Book Review: Warriors (Warrior Cats) by Erin Hunter

For the Red Cat Society, I have tried to find references to red cats in literary works. Here is a whole series of novels for young people with a red cat as protagonist:

'Warriors' is a series of novels about the adventures of four rivaling groups or clans of feral cats living in a wooded area of the UK. Stop here, if you want to read this amazing story without knowing too many details. Scroll down to the row of stars after this one:

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Six novels follow the career of Rusty, an ordinary ginger tom kitten, who runs away from his humans and joins a band of feral cats called Thunderclan, who are the wild cats living in the woods behind his suburban home. Because of his daring and sense of pride in being a cat, Rusty is accepted into the clan and rises through the ranks within their cat-heirarchy from apprentice to warrior and finally clan-leader.

With each new status, Rusty is renamed. Rusty becomes Firepaw as apprentice, Fireheart as warrior and finally Firestar as clan leader. There are many memorable characters throughout these six books. Bluestar is Thunderclan's amazing female leader and Rusty's mentor.

Tigerclaw/Tigerstar is a strong, powerful, but corrupt warrior and then later deputy in Thunderclan. Tigerclaw/Tigerstar becomes Rusty's/Firepaw's/Fireheart's/ Firestar's arch-rival.

Spotted-Leaf, a beautiful young medicine-cat, with whom Firepaw falls in love and dreams about many times long after her tragic death.

Yes, death. These are books in which many cats die. The cats believe in Starclan, where the spirits of dead cats who have lived a clan-cat-worthy life, dwell. It is Cat-Heaven. Among the clan-cats, dreams and visions reveal what is to happen or which way to choose in this very harsh outdoor feline-life. In several ways these cat societies resemble primative human tribes. There are no human characters in the Warrior Cat-books. Cats must rely on themselves or other cats. There are a lot of clever solutions to how cats can do things. The medicine cats show many wonderful examples of this.

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This is a fantasy-book for us cats, even though the publishers market it as good reading for two-legged kits from eight years old of age and up. (These six books are real page-turners that even grown-ups humans can enjoy, if they want to read fast-paced adventure books with happy ends and good morals.) If you have ever wondered or dreamed about how life would be if you left home for good and joined forces with strong and clever wild cats, this is the book for you. Ask your human to read it aloud for you.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

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