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Woo! Onto the second arc! Actually maybe I should hold off on the excitement because,
while this is a big milestone to have reached, closely analyzing each book in the second arc
isn't a very thrilling prospect. As a whole it is often ranked as one of the worst arcs the series
has put forward, either because of how boring it is, how underdeveloped the characters are,
or how out of wack the second half is. But it is also an important job,
as The New Prophecy lays the groundwork for the entirety of the series to come.
A lot of the tropes, situations, characters, and locations that will become staples later on will
be introduced somewhere in these six books. But I am getting ahead of myself. As ever,
I will judge these one book at a time, as we build our picture of the series.
Midnight was released on May 10th of 2005, about seven months after The Darkest Hour,
which makes sense considering they needed to begin a whole new series. But there very well could be
an additional reason for the longer wait time. This arc wasn't initially supposed to exist. Vicky
and the publishers were originally planning to just write the first arc and leave the series be,
which explains its more self-contained nature. However, when Warriors started selling well,
they decided to write more. Originally, even that new series was only going to
have three books and be a sort of epilogue arc to the original series,
rather than the bouncing-off point of a whole new era of its own. This fact will help explain some
of the problems this arc runs into, so I'd ask you to remember it for later. For now though,
I'll just say that Midnight was written by Cherith Baldry, who over the course of the first arc and
beyond showed that, in comparison to Kate Cary, she was quite good at writing plot driven stories,
but relied far less on dialogue and extra characters, which can lead to
a lack of characterization and development of relationships between the characters.
Let's see how that impacts the book's performance, first, as always, by looking into the allegiances.
There are, of course, plenty of differences from The Darkest Hour thanks to the timeskip
in between these books: Graystripe is deputy in place of Whitestorm and Cinderpelt has now taken
an apprentice, Leafpaw. Longtail has, offscreen, been made an elder early thanks to being blinded
by a rabbit, may his massive potential rest in peace, and Frostfur also joined the elders den,
presumably in her case because of old age. Goldenflower has moved back into
the nursery...for some reason. She doesn't have any kits but she apparently decided to
move back to the nursery before she became an elder. Sure. With Graystripe, Darkstripe,
Longtail, Frostfur, and Goldenflower out of the warriors den, there very well could have
been a dip in the main population of the clan. But in the time since The Darkest Hour began,
Thornclaw, Brightheart, Brambleclaw, Ashfur, Rainwhisker, and Sootfur have been made warriors,
meaning the overall total went up from 10 cats to 11. That number will increase quickly as well,
since Sorrelpaw, Rainwhisker and Sootfur's sister and Sandstorm's apprentice, was held back from
being a warrior along with her brothers for reasons that will be explained in the book, but
is now about ready to get her name. In addition to her, there are 5 new apprentices in the clan:
the aforementioned Leafpaw and her sister Squirrelpaw plus Spiderpaw, Shrewpaw,
and Whitepaw. Ferncloud appears to have moved straight into the nursery after getting her name,
and knowing her future that means that in her whole life, she never spent any time as a warrior,
and as I mentioned, Goldenflower joined her again, perhaps just for company. On the elders' side,
One-eye and Smallear have passed away, but with Longtail and Frostfur joining them there
are still four elders. And now to briefly go over some important bits of the other clans,
Blackstar has taken his place as leader with Russetfur as his deputy, Runningnose moved to the
elders' den leaving Littlecloud as Shadowclan's sole medicine cat, and Tawnypelt is now a warrior.
Deadfoot appears to have passed on in Windclan, and Tallstar chose Mudclaw as his replacement.
Additionally, Mudclaw has an apprentice, Crowpaw. In Riverclan, Mistyfoot is now the deputy, and
Mudfur has taken on someone named Mothwing to be his apprentice. Interesting that she already has
a full name, I wonder if that will be explained. Also Featherpaw and Stormpaw were made warriors,
Feathertail and Stormfur. As far as the statistics this book does quite well. The top ten characters
have only 76% of the lines, and even within those ten they are spread far more evenly than
in any first arc book. The cast in general is kept tighter, but all the characters that are included
are given significant attention. In even better news, while 43% of the characters are she-cats,
they have *46%* of the lines! Clearly having a central group cast where half
of them are she-cats and giving attention to additional she-cat characters like Mothwing
and Midnight is paying off. That's a pretty solid foundation. Let's see what Cherith does with it.
We begin with a prologue from within Starclan where Oakheart, Nightstar, Deadfoot, and Bluestar
choose Feathertail, Tawnypelt, Crowpaw, and Brambleclaw respectively to represent and save the
clans from whatever disaster they have foreseen. We then cut to Brambleclaw meeting Bluestar in a
dream. She relays him the prophecy and tells him to meet with three other cats and listen to what
midnight tells them. Sorrelpaw is made Sorreltail after being kept back due to being hit by a twoleg
monster and being injured for three moons, and Ferncloud has new kits, and since Dustpelt,
the father, wants to stay with them for a couple of days, he asks Brambleclaw to take care of
his apprentice, Squirrelpaw. Brambleclaw isn't thrilled with this news as he considers her to be
the biggest nuisance in Thunderclan, and in some regards he is correct. She quickly proves herself
to be quick-witted, talkative, and unafraid to challenge authority if she thinks they're being
stupid. Firestar comes to talk with Brambleclaw after the ceremony and asks if he misses his
sister Tawnypelt, which Brambleclaw does of course. Squirrelpaw sneaks away from her mentor
Dustpelt multiple times, often running into and getting into arguments with Brambleclaw while out,
but when Squirrelpaw is punished with tick duty, Brambleclaw offers to help her. Leafpaw meanwhile
thinks about the special magical connection she has to her sister Squirrelpaw, each always knowing
what the other is feeling. She then heads to the gathering where Tallstar begs Leopardstar to let
his clan drink from their stream. She agrees after consulting her clanmates below. Here we
are also presented with new characters Hawkfrost and Mothwing, the kits of a rogue who were raised
in Riverclan territory even though their mother left. Mothwing is also Riverclan's new medicine
cat apprentice, something Mistyfoot, Blackstar, and many others find worrying. And Hawkfrost is a
strong and scary warrior. Brambleclaw learns that Tawnypelt also received a Starclan dream with the
same prophecy, and they agree to meet at the new moon in Fourtrees and hope that the other two cats
will show up too. Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw do some more arguing and getting annoyed with each
other and then they meet Crowpaw, who attacked Brambleclaw for calling him a thief while he
was on their territory and gets told off for it. Then as promised, he goes to Fourtrees to meet
the other cats and finds that Squirrelpaw followed him. We are introduced to the group that will be
central to this arc as, in addition to Bramble and Squirrel, Tawnypelt, Feathertail, Stormfur,
and Crowpaw come to the clearing and wait. Nothing seems to happen though so they agree to meet again
at a later time, and this gives time for Starclan to send Brambleclaw a dream of salty water.
He talks to Ravenpaw about this who tells him about the sun-drowned place and soon our cats
sneak off on a journey to find it, only stopped by Crowpaw refusing to follow Brambleclaw and a three
chapter side-story of Firestar trying to keep Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw apart very blatantly,
thanks to a misinterpreted prophecy from Cinderpelt. Interestingly being kept apart is what
made Brambleclaw finally start seeking Squirrelpaw out, in comparison to before where he wanted
nothing to do with her. Leafpaw sees her sister and Brambleclaw off, gives them traveling herbs,
and promises to keep their secret. The six cats then travel a lot, spending time with Ravenpaw,
crossing thunderpaths, navigating through twolegplaces, getting stuck in fences, fighting
kittypets and escaping dogs. One after the other, they also each get their own salt water signs to
show they are going in the right direction. Oh, and Purdy. How could I forget Purdy,
the old, well meaning but possibly not all there tom cat who helps them get away from the dogs
and...ahem…*attempts* to guide them through his twolegplace. He's a charming fellow, at least,
even if he's less than helpful and quite irritating to our cast.
Leafpaw telepathically sends Squirrelpaw the cure for a rat bite Tawnypelt acquired thanks
to Purdy and they finally get the rest of the way to the sun-drowned place. Brambleclaw does drown
just a tad but then they get into a cave where they meet Midnight, a badger who can speak cat,
fox, and rabbit along with presumably her own language, and who communicates with
Starclan. She says they came here to hear that twolegs were destroying the forest,
and they had to journey to get that message so they could “become one,” and return to the clans
as a united force. They resolve to go back and make the clans leave the forest and we get an
epilogue where Leafpaw witnesses twoleg monsters invading the forest and tearing down the trees.
Heh...So, thoughts. Starclan is now, even
outside nine life ceremonies, a concrete place where dead cats live, communicate, and receive
prophecies to pass on to the living. Knowing that Starclan doesn't actually create the prophecies
but instead just decides what to do with them is a big step to depowering them as ancestors,
so as we move into later arcs and uses of these star-coated cats, just remember where it started.
I just find it interesting that in his very first appearance as deputy,
Graystripe had Brackenfur organize patrols in his place. This is the main job of a deputy,
Graystripe. What is it that you do? Brambleclaw's first impression of Hawkfrost
is that he doesn't like him, and thinks he seems dangerous...I do wish this insight would stick
around but just keep this in mind for later books. This book also introduces something completely new
to the series: multiple point of view characters! In addition to Brambleclaw, Leafpaw acts as a POV
for seven of the twenty-four chapters, along with the epilogue. Well, pieces of those seven chapters
anyway, since this book tried the style of using Leafpaw until they didn't need to anymore and then
switching to Brambleclaw's point of view with no warning in the middle of multiple chapters.
I'm glad that style doesn't stick around for long because it's quite confusing.
In the time Leafpaw does get though, other than giving us a camera into Thunderclan
and thinking about Squirrelpaw, she doesn't have much to do in this book,
and she doesn't feel, think, or do anything consistently enough to define her character beyond
“nice medicine cat who cares about her sister.” Well, with the exception of her opinions on
Mothwing. From the beginning she empathizes with her, comforts her, roots for her to be the best
medicine cat she can be, and calls her beautiful in her head at every opportunity. It's nothing
more than that yet. She is an apprentice, after all. But it's interesting to see. She also has
a mild friendship with Sorreltail, enjoying her company and seeking her out whenever she
needs a warrior beside her in duties. Of course, other than being more excitable than Leafpaw,
Sorreltail isn't all that intricate of a character either here, so she doesn't provide much.
Leafpaw may be lacking for now, but what about the real meat of the book:
the six traveling cats? Let's take a look at each, starting with the protagonist of the hour.
Brambleclaw is already very different from the Bramblepaw we knew in the first arc. For one,
where Bramblepaw was always the reserved straight-man who only stood up when he had
something important to say, Brambleclaw is pretty emotional with a strong temper and ambition,
even within the small group he is a part of on the way to the sun-drowned place. He did
end up getting that position, mostly by virtue of having the first salt water sign and nothing else,
but it was challenged by both apprentices on the journey. Considering he is both hoping to lead
this group and is the point of view from which we see this group, it would be nice if he grew close
to the other cats over the course of his journey. But Tawnypelt, Feathertail, and Stormfur are
all warriors he already knows and is moderately friendly with all the way through the book, and
Crowpaw and Squirrelpaw are both cats who stand up to him and who he finds annoying because of this,
something he mentions at every opportunity and never gets over. When problems do turn up with
Crowpaw or Squirrelpaw, he usually asks someone else to deal with it for him, and make them do
what he wants, since they won't listen to him. Not only is that not a great technique for leadership;
it's also not at all a good way to bond with the other main characters in your arc.
Squirrelpaw is an outspoken and feisty young she-cat who is eager to do anything she thinks she
can, whether or not she should, and doesn't care much about the scolding she receives, either from
her mentor Dustpelt or from Brambleclaw. However, there are things she cares deeply about and won't
hurt or ruin, such as the relationships she has with Leafpaw and later, to a lesser extent,
Tawnypelt and Feathertail. She doesn't appreciate when others try to fight for her,
as she likes to prove herself by speaking for herself. She's actually quite clever, just a bit
too energetic at times which can get her in tight situations as often as it can get her out of them.
Tawnypelt is a serious and assertive she-cat who doesn't put up with anyone else's nonsense
and is focused on getting the job done. She has a level head and comes up with plenty
of the group's ideas. That's about all we get from her though. She keeps the group grounded.
Our Riverclan cats are both fairly bland but Feathertail seems more emotional,
where her brother Stormfur is more stoic. They're both pretty generic good warriors and work as a
pair more often than not. However we do get to see a bit of their dynamic, in how Stormfur comforts
and protects his sister as a strong man while she gets to be more careless about her actions
and reach out to others on an emotional level. Stormfur also seems to *really* like Squirrelpaw,
and Feathertail seems to *really* like Crowpaw. Speaking of Crowpaw, he is a cat who clearly
and desperately wants to seem professional and in charge,
but he doesn't take well to anyone remotely trying to order him around or implying that
he is lesser than anyone else because he is an apprentice. He has a temper much like Brambleclaw,
but with a sharp-tongue that stays around even when he isn't outright angry. This leads him to
come in conflict with almost every cat in the group, especially Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw,
where the exception is Feathertail, who doesn't want conflict with anyone.
All of these cats have at least a couple good lines in this book and show off enough personality
that it's easy to imagine them interacting enough to grow close and become friends for life.
But that hasn't happened yet. They're just getting started on their real quest, after all, and it's
only the first book of the arc. Unfortunately, Midnight says at the end of the book that they
have become one, implying the end of character bonding and growth that simply hasn't happened.
If we ignored her line and took this as the beginning, it would be a perfectly good book.
But if this is all the bonding this group will share, it doesn't bode well for how they will
handle conflict they will clearly face in the future. But still, this book on it's own is all
right. It's not perfect, and there are ways you could improve it with different point of view
characters or removing Firestar's “keep Squirrel and Bramble apart” plot entirely, but it's not
bad. Still, The New Prophecy has a whole has five more books to go, so let's wait to give
judgment calls on the whole of this story until we see the next pieces, in our trip through time.