Darkness Within

Wow. Alright. That was good.

This book is the first book in the Warrior Cats series to have a scene that genuinely sent shivers down my spine. The scene where Rootspring and the Sisters conjure all of the ghosts of warriors? Amazing. I loved the imagery! Incredible scene!

I also absolutely loved the debates about what to do with Bramblestar's body. The interactions and decisions made by characters on what to do about that felt real, and so interesting to witness. I found all of the views of what to do with him compelling and, although I feel devasted for Squirrelflight, I'm not upset about the prospect of killing Bramblestar because he is a terrible mate, and is also just...boring. Really bloody boring. So the way the authors have utilised his character has been very intruiging.

But, like any Warrior Cats book, Darkness Within is not flawless. The book intends you to be angry when Shadowsigh t is demoted, which I am fine being angry at. But what I don't like are things that unintentionally make me angry. I'm talking about:
- They ruined Mistystar
- They ruined Mothwing
- They ruined Bristlefrost

Mistystar, um....what the hell happened to you?! The authors decided they needed a leader to be unfair on her ‘codebreakers' and just decided to choose the leader who witnessed the death of her brother for being a ‘codebreaker'!! It's ridiculous and an insult to the Mistystar that the original authors created as a kind and fair cat. But who is this? Not allowing her clan to mourn cats who went against a cat who believed in punishment for something that Mistystar actually is? This completely undermines the character they built for her and is insulting to character writing and development, as it makes it all redundant as the Erins will mould their characters to fit the story, no matter who that cat was and what they stood for. I wish they'd killed her off before they ruined her character.

Since when was Mothwing cruel? She is horrible to Shadowsight and acts very un-Mothwing by recommending him to be demoted. Also, rather hypocritical to say he should be demoted for misinterpreting a prophecy when she doesn't even believe in StarClan in the first place. If you want an unreasonable situation for your protagonist, that's fine. At least don't change your previously established characters!

So, you're telling me that Bristlefrost went from finding Rootspring irritating to suddenly and magically being absolutely in love with him? What is this??? She is a protagonist, I'd at least expect her to be written well! Also, the guy doesn't always need to get the girl. Especially when the girl was a lot more interesting when she was independent and didn't spend half of her chapters admiring some random guy she didn't care about until now. It makes me sad, as I love both Bristlefrost and Rootspring, but not as an item.

I think I wrote too much about the negatives, as I would personally say that the positives outweighed the negatives. This was overall a good book and I'm glad I read it (not that I could not read it, I've read 73 Warriors books, I'm not gonna stop now).

3.5*

The leaders just argue BACK and FORTH. Not listening at ALL to Shadowsight and Rootspring even after they've been proven to speak nothing but the truth.
And then EVERY SINGLE LEADER except skyclan was therw when the dark forest attacked living cats, this is not any harder to believe besties