Darkest Night Spoiler Page

aaaah so I finally got and read the book so I can be here and do my usual rambling review with theories sprinkled in and boy do I have some thoughts 😀

First of all, I thought it was amazing. Well done, Kate! It was extremely well-written and had tons of plot, tension, drama, character and relationship building, and foreshadowing. It was really hard to put down! (haha bad I have homework tonight that I was supposed to start two hours ago and haven’t 😛 ) I honestly wasn’t super excited for this one (I was excited though) because Shattered Sky felt like the end of an arc and I wasn’t sure how you could pick up from that aside from tying up loose ends. But it was done really well! Now Shattered Sky doesn’t feel like as much of a conclusion, which is great since there are still two books to go 😀

all right, where do I begin?

Ivy and Fern. Okay, how I feel about this ship still stands. I don’t like it. I like Ivy single and kitless, as an independent she-cat. I don’t like that every she-cat in ThunderClan is getting a mate and/or love interest. Fern for Ivy is better than some, but still wouldn’t be my choice. I’d just have her stay a Single Pringle 😛 However, I adored Fernsong in this book. He was very devoted to Ivypool and was following her around on most patrols, especially the one looking for her sister. It wasn’t shown, but I think it’s cute that he was probably comforting her offscreen. Also, I loved how he’s gonna go into the nursery for her. Not only does it break gender stereotyped boundaries, which I am always in favor of, it shows a lot of his character. He’s really mature and devoted and I love that. I also like how they’re acknowledging that Ivypool isn’t the type to settle down in the nursery, but Fernsong is, and that’s okay. They can still work things out. Out of all the scenes this ship was shown in, that was my favorite. I really hope that this paves the way for more toms to become queens. Ivypool and Fernsong’s situation will definitely come up in future mates, and some toms are just more suited for the nursery. I hope there comes a time that when a she-cat and a tom decide to have kits, they choose which one of them wants to stay in the nursery, and that there can be permanent queens like Ferncloud and Daisy who are toms. The mother really doesn’t have to be there for the nursing period anyway, she can just come to them when they need to nurse. It’s amazing. I love it.

Twig and Fin. One of my favorite pairings. Tbh in AVOS there haven’t really been many pairs that I’ve intensely shipped, but I’m intensely shipping this one. They’re adorable! At first I was a bit annoyed by it because there seem to be a lot of random new ships in this book and it felt stereotypical and cliche, but as it developed it grew on me. I love how Dewpaw slyly got them to hang out when Finpaw was in the medicine den. Finpaw’s decision to come to ThunderClan with Twigpaw was rash and will have consequences, but it was adorable and I loved his devotion. I was also really happy that they’re not making it into another stereotypical forbidden relationship. And how Finpaw’s in ThunderClan, so he can learn about Halftail! I really hope someone tells him about him or Halftail visits him sometime. He’d be so happy. Finpaw is also just a great character in general and he’s already become one of my favorites.

I loved Violetshine in this book. She’s so mature, but she’s still very bouncy and thoughtful. It was heartbreaking when Twigpaw left for ThunderClan because her separation anxiety is going to start coming up again. But I know she’s meant to be in SkyClan with Hawkwing. She’s flourished, and she flourished on the journey too. She’s grown into such a great character. I honestly won’t be surprised if she becomes leader of SkyClan someday. She has the makings for a great leader, thoughtful and mature, but full of energy and kindness, firece, and willing to defy others to do the right thing. Her chasing after Needletail was really sad, and every time I really wanted Needletail to turn around and talk to her. I was really happy when she finally found Tree and was able to talk to her.

Tree! I’m so happy! I really liked him in the short I saw with him at the end of SS. I’m so happy he’s a main character. He’s such a great character. He’ll make a great Clan cat. His gift is really interesting and I have a lot of questions and theories on it. (I posted those in my predictions post on the River of Fire spoiler page, but if you want me to post them here I will ^^)

I have to talk about Molewhisker. He was adorable in the journey. It obviously made him so happy. I hope he gets to go on another journey soon. I don’t think he’ll become a member of SkyClan, as I don’t think that it was hanging out with the SkyClan cats that made him happy (although that could be the case, although that’s kind of disappointing). I think it was going out and doing something important, exploring, etc. He had a role to play, and he was out exploring and doing great things for SkyClan. He was being a hero in his own way. I really liked him. I hope we get to see that side of him again. I wonder if there’s pressure on him in ThunderClan that we don’t really get to see. After all, his apprentice pretty much failed warrior training and then became a medicine cat. That must be a bit saddening.

JASPER!!! Aggressive ginger cat who is a fighter and has prejudiced views of our protagonist group? Jasper from Steven Universe much? (the gender is wrong though, but Jasper is one of the more masculine of gems tbh). I was SO HAPPY. I know it’s probably not a SU reference because I don’t think the Erins know SU, but I could be wrong. I’m choosing to believe that maybe it was a reference. 😀 (alert alert alert! Jasper has copied Amethyst and shapeshifted into a cat! Warriors/SU crossover! 😛 )

I really didn’t like Sparkpelt and Larksong. It was extremely rushed, just shoved in our face, out of nowhere, and mostly offscreen. If I’m going to ship them (which is entirely possible because I have no idea what dynamic they have together. But I think it’s cute because their names rhyme! Also, I was a bit confused when Alderheart and Sparkpelt talked about him not being happy with her because she was spending all her time with him. I thought he was unhappy with her because she wanted SkyClan to leave? Also, I thought it was really sweet how she followed him and saved him. I, too, miss their close relationship and I hope not only will they regain it, but we’ll see a lot of it!

I’m really sad about what happened to RiverClan. RiverClan is my favorite Clan along with SkyClan (and Wavepaw’s in it 😛 ) so I love seeing them and seeing them flourish. They’ve been the background Clan this series and I don’t like it one bit. The whole closing borders thing was very out of character for Mistystar. I wonder if there’s something we don’t know that’s happening inside the borders. If only Dovewing still had her powers and hadn’t left so she could check! I honestly think Mistystar is losing her spark and is going to die soon, as in this series. I’m really sad to see her go, but I’m excited for a chance to see more of Reedwhisker, to see him as leader, and to see more of RiverClan in general. I really hope that her dying isn’t the cause for the borders to reopen. I want to see Mistystar deal with it, go on with her life, and then die. (Or she could just retire I’m cool with that I love Mistystar)

Just some unrelated thoughts that aren’t long enough for their own paragraph: I really liked seeing Loki and Zelda again, even if it wasn’t for long. I hope we see more of them in the future books, and that Zelda can be with Violetpaw again. I wish we’d seen Minty and Jessy, I really want to see them again soon. I found it funny that a great storm happened near the beginning and end of Rowanclaw’s leadership. I wonder if it’s a bit of a metaphor for more than just the great storm that’s coming, which I think it is. Every cat seems to think Tree will save them, but in TS didn’t it say to beware him? That might be personal for Tigerheart and Dovewing as there’s probably going to be a lot of drama when they get back, but maybe he’s going to cause some tragedy. I hope it’s by accident. I don’t want Tree to be a bad guy. As I said above, I really like him and want him to be a protagonist. I loved the names of Tinycloud’s kits. They’re names that have been used only in minor characters a long time ago and I think they’re great names! I hope they get really good warrior names too. I also liked the names of the lost SkyClan apprentices. When they were first spotted I groaned because I thought there actually might be a sixth Clan, which is cliche, a plot device, and just completely out of the blue. I’m glad they’re not. When Frecklewish escaped and the Twoleg was trying to get her back, I actually identified more with the Twoleg than with Frecklewish. I have a cat who’s kept indoors because indoor cats live longer and are healthier than outdoor cats, and I felt a pang in my heart because I knew I would be heartbroken if Melodie ran away. I was sad that Cypresspaw and Wavepaw weren’t shown, but there was basically no RiverClan anyway. I also think that not enough attention to RiverClan was paid given the situation they were in, but a lot was happening so I get it. I thought there was gonna be more drama involving SkyClan having no medicine cat, so I was a bit disappointed but I thought it was handled well, and I’m glad to have Frecklewish and Fidgetpaw back, especially now that Twigpaw’s not gonna be SkyClan’s medicine cat (she was my personal pick). The Hawk/Twig/Violet family belonging moments were adorable and one of my favorite parts of the book, but now whenever I reread it they’re gonna be bittersweet because of Twigpaw leaving for ThunderClan 😛 I wish that we’d seen more of Bumblestripe and how he’s dealing with Dovewing being gone and then Tigerheart leaving too. Also, Scorchfur’s behavior strikes me as off. He was always the one stirring up trouble and tried to blind Tawnypelt! His own Clanmate! It reminds me of the Dark Forest training days. I really hope it’s not that, because we already had two series focused on that, but I do think there’s something here we don’t know about. Also there was no Wavepaw I’m sad 🙁 oh well. I’m so happy that Cherrytail and Cloudmist came back! I was hoping they would but I was a bit worried they wouldn’t or that something would’ve happened to them. Cherrytail is pretty old (but not old enough to die don’t you dare Kate 😛 ). Also I’m so happy Barley is still alive and well and we saw him! He handled Molewhisker really well and made him happy. I wish Ravenpaw could’ve been there to talk with Molewhisker about ThunderClan and just see him again.