Well, what with the arrival of The First Battle (the third book in the Warriors: Dawn of the Clans arc, and something like the twenty-seventh Warriors book overall) I've been re-reading some of the books in the Warriors series. Not all of them, mind you, but some. And I decided that since there are plenty of pros and cons to this series, I might as well review it.
So here goes.
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Today, I'll be reviewing the first Warriors arc, often called the Original Series. Each arc has six books; the Original Series (or OS) contains Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, Forest of Secrets, Rising Storm, A Dangerous Path, and The Darkest Hour. The OS centers around the tale of Fireheart, a former kittypet (house cat) who runs away to join ThunderClan and quickly finds that the forest is more dangerous than it appears.
Good/Favorite Bits:
- The simplicity. Reading back over the OS, I'm realizing just how much simpler it is than the later arcs. The third and fourth arcs probably have about fifteen different subplots between them. The OS is by no means completely free of subplots, but it's remarkably focused on the one main plot. (Maybe a little too focused, but we'll talk about that later.)
- The simplicity of viewpoint characters. As the books go on, they gain more and more viewpoints. The second arc has, I think, 2-4 viewpoint characters, depending on the book, the third arc has 3 viewpoints, and the fourth arc has a grand total of 4 viewpoints. The first series, by contrast, has one viewpoint character and only one. But it also introduces characters who will be crucially important later, such as Fireheart, Bluestar, Yellowfang, Graystripe, and more.
- The worldbuilding. The cats have almost an entire vocabulary of their own. They have names for seasons (leafbare, newleaf, greenleaf, and leaf-fall), names for humans and automobiles (Twolegs and monsters, respectively), plus legends, traditions, and their own way of living.
- Realisticness. The later arcs--#2 & #3 in particular--tend to humanize the cats quite a bit. There's humanization here, but it's less intrusive; the cats act more realistically.
Bad/Least Favorite Bits:
- Infodumping. You might not catch it on the first read--I didn't--but it's almost as if the author feels she needs to insert a PREVIOUSLY, IN WARRIORS paragraph into each book so the readers aren't lost. Just in Forest of Secrets (book 3), I've been reminded at least once that Bluestar let Fireheart into the Clan even though he was kittypet (house cat), Cinderpaw broke her leg in an accident on the Thunderpath (an asphalt road frequented by cars), Yellowfang is Brokenstar's mother, Spottedleaf died, Graystripe is in an illicit relationship with Silverstream... on and on it goes. And I know all this already. It would be a lot better to weave such information into the dialogue and/or narrative.
- Clichés. The OS isn't the most cliché story I've ever read (that honor goes to My Little Pony: Equestria Girls), but it has its issues. Character archetypes, for one. Fireheart is the hero. Tigerclaw is the villain. Graystripe is the plucky sidekick. Bluestar is the doomed mentor. Spottedleaf is the equally doomed love interest. Sandstorm is the feisty other love interest whom the hero will become happily married to in the end. And all of this is pretty easy to tell from the first book alone. (Well, Sandstorm's role isn't crystal-clear until book two or book three, but still.)
- This is more of a personal thing, but I wouldn't mind a touch more moral ambiguity. Something that annoys me is that Tigerclaw is pretty much 100% EVIL, all the time. The only time he's not being EVIL is when he's pretending so that the Clan doesn't find out how EVIL he is. And of course, Fireheart is the only one who even suspects that Tigerclaw might be EVIL.
- Conversely, Fireheart is an almost perfect main character. All of his perceptions match perfectly with what's reality--which they shouldn't--and even though he occasionally he slips up, such slip-ups are almost always made as a result of too much kindness, disregarding tradition in the name of compassion, or something like that. Unless, of course, it's Tigerclaw trying to frame him or blame something on him because he's a former kittypet and Tigerclaw is a racist bigot. I mean, if he actually gave Fireheart a sporting chance before he turned against him, however would we be able to tell that Tigerclaw was EVIL?
#sarcasm
Conclusion:
The Original Series has its upsides, but it definitely has downsides too. I'll always be a bit nostalgic for the OS and its simplicity (not all character archetypes are bad, after all...), but overall, it's not my favorite Warriors arc. So I'm giving it three and a half stars:
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And that wraps up my review of the Original Series! Next time, we'll go in-depth on the second arc--Warriors: The New Prophecy. Don't miss it!
Bye, and thanks for reading!
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