Book five already. Those arcs go by fast, lemme tell ya. Spoilers ahead.
In this book, Frostpaw is desperate to convince RiverClan and the other Clans that Splashtail is a false leader and a murderer, however only few believe her. Nightheart is determined to back her up. Meanwhile, Sunbeam feels like she is being torn in two between her loyalty to her newfound Clan, and her mother who is terribly injured, away from the Clans.
This review isn't going to be very positive, but I just want to preface it by saying that I do think this is a good book. I just have some criticisms, that's all. This arc overall has been pretty strong so far, but this is the first book, aside from Sky, where I have some major issues, even if the book itself isn't bad.
Let's start with Splashtail. While I do like him as a villain, he just feels kind of like he loses any and all subtlety he had in this book as he becomes just another violent abusive Clan leader who wants to attack the other Clans. He also starts to attack his own RiverClan clanmates which is just so over the top evil it's a little hard to take seriously. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to try and keep his Clanmates on his side? If enough RiverClan cats start to see the monster he really is, they'll rise up against him. He's not exactly winning over any cats by killing his deputy.
Berryheart is also still there. I've already said in previous reviews how I feel about her as a villain. While thankfully she is barely in this book, the conclusion of her appearance in RiverClan as their new deputy makes no sense. Everything which has been established prior states that Berryheart only cares about ShadowClan, not the other Clans, not even all ShadowClan cats, just ShadowClan in and of itself. Yet now she's suddenly Clan-hopping, something she absolutely hated other cats for doing. Didn't we have an entire subplot in earlier books about her shitting on other cats who changed Clans, like when Nightheart joined ShadowClan for a while? It makes no sense for her to suddenly join RiverClan. Unless future books clear this up, but in this book where we get no explanation for this random shift in character it doesn't come across as very well-written. Even early in this same book Berryheart says how much she loathes the Clans. But nope, now suddenly she's in RiverClan and its deputy with no explanation. The heck.
This book also felt a bit repetitious and uneventful. At least, until the last few chapters. It's mostly just a lot of discussing whether or not the other Clans believe Frostpaw about Splashtail, and then trying to come to a decision. It's not until the last few chapters we get an eventful storm where a few WindClan cats almost die, and then our main trio go spying on RiverClan where some shit goes down. But the rest of the book felt a bit bland and forgettable because of the lack of eventful happenings. Also, it felt like it had a needless amount of references to prior books and arcs. Sometimes these references were relevant, but sometimes it just felt like they were making references for the sake of making references. I don't need cats to go "Oh this is like when Firestar did X" and "This reminds me of ShadowClan under Y's leadership" every few chapters.
Finally, I'm a bit disappointed so far by Squirrelstar as a leader. All of this buildup in prior books about her being a very proactive and outspoken cat, yet in this book she's very cautious and careful and doesn't do all that much now that she's leader. It just doesn't feel very in-character for her to me, especially after how in prior books she kept going on and on about how much she wanted to be proactive in the dire situation RiverClan was in. Like with Berryheart's sudden change in character, there is no real explanation for this change in Squirrelstar's character and it doesn't make all that much sense. So I hope for a more proactive Squirrelstar in the future. A Squirrelstar who feels more like the Squirrelflight we've grown to love.
Overall I do still think this is a good book, it's just not fantastic or anything and it does have a few flaws. I do still overall like this arc (despite my gripes with Sky) and I really hope book six sticks the landing.
Rating: 3.5/5
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