A Shadow in RiverClan
Ratings8
Average rating4.4
So this would've been absolutely 5 stars...until the end.
The way the conflicts were set up as well as the character of Feathertail was so interesting and it felt really realistic. I could completely understand Feathertail's feelings and how she felt about her clan. I was so looking forward to a mature conversation between her and Leopardstar where Feathertail was actually able to reveal and explain how she felt about what RiverClan did, with Leopardstar giving a properly heartfelt, meaningful, and understanding apology to Feathertail, properly sorting through her own issues and what she'd done. But this is a kids book, despite the mature topics of racism it handles, so the resolution was Feathertail suddenly realising she loves RiverClan and its cats for reasons unrelated to her conflict, and Leopardstar giving a shoved in apology after Feathertail has already forgiven her.
Also, the interaction at the end between Feathertail and Ferncloud, where Feathertail was pointlessly cruel to Ferncloud, was supposed to be presented as a good thing?? what does this book want to teach me? that being cruel to your friends for the sake of defending a bunch of people who were racist towards you and give you a load of trauma is a good thing?
Anyway, the art was beautiful and breathtaking, as usual. The artist who makes these clearly works incredibly hard on these graphic novels and it is incredibly appreciated by me. There were several pages I spend 5 minutes just staring at because they looked so cool. The only artistic complaint I have is that Hawkpaw doesn't have his iconic white chest, but this isn't the end of the world at all. (The snowy scenes were some of the most gorgeous)