Post by celestialsquared on Jan 4, 2013 1:29:03 GMT -6
A "clean" version. Since it is nigh impossible to criticize a book I never read, I just documented how I felt about it here.
While at one of my local library for the first time in months, I wandered over to one of my old haunts, the young adults section. Originally I was there just to skim over some pages of Twilight for the laughs(?), but alas, someone had already checked it out. A few rows over, I noticed my library had finally imported a copy of Crookedstar’s Promise and SkyClan’s Destiny from another branch and I thought “why not” and checked out both. I’ll be straight up and tell you I was not excited to dive into the cesspool that was SkyClan and I read Crookedstar’s story first.
Crookedstar’s Promise is a story documenting Crookedstar’s life from birth and how it was nearly ruined by a jealous, manipulative she-cat who tries to make him feel guilty about things he can’t control. Taking place in RiverClan, it’s the closest thing to a reboot of the series; we’ve got new characters and territory and we get to learn a little about RiverClan traditions as well. It reminds me very much of the first arc in this respect and makes me wonder why the Erins didn’t make a book focused in the other clans sooner. (Then again, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it, right???)
What did I like most about this book?
-The Characters
As a protagonist, I found Crookedstar very believable. He started out as an arrogant kit pushed up by his mother, into a modest warrior. In general, his actions “made sense” and he wasn’t a carbon copy of Firestar masquerading to be someone unique or a bratty kid made out to be profoundly wise/knowledgeable. He doesn’t angst as much as most characters in Warriors, which is a giant plus. The last thing I want to read about is yet another protagonist that complains and moans about how hard they’ve got it.
Hailstar is just as much of a go-getter as Crookedstar and is a good example of how a battle-prone cat can still make a good leader. The amount of battles he gets into surprised me, which I shouldn’t be surprised about since this is a book called WARRIORS. I suppose I got so used to Firestar’s peace campaign in the second and third arcs that I completely forgot these cats actually fight.
The antagonist, Mapleshade, was probably one of the most interesting Warriors villain yet. Most villains of this series are simply just power-hungry cats who also happened to be murderous jerks. Mapleshade, on the other hand, actually has a backstory that explains why she’s so intent on making Crookedstar suffer. She’s like a vengeful angry ghost that never quite came to terms with how sucky her lovelife was.
The extras were, well extras. They brought a lot of “lol clan life” moments that made the dull moments of the books amusing enough to keep me from skipping them.
-Less Unnecessary Drama
Nowadays, Warriors seems to be more about a group of cats trying to solve a set of riddles given to them by their dead ancestors. Every now and then clan rivalry comes up, but that is generally overshadowed by the protagonist constantly worrying over a cryptic message.
I am glad to say that there are zero prophecies mentioned in this book, but I’m pretty sure if ThunderClan hadn’t hogged them all, RiverClan would have received one as well. Granted, Crookedstar worries about his destiny a great deal and many characters in the book try to withhold information from him *coughBrambleberrycough*, but it wasn’t so annoying that I wanted to stop reading.
General Pet-peeves
-Too Many Extras
At the beginning, I found myself constantly feeling a need to flip to the allegiances. As a person who has been reading Warriors for six years, this may seem petty, but RiverClan has twenty or so characters at the beginning and the number only gets higher from there. I have no idea who these kitties are and Erin doesn’t always describe them. As a visual reader, this is a nightmare.
-The Names
This relates to the problem above. In the first arc of warriors, most of the characters had names that helped the reader get an idea of what these cat look like. But in this book, you have names like Shimmerpelt, Birdsong, and Petaldust. What?
Even names with legit prefixes like Ottersplash and Brambleberry are no help. I imagined Ottersplash to be a dark colored cat and I expected Brambleberry to be a tabby. Note my surprise when neither are what I described. At some point I just said “screw it, those are my headcanons, deal with THAT Hunter”.
-Conflicting Levels of Realism and Anthromorphism
Rainflower’s behavior is written all over this. When Crookedstar had become injured as a kit, Rainflower neglected him in favor of his brother, who was more likely to survive. While Rainflower did have moments that made me think “wow, that’s cold”, it’s important to note that Rainflower’s behavior is not uncommon for real cat mothers. Most mothers will outright abandon kits they thought wasn’t going to make it. I understand what the Erins were going for with this, but for someone who knows a little bit about cat behavior, it was pretty weak.
All and all, it was the best Warriors book I’ve read in a while. Better than the main storyline and pretty darn close to the first arc of the series. No filler, less mind numbing drama.
Now let’s see if I can get through SkyClan’s Destiny.
While at one of my local library for the first time in months, I wandered over to one of my old haunts, the young adults section. Originally I was there just to skim over some pages of Twilight for the laughs(?), but alas, someone had already checked it out. A few rows over, I noticed my library had finally imported a copy of Crookedstar’s Promise and SkyClan’s Destiny from another branch and I thought “why not” and checked out both. I’ll be straight up and tell you I was not excited to dive into the cesspool that was SkyClan and I read Crookedstar’s story first.
Crookedstar’s Promise is a story documenting Crookedstar’s life from birth and how it was nearly ruined by a jealous, manipulative she-cat who tries to make him feel guilty about things he can’t control. Taking place in RiverClan, it’s the closest thing to a reboot of the series; we’ve got new characters and territory and we get to learn a little about RiverClan traditions as well. It reminds me very much of the first arc in this respect and makes me wonder why the Erins didn’t make a book focused in the other clans sooner. (Then again, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it, right???)
What did I like most about this book?
-The Characters
As a protagonist, I found Crookedstar very believable. He started out as an arrogant kit pushed up by his mother, into a modest warrior. In general, his actions “made sense” and he wasn’t a carbon copy of Firestar masquerading to be someone unique or a bratty kid made out to be profoundly wise/knowledgeable. He doesn’t angst as much as most characters in Warriors, which is a giant plus. The last thing I want to read about is yet another protagonist that complains and moans about how hard they’ve got it.
Hailstar is just as much of a go-getter as Crookedstar and is a good example of how a battle-prone cat can still make a good leader. The amount of battles he gets into surprised me, which I shouldn’t be surprised about since this is a book called WARRIORS. I suppose I got so used to Firestar’s peace campaign in the second and third arcs that I completely forgot these cats actually fight.
The antagonist, Mapleshade, was probably one of the most interesting Warriors villain yet. Most villains of this series are simply just power-hungry cats who also happened to be murderous jerks. Mapleshade, on the other hand, actually has a backstory that explains why she’s so intent on making Crookedstar suffer. She’s like a vengeful angry ghost that never quite came to terms with how sucky her lovelife was.
The extras were, well extras. They brought a lot of “lol clan life” moments that made the dull moments of the books amusing enough to keep me from skipping them.
-Less Unnecessary Drama
Nowadays, Warriors seems to be more about a group of cats trying to solve a set of riddles given to them by their dead ancestors. Every now and then clan rivalry comes up, but that is generally overshadowed by the protagonist constantly worrying over a cryptic message.
I am glad to say that there are zero prophecies mentioned in this book, but I’m pretty sure if ThunderClan hadn’t hogged them all, RiverClan would have received one as well. Granted, Crookedstar worries about his destiny a great deal and many characters in the book try to withhold information from him *coughBrambleberrycough*, but it wasn’t so annoying that I wanted to stop reading.
General Pet-peeves
-Too Many Extras
At the beginning, I found myself constantly feeling a need to flip to the allegiances. As a person who has been reading Warriors for six years, this may seem petty, but RiverClan has twenty or so characters at the beginning and the number only gets higher from there. I have no idea who these kitties are and Erin doesn’t always describe them. As a visual reader, this is a nightmare.
-The Names
This relates to the problem above. In the first arc of warriors, most of the characters had names that helped the reader get an idea of what these cat look like. But in this book, you have names like Shimmerpelt, Birdsong, and Petaldust. What?
Even names with legit prefixes like Ottersplash and Brambleberry are no help. I imagined Ottersplash to be a dark colored cat and I expected Brambleberry to be a tabby. Note my surprise when neither are what I described. At some point I just said “screw it, those are my headcanons, deal with THAT Hunter”.
-Conflicting Levels of Realism and Anthromorphism
Rainflower’s behavior is written all over this. When Crookedstar had become injured as a kit, Rainflower neglected him in favor of his brother, who was more likely to survive. While Rainflower did have moments that made me think “wow, that’s cold”, it’s important to note that Rainflower’s behavior is not uncommon for real cat mothers. Most mothers will outright abandon kits they thought wasn’t going to make it. I understand what the Erins were going for with this, but for someone who knows a little bit about cat behavior, it was pretty weak.
All and all, it was the best Warriors book I’ve read in a while. Better than the main storyline and pretty darn close to the first arc of the series. No filler, less mind numbing drama.
Now let’s see if I can get through SkyClan’s Destiny.
