Warriors
I first heard about this book series on PI due to the endless posts about it in the Friends and RP forums. The annoyance that so many people would post about this was tempered by the fact that I refuse to judge a series before I actually read it. (For example, Twilight, which I actually half-enjoyed. SHH.)
My pre-conceived notions were that so many kids read these books because they contained cats. Cats that talk.
Which is fine. I often consider myself as being at the borders of the 'furry fandom,' since I enjoy the artwork and the like. It's why I had some interest in the book in the first place, actually. That, and the fact that the author's name was Erin. I came to find, though, that the author's name is not actually Erin. But I will get into that in a little while. The point is that I ended up purchasing the first and second books. The first just to read it, and the second, just in case I liked the first.
The story behind this series is a lot like the story behind Pokemon. Cats get together and fight for no reason at all. To summarize the first book, 'Rusty,' a pet cat with a good life, longs for the forest. And, as luck would have it, the forest longs for him, too. ThunderClan, which is a clan of cats that sounds as if it has really bad gas issues, wants him in their ranks. This is despite the fact that it is unprecedented - in fact, it's never been done before - to accept a pet cat into the clan. Rather than do the logical thing and refer to these pet cats as pet cats, they are referred to as kittypets throughout the book, as if this is some sort of insult.
All cats are referred to by wholly unoriginal names. At first, I assumed and granted that this was intended for a younger audience... But then again, so were the first books in the Harry Potter series. The entire book has a feel of talking down to the audience it's meant to entertain, and when you get names like 'Bluestar' and 'Lionheart,' you wonder how many cats before them shared the same name. In the real world, there are ten people I could mention with the name Jennifer. However, in fiction, names should be memorable and unique, and perhaps provide the sense that no other character can have the same name. Unfortunately, the author decides to designate each cat with a name and a suffix, instead of a rank and a proper name. As a result, the main characters of the book are Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw. There are also other 'apprentices' named Dustpaw and Sandpaw. It was easy to confuse all these 'paw' names, and I became thoroughly irritated with constantly reading the word 'paw.'
On the subject of naming things, the cats refer to human things by simplified names, like 'Twolegplace' and 'Treecutplace.' At the same time, they call their second-in-command a 'Deputy' and have 'Ceremonies,' which I would think of as more human concepts than the word 'home' or 'house.' Food is referred to as 'Fresh-kill,' and the book spends a ridiculous amount of time describing said fresh kill. There is little plot to be had other than 'Firepaw is apparently a savior' and 'we have to hunt' and 'we have to fight other cats.'
There is no reason given for the infighting among the clans. Besides ThunderClan, there are three others - RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan. Obviously, ShadowClan are the bad guys, because shadows are BAD apparently. The book does get kudos for introducing one former Shadowclan warrior who is actually a good guy, but loses points for the fact that she only became good because she was driven out for having morals. Boo.
The author instantly hangs a lantern on the senseless fighting by having the main character ask why all the clans can't just get along. There is no real answer given. Obviously, there is plenty of prey for all the cats, because no one in ThunderClan ever goes hungry. And since the entire land is a friggin' forest, I have a hard time believing that the other areas are somehow less plentiful. And if they were as barren as people are led to believe, why could one clan just not leave and strike out on its own? Ah! But NO. There is a flimsy reason given - that StarClan watches over four clans, and that there must always be four clans!
...Totally neglecting to note the fact that there are other cats in the world. And since the existence of this StarClan - the gods of the cat culture - is not just legend, it would stand to reason that they would also oversee other clans elsewhere in the world.
In summary, none of these clans did anything to each other. They are just territorial bastards to enjoy fighting with each other. But the CODE. The code says you can't kill another cat. You can just fight them until they're ALMOST dead. One would think that because of all this fighting, the clans would just hate the hell out of each other forever and ever and would do their best to avoid meeting.
But no.
There is a meeting place. Not called a Meeting Place, or Hallowed Area or anything cool like that. It's called Four Trees. Because there are four trees, there must be four clans! AAAH. You see now. Let's hope those loggers in Treecutplace don't decide that one of the giant trees would serve a better purpose as a dinette set. Then ShadowClan might have to kill and eat WindClan. THERE ARE THREE TREES SO THREE CLANS HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO
At this meeting place, the cats all get along. There is no tension. There is no bickering or fighting. There is, however, a huge hole. A plothole. When they leave Four Trees, they all hate each other again, which makes sense, except for the fact that it doesn't.
To be fair, there seems to be some sort of overarching plot that isn't really covered in the first book. Of course, this keeps kids reading. However, it failed to catch my interest due to the fact that the entire plot of the book was fighting other cats.
The dialogue is also stilted and unrealistic, the descriptions of actions were all but lacking in the replies some cats would give. Many paragraphs consisted of the line "Okay," before the speaking cat would run off to do something else. In addition - and one of my pet peeves in writing - is that the author never used any form of the word 'say.' Instead, there was a different cat-like word for every single bit of dialogue:
"Hi," Firepaw purred.
"Hello," Graypaw meowed.
"What are we doing today?" Ravenpaw mewed.
"I HATE YOU ALL," Thunderclaw caterwauled.
Etc.
Then I realized the fact that the entire story seemed to be inconsistent. Not in canon - that was close to flawless. But each chapter seemed like it was written by someone else - some with more talent than others. As it turns out 'Erin Hunter' is an alias for four different authors, none of them with the name 'Erin.' Their reasoning? So all their books are shelved in the same place in the bookstores.
What.
Seriously. If I write a book, I want my name on it, dammit.
In summary, I know this is a children's book. Still, the faults with it are extensive enough so that I can't honestly see how it managed to get itself published. I feel as if the fact that it's on the shelves is only due to the fact that it's essentially pokemon... But with cats.
My pre-conceived notions were that so many kids read these books because they contained cats. Cats that talk.
Which is fine. I often consider myself as being at the borders of the 'furry fandom,' since I enjoy the artwork and the like. It's why I had some interest in the book in the first place, actually. That, and the fact that the author's name was Erin. I came to find, though, that the author's name is not actually Erin. But I will get into that in a little while. The point is that I ended up purchasing the first and second books. The first just to read it, and the second, just in case I liked the first.
The story behind this series is a lot like the story behind Pokemon. Cats get together and fight for no reason at all. To summarize the first book, 'Rusty,' a pet cat with a good life, longs for the forest. And, as luck would have it, the forest longs for him, too. ThunderClan, which is a clan of cats that sounds as if it has really bad gas issues, wants him in their ranks. This is despite the fact that it is unprecedented - in fact, it's never been done before - to accept a pet cat into the clan. Rather than do the logical thing and refer to these pet cats as pet cats, they are referred to as kittypets throughout the book, as if this is some sort of insult.
All cats are referred to by wholly unoriginal names. At first, I assumed and granted that this was intended for a younger audience... But then again, so were the first books in the Harry Potter series. The entire book has a feel of talking down to the audience it's meant to entertain, and when you get names like 'Bluestar' and 'Lionheart,' you wonder how many cats before them shared the same name. In the real world, there are ten people I could mention with the name Jennifer. However, in fiction, names should be memorable and unique, and perhaps provide the sense that no other character can have the same name. Unfortunately, the author decides to designate each cat with a name and a suffix, instead of a rank and a proper name. As a result, the main characters of the book are Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw. There are also other 'apprentices' named Dustpaw and Sandpaw. It was easy to confuse all these 'paw' names, and I became thoroughly irritated with constantly reading the word 'paw.'
On the subject of naming things, the cats refer to human things by simplified names, like 'Twolegplace' and 'Treecutplace.' At the same time, they call their second-in-command a 'Deputy' and have 'Ceremonies,' which I would think of as more human concepts than the word 'home' or 'house.' Food is referred to as 'Fresh-kill,' and the book spends a ridiculous amount of time describing said fresh kill. There is little plot to be had other than 'Firepaw is apparently a savior' and 'we have to hunt' and 'we have to fight other cats.'
There is no reason given for the infighting among the clans. Besides ThunderClan, there are three others - RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan. Obviously, ShadowClan are the bad guys, because shadows are BAD apparently. The book does get kudos for introducing one former Shadowclan warrior who is actually a good guy, but loses points for the fact that she only became good because she was driven out for having morals. Boo.
The author instantly hangs a lantern on the senseless fighting by having the main character ask why all the clans can't just get along. There is no real answer given. Obviously, there is plenty of prey for all the cats, because no one in ThunderClan ever goes hungry. And since the entire land is a friggin' forest, I have a hard time believing that the other areas are somehow less plentiful. And if they were as barren as people are led to believe, why could one clan just not leave and strike out on its own? Ah! But NO. There is a flimsy reason given - that StarClan watches over four clans, and that there must always be four clans!
...Totally neglecting to note the fact that there are other cats in the world. And since the existence of this StarClan - the gods of the cat culture - is not just legend, it would stand to reason that they would also oversee other clans elsewhere in the world.
In summary, none of these clans did anything to each other. They are just territorial bastards to enjoy fighting with each other. But the CODE. The code says you can't kill another cat. You can just fight them until they're ALMOST dead. One would think that because of all this fighting, the clans would just hate the hell out of each other forever and ever and would do their best to avoid meeting.
But no.
There is a meeting place. Not called a Meeting Place, or Hallowed Area or anything cool like that. It's called Four Trees. Because there are four trees, there must be four clans! AAAH. You see now. Let's hope those loggers in Treecutplace don't decide that one of the giant trees would serve a better purpose as a dinette set. Then ShadowClan might have to kill and eat WindClan. THERE ARE THREE TREES SO THREE CLANS HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO
At this meeting place, the cats all get along. There is no tension. There is no bickering or fighting. There is, however, a huge hole. A plothole. When they leave Four Trees, they all hate each other again, which makes sense, except for the fact that it doesn't.
To be fair, there seems to be some sort of overarching plot that isn't really covered in the first book. Of course, this keeps kids reading. However, it failed to catch my interest due to the fact that the entire plot of the book was fighting other cats.
The dialogue is also stilted and unrealistic, the descriptions of actions were all but lacking in the replies some cats would give. Many paragraphs consisted of the line "Okay," before the speaking cat would run off to do something else. In addition - and one of my pet peeves in writing - is that the author never used any form of the word 'say.' Instead, there was a different cat-like word for every single bit of dialogue:
"Hi," Firepaw purred.
"Hello," Graypaw meowed.
"What are we doing today?" Ravenpaw mewed.
"I HATE YOU ALL," Thunderclaw caterwauled.
Etc.
Then I realized the fact that the entire story seemed to be inconsistent. Not in canon - that was close to flawless. But each chapter seemed like it was written by someone else - some with more talent than others. As it turns out 'Erin Hunter' is an alias for four different authors, none of them with the name 'Erin.' Their reasoning? So all their books are shelved in the same place in the bookstores.
What.
Seriously. If I write a book, I want my name on it, dammit.
In summary, I know this is a children's book. Still, the faults with it are extensive enough so that I can't honestly see how it managed to get itself published. I feel as if the fact that it's on the shelves is only due to the fact that it's essentially pokemon... But with cats.