Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Book Review: Moth Flight's Vision by Erin Hunter (Warriors Super Edition #8)

 


Since I've taken a look at Dawn of the Clans, it's not time to continue looking into the (distant) Warriors prequels with Moth Flight's Vision. Spoilers ahead.

Moth Flight, the daughter of the leader of WindClan, struggles with focusing on any normal Clan cat tasks, instead taking an interest in healing. She later becomes the first medicine cat, and gets the other Clans to accept one cat of each role as well. But when she figures out that she's pregnant with her late mate Micah's kits, Moth Flight faces the most difficult choice of her life.

Some things I really liked about this book, some I really disliked. Let's dive in, shall we? 

First of all, the characters. I liked Moth Flight, I liked Micah and I thought they were a cute couple. Their relationship moved a bit fast for me, but I did feel their genuine bond. Wind Runner/Windstar is still the strict and curt leader, and I also enjoyed seeing how much of a supportive brother Dust Muzzle was to his sister. I also thought it was interesting that Moth Flight probably has a form of ADD. 

Then there's Clear Sky/Skystar. I really thought this dude had had his proper reformation by now, but he's still such an asshole. He indirectly causes Micah's death and instead blames on the poor cat himself. He kills Willow Tail without regret. He still acts like such a bad cat throughout the book. Yes, Willow Tail lied to settle her score with Red Claw, but that doesn't give him the right to act much worse in return. He clearly still thinks it's just okay to kill other cats in battle despite seemingly feeling sorry after he did so in the Great Battle of The First Battle. And then later Moth Flight sends one of her own kin to willingly live with this cat? I don't blame Wind Runner/Windstar in the slightest for wanting to shun SkyClan.

And, of course, the whole ordeal with Moth Flight's kits. Moth Flight can't properly divide her time between her Clan and her kits, so she ends up sending one of them each to the remaining clans. I understand that she can't properly care for them, but why did she not try what Slate did, by having all of WindClan rear them rather than just her on her own? I get that she wanted to keep them close after Micah's death, but instead of somewhat letting them go but still having easy access to them in WindClan, she just casts them out of her own Clan, separating each of the siblings. And they do it willingly, too? It must be the most awful feeling in the world if your own mother abandons you to a group of cats where you know no one and have no kin. It's just so fucked up that she does this and it's shown to be the right thing? Yikes. 

If StarClan wanted to have the rule that medicine cats can't have mates, okay, a bit weird, but I can live with that. But at least let Moth Flight, who did it before this rule was in place, keep her kits in some form in WindClan, though her main duties will always go to her job. Now they're just each separated and can't even stay together as kin. I just feel so sorry for these poor kits. 

This book also didn't touch any further on the Slash conflict, which I'd hoped for. The last book in Dawn of the Clans just kind of unceremoniously has the rogues vanish after kidnapping Black Ear, so I hoped they'd get more of a sendoff over here, but instead they're just basically forgotten about. 

So, yeah, I did like some aspects of this book, but I really disliked others. I'm kind of split in the middle. I do recommend it if you want to know what happened after Gray Wing's death, but it's not one of my favorite Super Editions.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars


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