I posted this in Discord as well, but OMG YOU GUYS, the preview for
Star is the best thing to come out of the Warrior Cats series since Bristlefrost's death. Spoilers inbound!
I just read the preview and HOLY COW. It's like they remembered what good writing was. A Starless Clan has so much lost potential - great plot points and interesting character arcs confused by bad writing and poor execution. Only two of the currently released five books were written well, and even then, it was more of just... okay. But this new preview - along with the graphic novel - was AMAZING and gives me a lot of hope for the series.
Read it here:
https://warriorcats.com/content/arti...-star-chapters
Let's start with the Prologue. Warriors, other than a few battles/death scenes, seems to have been shying away from anything too bad for a while, almost like the authors are scared to do anything too risky. It's difficult to use the "Warrior Cats isn't really for kids" joke anymore since the topics are so boiled down.
Now let's look at two paragraphs from the Prologue.
"Her pelt was torn and bloody as though the dogs Splashstar had set on her trail had only just finished ripping her apart. One of her ears was missing. Her cheek was gashed so deeply that when she turned her cold gaze on him, it looked as though her lip had opened into a mocking snarl that reached all the way to her eye."
""Shut up!” Splashstar wanted to slash his claws across her bloody face. He tried to lunge at her, lash out with his paw, but he couldn’t move. He was paralyzed by his dream. His rage, trapped inside him like a swarm of bees, throbbed in his chest and buzzed in his ears. She padded closer. Her wounds gaped red and wet like open mouths. He could smell her blood and see it glisten right down to the bone. Nausea churned in his belly and rose in his throat, but he could only growl at her helplessly as she stopped a muzzle-length away."
I love the detail and also how Curlfeather appears in Splashtail's dream. Their whole interaction is so cool. Dark Forest cats don't appear with their wounds like this normally, despite media depicting them like that, but it works really well for the dream; I'm assuming it's just Splashtail's imagination.
Fantastic start. The next couple of chapters also provide a great opening. The characters have PERSONALITY?! And meaningful interactions with each other?! And oh my gosh, the DESCRIPTION in this book is AMAZING. It's like they remembered how to, well, describe things.
"The field at the edge of the lake between ShadowClan and RiverClan, where the Twolegs came whenever the weather was bright, was only a little way around the shore. He could see it from here, in the half-light, the grass dotted even now in early leaf-bare with Twoleg pelt dens. The strange domes were lit up by tiny stars the Twolegs had brought with them, and Twolegs were moving in and out. His pelt prickled nervously. He could see their dogs and smell their hot, meaty scent drifting down to the lake."
"Grass spread like a thick pelt over the hillside, enclosed by forest, which stretched down to the shore at either edge. Nightheart headed for the closest trees and ducked into their shadow as a Twoleg dog began to bark near one of the pelt dens. Picking his way among browning ferns and stiff bracken, he skirted the camp, his paws pricking nervously. There seemed to be pelt dens and Twolegs everywhere, and more dogs than he’d ever seen. The dogs could clearly smell him, raising their heads and turning to bark as he passed. Fortunately, they were tethered with brightly colored vines. Some pulled on their tethers, straining to run at him, their eyes lighting up as they glimpsed him between the trees."
There's some good action and stakes that catches a reader's attention. But the second best part of this short (yet revealing) preview, only second to the Curl/Splash interaction, is Frostpaw's chapter.
Her interactions with Icewing, Duskfur, and Mothwing are meaningful, and her character makes sense. It jumps around a bit, but for once, it feels like the authors know what they're doing. They know their story. Frostpaw is struggling with her emotions, yet she's determined.
Then we get a huge curveball thrown at us. Berryheart announces that Splashtail has been driven out already?! Of course, I sensed a trap. But this was already very promising. Instead of wasting time with boring filler, they're jumping straight into the action. Whether Splashtail is already gone or not doesn't matter - either plot point is great. And, even though I predicted it, I was SO excited and drawn in when Frostpaw realized it was a trap. The last time I felt like this was Bristlefrost's death, but this time, it was for what would be considered an important, but still ordinary, battle scene.
Amazing description, of course, and they actually remembered Clan lore. Like, they know the story. They know how battles work. The authors know what they're doing. I wish I could word it better.
These two scenes in particular are amazing:
"Frostpaw watched in horror. How could the ShadowClan cats fight when they were crowded in the middle of the bridge, deep water churning below? They couldn’t swim. If they fell, they could drown! Her breath caught as she watched Nightsky lunge for Stonewing. He tried to block her blow, but it sent him staggering backward. The ShadowClan warrior barely kept his balance. He was still steadying himself when Nightsky came at him again with a flurry of blows that pushed him back into his Clanmates. He stumbled over Whorlpelt, who was struggling to kick his way free of Lizardtail’s grip. Tigerstar fought to keep from falling as Minnowtail dragged at his hind leg."
"Diving, Frostpaw swam for the two ShadowClan warriors. She could see Stonewing’s white fur like smoke in the murky water and made for him, her chest burning with the effort. When she reached him, she grabbed his scruff between her jaws, then hauled him to the surface, blinking away water as she burst into the air and began dragging him toward the island. She could see Berryheart, Minnowtail, and Lizardtail lined up on the rocks. They were aiming swipes at Whorlpelt, who’d surfaced and was trying to reach for the bank. Each time his paw touched a rock, they drove him back with a blizzard of claws."
The biggest errors were just a couple of Allegiances and description mistakes, as well as a few spelling errors. They were pretty small and insignificant, though it was funny seeing Curlfeather described with two eyes only a paragraph after being described with one lol.
Still though, this made me look forward to Star - and I can't remember the last time I was this excited for a Warrior Cats book!
What are your thoughts on this preview?
THE NEW PREVIEW FOR STAR IS AMAZING
