warrior cats

not perfect, but it really is a good start to the series. books 5/6 have strong tension and put me on edge even as an adult, especially 5 which remains one of my favorite books overall. the emotional beats hit and it's not afraid to throw a lot at you. strong, unique characters. i'm not the biggest fan of firestar but it wouldn't be the same without him. i know the tone is different from the other arcs but it's still a must-read. i don't think any fan should skip tbh. also led to super editions i enjoy (bluestar's prophecy especially, also tallstar's and crookedstar's).

this is what made me quit as a kid. i got so mad back then and i got mad again rereading it over a decade later. what's even going on?? what are we supposed to take away from this??? it's the spottedleaf scenes in the new prophecy but 100x worse and constant and you keep wondering, why are we here? starclan is obviously in the wrong but jayfeather is repeatedly punished for being a voice of reason and this is never addressed. pretty much every conclusion was a disappointment. jayfeather pov sucked especially. just depressing. the writing suffers as well likely due to crunch. page-to-page inconsistencies, over reliance on stock phrases and if you were tired of the birth scenes by this point oh boy well here's many more. great. love it. every flaw in po3 is continued here and is greatly amplified. i remembered the majority of this series from my childhood but had 0 recollection of the later books of oots to the extent that i began to question if i'd quit before it ended. then every so often a familiar scene came up and i was like, oh, no, i did read this but it just sucked. as a hollyleaf fan you know exactly the moment 12 year old me decided i was done. saw it through but i did not make it out unscathed. ivypool and dovewing are fun however. their conflict was frustrating because it could've just been solved by communicating. i wish they'd pushed the spy thing further. still, they're highlights and i'm glad they're here. if i were to rank it on mapleshade appearances alone it would be a 5/5 and i would be sad i could not rank it any higher. love her.