SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST ASC BOOK!!!
I finished the book last night and it was so good!!! I know I’m gonna forget a lot of things I wanted to talk about while reading it but I’ll try to add them all. Also it’s gonna be a bit messy because I’m just writing about things as they come to mind, it’s not at all organized haha
First thing, IVYPOOOOOL!!!! She’s finally the deputy!!! And she better not die now or I’m burning my entire warriors collection.
I’ve already seen some people mad about her becoming deputy??? The reason I’ve seen so far is that she’s too immature because she still holds a grudge against Dovewing for joining Shadowclan…. In Sky or Shadow (can’t remember which one) there’s a whole chapter of Dove taking Nightheart to Shadowclan to try and make amends with his family, and while she’s there Dovewing and Ivypool happily spend time together. I haven’t seen her act bitter about Dove leaving this entire series, they’ve been nothing but nice to each other so not sure what that’s about? They made amends shortly after Dovewing left, proven by the new ultimate guide.
Secondly, I love Sunbeam and Nightheart so much!! I’ve never been that interested in romance in warriors, I’ve never really had a favorite ship, but they’re so cute together!?! It’s not just “I love you *acts romantic or whatever*” they do cute and silly things together, which I feel like most relationships haven’t done? Or I’ve forgotten. But just little things like Sunbeam teasing Nightheart about eating frogs while he spent time in Shadowclan, and at the beginning of Thunder, this entire scene is so cute
Bayshine began to wash his face, then paused and blinked at Sunbeam. “Did Nightheart tell you about the time he put a live vole on the fresh-kill pile?” he mewed. “He thought he’d killed it, but when Squirrelflight picked it up, it bit her on the chin.”
Myrtlebloom purred. “What about the time he got stuck in the Sky Oak?”
Heat spread through Nightheart’s pelt. “Okay, okay.” He waved his tail at his two friends. Would they mention how many times he’d failed his assessment next? “Sunbeam doesn’t have to know every embarrassing mistake I made when I was an apprentice.”
“Yes, I do.” Sunbeam’s whiskers twitched. “I want to know everything about you.”
They’re so cute!!! I know a lot of people don’t like the ship, especially since Nightheart keeps leaving her, and I agree he’s SO FRUSTRATING, but at least this time when he chose to help Frostpaw he had Sunbeam in mind (..and being famous, it’s definitely Nightheart haha), thinking she wouldn’t have to choose between fighting TC or SC if the war was prevented as Frostpaw promised. He also suggested Tree mediate and try to solve their problems with sunbeam in mind. I feel like with time he’ll mature, as his problem seems to be he’s just really immature right now, and he makes really dumb decisions, but it’s kinda funny lol
Brambleclaw and Squirrelstar being kind to each other and treating each other with respect was also nice to see!!
Myrtlebloom, Bayshine, Finchlight, and Sparkpelt are all so kind to Sunbeam, I love them so much!!
I also loved the scene Berryheart stormed in being a Karen and the entire clan defended Sunbeam!
Ivypool is such a good deputy!! She’s so patient and understanding, and the first task she gave Sunbeam was so cute and so fun to read!!! I really hope Sunbeam and Nightheart both get to mentor one of Spotfur’s kits, then either Myrtlebloom, Bayshine, or Finchlight get the other! They’d probably have a lot of fun training them together I think!
Sunbeam confronting Cherryfall after treating her badly, then attempting to sabotage her final task was also a really cool part! Cherryfall slowly beginning to respect her after that was also really nice.
I’ve seen people are upset over Sunbeam’s entire character being about how much she depends on Nightheart and has no character other than loving him unconditionally despite him leaving her and stuff, and this is one of the many reasons I disagree with that. She remained in Thunderclan, stood up for herself, made friends, and even came to find she preferred Thunderclan to Shadowclan. She stood up to her mother, to Cherryfall, she tried to make amends with her friends, she didn’t need Nightheart for any of that. It took her some time but in the end she was confident Thunderclan was her home, not because Nightheart, but because she was happy there. She isn’t simply staying to be with him, while suffering and being homesick.
Now onto Frostpaw! I feel so bad for her. I love her relationship with Riverstar though! I hope she remains a warrior apprentice, but it would be cool if despite that she visited Riverstar often through meditation, it would be really interesting! I also love her friendship with Whistlepaw!
Her journey with Nightheart was super cool, it was really funny how Nightheart kept forgetting Frostpaw wasn’t a medicine cat anymore, and was training to be a warrior, and she kept forgetting he wasn’t a Shadowclan cat anymore and went back to Thunderclan.
I love how much they’ve focused on family and friendship this arc, Lightleap, Bayshine, Myrtlebloom, Whistlepaw, Splashtail (kind of?) as some of the friendships, and then Berryheart, Sparkpelt, and Curlfeather, Graypaw and Mistpaw, Spiresight, and Finchlight (Bramble and Squirrel were also in Night’s chapters quite a bit!!) the protagonists in this arc are less focused on ONLY the problem(s) other protagonists, and their love interest, and more on their relationships inside the clan. This has definitely been one of my favorite arcs to read and I’m gonna be so sad to see it end! I hope in other arcs they continue to focus on these things more
Another really fun scene was Frostpaw playing find the shell (I think that was the name) with the park cats!! I want to draw that scene so much! (And many more..) I just need to find the time haha
Nightheart and Frostpaw’s friendship has been fun to read about! Wafflepaw was cute too! I’m so curious to know what his warrior name is gonna be!! Im also curious who Frostpaw has decided for deputy!
Frostpaw finding out Curlfeather had been apart of the plan all along was so sad, but we also got a better description of Curlfeather, so that was cool! All this time I’ve been seeing her with round, curled ears, I was not expecting her to have small sharp ears with tufted fur at the end. I’m definitely gonna make sure I do her ears like that in my design!
Also Frostpaw getting fixed was NOT something I expected at all. Poor Frostpaw.
I don’t think I’ve brought this up yet?? So last thing, Squirrelstar!! Im gonna be honest, I wasn’t really excited over he possibly being leader, I didn’t care if she was or not. She’s a character I can’t quite figure out how I feel about her, she was fun in the first three books in TNP, but in the last three books I couldn’t stand her, I loved her in POT, then somewhere along the series she was annoying again. I guess it just depends on which series it is. But she’s actually been SUCH A GOOD LEADER!! I’m definitely happy with the writer’s choice to make her leader! And I hope she continues to be as good as she has been in this book, and she and Bramble can live happily and peacefully together now. In ASC a lot of their conflict always seems (to me) to be about Bramble giving her orders, and her getting upset and going against them, which annoys me a bit. (if anyone doesn’t know what I mean I can go a little further into that and give books and page numbers for the places I’m talking about!) Bramble doesn’t really seem like the kind of person to be difficult just because he doesn’t want someone telling him what to do, so I’m hoping now that Squirrel is leader instead the conflict will end, hopefully.
This book was great! I’m excitedly waiting for the next!
ALSO I FORGOT TO MENION THIS BUT PODLIGHT AAGGHH YOU IDIOOOTTTT IM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU
