warriors: power of three

I enjoyed this book series but it felt a bit like it was lacking direction. However, this is because it was setting up the next series, which is a bit odd but it worked out good. I don't mean to say that this book series was bad, it certainly wasn't. Rather, we sit around for six books waiting for Jawfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf to come into their powers and fulfill their prophecy only to find out that Hollyleaf isn't a part of the prophecy and her brothers have no clue who is. While this was the main story line, it really served to set the next series up where they seek out the third cat and fulfill the prophecy. In the end this series focused on the second story line, which was the mystery of these three cats birth, the betrayal and secrets surrounding it, and, ultimately, Ashfur's insanity and murder. This was a good series. Not quite as solid as "The Prophecies Begin" but certainly far more solid then "The New Prophecy" (though, if we look at "The New Prophecy" as a part one and part two deal, I would have to place part two above this series). Usually, if a book or (movie) can't stand on its own and only serves to set up the next one it is a bit of a failure, but they did manage to avoid that problem by tying up Ashfur's story arc.

On a side note, this series was also a bit different in that it had no real villain. The first series focused on Tigerstar with the minor villains of Brokenstar, Darkstripe, and Scourge. The second series had Hawkfrost as the villain with a return of Tigerstar's spirit. This series had Sol, who was clearly a villain, but who never actually did anything beyond minor manipulation that kept backfiring. It also had Ashfur and Hollyleaf but neither were a true villain. Ashfur was consumed by his grief and went insane. Hollyleaf's entire world crumbled around her and she retaliated against the cat who tried to murder her and threatened to expose her secrets - secrets that to most cats would have been upsetting but not world ending. But to Hollyleaf they were. Neither cat was actually a villain, just two good people who made the worst possible choices, leaving death and destruction in their wake. This is not to say that Hollyleaf murdering Ashfur was okay - it certainly was not - or that Ashfur trying to murder Hollyleaf and her brothers was okay - again, certainly not. But both of these cats had their hopes, their dreams, their worlds destroyed and let their grief consume them to the point that murder was the only acceptable option. In both of these cases it was the fall of a hero - but the fall didn't lead to the birth of a villain, rather to the birth of a broken, desperate cat.

Warriors: Power of Three

1. The Sight
2. Dark River
3. Outcast
4. Eclipse
5. Long Shadows
6. Sunrise