defeated halfway into the series isn’t something Warriors often does, so it definitely was unique in that regard. But that leaves half an arc left. So what’ll be going on here?
First of all, the aftermath of the battle with the rogues does feel very real and it is clear that the Clans are still under a lot of stress due to it. Clan tensions are high, WindClan has a new leader in Harestar, Mistystar closes her borders, ShadowClan is disbanded by Rowanstar after his deputy leaves, and now a fifth Clan has joined the lake territories. The tensions all feel very real and I liked how things weren’t instantly okay, how the aftermath is really devastating and ShadowClan doesn’t recover.
I also liked what was going on between the sisters here, especially Twigpaw. She finally was together with her kin after having been gone from them for so long, yet she doesn’t quite feel like she fits in. Heck, she ends up having a really close bond with one SkyClan cat who isn’t even her kin, but many others. So seeing her in the end return to ThunderClan was something I liked to see, though it’s still hard to see her say goodbye to her father and sister.
This is a good book with quite a bit of mystery to it (some of which will be cleared up in Tigerheart’s Shadow), and I like it a lot! I also wonder what the introduction of Tree and ghosts means for this universe.
Rating: 4/5
Book Five: River of Fire
In River of Fire, SkyClan starts to feel less and less welcome in the forest, and Twigpaw has trouble fitting into ThunderClan once more. It seems that everything hinges on the five Clans living and working together successfully, but that proves way harder than expected.
I still mostly enjoyed this book, but I do think it is so far the weakest point of the series. Some things I didn’t like were how conveniently Tigerheart was brought back, and how Briarlight died. I’m also not a big fan of Finpaw and Tree, though the latter is at least interesting. I mostly thought, however, that the climax in this book was just a bit underwhelming. It just didn’t stick with me like some others of this series did.
Also, Alderheart briefly yet suddenly falling in love with a random kittypet was just way too sudden. There was very little buildup with their relationship and I never really doubted that Alderheart was going to stick to his medicine cat code in favor of Velvet.
Not my favorite, but definitely a good book in the context of the series nonetheless.
Rating: 4/5
Book Six: The Raging Storm
With ShadowClan being re-created under the leadership of Tigerstar, the Clans now face the struggle as there is seemingly too little territory for all five Clans to thrive around the lake. All the while a storm seems to be gathering, SkyClan finally decides its had enough, and leaves the territories behind in favor of the gorge. However, all five Clans must be present at the lake according to the will of StarClan.
I quite liked the concept of this book having rather
different stakes. Not about a war like you’d expect, but rather over whether or
not one it’s the right thing to have SkyClan at the lakes and what is or isn’t
the right thing according to the warrior code/StarClan’s wishes.
I also liked the relationship between Tree and Violetshine in this. I’m, however, not a fan of Finleap and Twigbranch. He constantly keeps almost pressuring and guilt tripping her into something she clearly doesn’t want and isn’t ready for. He just gave me really bad vibes. Also, Velvet didn’t come back at all in this, so that really proves my point that she was pretty much useless in book five.
The climax was pretty good and I also enjoyed the pacing in this book.
A pretty good ending if you ask me!
Rating: 4/5
Final Thoughts
I definitely think that this is the second strongest arc of the bunch by far, just missing out on the first place because of The Prophecies Begin. Especially the first half of A Vision of Shadows was great. The latter half was still really awesome, just not as qualitatively outstanding as the first three were.
No arc is perfect, especially not in a rushed series such as Warriors, but I’m very glad I finally caught up on this arc after years of intending to and hearing how good it was. Heck, even if you didn’t read Powerof Three of Omen of the Stars, I still think that if you look up global summaries of what happened in these books, you’ll mostly be fine on just starting out this arc because of how little influence those two arcs have on A Vision of Shadows. It’s a fresh arc with new concepts introduced and some really stellar entries.
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