As separated from the normal story-driven books as they are, the first field guide was

a joy to read in my case, so I'm happy to revisit the concept for this entry.

This one, however, may be a slight challenge to convey in the spoken word because of its

reliance on another, more visual medium.

Cats of the Clans came out on June 24th, 2008, two months after Outcast and Warrior's Return

and the same day as another, standalone manga that I will be covering in the next episode.

It was written by Victoria Holmes this time and, importantly, illustrated by Wayne McLoughlin.

McLoughlin was the main cover artist for four and a half Warriors arcs, more than a decade

of Warriors' history.

However, in 2015, he passed away, and many of his work on the covers has since been replaced

with rerelease covers primarily done by Owen Richardson.

I mention this because Cats of the Clans is built on its illustrations more than any other

non-manga book.

These were the first official renderings of several characters and are still widely known

and recognized as who the characters truly are to this day.

Considering I rarely show the covers of books within these episodes, it felt especially

important to show off some of this art now to give recognition to McLoughlin's well-loved

work.

That being said, this book is divided into different clans as Secrets of the Clans was,

and gives page-long descriptions of each cat it covers, along with showing a vibrant and

detailed illustration of that cat on the adjacent page.

For anyone who appreciates the visuals of the stories they read, this book may be far

more fun for you to look at yourself than to hear me talk about.

With that said, it begins with the framing device for the book.

Three Starclan kits meet Rock, that cat who Fallen Leaves met when he went down into the

tunnels before he died, and who told Jaypaw to go to the mountains.

The first kit is Mosskit, Bluestar's daughter and Mistyfoot and Stonefur's sister.

Wait a moment.

Sister?

While we didn't know their name before, Bluestar explicitly used he/him pronouns in

reference to her third kit who died on the way to Riverclan.

So yes, for anyone who was curious, the book that retconned Mosskit's gender was Cats

of the Clans of all things.

Anyway, the other two kits here are Adderkit, a Windclan tom who apparently died to a snake

which became his namesake, and Blossomkit, a Shadowclan kit who died in battle under

Brokenstar in an effort to become an early warrior.

Rock promises to tell the three kits the stories of many cats in the clans, but also those

outside the clans as he doesn't think much of the clans' general arrogance, believing

they are the center of the world.

Beginning with Thunderclan, and after mentioning that the hunter's crouch is a Thunderclan-specific

technique, Rock first tells us about Firestar.

The fiery tom is described as a champion who has long since moved past his kittypet roots.

Rock wishes for him to have a long life, but immediately laughs at the notion because he

already knows how each of Firestar's lives will be lost.

Moving on to Bluestar, with heavily emphasis on Mosskit's connection to her, Rock says

she was a great leader who paid a steep price to become leader instead of Thistleclaw and

acted as a mother figure to Firestar in their stead.

He's sure to emphasize the sacrifices she made at the beginning and end of her leadership

to explain her behavior in her last moons of life.

Graystripe meanwhile is described as every cat's friend, torn away from his friends

and clan when he left for Riverclan with his kits.

Rock is also rather complimentary of Millie and her unacknowledged achievements in getting

Graystripe back.

Sandstorm is a loyal mate and mother, but Rock points out that she should be remembered

as much more than that since it was Sandstorm who pushed Firestar into much of the heroics

he managed to accomplish, and she matched him pawstep for pawstep on their journey to

rescue Skyclan, even being the clan's medicine cat until they found their own and saving

Firestar's body when he was killed by the rats.

Yellowfang's life and connection to Blossomkit are summarized briefly and Rock mentions that

while she was stubborn and grumpy, she was the most loyal cat you could ever meet, brave

as well, and someone who blamed herself for Brokenstar's evil deeds.

Cinderpelt is explicitly called out as a cat who should have been a warrior, and whose

fate shocked even Starclan, implying that cats do, at large, have general overarching

destinies.

It is also called out that she doesn't have an especially strong connection with Starclan,

a confirmation of a theory based on her misinterpretation of the Fire and Tiger omen, and Rock implies

that her being told about her own death before being reincarnated as Sorreltail's kit was

actually a test to show she was deserving of her next life.

Rock doesn't necessarily know what Starclan was actually thinking but if that was the

real reason they told her…that's a little messed up guys.

Onto someone with an even worse relationship with her ancestors though, because Rock next

tells us about Leafpool, oh and also that Blossomkit wanted to be a medicine cat like

her.

Rock talks about her magical connection with Squirrelflight, her receiving the blood will

spill blood prophecy, and then immediately jumps into blaming her for her relationship

with Crowfeather that her ancestors could never have approved of…you know, except

when they came down on two different occasions and directly set them up together.

Rock doesn't mention that part for some reason.

Squirrelflight is lauded for her fiery spirit, sharp tongue, and strong morals, though Rock

also briefly implies that she has some sort of secret.

Rock then moves on to talking about her as a companion for Brambleclaw, or even Stormfur,

and then Ashfur, pointing out that he totally would have been loyal to the end and simply

didn't appreciate her strength enough for her to like him back.

This page also has a line famous to me, that Squirrelflight “needed someone to match

her fire, not contain it, and that cat was always going to be Brambleclaw.”

Famous because it's poetic nonsense that doesn't actually get at whether they are

matching wits playfully or arguing all the time.

Rock also says that she's been a great mother to our current protagonists and he hopes she

is rewarded for that devotion.

Ha…hahaha…okay we'll see about that one.

Brambleclaw's story is framed as that of a tragic but noble, loyal, and brave cat who

led the clans to safety and acted as the leader of the sun-drowned place journey, and yet

who also let Tigerstar train him in his dreams with Hawkfrost.

Rock asks if he is truly as goodhearted as he wants cats to believe, and says he already

knows the answer, but won't tell the kits.

Ashfur is up next, and to Rock it is a “shame” that he will always be spoken of in relation

to Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw when he is a strong and brave warrior that Rock himself

would want at his side.

Rock gives him a lot of credit as Lionpaw's mentor and defends him in comparison to Dustpelt,

who didn't particularly like Fireheart but who is a strong warrior now.

He also says more cats should listen to his side of the story.

Sure buddy.

Brightheart is also a cat Rock feels kinship with, as cats apparently shy away when they

see his face too, and he is completely blind.

Once upon a time he had thick fur and clear eyes but those days passed a long time ago.

We learn that Brightheart never goes down to the lake because she doesn't like seeing

her own reflection, and her first warrior name, Lostface, echoes in her mind when she

is alone.

Cloudtail alone saw the beauty and courage in her and never flinched away, which Rock

attributes to him also knowing what it's like to be different as a kittypet-born clan

cat.

And finally, onto our current protagonists.

Rock describes Lionpaw as a fierce and skilled warrior, Hollypaw as a tactician deeply rooted

in the warrior code, and Jaypaw as, I kid you not, the blind cat who can see in his

dreams, following this with the supposition that this means he couldn't be anything

but a medicine cat.

And that…is also very not cool Rock, not good.

You mentioned personality and honed skills for both other protagonists and for Jaypaw

all you could think of is his magic, his injury, and how those necessarily lead to his job.

Please consider revising.

It's at this point that I should probably acknowledge that if you've read all the

books up until now and remember the protagonists in them, this book will not give you much

if any new information.

The two things it will give are first, some random tidbits of information to fill in gaps

like the name, and I guess retconned gender, of Bluestar's third kit, and second, specifically

*Rock's* perspective on each of these cats.

This is not an objective guide on who the cats are at their hearts and what their stories

are.

What you are primarily learning from this book if you already know these characters,

and aside of course from the fantastic illustrated versions of each of them, is who Rock is and

what his opinions are on the modern clan cats.

Rock is an ancient and mysterious figure at this point in time, and random bits of lore

like his ability to see the future or his connection to Starclan in his ability to speak

with these three kits who explicitly “wandered a long way from” Starclan are interesting

in that we get to learn more about him.

Seeing as they've now brought up Rock's existence in three books: Dark River, Outcast,

and now Cats of the Clans, it will be interesting to see if he gets any greater prominence later

in the series.

With that in mind, I am going to speed up a little as we go into the other clans.

Just know that Rock always has an opinion on every clan and cat he talks about and they

are absolutely never objective judgments of character.

Shadowclan is known to be evil, and they nurture that reputation themselves, but with the least

prey-rich land they need to be willing to add whatever they can to their prey pile.

They're mighty, fierce hunters, proud, independent, and willing to follow their leaders into anything,

even less than savory endeavors.

Tigerstar is ruthless, dangerous, ambitious, strong, and brave.

Brokenstar, who Rock has to comfort Blossomkit at the name of, was doomed from birth but,

by Rock's testimony, killed Raggedstar as it was the only way to make his clanmates

respect him.

Rock also says he didn't know that Raggedstar was his father which…is not true.

That is not the case.

Even the previous field Guide, Secrets of the Clans, showed a scene with Raggedstar

handing Brokenkit to Lizardfang and immediately taking ownership of the kit as a father.

Brokenstar grew up entirely aware of who his father was, just not aware of who his mother

was.

Blackstar is described as the first step in a long journey away from the reputations made

by their previous leaders as he tries to make Shadowclan proud and confident as one of the

four clans at the lake.

Rock defends him and his clanmates to Mosskit, saying that they once again have the least

prey-rich territory, and that he shouldn't be punished for having pride in his clan.

Tawnypelt is apparently a noble cat trying to be loyal to Shadowclan without any darkness

of heart, Boulder was raised in Bloodclan, Runningnose and Littlecloud are medicine cats,

each with their own hard lives, and look we're onto Windclan.

Rock clarifies that Windclan is vulnerable due to the nature of their home, but that

is not the same as weak.

They are the closest to Starclan and perhaps their ancestors have saved or favored them

over the seasons.

The cats tend to be suspicious and closed off to anyone outside their home, but they

are exceptionally strong as a united force.

Onto the specific cats.

Tallstar apparently killed the adder that killed Adderkit, but otherwise his description

is exactly what we would have guessed: strong but preferring peace, open to relationships,

suspicious of Mudclaw right at the end leading to him making Onewhisker his deputy.

Onestar meanwhile has been purposefully closed off to us for a while, and Rock describes

him as a good cat who has been worn down and warped by power.

Where he previously would have advocated for his friends in Thunderclan, he now believes

he must be harsh for his clanmates to trust him after Mudclaw's coup attempt, so even

though he misses Firestar, he will not let up on the pressure and is often on the defensive,

even in his own clan.

Mudclaw was apparently made deputy because Tallstar wanted a contrast to his own leadership,

and Rock also mentions he had no idea what Hawkfrost was trying to do when they joined

together, both new-ish pieces of information.

Most of Crowfeather's page is stuff we already know but interesting is the way that Rock

talks about his relationship with Leafpool in comparison to the way he did on Leafpool's

page.

There, Rock framed it as a mistake on her part.

Here, he wonders if it was a punishment from Starclan.

Strange how the blame shifts from one party to another in the same relationship.

Rock also frames Nightcloud and Breezepaw in purely negative light, with the former

being deemed bad-tempered and possessive and the latter arrogant, volatile, and with little

care about cats' safety.