the second book, one that I genuinely have a lot of fondness for, but also difficulty

reading at some points.

It will be easier to explain this one with more context, however, so I'll get straight

into the basics.

Dark River came out on December 26th of 2007, 4 months after Firestar's Quest, the last

published material, and 8 months after the first book in Power of Three, The Sight.

Perhaps the rapid influx of new content earlier in the year motivated or even forced the team

to slow down from their rapid-fire release pace, even if four and even eight months are

still very short timeframes for a book to be completed in.

We'll just see if they were able to do any more planning or polish with the bit of extra

time they got.

One other factor in the slower speed may be that this one, like The Sight, was written

by Kate Cary, which could have given a better chance of continuity over the first two books

in this arc.

But once again, we'll have to wait and see if that chance was followed through on.

As usual, I will begin with an examination of the allegiance changes.

Thunderclan, of course, has a new medicine cat apprentice, Jaypaw.

With her kits as apprentices Squirrelflight left the nursery and Graystripe has returned

with Millie at his side so Thunderclan now has 16 warriors instead of 13.

But the really shocking number is that, with Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw added, the clan

now has *9* apprentices.

Half of the warriors, plus Leafpool have an apprentice so Thunderclan is definitely experiencing

a surge in population now, and Icekit and Foxkit are still to come in the nursery, where

Ferncloud and Daisy are now alone.

This book has a total speaking cast of 79 cats, up 9 from The Sight, and the top 10

characters still have 70% of the lines.

One thing this arc is definitely good at is expanding the world enough for other cats

to shine sometimes, one of the main things that makes this arc so beloved by a lot of

fans.

Even more pleasingly, 47% of the cast, nearly half, is she-cats, and they get 47% of the

lines, exactly the percentage that they should be getting given their prominence in the cast,

so that is a great note to start off on.

Now, though, it's time to see if the plot will hold up as well as the general statistics

do.

The prologue has nothing to do with the clans.

Instead, someone named Fallen Leaves is preparing to enter a challenge through some tunnels

that will allow him to become a sharpclaw, and soon upon his entry he is greeted by a

hairless, sightless, somewhat disfigured cat named Rock who, based on his opening line,

seems to have similar feeling-sensing abilities to Jaypaw.

Rock seems to act as a respected spiritual guardian to Fallen Leaves' group, but he

cannot help cats in their challenge, so he invites Fallen Leaves to go in, only pausing

to ask him what the weather was like.

Hiding the fact that it looked like there might be rain, Fallen Leaves said it was clear

and was allowed into the tunnels, hopeful that he could become a sharpclaw.

Back in the world we know, Lionpaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw are going to the gathering that

evening, their first one together.

Jaypaw isn't especially enthusiastic but Hollypaw is excited to see Willowpaw and Lionpaw

is interested in seeing Heatherpaw again, who you may recall called him brave in the

last book for his work in the dog attack on Windclan's territory.

Hollypaw is also even bossier and more of a stickler for the code than she was in the

last book, leading not only to her littermates getting exasperated with her, but to Graystripe

jokingly telling Firestar that Hollypaw is preparing to challenge him for leadership.

Hollypaw doesn't seem to appreciate all of the teasing, insisting that she's not

leading other cats, just telling them what's right.

At the gathering, it seems that the contest from the end of The Sight had a positive effect,

as cats from different clans are mingling like friends, with the exception of Breezepaw

who wants nothing to do with any of this.

Hollypaw and Lionpaw get in a quick argument about whether Lionpaw's strong desire to

see Heatherpaw is right, and whether or not it's equivalent to Hollypaw's desire to

see Willowpaw.

They don't get into many specifics, but Lionpaw insists they're just friends.

I would actually cut in here to say…you spoke twice, mostly in smalltalk.

I don't even know that I would consider you friends at this stage.

Anyway, Lionpaw and Heatherpaw get to talk and Heatherpaw is, much like in the last book,

more excited at Jaypaw's arrival than Lionpaw's.

Jaypaw, though, is still quite grumpy and gets angry with her.

Hollypaw gets a hurried hello from Willowpaw, who seems worried about something but can't

talk long.

Blackstar announces that Tawnypelt has three new kits: Flamekit, Dawnkit, and Tigerkit,

the final name of which rings some alarm bells based on Tawnypelt's father, but isn't

discussed.

Leopardstar gives a short and curt speech that nothing is wrong at all everything is

fine now let's go home and the main part of the gathering ends.

Importantly though, while every cat is discussing the announcements, Crowfeather tells Breezepaw,

and pointedly Leafpool as well, that “Thunderclan actually *celebrates* mixed blood.”

That's very harsh and inaccurate for a guy who left Leafpool on somber but loving terms

two books ago.

Lionpaw gets very angry at this, but Squirrelflight calms him down just in time for Heatherpaw

to come over and request that they meet up the next night at their boundary, which Lionpaw

agrees to.

Okay, now that the first chapter is over and the groundwork is laid out, I'm going to

speed up a bit on this summary.

Hollypaw is worried about a lot of things: Willowpaw and what might be wrong in Riverclan,

the current drenching of the camp and territory, whether or not she'll eventually have to

fight her new Shadowclan kin, and at the base of all of this, how morality works and if

the warrior code could ever be less important than another standard.

Brackenfur tells her to stop worrying and start doing but provides no real answers to

any of her questions, and Hollypaw hunts all morning while Lionpaw is still asleep.

Hollypaw tries to ask him about this and he gets angry and defensive, proving they aren't

quite as close as they used to be.

She then tries to ask Jaypaw about Lionpaw and he brushes her off like a grump as he

complains about being a medicine cat and not having a good relationship with anyone, Willowpaw

included.

Hollypaw then goes out with Cinderpaw, their mentors, and Birchfall, where Cinderpaw demonstrates

remarkable knowledge of fox scents despite never previously meeting one or coming to

their abandoned den.

Hm…

Anyway, they get suspicious of Lionpaw and follow him, where they discover him meeting

Heatherpaw and get into an angry confrontation about it, leaving Hollypaw worried even with

Cinderpaw comforting her and Lionpaw furious.

Jaypaw attends a half moon meeting where he hears some mysterious voices and goes into

Willowpaw's dream to get confirmation that something is definitely wrong in Riverclan.

Yellowfang then gaslights him about being part of the prophecy at all, while also chiding

him for invading other cats' dreams.

Jaypaw and Leafpool report Riverclan's trouble to Firestar who decides to do nothing with

the information since, in the last book, Jaypaw had asked to attack Windclan while they were

busy with the dogs using information he got in a similar way.

Hollypaw is, unsurprisingly, not happy to hear about any of this, but Jaypaw is tired

and decides to leave her to think about it herself.

He is still tired when Leafpool takes him out to look for herbs, and he finds a stick

with an odd series of scratches.

He leaves the stick behind but promises it that he will be back.

Meanwhile, Lionpaw is angry at Hollypaw for being angry at him for breaking the warrior

code which is exacerbated when they are asked to train together and Hollypaw does much better

since Lionpaw is so sleep-deprived, and Lionpaw retaliates by raking her spine and actually

hurting her in a fit of anger, an action he apologies for.

Brambleclaw takes him aside to see what's wrong and, after hearing about his problems

with Hollypaw, shares the wisdom that he also had trouble being trusted, but while his father

was remembered for his faults, he wants to be remembered for his strengths, dropping

in the idea that Tigerstar wasn't actually all bad.

You can't force someone to believe in you, so he encourages Lionpaw to prove his loyalty

to Hollypaw through his actions.

Lionpaw then immediately goes to meet Heatherpaw again, and she shows him a completely new

and private place: the tunnels under their territories.

There, they start up their own little clan, Darkclan, with Heatherstar as the leader (since

she found the tunnels) and Lionpaw, later Lionclaw as her deputy.

They spend the night there and Lionpaw hurries back to camp with a piece of prey as an excuse

for his absence.

He then insists to himself once again that he's very loyal and is doing nothing wrong.

Following a quick camp scene and another odd moment with Cinderpaw knowing something she

shouldn't, this time about badgers, Millie becomes a full warrior but decides to keep

her name, with Graystripe, Daisy, Brook, and Stormfur's support.

Hollypaw is still worried, though, that not taking a warrior name will cause Millie to

not be accepted by Starclan as a true warrior, a fear that Squirrelflight quickly dismisses.

A bunch of the apprentices then take an assessment, ending with Mousepaw climbing the Sky Oak

and getting stuck until Cinderpaw comes up to help him and falls from the tree herself.

Birchfall getting a thorn out is quickly interrupted by Hollypaw fetching both medicine cats to

help her friend.

Leafpool seems particularly intense and panicked about Cinderpaw's broken hind leg, resulting

in Leafpool and Jaypaw getting into an argument about her treatment before Jaypaw enters Cinderpaw's

dreams.

They end up in the forest territories, which Cinderpaw says she recognizes from being Cinderpelt…Cinderpelt

apparently returned as Cinderpaw to take a different path than when she was a medicine

cat, and she tells Jaypaw to tell Leafpool that she will recover.

Jaypaw passes along all of that information and Cinderpaw wakes up, not remembering anything

that transpired in that dream.

Lionpaw is once again meeting Heatherpaw in “Darkclan” in the tunnels, just playing

and chatting and wishing they could be together more often.

When he leaves though, Lionpaw hears another couple of voices who soon reveal themselves

to be Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, and who say they have been watching him before they disappear.

To hide the fact that he was out all night, Lionpaw joins the dawn patrol and comes across

some Windclan cats, Breezepaw included among them, who say they are learning to hunt in

woodlands, prompting cats to think that Windclan is planning to invade.

Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw discuss this possibility.

Jaypaw wants Firestar to do anything at all, Hollypaw doesn't want any cat to invade

so that they can keep the sacred clan balance, and Lionpaw thinks they should leave Windclan

alone since he doesn't want to fight Heatherpaw.

Another, much more tense gathering comes and it looks like all of Riverclan is attending

since they can't stay in their own camp and are going to shelter on the gathering

island until the problem goes away.

Hollypaw tries to talk to Willowpaw about it, but nothing comes of it and no one seems

willing to do anything in support of Riverclan so, after checking on Cinderpaw, Hollypaw

decides to do…something.

Cutting to Jaypaw, Hollypaw is gone, and Leafpool is trying to force Cinderpaw to remember her

life as Cinderpelt and getting mad with Jaypaw for him getting mad at her for trying to feed

her the wrong herbs and sometimes not wanting to actually cure her…which is reasonable,

on Jaypaw's side.

Leafpool then patronizes him and quizzes him on herbs he already knows but immediately

pivots to saying she loves him…MMM okay.

Jaypaw finds the stick again, Leafpool says it's just a stick, Jaypaw tries to spend

time with it, and Leafpool pulls him away until Jaypaw recruits Lionpaw to get the stick

with him.

Jaypaw is now hearing voices from the lost stick.

You know, if this wasn't Warrior Cats I think there would be a problem.

Jaypaw dives into the lake and barely makes it out with the stick in his teeth.

The stick thanks him.

Lionpaw thinks this is a problem.

Lionpaw is also doing badly in hunting and Ashfur is angry at him, which gets worse when

he is teased by and loses a fight to Berrypaw.

More Tigerstar Hawkfrost time, this time with actual training, and Lionpaw uses the move

he was taught to beat Berrypaw.

Time for Hollypaw again who hasn't left…huh.

More camp scene, more clan tensions, more training, and then Hollypaw actually leaves

finally to go find Riverclan and help them.

They are…moderately accepting of her presence after Willowpaw vouches for her, and explain

that it's twoleg kits playing in their streams and scaring off the fish that have driven

Riverclan from their camp.

That said, Leopardstar decides to hold Hollypaw semi-hostage until her clan fetches her back.

But that won't be too long because back in Thunderclan they've already missed her

presence and are preparing to look for her and Leafpool begs Jaypaw to dream his way

into finding Hollypaw somehow, but Jaypaw can't just fall asleep on command so, despite

Leafpool's intense levels of worry, he goes off on his own to spend quality time with