[spoilers] Dawn of the Clans: thoughts so far?

[glimmer]

[wasn't sure if i should put this in the latest release board or not but since it's discussing all the currently released books i'll just stick it in The Books]

[spoilers for The Sun Trail -> A Forest Divided]

so i'm caught up on Dawn of the Clans now - i gotta admit when i first heard there was going to be another series i was pretty worried about the quality, but i wasn't disappointed. i love the tone of the books and the various individual dilemmas facing the characters (i feel like there's more of this than usual), plus it's really interesting to see how the clans are slowly being formed. i'm finding it pretty unpredictable in terms of the steps and turns being made which will end up shaping the clans as we known them today, so that's pretty fun.

as for individual characters, i really really love Gray Wing. protagonists don't really tend to stand out to me much, but i really like his character. he has good intentions but you can see the internal conflict he goes through concerning his decisions and his increasing self-awareness (a lot more than Clear Sky lol) also given all that's happened i feel really bad for him omg... please let him rest (also i really like what they did with his chest problem, idk it's just something different to usual and i found it pretty interesting)

Clear Sky... mmm i'm not sure how to feel about him right now - in Thunder Rising and The First Battle he was awful and came across as really manipulative, though he seems to be trying to better himself now i suppose. he still has ideas that are detrimental to the other cats as a whole, though he's definitely better than he was in the previous books. he's starting to admit that he can be wrong now (see: the blazing star prophecy and the end of A Forest Divided) so maybe he'll improve as a leader - at least i hope so for SkyClan's sake

i loved Bumble too - i found her fate in Thunder Rising really sad :( same with Turtle Tail, they had a cute relationship. Pebble Heart is also one of my favourites, as is Lightning Tail - i love him and Thunder. also another character i'm not sure how to feel about is Star Flower... i disliked her at first but in AFD she seems a lot more genuine than in TBS and now i don't know what to think lol. One Eye was a cool villain imo, i feel like he didn't go out with enough of a bang, but maybe we'll get some more stuff about him in Path of Stars considering how AFD ended.

favourite canon pairings so far for me are probably Jagged Peak & Holly, and Wind Runner & Gorse Fur.

overall, i've enjoyed this series a lot! i think one of the things i'm the most iffy on are the prophecies, which seem a little weak so far, though whether that's just to do with StarClan being so young i don't know. but i'm pretty excited to see what Path of Stars will contain (keep in mind that i haven't read The Ultimate Guide so whether that reveals anything i have no idea) and this series has gotten me interested in Warriors again. there is no escape.

what do you think of DoTC so far? who are your favourite characters? any predictions?

[Ivypool]

i concur that bumble was damned to a horrible fate and im so salty about that... like her death served no purpose other than to get cats salty at clear sky

speaking of clear sky i like his development [for warriors, it's pretty good] but i hate him as a character like. sure he might ''know better'' now and all but he still is the cause of multiple deaths and even killed a cat over a BUSH on his territory. how low can he go.

onto faves [which i cant put into words too well. oop.] well, hawk swoop is my absolute favorite. she's such a sweetie, and besides tryin to brush off what jagged peak did [more on him in a sec], she did nothing wrong. her death served nothing but to get her kids riled up. also, petal was amazing - she was an interesting character for the arc, and her death, also, imo, served pointless. it's not like it's even mentioned much at all in the next book, which makes me more bitter. turtle tail is pretty cool too, being a cat who isn't afraid to stand up and also is very energetic. was angry to see her die - what was the point??? other than for gray wing to get slate as a mate later on and for gray wing to lose someone close to him.

also, falling feather is pretty lovely. i love how she stood up against clear sky - that took guts!! again, was disappointed at the friendly fire w/ jackdaw's cry in the first battle. quick water is kind of cool for a background character - she may be old but she is aware of what she's doing. blossom is cute, but i don't have much thoughts on her yet. sparrow fur is fantastic and i love how she tries to help out as much as she can. lastly, fern is amazing in that she managed to outsmart her abusive boss, slash, and i hope she lives the next book.

i don't care too much about the tom characters, but river, cloud spots, and pebble heart seem alright. pebble heart is a small child, cloud spots is chill,  and  river is like. he is in his own league now he is too chill.

now, onto the cats i dislike. first of all, i despise jagged peak for how he thinks he can play the disability card to win his arguments [you should feel bad for me because im limp!!!] and honestly he became worse as the books go on. even with holly, it was only diminished a little, as he did a small thing in DotC no. 4. in DotC no. 5, heck, even gray wing knows that he's extremely arrogant. the worst part is, he's rewarded for barely doing anything/nearly getting himself killed like. way to go. if he wanted to do something he should ask because. if he keeps quiet then no duh will he not be able to prove himself. [there's skype convos ive had on this that i can add onto this later on too]

also, tom, one eye, and slash are all very nasty fellows. i guess their abusive natures makes them more close to reality, but still!!! tom was just a CREEP and i glad he died. one eye's cult shtick was interesting and found it unique, but he was manipulative garbage. slash is pretty generic rn, but lets see how that goes.

i find gray wing boring to be quite honest, and ditto wit hthunder. like they seem pretty generic [aside from gray wing's asthma - never expected that!] protagonists and frankly i would love to read through other POVs. wind is a jerkwad and i hate how she can get sometimes warlike. like... wind please chill. also, shattered ice and jackdaw's cry are complete douchenuggets. shattered ice in particular was all 'i can rebel against tall shadow because i dont agree with her policies' which is petty, and jackdaw's cry is always against gray wing just because he can, which is annoying. i don't know how people could find them 'cool', imo, but to each own.

i adore the arc's set up - it's unique in that it's unpredictable, like you said, but also because it tackles themes the other arcs did. dealing with asthma? was briefly touched upon in yellowfang's secret, but that's it. dealing with abuse? not done, as far as i know. well-intentioned extremists who think what they're doing is the best? as far as i know, hasn't been done yet. a lot of new issues come up in this arc, and they're tackled in very interesting ways. a good read, imo. one complaint; the pointless death. like, yeah, i know, that's the point, but i hate how so many good characters die, only for the boring background characters to live. how come leaf's still alive, yet rainswept flower's dead?

also, also, as for ships wise; i guess i only ship grayturtle as far as canon pairings go. non-canon wise, turtlebumble and hawkquick are reaaally good imo. dapplefalling can work too.

[ i will post more in later posts, but now this is becoming an essay OOPSIE DINGLE]

[glimmer]

i'm with you on the needless deaths. i loved Petal too, she was really cool and grew on me so much... her death was pretty pointless. imo it would've been better if she'd stayed alive. i love how Sparrow Fur stood up to One Eye despite his cruel personality and him almost killing her (I WAS SO AFRAID SHE WAS GONNA DIE GODS NO) and i love fern so far as well! i hope we get to see more of her.

i don't recall Jagged Peak playing the disability card though? he did ask several times whether he could help with keeping watch and things like that, but he was refused, so i don't really blame him for keeping quiet after that despite still wanting to contribute. i don't really get the Jagged Peak hate i see everywhere tbh, though you're right in that he can be pretty rude sometimes.

i HATE Tom with a burning passion, god. i'm so glad he died, even if it was One Eye who killed him. everything he said and did was awful - he essentially drove Bumble out of their home, stole the kits which led Turtle Tail to her death, met up with One Eye, (how did that even happen) jeez who knew a simple kittypet could mess things up so bad (also that poor household omg, losing all their cats to the outdoors and death) (ALSO WHY WASN'T TOM NEUTERED EXCUSE ME)

i'm neutral on Shattered Ice and Jackdaw's Cry i think. mostly because they just seem like the token aggressive cats. i did love Wind Runner though, i thought she was pretty cool with her sharp tongue. wasn't expecting her to split off and form her own group, but hey, i guess that was expected eventually. just didn't think it would happen like that.

i'm a little :/ about how much death there is in terms of she-cats - it seems to be on a much larger scale than the toms and a lot of it doesn't really serve much purpose. i suppose they're trying to show how brutal life was before the clans were properly formed, but i feel like they could go about it better.

turtlebumble is a++++ in terms of non-canon ships, and i also quite like thunder/lightning tail 0:

[Ariel]

I have to say that I've been enjoying this series quite a bit so far. I agree that there are some elements that haven't been previously covered until now, so it makes things a bit more interesting and fresh.

I don't really have that many favorite characters in this series. Then again, the series overall, I don't have that many favorite characters. I really like River and I wish we could see a bit more of him. I'm still trying to figure out Tall Shadow. She seems like she can be a good leader, but I think she's still trying to figure things out.

Yeah, I really liked Petal too. I was upset she died. I was hoping shy would be around to play an integral part in the clan, serving as a kind of deputy to Clear Sky. That's obviously not going to happen now. And shout out to Sparrow Fur. She's hard-headed and stubborn, but she stands up for what she believes in; I'd say that's pretty impressive.

I actually rather like Jagged Peak. I felt bad for him, not because of his injury, but because of how he was treated afterwards. He was disowned by the cat he most admired and looked-up to and kicked out of his home. Once he healed up as best he could he wanted to find a way to be useful and contribute to the group. but he was constantly denied and turned down. I mean, that's gotta make you feel bad, so I don't blame him for trying stuff on his own since no one else would give him a chance. I will admit that he has gotten a little rude, but hopefully he'll calm down a bit now that it seems he's finding his place in the clan.

Characters like Shattered Ice & Jackdaw's Cry are essentially playing the role of Devil's Advocate. Most of the time their just being pig-headed, but at times they do bring up some good valid points or criticisms,

Clear Sky... how I hate you. I cannot stand Clear Sky. I know he's supposed to be better now, but he really isn't that much better. He still thinks he knows best and it's next to impossible to get him to admit when he's wrong. Not to mention he still wants all of his cats to obey him with question. He's a jerk. Props to Falling Feather for standing her ground against him. I think what really annoys me the most is that everyone kept making excuses for him and giving chance after chance. He's horrid. Yeah, deep down he may have good intentions, but he's going about them in the worst possible way.

As for villains: Tom... eh. I was hoping he'd kind of turn himself around like it looked like he was, but there goes that. One-Eye was sort of interesting. I agree that he could have gone out with a bigger bang, but oh, well.

Ships! Canon-wise I like Clear Sky & Star Flower, those two are perfect for each other.
Non Canon, I love me some Thunder/Lightning Tail.

I'm really excited to see how this one is going to end. I'm also going to assume they'll revisit the early Clan days (besides Mothflight's SE).

[Lightning]

I love Dawn of the Clans and everything about it. It introduces at least two of my favorite characters, Turtle Tail and Lightning Tail, as well as may different points of view... I like having multiple viewpoints in one book besides the Main Group Cats. The fact that they're facing a threat from more than one cat is quite interesting, and it shows that not everything is peaceful. I mean, they had Clear Sky from the end of The Sun Trail to The First Battle, One Eye in The Blazing Star, and then we have Slash from the end of A Forest Divided and Path of Stars. And not only do they face threats from other characters, but they also face threats from themselves.. kinda like a man vs. self conflict, which is one of my personal favorites.

I actually don't hate Clear Sky, but I don't love him either. I really do think his character development is some of the best that the series has been able to come up with, and his loyalty to his cats is actually really heartwarming. He has learned from his mistakes and gotten so much better with the last two books, and I'm kinda hoping we see more of him in Moth Flight's Vision. He's not... really an antagonist, (or at least after The First Battle) but I'd say more of an anti-hero??? Not everyone's forgiven him, but I think things'll change come post-Path of Stars.

I also really like Wind Runner's kit, Moth Flight. I really hope her super edition delves even deeper into her character... just as long as she doesn't have powers. The entire arc had no powers at all, and it was such a relief.

Hail Turtle Tail. She is my Kitty Queen.

As for ships: I like Turtle Tail and Gray Wing, Thunder and Lightning Tail, and I'm a bit on the fence about Clear Sky and Star Flower. I also ship Quiet Rain and Shaded Moss, since I think Shaded Moss might be Clear Sky, Gray Wing, Jagged Peak, and Fluttering Bird's father. ouo

[Ivypool]

i don't recall Jagged Peak playing the disability card though? he did ask several times whether he could help with keeping watch and things like that, but he was refused, so i don't really blame him for keeping quiet after that despite still wanting to contribute. i don't really get the Jagged Peak hate i see everywhere tbh, though you're right in that he can be pretty rude sometimes.

i made this thread after TFB and it pretty much covers up my points from that point, even if worded awkwardly. granted he gets better in TBS but as said before, even the text recognizes him as a haughty jerk so im still =/ on him as a whole tbh. jerks in this arc arent my favorites typically [Petal is a rare exception].

[Lightning]

i don't recall Jagged Peak playing the disability card though? he did ask several times whether he could help with keeping watch and things like that, but he was refused, so i don't really blame him for keeping quiet after that despite still wanting to contribute. i don't really get the Jagged Peak hate i see everywhere tbh, though you're right in that he can be pretty rude sometimes.

i made this thread after TFB and it pretty much covers up my points from that point, even if worded awkwardly. granted he gets better in TBS but as said before, even the text recognizes him as a haughty jerk so im still =/ on him as a whole tbh. jerks in this arc arent my favorites typically [Petal is a rare exception].

It wasn't quite the disability card... but he did get really angry with Thunder and flat out told him his opinion was useless because he was a younger cat, (Thunder didn't want kits doing battle training) and took his frustration out on Thunder for no reason at all, other than Jagged Peak being mad that Clear Sky accepted Thunder so easily, but rejected him after he got injured.

[Flametail]

I've been enjoying this series a lot so far, and there were many things that I appreciated within them and some that I didn’t.

to start – i really like the way that the books are written and how so many of the characters are given enough development for them to seem well-formed. there were a lot of events happening that i didn’t expect, and i’m really enjoying how the clans are beginning to form.

about characters; one of my favorites in this series is Gray Wing. he seems to be trying his best to be as good of a leader and a clan member as he can, and i appreciate his sense of responsibility and what i consider to be a down-to-earth nature. also, i really like what the authors did with his trouble with breathing; i feel like that made him more of an interesting character.

some of the other characters i liked were Tall Shadow, Turtle Tail, and River Ripple. i wasn’t sure how to feel about Tall Shadow at first because of the (really unnecessary) conflict when the other cats were challenging her leadership, but i started to like her a lot more after the introduction of the future ShadowClan camp; one of my favorite scenes in the series is her reaction to venturing into the marshlands for the first time, i thought that was really sweet. Turtle Tail was a really enjoyable character from the beginning, and i felt that her death wasn’t necessary for the plot to continue. River Ripple seems like a really relaxed cat and i liked what they did with his character after he was introduced.
i’m kind of neutral about Jagged Peak, Shattered Ice and co., and Thunder. i’m kind of leaning more towards a positive attitude on Jagged Peak; it seems like his development was really affected by his injury and how he wanted to contribute to the clan(s) after, although i concede that he was unkind at several points during the arc. Shattered Ice and Jackdaw’s Cry seem to be prominent mainly because of their criticisms with the leadership, but they aren’t unlikeable characters – also, reading about how Shattered Ice was one of the first tunnelers in the clan in Tallstar’s Revenge was interesting, and i hope we get to learn more about that. i’m not sure how to feel about Thunder yet; i didn’t feel like he got a lot of development in the arc and i’m not really a fan of him as a leader yet.

also – i didn’t really like any of the villains that they introduced, although i thought that what they did was pretty interesting. i couldn’t stand Tom and i was almost glad when he died, although i really didn’t like One Eye and all of what he did either. i’m hoping that Slash won’t be such an unlikeable character (for a villain, i mean), but what he did to Fern doesn’t seem promising. an element of the plot that i really didn’t like was how many more of the she-cats than the toms were dying kind of unnecessarily, and how the authors kept having Gray Wing become romantically attached to them as well – he could have easily just slowly grown closer to Turtle Tail alone instead of like... four different she-cats, all of whom have died except for Slate.

the canon character pairings that i’m a fan of are Wind Runner & Gorse Fur and Jagged Peak & Holly – non-canon wise, i’m a fan of Turtle Tail & Bumble.

anyways, i’m really enjoying this series thus far, and i’m looking forward to reading more of it (especially Moth Flight’s super edition, that looks really promising).

[Bramblemask]

I'm really loving it so far! The plots are intriguing, the characters are... mostly good, I like how it's setting up the Clans and the things we already know.

Gray Wing's a bit of an idiot, but he's likable enough. GrayxTurtle was soooooo sweet. ;w; Seriously, the chapter that finally outright stated that they loved each other just had me squeeing.
Speaking of Turtle Tail, her ultimate fate had me in tears. ;; I scanned future chapters of the book to see what the general plot was and when I saw what happened to her, I just stared at the page in shocked silence with my mouth hanging open.

Thunder has become a very interesting character. I wasn't all that interested in him at first, but he actually is a nice character to read about. In fact, he's become one of my favorites, right up there with Turtle Tail.

Clear Sky... uuuuuuuuggghhh I cannot stand him mostly because of what a horrible father he is. I'm not mad at him for rejecting Thunder because I honestly get his reasoning. What I AM mad at him for is him lying about it to manipulate Thunder, and continuing to manipulate his son throughout the series. All he ever does is find new ways to hurt his son. He seems to finally be redeeming himself after TFB... until AFD. Okay, so Star Flower got Thunder to fall in love with her and manipulated him and his feelings to get what her dad wanted. She returns and Thunder is still completely in love with her. Clear Sky knows that she manipulated his son, USED his son's feelings to get what she wanted, and he knows that his son is still in love with her. He then proceeds to take her as his own mate, disregarding his son's feelings with the line, "What about Thunder? He's a young cat, he'll get over it." All redemption thrown out the window.

[Squirrelypaws]

I'm ridiculously far behind on DotC; I literally just read Thunder Rising and The First Battle this weekend.  Anyway, not having read beyond Book 3, I don't really feel I can make too in-depth a comment here yet. XD

I do want to say, though, that I am really enjoying the series so far! I love the whole idea of seeing _____ before it became ______; it makes a nice change from the Firestar Saga, where everything was already established. 

Honestly, none of the characters are really standing out to me as favorites so far... Don't get me wrong; I really like these cats a lot, but none of them really jump to mind when I think "favorite Warriors characters". I have a feeling that'll change once I get my paws on the rest of the series and do a few re-reading marathons, though. XD

[Lightning]

I'm ridiculously far behind on DotC; I literally just read Thunder Rising and The First Battle this weekend.  Anyway, not having read beyond Book 3, I don't really feel I can make too in-depth a comment here yet. XD

I do want to say, though, that I am really enjoying the series so far! I love the whole idea of seeing _____ before it became ______; it makes a nice change from the Firestar Saga, where everything was already established.

Honestly, none of the characters are really standing out to me as favorites so far... Don't get me wrong; I really like these cats a lot, but none of them really jump to mind when I think "favorite Warriors characters". I have a feeling that'll change once I get my paws on the rest of the series and do a few re-reading marathons, though. XD

I really hope you change your mind on this; Dawn of the Clans is full of so many lovely and well-developed characters. You might not see it with the first three books, but things really start to change after that third book- we see a whole new side to Clear Sky, more she-cats, more kits, drama, and just some really awesome side characters who do more than just stand around. I'm sure @Ivypool can agree with me and provide you with even more insight, if you're looking for reasons to continue reading.

Trust me, just keep with it. You'll especially enjoy Path of Stars, I believe. Kate really outdid herself with this final book in the arc and it's downright phenomenal, especially when compared to The Last Hope...which was more like The Last Fail....sorry, I just didn't think that last book lived up to the rest of the Omen of the Stars arc.

[Squirrelypaws]

@Lightning: Thanks for that. ^_^ I definitely plan to finish DotC; I'm absolutely itching to get my paws on the other half of the series. 

And it actually took me a while to cement my current favorite cats as favorites, so I think I'll definitely be expanding that list with some DotC cats once I do finish the series. 

[PinkheartII]

Dawn of the Clans is definitely one of my favorite arcs of all time. I was worried that it was going to be really stale and repetitive, but going back to a time before the clans were formed really allowed the Erin's to break free of the usual Warrior tropes.
Gray Wing is one of my favorite protagonists, I didn't think much of him at first, but he quickly stole my heart when he proved his badassery in TST. Sharing the journey and everything he went through after that was really something special.
Clear Sky, on the other hand... I despised him in the beginning. Even before he started descending into tyranny, I could tell he was going to be awful. I mean, he basically

(click to show/hide)

forced Bright Stream to make a journey she didn't want to, while she was pregnant.

That brought up all kinds of red flags for me. And then he

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killed Rain-Swept Flower, one of my favourites,

and the war was on.
But he slowly got better, and my hatred ebbed. After he

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saved Black Ear, and Gray Wing's conversation with him in his death scene,

I realized how much I love him. Jerk or not, he truly is one of the best developed characters in the entire series, and that is a beautiful thing, considering how the quality of the books has been slowly declining over the years.
Star Flower is the same story. Her rushed introduction and how she just pops up out of nowhere made her suspicious to me from the beginning. I hated her at first, but as she proved herself time and time again, I grew to like her. And honestly, I think

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Clear Sky and Star Flower really are perfect for each other.

I disagree about Petal, though. She grew on me too, and I was secretly wondering if her and Clear Sky were going to get together

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before she died.

But let's face it; she went

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several days without food or water while she was sick with a deadly illness, and when she was found and given food, she gave everything to the kits. It would have been very unrealistic to me if she had survived all of that. The plague already seemed kind of underwhelming and unrealistic when only two other cats died from it, and a total of five were infected. One of which was a pregnant she cat, and all three of her kits were born healthy despite their mother being infected with a disease several weeks before birth, and they were born too early. Really shatters suspension of disbelief, don't you think?

[amberstripe]

If I didn't have nostalgia goggles so deeply on my face regarding the first series of warriors, Dawn of the Clans would be my favorite. Part of my honestly feels like it's better than the first series. The only thing holding me back from saying it certainly is is that the first series has such an excellent narrative flow that I know I can't appreciate as well now that I've known every detail about it for ten years.

But Dawn of the Clans... where do I start. I love the characters, I love how many character arcs they managed to fit in, I love every single one of the founding leaders so much. Wind Runner's determination and choice to leave the moor group when that life wasn't working out for her was a great arc and I just love her personality from day one.
Tall Shadow's reaction to first visiting the marsh was so wonderful, too. And I love ShadowClan so much that how could I resist its first leader?
River Ripple's peaceful demeanor and casual way of forming a clan is one of my favorite things in the books. I thought it was so nice and fascinating to see how different each of the clans start out.
Thunder is honestly the founder I got the least attached to, but I still love his arc of growing up.. and how his relationship with Clear Sky stays complicated.
And Clear Sky... god. I'm always a sucker for terrible characters, I'd probably have loved him even if he didn't have a redemption arc. But the fact that he realizes he was wrong but still struggles to make the change he knows needs to happen happen is so realistic and interesting to read, I thought his slow change from a friend to foe, back to a friend was handled extremely well and made his point of view consistently the most interesting and enjoyable for me.
Speaking of Clear Sky, god do I love Star Flower. Something about her demeanor I just love, and I think she and Clear Sky are a great couple, with surprisingly decent development for warrriors romance.

Just. I absolutely loved Dawn of the Clans as a series, much more than I ever enjoyed TpoT or OotS, though I did enjoy those series as well. I feel like Dawn of the Clans returned to an enjoyable balance of realism and returned to the elements of Warriors that made people fall in love with it in the first place. I was very disappointed when I heard the sixth series would return to the modern clans, honestly. But I suppose at least this way Dawn of the Clans can stand alone as an excellent series, and I very much look forward to reading Moth Flight's Vision soon.

[Bright Mind]

I think Dawn of the Clan have been the best warriors series since the original. It has many well-developed characters, interesting conflicts and unpredictable plot, something that I have found lacking for the recent series.

As for characters, the one that stands out the most for me would be Clear Sky. First of, I have always love Skyclan, though it is normally for me to take a liking to its first leader. Though Clear Sky is a truly magnificent and flawed character. Characters who start out good and remains good have never been my favorite, yet characters who start out good , go down the slippery slope and crawl back up is really interesting to learn about- and that is exactly who Clear Sky is. It did not show but I think he dearly suffered for every decisions that he made.
And admit it or not, Clear Sky is the most important plot driven character and his actions, jerkass or not, are single-handedly shaped the warrior clans that we know today: He was the first to break out of the group and encourage each cats to find the way that they feel most comfortable ( though the intervention of Starclan later does made him doubt his own motivation), he set up line marker ( which seems like a jerk-move at the time, but now is seen as a way for Clans to distinguish themselves from other group of cats and live peacefully) , he is directly responsible for the first battle ( which I thought is the most brutal battle in Warriors history with the death counts completely of the roofs) which lead to the formation of Star Clan.

I wish we could have had more Clear Sky's POV when he fell down into the darkness but the journey for redemption is truly remarkable , well-written.Admittedly, he had crossed the line many times and was called out by every characters in the story. Remember the end of the first battle, while every cat present get greet and comfort by the Star clan warriors. Clear Sky is the only one got called off and criticized by Storm, and they remains to be very critical with him afterward. However, what struck me the most deeply have to the moment when the 3 brothers reunite with Quiet Rain, there is just no word to describe how beautiful that scene was and how it closely hit home. I actually cried at that scene. It showcase perfectly the characters of my 3 most favorite characters of the series: Clear Sky, Quiet Rain and Star Flower.

Quiet Rain... I have rarely seen such a true mother figure in fiction like her. From her comment to Gray Wing on the very first book:" I love you too much to make you stay "( as student who live far far away from my family... it hit home too much!), her journey through the mountains to meet her sons, her decision to disown Clear Sky and forgive him.Quiet rain is the clear figure of a mother caring, sacrificing, sternness, and forgiving.. truly beautiful.

Then there is Star Flower, if Quiet Rain is a model mother, then Star Flower is a admirable mate and daughter, and by herself she is a strong and independent she-cat. As much as she had betrayed  Thunder, she had never lied to him. And the scene where she beg for a chance to bury One eye is very respectable. It requires courage and selflessness to perform such an action. Her only mistake is that she is loyal to a fault. Back to a forest divided, she did an admirably job as a mate- not the one that go into battle that she so commonly, she was there for Clear Sky when he need her most, her wisdom and stubbornness help balanced out Clear Sky egocentric and made him to become a better character. She knew how hard it must be for Clear Sky  to face Quiet Rain with his guilt, so as a pregnant she-cat, she trekked across the forest, across thunder path to be with him. The scene where Star Flower persuade and accompany Clear Sky to see his mother left me speechless of how realistic everything plays out. 

By now it can be easily seen that my favorite shipping ( of all time) is Clear sky X Star Flower.In my most objective opinion, this is the most dynamic and well-developed romance in the series. The two need one another to be perfect. For Clear Sky, Star Flower is loving and caring but not a push-over like  Silver Stream, yet she is independent  but not prideful like Storm to the point of abandon Clear Sky. Star Flower is patient and assertive, exactly what Clear Sky need to complement his flaws.  For Star Flower, Clear Sky is the only cat that accepts her value, willing to give her a chance and he helps her bring out the most beautiful and overlook aspects of her characters.

Regarding other characters, they are impressively well-developed. In fact, this series have so many things that I want to talk about that it will take forever. Gray Wing... it hard for me to put it into words but I like him and annoy at him at the same time. Funny because he reminds me too much of myself, both in his situation and personality... so much that is a really an irony. Jagged's peak, I can understand where his anger comes from. For the leaders, I really like Tall Shadow. I have taken a liking to Petal too and I am really sad that she died.

The series has a lot of interesting conflict going on. Like many of you have mentioned, the cats do not only have to face the enemy from outside, there is also the enemy within/without. It a perfect mix of realism and fantasy. And the the morality is kept gray throughout with each most good cats have flaws and villain have redeemed features, so you have the reasons for cheering for both sides. And Erin brings back the " anyone can die" back into full force, OMG the body counts for this series is brutal, I think the first battle death count trump both the blood clan battle and the last hope battle. Needless deaths maybe, but that is how real life works, you died for the most stupid reasons.

All of these combine to make an unpredictable plots, that have been missing since the original series and I greatly appreciate it!I have ordered Path of Star and looking forward to get a hand on it in the final day of the year, go Clear Sky and save Star Flower!