Why Tawnypelt’s Clan Is One Of My Favorite Books by Butterflyflower

Butterflyflower shares why they love Tawnypelt’s Clan.

Tawnypelt’s Clan is a Novella in the set Path of a Warrior, along with Redtail’s Debt and Shadowstar’s Life.

Tawnypelt’s Clan was definitely one of my favorite Warriors books and one of my favorite books in general. This is what I have to say about it. This does include spoilers for the book.

Personally, I’ve realized that I generally prefer character-driven books over plot-driven books. It’s still good for the book to have a good plot, and it does make the book better, but I want the characters to ultimately be “better” than the plot and be the main driving force of the story. I like it when the characters control the plot instead of the plot controlling them. I’d rather have amazing characters with a decent/good plot than have an amazing plot with decent/good characters.

I also love well-done character development, and something needs to be different at the end of the story than it was at the beginning. It can be a difference within a character (character development), but there can also sometimes be other differences as well.

Tawnypelt’s Clan just had so many of these good elements to it! It was just so good!

It starts out with Tawnypelt missing Rowanclaw/star and the “old ShadowClan”. Tawnypelt is the deputy, but none of the warriors respect her or treat her as an actual authority over them, so she’s very frustrated.

Tigerheart/star and Dovewing’s kit, Shadowkit, is having visions which are causing him pain. His visions are about the tribe. He says they need to save the tribe. Tawnypelt and Dovewing think it’s a good idea to take Shadowkit to the tribe to help them and also to help Shadowkit, but Tigerstar doesn’t allow it.

Tawnypelt tries to sneak him out in the middle of the night. Dovewing joins them, and Tigerstar catches them, but he doesn’t do anything to really stop them, so they leave.

The tribe welcomes them, and there are times when Tawnypelt wonders if she would be better off staying with them.

A lot of times, Warrior Cats books don’t really have a whole lot of emotion and relationships between characters that aren’t romantic, but in this book, we get to see how Tawnypelt grieves the loss of her mate and two of her kits. We get to see her relationship with her living son, Tigerstar, his mate, Dovewing, and one of their kits, Shadowkit. We also see some nice interactions between Tawnypelt, Dovewing, Shadowkit, and the tribe cats.

We also have some nice romantic scenes between Tawnypelt and her mate, Rowanclaw (When he appears to her in a dream), and between Tigerstar and Dovewing.

Tawnypelt, Dovewing, and Shadowkit successfully help save the tribe, and the tribe leader talks to Shadowkit to help him with the pain that his visions cause. Tawnypelt realizes that she truly belongs in ShadowClan. When Tawnypelt, Dovewing, and Shadowkit return, ShadowClan happily welcomes them back. Tigerstar apologizes and admits he was wrong. Tawnypelt makes the decision to step down from being deputy.

Here are some of the best scenes/quotes:

“Oh, Rowanclaw.” Tawnypelt tuned and touched her nose to his. His fir was glimmering with stars, but his amber gaze was as warm as ever. “I miss you so much,” she whispered. “All the time.”
Rowanclaw pressed his cheek against hers. “You’ve been such a wonderful mate to me,” he said. “All our lives together, and even after I left you to join StarClan. I always love you.”

“I love you, too,” Tawnypelt responded. His scent and voice were so familiar, so welcome. She wished it were this easy to conjure him all the time.

“But I’m gone now,” Rowanclaw said, his voice turning solemn. “I’m dead, and I’m fine. I’m happy in StarClan. We’ll be together there, but not for a long time.”
(page 191)

“Your heart is in ShadowClan, too. Our Clan is changing, but not all change is bad. Give yourself some time, and give Tigerstar a chance. I love you so much, Tawnypelt. I always will. But it’s time to let me go.”
-Rowanclaw (page 192)

“Thank you. Good-bye, Rowanclaw.”
-Tawnypelt (page 192)

“Part of being a good leader is admitting when you’re wrong. I should have listened, Tawnypelt. And I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. I knew you had Shadowkit’s best interests in mind, and I wish I had trusted you.”
-Tigerstar(heart) (page 201)

“I wish I had trusted you,” Tawnypelt replied. “I should have tried to convince you again instead of running off with Shadowkit.” She felt a great swell of relief, as if something tight that had been holding her back had finally loosened. “I;m just glad Shadowkit’s okay.”

“Thanks to you and Dovewing,” Tigerstar purred.
(page 202)

(The book itself is only around 75 pages long, so the page numbers I’ve given are the numbers these scenes are on out of the entire Novella set and not just Tawnypelt’s Clan, but even though you used to be able to either buy each Novella individually as an Ebook or buy three at a time in paperback, I’m pretty sure with the newer Novellas (which includes Tawnypelt’s Clan), you have to get to full set whether you get the Ebook or the paperback.)

There are so many amazing scenes – these are only some of them.

And that’s why it’s an amazing book!