Okay yeah I'm sorry but Splashtail's just Darktail again. It plays out almost identically. Violetshine's there for the final battle and everything. Cats are located in RiverClan despite controlling ShadowClan which leads to a huge blindspot? Check. Cat is holding prisoners in RiverClan which are used as negotiation tools? Check. He's way outnumbered to the point that you wonder why he even tries? Check.

I'm ready for next arc when he randomly appears in the finale to do nothing and double die suddenly.

I want to, in light of this, look at the one single thing that distinguishes Darktail from Splashtail because, where Darktail has daddy issues, Splashtail has the ghost of Curlfeather literally haunting him and making him slowly lose it.

In the prologue we see what Curlfeather's doing to punish Splashtail for killing her: she's been ruining his good dreams of bullying Harelight by showing up, half dead, and taunting him about how he will fail. Like Darktail. It's very effectively written. In the previous book, Splashtail is consistently depicted as calm and controlling which makes his extremely panicked behavior hear really interesting. Once he knows Curlfeather is coming his mind starts yelling to get it to stop because he's very terrified of her.

The most emblematic exchange between the two happens on page 5:

"'We might not have the strength yet,' Splashstar snarled back. 'But I'm smart' 'You think the other clans aren't?' 'I'll be smarter' The look of disdain in Curlfeather's eyes sent rage pusling beneath Splashstar's pelt. He wished this repulsive old warrior weren't already dead so that he could kill her with his own claws. 'You're no even smart enough to realize that your own clan doesn't like you,' she growled."

My main question about the prologue, and Splashtail's charater as a whole, is "why is he scared?" He recognizes here that he can't harm Curlfeather and she can't do the same. While she's physically horrific, being practically described as suspended in the state of her death, I don't think Splashtail's too put off by gore. Splashtail is scared of how Curlfeather points out his weakness. His biggest insecurity is over how invalid his leadership is, which is why he pushes the name Splashstar despite no other cat using it. Notably Curlfeather refuses to call him that earlier in the prologue, as well as Tigerstar in Wind and all of the protagonists through their povs. In fact, the only time he's casually referred to as Splashstar is in this part, from his perspective. It's a bit of self-validation.

So when Curlfeather undermines his ability by indirectly calling him an idiot and mocking him for believing he could be smarter than the other leaders, Splashtail really gets hurt. I don't think it's a coincidence that Harelight is killed for saying that Splashtail still has room to learn as leader. But Curlfeather can't be killed. She's a constant source of mockery towards Splashtail. He's forbidden everyone else from doing but Curlfeather's a perpetual reminder of all of his flaws and, just as crucially, what he doesn't have control over: the afterlife. Additionally, when Frostpaw attacks him he says that she's "done nothing but undermine" him.

Splashtail's also afraid of StarClan, clearly. I made up other reasons why he avoided his lives previously but I think it's obvious that he's afraid of their rejection. Not for the lack of lives, but for the unavoidable criticism.

That's the funny part of the analysis I did for Wind. There, I said Splashtail seemed like he was way to cold and calculating to be driven be ego but that's extremely untrue. Especially after Star. He's actually driven almost purely by his egotistical drive to prove that he is the most powerful cat so that Curlfeather and the rest of the dead will shut up. One thing I will stand by is that I don't think he wanted to properly invade the whole lake until that dream in the prologue. It really didn't seem in his interests until Curlfeather, who likely knew he wasn't capable enough to do it, coerced him. The first time he says he's going to be leader of all the clans it seems sudden, being preceded by three other statements of big strong things he's doing to show off how strong he is to Curlfeather. Notably, Curlfeather reacts as though he has never said this before. And to protect his ego he can't back down from it, which brings about his downfall.

Curlfeather haunts him outside of his dreams until the last moment. When he dies, Frostpaw notices him talking a concept of a person behind her, clearly meant to be Curlfeather's spirit. But what's interesting is what he says to her.

"His gaze seemed to be reaching for someone behind her, but no one was there. 'You'll be stuck in the Dark Forest.' His mew was growing slurred, weakening with every breath. 'I'll be in StarClan.'

Maybe it's just one last impossible promise for Curlfeather to mock. Maybe he's such a compulsive liar that even while dying he can't help it. But I really think this reads as sincere. Splashtail seems to genuinely think he was right in some weird way. He dies trying to defend his actions to Tigerstar et al and it's bizarre and kind of uncomfortable. I think Splashtail actually believed he was making RiverClan stronger. Unlike Darktail, his interests were more aligned with the group than the individual. Supporting that, when Curlfeather doubts his ability to conquer all the clans, he takes offense that she doubts RiverClan, not just him. Obviously his notion of what RiverClan is was deeply misguided, but he wasn't lying about wanting the clan to be strong. What's unsettling is his inability to recognize anything he did as wrong. Even threatening to kill actual babies. It's echoed with Curlfeather later on, but Splashtail's unrepentant death is one of the most important parts of his character, especially coupled with his bizarre and potentially sincere claim that he's going to StarClan.

Here me out on this one last thing: he kinda reminds me of Nightheart. Like early Nightheart. His anger and insecurity and desire to prove himself as someone worth respecting really echoes Nightheart's behavior in River and early Sky. I don't know if the parallel's intentional but it's worth discussing briefly. While Nightheart's never evil enough to want to invade anyone, the path from "this cat is making fun of me" to "I'm going to do something absurd so that they'll stop" is echoed. But, y'know, where Nightheart tries to catch squirrels in trees Splashtail KILLS PEOPLE. There's no real conclusive reason as to why this parallel exists, I have a few possible explanations and you should make more, but I think the key is in how they are different. Sure, Nightheart is good while Splashtail is bad, but I think what's more important is that Nightheart actively seeks out support while Splashtail doesn't. For clarity: I'm not saying that without Sunbeam Nightheart starts killing people, but I think Splashtail highlights how much worse he could have gotten had it not been for positive figure in his life like Sunbeam, Bayshine, and later Frostdawn, Sparkpelt, and Finchlight.

There's a whole lot more potential here for a million and one interpretations of why the two parallel each other so much. And, just for clarity. I like Nightheart. Like a lot. Like I'm certainly team "Nightheart #1" now. And I don't think he was ever gonna start murdering people. But there's something here!

Berryheart

Berryheart's not really present that much in Star, surprisingly. Despite being deputy, she dies to Owlnose shortly after ShadowClan is invaded. There is seemingly no replacement for her position until, hilariously enough, Owlnose is chosen by Icestar. There's really only two scenes to look at: her death and, much more significantly, her funeral.

Berryheart's death occurs because Splashtail learns she was plotting to take ShadowClan from under his nose. He orders her to kill Yarrowleaf, which she gets out of doing by instead being killed by Owlnose (with help from Lizardtail and Nightsky). The plan works out for Splashtail and Berryheart dies. Sunbeam had interfered and was almost killed, but Berryheart died saving her.

The first important thing about the scene is Berryheart's plan to double cross Splashtail. It'll be more important later but I want you to remember it. What's more emotionally charged is that Berryheart dies protecting Sunbeam.

As an action it's not that interesting. Berryheart, through everything, has always loved her family even if she finds their decisions revolting, so her dying to protect Sunbeam isn't that out of character. It's interesting because of what it represents to Sunbeam, now that she owes her life to a cat that's been ruining that same life for practically the entire arc. Sunbeam mourns her quite a bit but there's a lingering understanding that she wasn't a good cat in the background of it all, which brings us to the funeral scene.

Tigerstar chooses to seperate Berryheart's grave from the main burial cite, and not in a way seen for other cats like Mousefur, who was buried in a spot that she liked on the territory. The grave is hard for them to dig out.

Only two cats from outside of Berryheart's immediate family attended her funeral. There isn't a medicine cat there to do the proper part of it because, as far as everyone understands, Berryheart is not going to StarClan. It's an unspoken point during her funeral, but notably nobody ever says the word "StarClan" out loud, minus one time when Sunbeam mentions it in a different context.

The major theme that plagues all of the cat's speeches is regret. They regret that Berryheart turned out to be how she did. They blame Splashtail and Darktail to avoid the uncomfortable reality that it was at the end of the day on her own fault. Snowbird specifically brings up how she wishes Darktail never came, but she lived through it as well. Sparrowtail similarly wishes for "different circumstances" despite having lived through the same circumstances without becoming like her.

I love the scene of Berryheart's funeral because everyone, before Sunbeam speaks, is trying to avoid the elephant in the room. They isolate the good and hope that'll be enough but those good traits are so fundamentally tied to her bad ones that it becomes impossible to ignore that yes, Berryheart loved ShadowClan, but she was willing to possibly kill Tigerstar to insure that it stayed "pure." Maybe she was determined, but that led her to team up with Splashtail when anyone else would have not come within ten feet of him.

Sunbeam says that "remembering Berryheart will always be hard." She's obviously correct. It's difficult to imagine that someone who did sincerely love and care for Sunbeam was also willing to hurt her. She literally dies to protect her daughter, but fought so hard to get Sunbeam out of relationship that's only proven to be healthy and happy.

Looking back at the whole arc, what was Berryheart and why was she hear? As a plot device she helps push Sunbeam and Nightheart out of ShadowClan and gives a figurehead to the anti-change faction of ShadowClan. Given that A Starless Clan is focused so much on change, both in RiverClan finding a new leader, the clans adapting the code to their modern sensibilities, and Sunbeam literally switching clans, saying "change" is a through line for the arc is like saying Nightheart is the best: obvious. So Berryheart gets to represent why change is difficult as she directly complicates every conflict mentioned above. I think it's also interesting that they made a villain who is only evil on an ideological basis. Berryheart never kills anyone. Her biggest move is threatening to oust Tigerstar, which she is allowed to do by the code, and moving to RiverClan, which she is also allowed to do by the code. Honestly you could argue that she could maneuver her way into StarClan. Something something "Ashfur did it." But she does also witness Harelight's murder and react with glee to it. And that's on top of scheming, though unsuccessfully, to more illegally oust Tigerstar.

But those last two points happen way after we, as readers, know that Berryheart is evil. And it's kinda funny to say but yes she is evil because she's conservative. The clans need change and all of the changes being made are harmless. She hurts Sunbeam a lot by resisting her decision to move to ThunderClan. She hurts Spireclaw and Fringewhisker through similar means. She's a bad person because she believes bad things and it's important to say that those people exist. You don't have to kill people to be bad and do harm.

Berryheart's also interesting as a character in a series for children in the modern western cultural landscape. I'm an American and will be speaking from that perspective, but it's good to show in a book targeted at young ages that a character who opposes immigration and argues for purity is bad just for believing that. These are modern books that are indirectly addressing modern issues in a way that will probably make some children realize that people like Berryheart exist and that they are wrong to.

Warrior cats finally has a middle age conservative woman(tm) villain we've truly seen it all.

Frostdawn

I want to go through the Frostdawn spirit section chapter by chapter. It's the most effective part of the book and contains a lot of nuance worth looking at. For context, after Frostdawn kills Splashtail, she's on the verge of death for a good while (similarly to Shadowsight in Veil of Shadows). During that time we see a few chapters of her effectively wandering until she eventually wakes up.

Starting with chapter 15, Frostdawn runs in Curlfeather's roaming ghost who's not yet actually gone to the Dark Forest. Or she somehow came back just to haunt Splashtail? Admittedly it's confusing. But more importantly, Curlfeather actually defends herself to Frostdawn. But to contextualize that I want to first look at a smaller bit of dialogue:

"[Frostpaw] blinked at Curlfeather. 'Am I going to die?' Curlfeather eyed the RiverClan warriors uneasily, her pelt twitching along her spine.' Why isn't she answering me? Frostpaw's heart began to pound. 'Am I?' 'I hope not.' Curlfeather watched the RiverClan cats."

It's actually hard to tell exactly what Curfeather's thinking here. One interpretation is that she's recognizing the consequences of what she did. The warriors Curlfeather was looking at were discussing how RiverClan was leaderless and medicine cat-less all because of Reedwhisker's murder and, by extension, Splashtail's leadership, both of which were directly caused by Curlfeather. I don't think that's what's happening though that is a version of Curlfeather you can read. I think what she's actually worried about is RiverClan being weak. I don't at all think her mind is on Frostdawn right now. Her eyes stay on the RiverClan warriors the entire time, and she doesn't answer the question until she's asked twice. Curlfeather also later says that she's only there because Frostdawn wants her (keep that in mind by the way) so I think she's more interested in observing the state of RiverClan than whether or not Frostdawn should recover. Not to say she secretly hates Frostdawn or anything, that's obviously unture, but her care for a strong RiverClan is her number one priority and always will be.

As a matter of fact, that's why she killed Reedwhisker. She hated how weak Mistystar was and was worried he'd be more of the same. We don't actually know how true this is and, in fact, I think Curlfeather's made more interesting if there is no reason to believe that, but what actually matters is that Curlfeather wanted to be leader to revitalize RiverClan. That gets to the point that's really thematically interesting for A Starless Clan.

"'Killing Reedwhisker and tricking me into giving my clanmates false messages from StarClan was okay?' 'It was the only way to make sure that RiverClan had a leader who could make it strong!' 'Why did it have to be strong?' Frostpaw wailed. Her mother wasn't listening! 'It was fine as it was!' Curlfeather looked at her."

Frostdawn, multiple times, questions why Curlfeather was so desperate for strength, yet she never directly responds. To the very end she keeps wishing for a better, stronger RiverClan, but she can't say why. She said the other clans disrespected them, but never has that noticeably happened in canon, other than maybe when Mistystar isolated them. But I don't think she's insincere; there's really no reason for her to lie. She's not protecting her immortal soul, which is already Dark Forest bound, or trying to pull Frostdawn to her side, so I really do think she wanted a stronger RiverClan.

But why? A Starless Clan has been the best arc for deconstructing the purpose of the clans as it is central to literally every cat's character arc. We've been shown continually the collaborative abilities in the clans when there is need, both first in how they were able to pressure Tigerstar out of RiverClan and then when all four clans united to boot out Splashtail. It's a question that's raised about cats who switched clans. Berryheart worries that taking in other cats will make ShadowClan weaker and (more validly) thinks the same about cats being able to leave at their own will.

The story has a pretty clear moral about being able to rely on a community. Even though that community can change, trust in a group is very healthy. Frostdawn (later) will return because she feels supported not just by RiverClan but by outsiders like Nightheart and Sunbeam. Sunbeam feels perfectly at home in ThunderClan and was able to lean on Sparkpelt and Finchlight for support when Nightheart was away. Frostdawn's whole arc in Thunder revolved around being able to trust a group through finding the park cats.

So back to Curlfeather. We have a cat who's obsessed with getting power through deception and murder in order to make her community stronger. Not healthier. Stronger. And stronger specifically to intimidate those outside of RiverClan. She fails because the cat she relied on wasn't one she could trust and she had no community to support her. Isolating RiverClan ironically makes it weaker, as well as it becomes harder to rely on outside support if/when it's needed.

My favorite scene from this chapter though is the end. As a reminder, Curlfeather is only there because Frostdawn wanted her to be. The beginning of the chapter clarifies that, with Frostdawn leaning into her to feel the comfort of being with her mother. The reason that's crucial, however, has to do with Curlfeather vanishing to the Dark Forest at the end. Frostdawn does eventually get an apology out of Curlfeather, though not a satisfactory one. She apologizes for how Frostdawn was hurt and for enabling Splashtail. She does, even after that, defend killing Reedwhisker.

"She met Frostpaw's gaze with an earnestness that chilled Frostpaw to the bone. 'He needed to make way for a better RiverClan.'

Curlfeather proceeds to vanish, after which Frostdawn thinks "Curlfeather had gone away from here forever, back to the Dark Forest, without ever having acknowledged the harm she'd done."

Because Curlfeather was there due to Frostdawn's subconcious wishes, her leaving is likely due to those same wishes. Frostdawn seems to want to be done with Curlfeather and everything she's done. Earlier she seemed to believe that maybe Curlfeather would at least recognize her actions but the apology is a last straw. The end of the scene represents Frostdawn letting go of her past, which is an important part of her overall journey throughout this section.

Next is chapter 18. On top of another instance of the book referring to Dawn of the Clans which I haven't read (yet), we see visions of Emberstar (who?) and the creation of TigerClan and then Darktail's conquest and then Splashtail murdering Reedwhisker. Riverstar, who's introducing these visions to Frostdawn, tells her that these are times RiverClan has almost been lost. Frostdawn therefore assumes that they'll be okay this time.

What she's missing, as Riverstar implies, is that RiverClan didn't persevere on its own but instead because cats worked to save it. While I don't know Emberstar's deal, I certainly remember TigerClan being stopped by Scourge killing Tigerstar and cats like Mistystar and Leopardstar working to bring RiverClan back to a point where it was its own clan again. Darktail similarly lost RiverClan because others fought to save it. Like Mistystar. Again. Brief aside: Mistystar was really not weak at all, which isn't important to Curlfeather's character but I do want it on record that she's not spitting.

And so again Frostdawn is needed to help bring RiverClan back from near death. She's tired and has already done so much, but they need her help. The point here is to establish her exhaustion, because unlike those prior instances, she feels alone. She doesn't want to hold responsibility like that for another second, especially not to support cats who did absolutely nothing for her.

Skipping her time in StarClan with Jayclaw because even I can't pretend to care about Jayclaw. He's so relevant that my fingers autopiloted to "Jayfeather" when typing! I also don't really like the implications of Jayclaw telling her to just join StarClan. Like no I don't think her dad should encourage her to DIE. Seems weird.

Frostdawn starts to hear cats singing when Jayclaw is telling her to come with him. Again: weird. But his character here represents giving up and choosing StarClan. Internally I think she wants that. At first she resists going back into her body after Tree convinces her to try, but it only works when she hears the literal choir of cats. That group represents a promise to her. Just like the prior instances Riverstar showed, she isn't alone in saving RiverClan. They need her but they don't intend to use her. She's brought back in part by the love of all the cats she's known but also because of the community that she knows she can trust.

When talking to Curlfeather, Frostdawn repeats constantly that she misses the RiverClan she grew up in, when she could trust the cats around her. She thought it was lost because of everything, but that group of RiverClan cats (and a couple others) are there to invite Frostdawn to share that version of RiverClan with them.

That brings me to a quick last point: the name Frostdawn. What better suffix to give her than "dawn." It's a new day for RiverClan.

Redeeming RiverClan

After Splashtail, RiverClan's in a really weird spot, morally. As is mentioned, every single cat bar Icestar, Duskfur, Frostdawn, and Mothwing are basically implicated in helping the wannabe baby murderer get in power and, more importantly, stay there. So what do you do?

There's two perspectives to consider, the first of which is the outside leader pov. Basically what should Squirrel/Hare/Tiger/Leafstar do. The answer, despite everything that's been done to them, is absolutely nothing. I think Squirrelstar's right to not want any of the former RiverClan cats to join her clan given how recently they had been willing to blindly back up Splashtail, but in terms of actually trying to punish RiverClan? No that would only worsen things.

So what should Icestar do? Again part of me wants to see all of these cats who were ready and willing to kill and unwilling to even try rebellion see some punishment, but that doesn't actually help. She accepts the exile of the cats still loyal to Splashtail's dead body, but beyond that it's important that she doesn't do anything.

I actually think that's why Owlnose is deputy. It reminds me of Onestar's logic for appointing Harestar as his deputy immediately after the Dark Forest battle as it symbolizes Icestar's belief in her new clan by choosing a cat who was under Splashtail while also recognizing what he did that was right, given that Owlnose was the one to try and turn the clan on Splashtail at the end and then, in the battle, saves Troutkit and gets hurt doing so (it's honestly written like he died but he evidently didn't). The only issue with Owlnose is that he also killed Berryheart pretty mercilessly and was even ready to kill Sunbeam in that same fight which is a huge problem. In fairness Icestar has no clue about that but I actually like what it represents even if she does.

Nobody in RiverClan (minus the 4 mentioned earlier) are even close to innocent. But RiverClan can't exist as a clan of 4 cats so they have to figure out how to integrate the cats back into the clan in a way that prioritizes rebuilding the clans, not finding justice. So Owlnose being redeemed through his position represents that need. I like that they put a morally grey character in a position of power that he arguably doesn't deserve because of what he symbolizes. It was effective for Harestar and is still effective now.

Because the other obvious question in the background of all of this is why not Duskfur, even at least temporarily. Like until another clear candidate presents themselves or until the clan is in a safer position? Beyond her age I think it's because the cats in the clan need to know that Icestar trusts them.

Through Owlnose's redemption the rest of the clan gets redeemed as well. He deputy'd for their sins. Am I saying we should worship Owlnose? Yes. Yes I am.

The Epilogue

After the final RiverClan chapter, which includes both Frostdawn's naming ceremony and Icestar's leadership ceremony/return to RiverClan as leader, there's still one more, and it's much less of a grand conclusion. Honestly there's an argument that the second to last chapter is a more fitting in, but I really do like the four pages that follow it.

Two months after the events of the rest of the book, Sunbeam, Nightheart, Finchlight, and Sparkpelt are out hunting in the woods. Seemingly just for fun, not as part of a patrol. Nightheart thinks of the improvements in RiverClan and especially notes how happy Frostdawn is. Sunbeam is also pregnant, and they discuss the names for the kits. Sparkpelt suggests naming a kit after Firestar, but obviously Nightheart doesn't care for that. Sunbeam sort of wants to name one after Berryheart but recognizes the possible difficulties of that. She does mainly want it for Sparrowtail as well instead of for herself or her child. As an additional funny note: the last name to appear in the book is Finchlight. Cause she always wins.

There's really nothing of substance here. The plot's way past done and Nightheart and Sunbeam feel very secure in ThunderClan, but I still really like this short chapter. It's just really sweet! The point of the chapter, as a reader, is to reflect on Nightheart as he appears now in contrast to how he was at the beginning of the series. Here, he's willing to joke around and is having a really fun time with two cats who he previously had a mostly negative relationship with. As a matter of fact, this scene really reinforces that Sunbeam isn't just Nightheart's mate but instead fully a member of his family. She gets along with Sparkpelt and Finchlight very well, which is delightful to see.

Then there's the last paragraph, which is pretty much Nightheart thinking about how good his life is. "His clan was proud of him for who he was now, not for being born Firestar's kin. He was happy. At last he'd become the true warrior he'd always dreamed of being." I really love Nightheart as a character. Honestly I could write a whole thing about just him in this arc and it would be like WAY to lengthy, but I want to communicate how important it is that Nightheart is shown to be genuinely content with his life.

The reason I like Nightheart, oversimplified, is because he was a cat who was depicted very honestly as uncomfortable with what his life was. Especially as someone who doesn't particularly care for their irl name (sorry mom!) it's really easy to relate to his identity issues, especially the disconnect he feels between himself as he is and himself as others see him. I also like that Nightheart isn't even a little bit perfect. He makes a lot of really bad choices throughout the story and other cats are hurt by it, almost always unintentionally. That feels way more interesting than seeing another protagonist who needs to conquer some unknowable evil. Nightheart's main antagonist to beat is himself, and it's really well done.

So on top of the affirmations of his identity throughout the last paragraph, there's one short phrase that sticks out. Compared to the slightly longer sentences, the three words "he was happy" become really powerful. It's such a simple sentence but in the context of Nightheart's character, him being happy and being able to recognize and appreciate that happiness is so pleasant. It's a short three word ten letter sentence that demonstrates perfectly why it was important for Nightheart to change and overcome all of his issues. And, for anyone who may see themselves in him, it's a light at the end of the tunnel, showing that you will be happy, too.

A Starless Clan

I quite like this arc for a lot of reasons. I love how character driven it was, especially because there were, for the first time, zero characters that I can recall taking issue with the direction of, other than maybe some scenes with Squirrelflight in like Sky? She was sometimes weirdly mean to Nightheart which didn't make sense. But I still love Squirrelstar(!!) so really that's it. Maybe Cherryfall? Her being xenophobic was weird but that's what happens when you're a background character. She was nothing like how she (briefly) appeared in AVoS, though.

So my only two character issues are a background character who's just a plot device and some Squirrelflight scenes that were just a little weird. That's really good! On the flipside, here's a short list of returning character that were made better by this arc: Brambleclaw, Squirrelstar (as a whole), Mothwing, Alderheart, Sparkpelt, Shadowsight, Tigerstar and Lightleap. And that's not mentioning characters who stepped into the foreground successfully like Sunbeam, Nightheart, Berryheart and, y'know, all of RiverClan. I mean seriously how great of an idea was it to just choose one of the two less important clans which is chock full of characters that you can do anything with. Like Owlnose? Icestar? Harelight? Splashtail? Curlfeather? Duskfur? Completely nothing before. But now they're characters that can be whatever they need to be without worrying about contradicting nonexistent prior texts and it turned out great! While writing that sentence I came up with more names to add to that list really RiverClan was so fun to see!

There's also the protagonists! Easily the best trio in the series. No question. Alder/Twig/Violet was amazing but Night/Sun/Frost is a whole other tier of fun to read. There was never a point in the whole arc where I wanted to get through any chapters just to get to another Jayfeather chapter or another Twigbranch chapter or whatever because they were all interesting all the time. Frostdawn was actually the one who took the longest to grow on me, and she's still my least favorite but, spoilers, least favorite still ranks in the top ten because Sunbeam and Nightheart are both top three. Seriously such a good and diverse set of perspectives. And all three of them even grew throughout the books! Like Frostdawn at the end felt like a different character than before, and that's especially true for Nightheart. Sunbeam as well. Can't say how much I love these three.

And that's not the only trio because, in spite of my issues with Splashtail, the trio of antagonists we got were also really good. Curlfeather was handled in a really fascinating way with her dying in the first book but somehow, despite not appearing again until Star, she kept getting more complex and important. Berryheart is one of the best villains because of how normalized she was within her clan. Like sure she was this grand evil, but she was still popular in ShadowClan despite that, making her representative of a culture beyond herself. And then there's DarkSplashtail. But I already really went into Splashtail enough.

The other really good thing about ASC is its pacing. Every book felt like it mattered. I'm actually not ranking the books because I can't they feel too continuous to meaningfully say I like one over the other (except for Thunder). There was no low point. Sure it didn't have as dramatic of highs, but when the whole arc is staying relatively high the whole time, that's fine. This is the first series since The Prophecies Begin to actually justify being a six book arc. Unless DotC is good idk haven't read it (I own one now though). I'm glad I bought these physically because I will 100% be rereading them at some point. They're just good books.

Getting beyond that I'd also like to appreciate how it worked off The Broken Code and especially the change in the warrior code. Centering the conflicts of the series around change created a really clear thematic through line for readers to follow as Nightheart and Sunbeam changed clans and RiverClan changed leadership. The two core antagonists, Splashtail and Berryheart, represent different reactions to change, with Splashtail forcing it in a problematic way and Berryheart resisting it and hurting others. Icestar comes to represent the balance, helping RiverClan adjust to a new era while being willing to put the work in and, unlike Splashtail, wait. The steadiness she conducts herself wwith is best represented by her acceptance of Frostdawn's idea of meditation, which is a very important concept relating back to the idea of patience in contrast to Splashtail's fast and short go at power. Similarly, Nightheart and Sunbeam's movements between clans contrasts with Berryheart's resistance to clan switching as unhealthy because, in spite of how messy things seemed, both of them ended up happy without having to harm anyone. Berryheart was only hurt by her reaction.

With that being said, I'd say Warriors, A Starless Clan is pretty alright. Those sure were some warrior cats.

Ranking time!!!

Cat Rank w/ explanations (There's so many now that picking a top 10 hurts). Honestly 1-3 are interchangable, then 4-6 are as well then 7-10.

Nightheart - I just very personally connected with Nightheart. I think he's very flawed but I like how honestly his flaws were presented. He's a character I very sincerely grew to care about quite a lot because Nightheart makes me feel better, or something. He's not perfect but he's everything I needed him to be.

Squirrelstar - Consistently amazing. She didn't become worse as leader. As a matter of fact I actually liked her even more as leader than as deputy in this arc. What a fantastic character.

Sunbeam - She's so entertaining. Like Nightheart her issues just felt very real. Also the two of them are adorable I love it. I wouldn't really change anything about how she was written. All three of the top three cats are so close together in my mind and there are iterations of this list with each of them at number 1 but Nightheart is the correct pick.

Twigbranch - So good in AVoS. Still cool but largely MIA. She's just becoming another Lionblaze aka "memorable character who we throw out as patrol filler/when we need a ThunderClan cat to do something." I miss her being relavent.

Leafpool - It's Leafpool. She didn't really do anything this arc cause she was dead so uhhh yeah. Leafpool did nothing wrong.

Alderheart - Part of the reason he's this high is AVoS. The other part is because he's impossible to hate. I mean it's literally Alderheart! He doesn't do much this arc though.

Shadowsight - He was the best part of TBC by a mile and I liked him as a supporter to Frostdawn in this arc, too. It's very nice to see him living peacefully now. It's what he deserves.

Frostdawn- Another great character. She's extremely complelling later in the arc both as a character and as a part of the narrative. Especially once Thunder happens. She's unforgettable.

Tigerstar II - Too entertaining to pass up. You can tell the authors like writing him because he's just magnetic in every scene he appears in. He's also a sincerely compelling character in every modern arc. I love him!

Jayfeather - Admittedly recency bias is a little at work if Jayfeather's in 10th. But however great he was in OotS (and don't get me wrong he was great) he's been pretty uninteresting since, especially after AVoS. He's not bad or anything but is just bland now. But again: he was CRAZY good in OotS. His chapters carried that arc from being one of the worst to my favorite of the first four.

Honorable mentions (unordered): Leafstar, Bluestar, Dovewing, Sleekwhisker, Needletail, Mothwing

Arc Ranking:

A Starless Clan

A Vision of Shadows

Omen of the Stars

The Prophecies Begin

The Broken Code

Power of Three

The New Prophecy

I wanted to look back through every "ranking" I did for each arc and it's kinda funny. Like Squirrelstar goes from unranked in TNP to 7th to 1st which is wild to think about. I didn't actually like her much until OotS. I once said Sol was my third favorite cat. I really liked him I guess? There are no longer any arc 1 cats in my top 10, though Bluestar is always really close. The only three pre-AVoS characters up there are Squirrelstar, Leafpool, and Jayfeather. Tigerstar II technically but I only like him for what he does in and beyond AVoS. Recency bias is certainly factoring in, obviously, but I sincerely think the past 3 arcs have had generally stronger writing and especially stronger characters.

Conclusion

Unfortunately I was unable to answer the question on everyone's minds. That's right. What was Lightleap doing during that one weird scene in River?

I think you get the true ending if you find out tbh so I'll go back for it later. You probably fight Rock or something. Maybe Erin Hunter. IDK.

Honestly if you're reading literally any of these I respect that so hard. This was the longest post yet by over a thousand words, so if you actually read that wow I appreciate you so much. I assume most people skip through at least large parts and that's so fair. I wouldn't read the whole thing either. It is just surreal to think that I've written analysis for 42 whole Warriors books and each one has been read like at least once. My current total word count for every single post is 146,118 words.

Even weirder though is going into character tags for some smaller characters that I like, for example Puddleshine, and stumbling on my own posts. I now feel for anyone who ever expanded the post without knowing and got hit with a literal bomb. Especially on mobile. I'm so sorry. But if you wanna know why there's any typos that I'm sure happen, that's why. I'm not editing this. I write these in the tumblr drafts for Nightheart's sake if I mix up "since" and "sense" once you're going to have to forgive me.

Next book is The Elder's Quest, which was actually the newest book when I wrote the first one of these. There's two more after it now though. Can you believe I at one point thought I'd be caught up before Hidden Moon came out? And then surely by the time Chasing Shadows released! Now I'm hoping I can get to book 4 on time (which is far more reasonable).

I'm so close to being "done" (aka these being staggered by 6 month gaps). And after all this time, finally:

Tawnypelt is actually important.