Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Series / Book Review: Warriors by Erin Hunter


Warriors by Erin Hunter leads you through that you have never seen through before, through the eyes of a wild cat, or Clan cats. These wild cats live in 4 different Clans, and they not only are allies, but rivals also. ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan are all different in their many ways, personality, terrain of their territory, prey, and sometimes, appearance. Their biggest similarity is that they all join under StarClan, their warrior ancestors. After a cat dies, they walk the sky paths of StarClan, and they look down on the living cats, and advise them however they can.
In every Clan, there are 9 different ranks. The first is kits, or kittens. Every Clan cat has two parts to their name, each name is made of two different words, the first part is the part that usually stays with them forever. The second part changes according to your rank, For kits, their name would be [blank]kit (EX.Ripplekit)Then, when they are six moons old, or six months, they are each assigned a mentor, usually a senior warrior, a deputy, or rarely, a leader. At this time, the cat's name would be [blank]paw. (EX. Ripplepaw) The mentors teach every apprentice the way of the Clans, their territory, hunting skills, fighting skills, and of course, the warrior code, a set of rules that each Clan cat must go by, or face the consequences. The next rank is warrior, when an apprentice is about 12 moons old, or when the leader see fit, they become warriors. Then, their name would be totally unique, being [blankblank]. (EX. Ripplepelt) Sometimes, when a cat becomes apprentice, they choose to be a medicine cat apprentice, still following the warrior naming system, but they assist the medicine cat, and learn the different uses of each herb from their medicine cat mentor. As a medicine cat or medicine cat apprentice, you must go to the Moonpool every half-moon and share tongues with StarClan, meaning, going to the Moonpool and talking/conversing with StarClan. Sometimes, when danger is ahead, or some big event, StarClan will go into usually, the leader's or either medicine cat's dreams and give them a prophecy, a mysterious message that might hint about the future. There are two leaders, a leader, which is the highest rank, and a deputy, as a second-in-command. As a deputy, your warrior name stays, but as a leader, the second part of your name will become "star". So, the name would be [blank]star. (EX. Ripplestar) A queen is a she-cat who is expecting or nursing kits in the nursery, and an elder is a cat that has retired from its duties as a warrior or medicine cat. That does not mean that they won't be able to protect their Clan, only that they have retired. There are many other rules and customs of the Clan cats, but if I listed those, I would be here all day. To find out, pick up the first book, Into the Wild, at your local library. To find out more about the Clan cats and the authors, go to http://www.warriorcats.com/. One more thing, did you know that Erin Hunter, the author is actually three people? Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry take turns writing each book, and Vicky Holmes comes up with the major storyline and she is also the editor! Please remember to pick up these books! Also, for some major fan sites/forums, go to:

1. http://www.warriorswish.net/
2. http://www.warriorswish1.proboards85.com/
3. www.kitsufox.com/warriors

There are many more fan sites/forums and if you don't like these that I listed, google it, and go to your favorite fan site/forum!
Reviewed by Laurel