This is of course my own biased opinion and you are free to disagree, but I do have reason

to say so.

The characters here all feel distinct and sympathetic to some degree, the relationships

between the cats feel real and intimate, and a lot of interesting drama, danger, and plot

progression takes place rather quickly, without the dragging filler that populates so much

of the rest of the arc.

Even the tribe manages to not be as bad, for the very short couple chapters where we see

them.

It still has its flaws, and perhaps being different from the other books in its arc

is itself a flaw, but it is still a great read.

Honestly, even if you ignore the rest of The New Prophecy, I would recommend reading this

book.

Dawn was released on December 27th of 2005, about five months after Moonrise came out.

This one was written by Kate Cary, something that is more evident when you look at the

quantity of dialogue as well as the slight shifting of relationships.

From reading Moonrise and Dawn back to back, we can get the sense that Kate and Cherith

have different views on certain characters' dynamics with each other, and some of these

differences are outright confirmed by author statements outside the books.

Most notably are Leafpaw and Mothwing having far less easy chemistry than before, Brambleclaw

and Stormfur not expressing their affections for Squirrelpaw nearly as much, Mothwing and

Hawkfrost seeming to be on better terms and Hawkfrost being slightly less aggressive,

and of course Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw no longer having their psychic connection power.

This is something that's difficult to tell from just a summary, so I figured I would

note it here ahead of time.

But now let's get into the specifics of what this book does do, starting with the

allegiance changes.

The only difference from Moonrise in Thunderclan is Dappletail being dead, leaving 3 elders

instead of 4.

In the other clans, a few warriors became queens, and a few more cats were pulled from

the ether to be warriors or even elders.

Otherwise, no major changes.

The tragedy pertinent for the clans right now is cats being kidnapped, not killed.

Over on the statistics side, we are continuing New Prophecy's trend of a significantly

lower top 10 percentage.

In Dawn, the top 10 characters have 72% of the lines, more than in the last book certainly

but still much less than one would get used to in the first arc.

In addition, since Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw each take a lion's share of those lines,

with Cinderpelt, Cody, Sorreltail, and Tawnypelt also in the mix, the she-cat's came out

really well this time.

It's still true that 46% of the characters are she-cats, but in this book they have 55%

of the lines, making this the first book in the series where the she-cats combined have

more lines than the toms.

And with that, it is time to dive into the plot.

It begins with a prologue where Firestar, Sandstorm, Graystripe, and Dustpelt all discuss

the recent disappearances, lumping Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw along in with them, and the

deaths as well, Dappletail and Dustpelt's kit, Larchkit.

They are planning to propose facing the twoleg threat together to the other clans at the

gathering, but before they can arrive, they see the monsters tearing down the great oaks

at Fourtrees.

Our traveling group then approaches the outskirts of Windclan territory, reminiscing about Feathertail

and Midnight before they begin to split up and go to their own clans.

Crowpaw is left in Windclan first, after Webfoot and Owlpaw let them know that Fourtrees has

been torn down.

Tawnypelt leaves next, promising as they all did to meet near Fourtrees the next morning,

hopefully with their leaders, to see the sign of the dying warrior.

Stormfur returns with Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw to camp so he can tell Graystripe about Feathertail.

We then cut to Leafpaw trapped in a twoleg cage along with a kittypet named Cody, who

knows Smudge and Princess and who helps Leafpaw learn more about their predicament.

Leafpaw soon comes across the other trapped clan cats along with a handful of rogues.

As it turns out, Thunderclan is no longer living in their camp, something they are able

to find out from Cinderpelt, who brings them to Sunningrocks, where they are hiding out.

The clan is upset with them at first, seeing how well fed they were on the journey.

Graystripe also gets...mad at Stormfur for *letting* Feathertail die… but when they

are able to explain themselves, Firestar and the clan understand.

The caged cats are then joined by Sasha, who was trying to find her kits, Mothwing and

Hawkfrost.

All the cats start trying to find a way to escape, but, at least for the moment, are

unsuccessful.

The next night at Fourtrees, the traveling cats, leaders, medicine cats, and also Mothwing

and Hawkfrost meet.

The traveling cats all admit they had poor receptions upon returning, with their clanmates,

even former friends treating them like strangers.

We find out that Hawkfrost has been made Riverclan's deputy in Mistyfoot's absence, Blackstar

and Tallstar want to leave the forest immediately, and Leopardstar is convinced her clan isn't

in any danger.

No sign appeared to them, so the clans break up.

Squirrelpaw gets a dream where Spottedleaf leads her to Leafpaw in the cage, something

she wasn't able to figure out herself because...I suppose Kate did not know about or remember

the psychic sisterly connection they are supposed to have.

Brambleclaw won't come with Squirrelpaw to save Leafpaw, but Sorreltail does.

They do find her, being put into a monster's belly, but are unable to save her and have

to flee.

With Graystripe, Thornclaw, Brambleclaw, and Rainwhisker behind them, they return and launch

a mass-rescue mission, saving all the trapped cats but getting Graystripe captured and taken

away in their place.

With heavy hearts, they return to tell Firestar and tell him his best friend is gone.

He is happy the rest of the cats escaped, but is clearly devastated to hear about Graystripe.

Still, he maintains the belief that his deputy will return, and does not appoint a new deputy.

And the mourning doesn't stop there, because before another moment passes, a second of

Dustpelt and Ferncloud's kits, Hollykit, is pronounced dead too, leaving Birchkit as

their only surviving kit.

Cody decides to stay and help, as she has some experience losing kits.

Sasha is invited into Riverclan, much to Firestar's worry, and allowed by Hawkfrost to stay as

long as she likes.

Shrewpaw was killed trying to chase a pheasant, the best prey the clan had seen in a moon,

and Thornclaw and Whitepaw are heartbroken.

Squirrelpaw remembers that the Riverclan warriors she saw were wading through rather than swimming

through the river, and realizes that the river must be dangerously low.

Riverclan isn't actually doing as perfectly as Leopardstar would have them believe.

After Squirrelpaw privately expresses her distrust of Hawkfrost, based not on his parentage

but on his behavior, Mothwing comes to Leafpaw and asks for help, because Mudfur is very

sick.

Cinderpelt comes too, but they are unable to help, and tell Mothwing to expect becoming

the only medicine cat soon.

The clans join together to help Shadowclan, whose camp is being destroyed by monsters.

Firestar loses a life, and several cats suffered injuries or close calls, but in the end everyone

came out all right.

Cody finally leaves after seeing how much every cat suffered from the battle and how

desperate their lives were.

She and Leafpaw say thanks and goodbye to each other and soon the clans decide to leave

together.

Mudfur is dying, and a few elders decide to stay behind with him to help him pass on peacefully,

something that quickly proves unnecessary when he dies before them.

The elders still decide to stay to mourn him and live out the remainders of their lives,

and just as they are leaving, Sasha appears to ask that Hawkfrost and Mothwing stay with

her.

However, both of them refuse and soon enough, the clans set out and leave the forest for

the last time.

They spend the night with Ravenpaw and Barley and give him the news of Graystripe so he

can send his friend on after them if he ever sees Graystripe again, and just as they are

leaving, they see a shooting star pointing them towards the mountains, the dying warrior

showing them the way to go.

With the traveler group leading them, the clans journey through an expedient version

of the first journey into the mountains.

Along the way, Smokepaw falls off a cliff and dies and Brackenfur saves Marshkit.

When they arrive at the tribe, Stoneteller welcomes them in, Leafpaw receives a dream

from Spottedleaf telling her that Starclan is still with them, Crowpaw becomes a warrior

and chooses the name Crowfeather in memory of Feathertail, and Stormfur decides to stay

with the tribe, and Brook.

With Silverstream, Feathertail, and Graystripe gone, he has no kin back in the clans and

never felt close to Riverclan.

He would rather stay in the mountains with the cat he has come to love and the spirit

of his sister.

The clans set off again, unsure of their destination, and rather quickly stumble upon a lake, where

Leafpaw feels they are home.

Aside from the first few chapters, this book has far less whiplash than Moonrise did, since

both point of view characters are in the same environment working on roughly the same problems.

Rather than swinging back and forth between two completely different stories, we see two

facets of the same story, bringing in different relevant characters in each point of view.

This ends up feeling like a far more seamless experience, and is one of the reasons that

this book is so much easier to read.

Speaking of those main characters though...

Squirrelpaw finally gets to have a point of view in this book, along with Leafpaw again.

Being able to see her thoughts and opinions makes it all the more clear just how clever,

compassionate, and driven she is, all without being taken seriously, particularly by the

two toms who claim to love her.

She is the one to take many of the big steps and put together the most important clues

in this book, and yet, aside from Leafpaw and sometimes Shrewpaw before he dies, every

cat treat her like a silly little child...and some of them treat her as a silly little child

that they are also in love with.

Actually, all of the traveling cats in this book are given great characterization and

chemistry with each other.

I'm sure when people look fondly back on the New Prophecy cast, it's these personalities

and relationships that they remember.

Tawnypelt is stern and sure of herself but insightful as well, Crowpaw is loyal but grumpy

and hides a fair bit of his pain, Stormfur is obsessed with duty and rarely steps off

the road expected of him, Brambleclaw is harsh but also caring of the cats he came to know

and protect, and Squirrelpaw is, as I mentioned, witty and brave.

They are all friends who care for each other and for Feathertail, their friend that passed,

and they come to each others' aid even when they disagree, and are easily the emotional

core that lets us see unity even when the clans are breaking apart, from each other

and from the group themselves.

The only real issue is with what came before: these cats are friends now, and great ones,

but we don't know how they got there.

They didn't earn this intimacy.

They just woke up in this book and boom, they're friends.

Additionally, the characterizations they were given in this book...aren't exactly consistent

across all of their stories, which is true for some more than others.

Leopardstar points out when trying to discredit the traveling cats' message that they are

all from Thunderclan.

Well this isn't true in Crowpaw's case but for every other cat on the journey, she

has a fair point.

The group could have and would have been much more impactful if all the cats were truly

bred to believe in their clan alone, and didn't already have connections outside, like Crowpaw.

Then when they came back united, it would show how any cat could choose to stand together.

Sasha shows herself to be a stubborn, sharp-tongued, independent, and fiercely loving she-cat.

She cares for her kits and wants a good life for them, free from the image of their father,

but also won't hesitate to stand up to other cats in the cages or even clan leaders across

the border who question her life or motives.

Brambleclaw finally discovers what Hawkfrost has known all along, that they are half-brothers

through Tigerstar.

He immediately and vehemently declares that it changes nothing, that he holds no loyalty

towards his new relative, and in fact that they are nothing alike.

Squirrelpaw agrees instantly that of course they aren't, and that he will always be

seen as a brave and loyal warrior because of his deeds.

This appears to be true, as well, since, after Graystripe's disappearance, many cats already

expect and want him to be deputy, and there isn't a single cat who seemed to think badly

of him because of his father or lumps him in with Hawkfrost.

Hawkfrost meanwhile is doing his best to simultaneously take as much power and order as many cats

around as he can while still staying in the clan's good graces by, for instance, giving

Mistyfoot her position when she comes back.

However he also shows on occasion his overt aggressiveness and tendency to go too far,

which has both Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw being suspicious of his intentions and future.