Time to finish reading and reviewing the latest Warriors arc! Spoilers ahead!
Splashtail is in full control of RiverClan and trying to expand his territory. It is now up to Frostpaw, Nightheart and Sunbeam to unite the Clans and find a way to stop him. But that is not all: even without Splashtail, RiverClan is still without a leader. Who will be the right cat? Is there even a right cat for the job.
I'd say this is overall a pretty solid conclusion to this arc. It's not fantastic or anything, but I had a good time reading it and it was a pretty satisfying conclusion to the arc.
I also gotta say I really liked all three protagonists this arc. In some previous arcs of this series, it was sometimes an issue for me that I really didn't like or couldn't get into one or more of the protagonists, but I genuinely like Frostdawn, Sunbeam and Nightheart. Frostdawn is by far my favorite of the three, though. I do think Nightheart and Sunbeam become a tad less interesting after around book four or so. But they're not bad and I genuinely liked these cats.
Now, for my issues with this book. One, the plot point in the beginning of the book where Berryheart manages to convince our protagonists and ShadowClan that they drove Splashtail out and need help. Yeah, of course this turned out to be a be a trap. Big whoop.
But the fact that everyone, including our protagonists and cats we're supposed to see as competent, bought into this so easily and walked right into a trap came across as kinda forced and ridiculous to me. We know Berryheart, and we know she cannot be trusted and is in cahoots with Splashtail (or at least was in this point in the story). The fact that nobody even really questions her, everyone buys into her plan, and they all just walk right into this trap just felt super forced and makes our protagonists look stupid. If it had been another cat or perhaps we'd been given a better reason to believe Berryheart here, it might have worked, but as is it really didn't and just took me out of the story.
I also am not too thrilled by the revelation of who RiverClan's new leader is: Icestar (formerly Icewing). Or rather, I don't mind the choice so much, as I do the execution. Icewing in the beginning of the story is barely there and then leaves to go on a quest, then at the very end she returns to "sing" Frostpaw into coming back into the waking world from her coma, and then somehow Frostpaw just instantly knows Icewing is the one because "she sung the loudest". When earlier in the book Frostpaw didn't appear to particularly get along with Icewing. Again, I don't mind the revelation that much, but I think there should've been more buildup to it. Icewing doesn't do anything in this book that's particularly leaderlike.
Sure, she was a major player in Ivypool's Heart and did do some noble stuff there, but Frostpaw wasn't around for any of that, so how would she know to pick Icewing as a leader without having even heard her story of the journey? This is just one of those cases where I think there should've been more hints and buildup from Frostpaw's POV that could've led her to pick Icewing as a leader.
But that said, there is a lot of good to be found in this book. I found Splashtail's slow descent into madness and megalomania pretty interesting as Curlfeather haunts him, and he really was evil if he was just willing to kill anyone. I also thought the final confrontation between Curlfeather and Frostpaw was rather good, where Curlfeather keeps justifying her actions and never once apologizes to her daughter. She really does belong in the Dark Forest, it seems. The final showdown between Splashtail and Frostpaw was also great and I am really, really glad Frostpaw didn't end up dying. Poor girl has gone through enough already.
Overall yes, I am satisfied by this as a conclusion, however I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my issues with it. I am looking forward to the next arc, whatever that may bring.
Rating: 3.5/5
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