Even though the previous books were by-and-large boring, drawn out stories with few to no meaningful

character interactions and developments, reading each of them at least gave an enjoyable sense

of flow.

There was a clear direction: finding the clan's new home before the forest was destroyed,

and each character had a role to play in that narrative.

But the pre-planned part of the arc is now over.

The clans have reached their new home, and story still needs to be told.

So here we will face the books with the most fluff, strange writing choices, and character

choices that can be baffling, maddening, or anger-inducing.

I am not looking forward to this...but let's do it anyway.

Starlight came out on April 4th, 2006, a little more than three months after Dawn.

After our only Kate Cary book in the arc, this one returns to form once more in being

written by Cherith Baldry.

One thing I've been remiss in pointing out directly is how much more Kate uses dialogue

in comparison to Cherith.

Over the first two arcs, their line counts remained relatively steady overall across

each book they wrote individually.

However, on average, Kate had 300 more lines of dialogue than Cherith did, and in works

where there are usually somewhere around 1500 lines, that is a very significant difference.

It is particularly apparent in The New Prophecy, where all five books that Cherith wrote had

around 1450 lines of dialogue, and Dawn, the one book Kate wrote, had *2129*.

No wonder there were so many more character interactions to enjoy.

It could also very well explain one reason why The New Prophecy as a whole...fails.

Having books with very little action-driven plots and much more basic traveling and moral

struggles requires deep character relationships and fun charm in the dialogue to be in any

way interesting, and with Cherith writing a majority of the books, this doesn't come

out.

This isn't to put all the blame on her; I'm sure the outlines themselves for these

books were a bear to work with, and the last minute switch to another six book arc had

to be difficult, but it is another interesting factor.

For Starlight specifically, though, I'll do a quick check in on allegiances and the

spread of the lines we do have.

First of all, I'd like to mention something that conspicuously didn't change: Graystripe

is still listed as Firestar's deputy despite being captured back in the forest.

Now, this could be a way of showing Firestar's feelings on the matter; as we will see, he

is quite unwilling to accept his friend is gone forever.

However, it could also be a matter of ease so that they didn't have to list Thunderclan

without a deputy in the Allegiances.

As for actual changes, Mousefur has, for some reason, been booted down to the bottom of

the warriors list after being the most senior warrior for the last couple books.

However, the number of warriors has stayed the same, at 12.

Shrewpaw died, leaving 4 apprentices instead of 5, Goldenflower joined the elders den,

and Frostfur and Speckletail were left behind at the lake, leaving Ferncloud as the only

queen and Longtail and Goldenflower as the only elders.

Over in the other clans, Crowfeather is a warrior and Mothwing is Riverclan's only

medicine cat since Mudfur died.

There are also three new cats listed in the “Outside the Clans” section that we have

never seen before: Smoky, Daisy, and Floss.

The top 10 characters in this book have 70% of the lines, a little less than in Dawn,

and the 45% of characters that are she-cats have 49% of the lines: once again, less than

Dawn, but still about even with the toms, in large part due to Leafpaw and Squirrelpaw

being central figures.

Now that that's out of the way, let's dive into the story.

The prologue shows some of our regular Starclan cats settling into their new skies above the

lake, and discussing the troubles the clans will face with Midnight, who apparently has

direct access to the warrior ancestors.

Additionally, they share a new prophecy: Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and

the lake will run red.

We then check back in with the clans, who are admiring their new home from a distance.

They decide to send a small group ahead to check the area and find places that might

work as territories and camps: the four remaining cats from the journey along with Mistyfoot

to represent Riverclan.

The clan leaders, with Mudclaw in place of Tallstar, take the lead in organizing their

stay near the horseplace.

There seems to be some tension over Mudclaw taking Tallstar's place so easily, but this

is quickly brushed past as it is time for Squirrelpaw to receive her new name: Squirrelflight.

Leafpaw watches as the group leaves, especially watching the mysterious and intriguing Crowfeather,

and then catches up with the other medicine cats who are worried about finding herbs and

a Moonstone in the new territory.

Mothwing, eager to find some way to contribute, swims to an island in the middle of the lake

and determines that it would be perfect for gatherings, but the other medicine cats don't

like the idea of forcing all the clans to swim on each full moon.

The travelers find territories and potential camps that would fit Riverclan and Shadowclan,

where they come across and run from two angry kittypets.

They then find a good Thunderclan territory, and camp by having Squirrelflight fall into

it, and then they come back to find the moors that look good for Windclan.

Crowfeather goes to check out a potential camp on his own, and the rest of the group

is fetched by Hawkfrost to come join the clans again.

Brambleclaw wonders about what Hawkfrost might be like, in relation to their father in particular,

and then is invited to share what the group found with the clans.

He then blows up at Squirrelflight for expressing the same suspicion over Hawkfrost, and Squirrelflight

gets upset.

Leafpaw knows she is upset; so I guess we are bringing the sister telepathy back for

a bit longer.

Mistyfoot and Hawkfrost have tension over who has authority in Riverclan, Mudclaw doesn't

like how much authority Firestar has in all the clans, and Birchkit is upset at having

to leave Toadkit Applekit and Marshkit.

Leafpaw takes this moment to be thankful that she and Mothwing can be friends.

Tallstar calls Firestar to his side, and Brambleclaw is invited to stay too.

There, he thanks Firestar for saving his clan, and Brambleclaw for bringing the clans to

the lake, following it up with a promise that Brambleclaw will make a good deputy.

For anyone counting, this is the second time that Firestar's deputy decision will be

influenced by a dying warrior telling him who to pick, and neither choice was a good

one.

Brambleclaw is caught with a wave of ambition, combined with insecurity over being Tigerstar's

son, which is stopped by Tallstar dying.

Brambleclaw and Firestar, and only the two of them, witness Tallstar declaring Onewhisker

the new deputy and soon to be leader of the clan, without the proper words.

Onewhisker panics at the news, and Firestar announces to the clans that Tallstar is dead

and Onewhisker is to be their new leader.

Mudclaw doesn't accept this and gets very angry, questioning the legitimacy of two Thunderclan

cats choosing Windclan's next leader.

Barkface intervenes in Onewhisker's favor and tells Mudclaw to back down, Onewhisker

makes Ashfoot his deputy in lew of Mudclaw, and, even after Brambleclaw's prodding,

Firestar refuses to appoint a deputy for Thunderclan in Graystripe's place.

Hawkfrost reports to Leopardstar that the island would make a great Riverclan camp,

something Leafpaw and Squirrelflight disapprove of given his previous grabs at Riverclan power,

and Leafpaw finds out that Mothwing accidentally gave tainted water to their weaker clanmates:

the kits and elders.

After saying goodbye, Thunderclan goes to their new territory and settles into the camp

in the stone hollow, and during their first night, Leafpaw receives the blood will spill

blood prophecy.

The water caused, in many cats across the clans, severe stomach aches, and they spend

a few chapters helping to cure it and also having border troubles already, with the too-aggressive

Shadowclan on one side and the internally-divided Windclan on the other.

One night, Brambleclaw is visited in his dreams by Tigerstar, and Hawkfrost who was also brought

into their dreams.

They greet and share a pleasant chat before waking up.

Other than Tigerstar mentioning that he doesn't hunt with Starclan, nothing of consequence

happens.

Spiderleg is made a warrior and Mousefur is made an elder.

After one very uneventful meeting, Brambleclaw is now excited to see his totally trustworthy

brother Hawkfrost again, and even his father.

On the way to the gathering, the clans meet some cats who live at the horseplace: Smoky

and his mates Floss and Daisy, along with their kits.

Hawkfrost encourages Brambleclaw to be deputy, calling it practically inevitable considering

he is the best choice, and Squirrelflight once again gets upset that he is getting close

to his suspicious ambitious half-brother.

The clans discuss borders, with Onewhisker showing perhaps a little too much gratitude

to Thunderclan for helping them with the stomach aches, and then two foxes try to attack them

and they decide to go home, and while talking to her, Leafpaw finds out that Mothwing doesn't

believe in Starclan, something Leafpaw is very distraught to hear.

In better news, Leafpaw has clearly noticed Sorreltail and Brackenfur's affection for

each other in a way that we as the audience certainly had not yet, and Spottedleaf visits

Leafpaw's dreams to vaguely lead her to the new Moonstone.

Sorreltail, great friend that she is, decides to come with Leafpaw as she runs off in an

unknown direction in the middle of the night.

Leafpaw is led up a trail to a particular pool of water, which she decides to sleep

in, and of course she is welcomed by Starclan at their new connection point, the Moon*pool*.

After more fluff, Leafpaw and Crowfeather have their first conversation, where they

discuss Feathertail's message to him that he should move on and he flat out denies her

and runs away.

The medicine cats go together to their first gathering at the Moonpool, Leafpaw takes a

moment to be upset about Mothwing not believing in Starclan, and then she is made a full medicine

cat, Leafpool, in honor of the Moonpool she found.

Back at camp Mistyfoot reports that she's found evidence of Hawkfrost and Mudclaw colluding,

and she believes they are working together to start a coup in Windclan before Onewhisker

can get his nine lives now that the Moonpool is available.

Firestar then sends patrols out to stop that.

Brambleclaw is one of the cats fighting to stop that, and he finds out that some unnamed

Shadowclan cats are on Mudclaw's side as well.

In the middle of the battle, two of the unnamed Shadowclan warriors fall into the Thunderclan

camp and die and Leafpool falls off the cliff, but gets to dangle for a minute while Crowfeather

considers whether or not to help her, on the assumption that saving her life is an instant

expression of romantic love and would force him to let go of Feathertail.

He does eventually choose to save her and confesses his intense feelings, but they don't

set up a true relationship since they aren't allowed to be mates.

While all that is happening, Brambleclaw is still locked in fearsome battle with Mudclaw,

and in the middle of it decides that his half-brother betrayed whatever trust they had, but immediately

forgives him when Hawkfrost also attacks Mudclaw and says that Mudclaw's claims to the attack

being Hawkfrost's idea are lies.

Then a tree falls, killing Mudclaw and giving them a route to the island for gatherings,

Hawkfrost apologizes for helping to lead a coup, and Onestar goes to get his nine lives.

Let's get the obvious out right away: This book mostly tells the story of the Windclan

power struggle after Tallstar dies and abruptly appoints Onewhisker as the next leader...or

at least, that is the thing most definable as a core plot point.

This arc has had point of view characters from a couple different clans and many different

cats at this point.

One of the richest characters in the main cast: Crowfeather, is a member of and now

the only main character in Windclan, along with having some pretty heavy emotional baggage

to get through from seeing Feathertail, the only cat he opened up to, die.

There is nothing at all stopping them from making him one of the points of view to see

his clan's story from.

But instead we revert back to a Midnight status-quo by making Brambleclaw and Leafpaw the point-of-view

characters, and Crowfeather only gets 70 lines across the whole book.

Leafpaw at least gets to discover the Moonpool, save some elders from a sickness Mothwing

accidentally induced, and develop...sort of relationship with Crowfeather.

But Brambleclaw has no need to be such a central figure in this book, which leads to very awkward

views of the true main conflict, and also the start of some side-conflicts that will

take up the bulk of the latter half of this arc, and which create the most problems for

the story.

So why wasn't Crowfeather a point of view character in this book?

Well, having multiple point of view characters was still relatively new for the series, and

to this point Stormfur in Moonrise was the only point of view we had from a non-Thunderclan

cat.

Even in his case, he was still viewing the traveling group in the mountains, and not

showing us what his clan was like back in the forest.

As we have come to learn in the past couple decades, Warriors as a series usually makes

the safe choices, even if they aren't the best ones.