I was really upset at the prologue because they just went “oh yeah Curlfeather was super evil and planned everything, but, but Splashtail was having second thoughts and he didn’t wanna be evil 🥺”. Like just make them both evil instead of just making Curlfeather the evil one?!

Also what upsets me is that most of the villains totally have a point. Sol went “starclan hasn’t done shit and you don’t need to hang on their every word” and he was completely right. Now Curlfeather and Splashtail are saying “starclan has never done anything for us so we shouldn’t hang off their every word, we’re too dependant” and they are absolutely 100% right.

overall i think it’s ok! (for warriors). it’s definitely getting more interesting from a plot perspective but im personally less invested than i was the first few books and i think it mostly has to do with nightheart and sunbeam. i like them okay and i do think they’re cute together - and it’s really nice to see a healthy romance front and center in warriors (looking at you bramblestar).

one of my biggest things - which isn’t necessarily a criticism of the books but more a personal thing - is that nightheart has become a bit boring since his character arc. i think it was relatively well done and i liked seeing him grow up a bit and grow closer with his clan and family, but he’s just so … meh now. i really liked what a spunky little shit he was at first, it was very fun to read. i wish we got more protags that aren’t viewed by the authors as perfect golden boys that can do no wrong - but now he might as well be one.

they’re getting better at handling squirrelstar - i remember being pretty pissed about how they just completed changed her character at first after she became leader (which happens too much imo) but i think we’re starting to see a little bit of her old self shine through. i especially loved her whole thing with sunbeam when she wanted to see her family. i didn’t want to see bland perfect thunderclan leader #4 i wanted to see squirrelflight as a leader. so hopefully they’re sticking with that.

on that note - this is old news i think but im glad they picked ivypool as deputy. i’m definitely biased (i adore her) but i think she’s a really interesting character and id love to see her get more spotlight again. (it also fuels my delusions that if we get ivystar we’ll maybe get twigbranch as deputy - ill never forgive the authors for abandoning her and violetshine). anyway i think there’s also a lot of interesting stuff that can be done with ivypool as deputy/ leader especially with dovewing in shadowclan. i know they won’t make her deputy too but imagine ?!!!??

it’s been said many many times but holy shit there’s too many damn cats now - especially in thunderclan. like jesus christ i can’t keep track of them all - i miss when there were like 10ish background characters with their own personalities and dialogue instead of the occasional one liner from whoever the fuck this guy is and nothing from cats that used to be protags/plot relevant (looking at you twigbranch. alderheart.)

i still adore frostpaw and i love how confident in herself she’s become. honestly i want more of her. the nightheart and sunbeam (especially) chapters dragged a bit for me. she probably had the same amount of screen time (page time?) as she did in previous books but it felt like less this time to me.

there’s just. not a lot going on. which is saying something for me cause i could read an encyclopedia’s worth of just fun character dialogue and no action - but we’re not getting much of either. it just feels a lot less charming than earlier books/series. it might just be me growing up but i just read avos for the first time this year and i ate that shit up. it feels a lot of the time like they’re just padding this shit out to meet the page count. like if you only need four books to tell this arc’s story you know you can do that right ???

like fr what happened in this book actually plot wise - splashtail is leader now. frostpaw is in shadowclan. berryheart and fam are rogues and hurt and sunbeam is worried about them. frostpaw is slowly convincing people she’s not a liar. she and puddleshine see splashtail being shady. frostpaw saves windclan(???) and then they spy on river clan some more and watch him kill harelight. maybe i’m being silly but it just - that’s not like. a story. but at least something happened i guess, like it’s moving along. i miss the park.

some little things that they would never do that would make things a little better (to me):

- frostpaw and whistlepaw. enough said. would fix all my qualms forever.

- give splashtail a personality?? he just seems like a very generic villain too similar to the others we’ve gotten. just a tigerstar/hawkfrost rehash. give him something new !! at least make him more charming and manipulative, dont just lead with the whole fear/intimidation thing again. he just comes off as brash and a bit stupid which is fine but not that exciting

- more mothwing??? like they’re hinting that mothwing is connecting the dots between this situation and hawkfrost but i want more !! give her the chance to right things this time! i wanna see her beat that little shit up!!! a lot of people think she’s going to be riverclan’s new leader and i wouldn’t be mad about that - i do love her - but i also think icewing would be a fun fresh choice

- shadowsight and frostpaw friendship. i mean come on!!!!