Warriors: A Starless Clan #3: Shadow

(NO SPOILERS HERE BUT AFTER)Continues right after the end of Sky(Book 2) Just got this on release day! Can’t wait to read further, it’s great so far! Characters and plot are good. Also can’t wait to see what happens after the end of Sky, also came in excellent condition upon arrival!SPOILERS READ AT OWN RISK…To start, the book was AMAZING… I thoroughly enjoyed this better than Sky and River. The book starts out describing the tensions between Shadowclan and Riverclan, with Tigerstar looming over Riverclan. All the while, Frostpaw is unsure what to do, eventually becoming a warrior apprentice, believing Curlfeather’s visions weren’t all that they were meant to be. She trains well with her new mentor, Harelight, and becomes highly trained in her skills. However, as time goes on and tensions rise even higher, she suddenly experiences a vision showing what happened to the deputy(Reedwhisker). She is in another cat’s body and is shown the cat attacking Reedwhisker and killing him. He appears to know the cat and hesitantly fights back but they overpower him and leave him for dead on the river. This shocks Frostpaw and she confides in Splashtail. They come to a decision to seek help in Windlclan(through another medicine cat apprentice she knows who has experience with visions). She goes on her way there towards the end of the book and almost to the camp when she is attacked by an unknown cat(and is left injured on Windclan territory) and we don’t know what happens to her and that’s where her point of view ends. Meanwhile, Sunbeam and Nightheart grow closer while Berryheart constantly doubts them. Nightheart is set to pass three challenges, the first being to catch frogs for the whole clan(a lot..) and he eventually leads them down a hole and captures a ton of them and feeds the clan. This surprises Berryheart. Secondly, he had to steal something from the two leg house(he steals what appears to be half of a shirt after tug of war with a dog) and escapes back to Shadowclan. Berryheart isn’t impressed but Tigerstar praises him. He passes. During a gathering, Brameblestar even hints at stepping down from his leadership, growing tired after being in the dark forest and having so many doubts)Sky clan does not want Shadowclan in Riverclan even hinting at war, while Windlcan stays neutral. Bramblestar decides not to fight, and the gathering ends. Nightheart goes to talk to him later on after encountering a patrol and he says he will consider stepping down. After that, he is on his third and final task : to kill three rats, bring three different pieces of prey back, and steal and egg from a pidgeon’s nest. Surprisingly, he purposefully fails the task, knowing he has to go back to Thunderclan after it has grown so bad with leadership. This disappoints Sunbeam extremely, and Nightheart feels the same. After going back, he is not welcomed by everybody but finds sympathy in Sparkpelt and Finchlight, happy he has returned to them and realizing he belong there. Then, Sunbeam appears at the camp, wanting to talk to Nightheart. He is surprised at this immensely and they go to talk in the woods, and Sunebeam wants to join Thunderclan. Nightheart knows of the growing danger between the two clans, because of the impending occupation of Shadowclan in Riverclan( Squirreflight doesn’t like them being there and now since she is the assumed leader, she may make the decision of war, however she has to go to star clan first to get leadership approval). The book ends with Nightheart hopeful for his future but also wary of the growing storm between every clan and we don’t know who attacked Frostpaw, only that she is hurt on windclan territory… overall, I loved the book it was amazing and I hope you enjoyed it as well. This book is the best out of the three( in my opinion) and I can’t wait for Thunder to release. It had a lot of interesting twists and turns I never saw coming and I read the whole book on release day but I’m glad I did because it was AMAZING…Thanks for reading.

I have been reading these books since they started coming out, and one thing I have noticed is a lack of continuity and quality. There are numerous editing mistakes, and often cats are named incorrectly. I still remember when Smokepaw supposedly fell to his death, but then was alive as a warrior in the next book.Complaints aside, I continue to read these books, because they are wonderful. Deep tragedies befall these cats constantly, but they strengthen and resolve to thrive. I love these books. I know the team involved must be working very hard to produce them so quickly, and with so many interesting plot twists.If you have never read these books, I think you should. Even with the mistakes and errors, they remain incredibly well-written and exciting.I cannot wait for the next novel, and I look forward to learning what happened to Frostpaw after the cliffhanger this novel ended on!4/5 simply because of editing errors, but the content is easily 11/5.

I wasn't sure what the Erin's had intended to do with this arc in the first book but I was intrigued. The second book didn't answer any questions and, in my opinion, didn't go anywhere but the situation in Riverclan was still unexplored and something sort of new for the series so I was still interested.This book....this book....was not good. I wouldn't say the writing was bad...I even like the idea of the conflict staying within the clans and not bringing in outside cats or having some random enemy who wants to break everything up. However, its the third book in the arc and it still, didn't really go anywhere. In fact, I think it took 1 paw step forward and 3 paw steps back.I think the Erin's where trying to portray the doubts we all have about our place in the world, second guessing our decisions and making mistakes, life can be messy and confusing so I understand the idea behind having the main trio switch roles. I just think it could have been done better. I honestly don't feel like anyone learned anything and the constant second guessing and switching sides was just confusing and made me dizzy. I didn't even have time to understand the characters new roles before they switched back to what they were doing before.These books aren't long enough for this sort of plot design and not enough is being done to the overall plot to keep me invested. I liked the previous arc better...bring back the zombies.MacLeod Andrews is amazing as always and I will keep listening just for him.