Saturday, 15 December 2018 05:29 pm
Book Review: Warriors: Into the Wild
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deckardcanineI think I first became aware of Erin Hunter's Warriors series when I looked on deviantART for fan art of The Warriors, the 1979 movie based on another novel. They are about as different as two things by that title could be. The 2003 first volume likewise has nothing to do with Into the Wild, the 2007 movie based on another novel.
House cat Rusty, bored of his cushy life, ventures into a nearby forest and discovers the feral feline ThunderClan (no connection with the ThunderCats). Desperate for recruits, they break from tradition and make him an apprentice, now called Firepaw. Not all clan members trust a "kittypet" to become a loyal, competent feral, but Firepaw has determination and learns quickly. While he does prefer this lifestyle, he and his new comrades are in for some rough times at the claws of a rival clan.
Yeah, they're not called "warriors" just for their hunting prowess. In fact, every clan member who isn't a "kit," an apprentice, a heavily pregnant or nursing "queen," a retired elder, the leader, or the medicine cat is a trained warrior, out to ensure that no intruders harm them or their limited food supply. Early on, the main danger to ThunderClan is territorial encroachment by RiverClan. Then an unusually brutal and dishonorable ShadowClan leader drives out WindClan (the only other local clan), gains hunting ground privileges from a scared RiverClan, and demands the same of ThunderClan. Most fights result in the losers running off injured, but some cats we learn to know and possibly love die, and even ThunderClan will allow deliberate killing of cats in sufficiently dire cases. Incidentally, Firepaw's main faltering in the warrior code arises from being either too merciful or, when truly provoked, too harsh.
Other cats of interest hail primarily from ThunderClan. Bluestar, the female leader, generally comes across as wise, fair, and compassionate; privately, she's prone to worry. Firepaw's closest friend is fellow apprentice Graypaw, who doesn't mind answering his many questions. Ravenpaw is also on good terms with them, but he does a lot of things that Firepaw has trouble understanding, no doubt in reaction to having witnessed the deputy's death near the beginning. New deputy Lionheart is impressive and likable, but next-in-line Tigerclaw intimidates the apprentices. Then there's grumpy grimalkin Yellowfang, who goes rogue from ShadowClan and, thanks to Firepaw, gets tentatively taken in by ThunderClan despite suspicions.
All the compound words for names reinforced my perception that Hunter was following on Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song. Unsurprisingly, these feral cats also tend to view humans as nuisances if not long-term threats but not a special kind of evil. The similarities between the two books, however, don't go much further than that. The villains of TS are supernatural abominations, whereas the good/bad statuses of W:ItW characters aren't always obvious. The latter book uses even less of a made-up vocabulary than Hunter's Moon, and the few coinages are so close to plain English that readers need no explanation (e.g., "the season of leaf-bare"). These cats don't bother with legends or poems, tho they occasionally express religious beliefs such as leaders getting nine lives and then joining StarClan above.
Indeed, my foremost complaint about W:ItW is that it's pretty prosaic. With so little culture, it's somehow harder to find the cats as cute as in TS. Hunter's very writing style seems to be missing something. Maybe this comes of writing for a younger audience. Maybe she gets better at it in later volumes.
Regardless, it grabbed me enough that I exceeded my personal reading quota each day. The ending feels a bit rushed compared with the earlier deliberate pace. It makes for a good stopping place, but there are several plot threads unfinished. I can't promise I'll read the whole series, but I expect to pick up Fire and Ice someday.
Now I'm trying Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire. The first Foundation didn't do much for me, but maybe I just wasn't ready way back then.
House cat Rusty, bored of his cushy life, ventures into a nearby forest and discovers the feral feline ThunderClan (no connection with the ThunderCats). Desperate for recruits, they break from tradition and make him an apprentice, now called Firepaw. Not all clan members trust a "kittypet" to become a loyal, competent feral, but Firepaw has determination and learns quickly. While he does prefer this lifestyle, he and his new comrades are in for some rough times at the claws of a rival clan.
Yeah, they're not called "warriors" just for their hunting prowess. In fact, every clan member who isn't a "kit," an apprentice, a heavily pregnant or nursing "queen," a retired elder, the leader, or the medicine cat is a trained warrior, out to ensure that no intruders harm them or their limited food supply. Early on, the main danger to ThunderClan is territorial encroachment by RiverClan. Then an unusually brutal and dishonorable ShadowClan leader drives out WindClan (the only other local clan), gains hunting ground privileges from a scared RiverClan, and demands the same of ThunderClan. Most fights result in the losers running off injured, but some cats we learn to know and possibly love die, and even ThunderClan will allow deliberate killing of cats in sufficiently dire cases. Incidentally, Firepaw's main faltering in the warrior code arises from being either too merciful or, when truly provoked, too harsh.
Other cats of interest hail primarily from ThunderClan. Bluestar, the female leader, generally comes across as wise, fair, and compassionate; privately, she's prone to worry. Firepaw's closest friend is fellow apprentice Graypaw, who doesn't mind answering his many questions. Ravenpaw is also on good terms with them, but he does a lot of things that Firepaw has trouble understanding, no doubt in reaction to having witnessed the deputy's death near the beginning. New deputy Lionheart is impressive and likable, but next-in-line Tigerclaw intimidates the apprentices. Then there's grumpy grimalkin Yellowfang, who goes rogue from ShadowClan and, thanks to Firepaw, gets tentatively taken in by ThunderClan despite suspicions.
All the compound words for names reinforced my perception that Hunter was following on Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song. Unsurprisingly, these feral cats also tend to view humans as nuisances if not long-term threats but not a special kind of evil. The similarities between the two books, however, don't go much further than that. The villains of TS are supernatural abominations, whereas the good/bad statuses of W:ItW characters aren't always obvious. The latter book uses even less of a made-up vocabulary than Hunter's Moon, and the few coinages are so close to plain English that readers need no explanation (e.g., "the season of leaf-bare"). These cats don't bother with legends or poems, tho they occasionally express religious beliefs such as leaders getting nine lives and then joining StarClan above.
Indeed, my foremost complaint about W:ItW is that it's pretty prosaic. With so little culture, it's somehow harder to find the cats as cute as in TS. Hunter's very writing style seems to be missing something. Maybe this comes of writing for a younger audience. Maybe she gets better at it in later volumes.
Regardless, it grabbed me enough that I exceeded my personal reading quota each day. The ending feels a bit rushed compared with the earlier deliberate pace. It makes for a good stopping place, but there are several plot threads unfinished. I can't promise I'll read the whole series, but I expect to pick up Fire and Ice someday.
Now I'm trying Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire. The first Foundation didn't do much for me, but maybe I just wasn't ready way back then.