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eelclaw · 24 days ago

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i read a light in the mist, so here are my chapter summaries. i included what-the-fuck moments, denoted (?), as well as irritating moments from the text. my final thoughts are at the bottom.

part 1: the chapter summaries

prologue: while he watches snowtuft and rootspring fight, ashfur reflects on how we got here.

chapter 1: rootspring tries to defend himself from snowtuft without hurting him. ashfur gets frustrated and sets his army on rootspring. bristlefrost jumps in, giving rootspring hope.

chapter 2: shadowsight watches bristlefrost run away to help rootspring. he sees ashfur, then shouts hurtful things at him to break his concentration over the spirit cats. the spirit cats run away, but the dark forest cats chase after them and bring them back. bristlefrost and rootspring run away, and shadowsight is attacked by ashfur.

chapter 3: while rootspring saves shadowsight from ashfur, bristlefrost saves stemleaf from mapleshade. ashfur appears and takes control of the spirit cats, but snowtuft attacks ashfur, breaking his concentration, and the spirit cats run away. bristlefrost, rootspring, and shadowsight also run away. they are joined by stemleaf and spiresight, and then by willowshine, who leads them to the barrier to starclan, where they speak to leafpool. it seems like hope can break the barrier down, but they need more cats (?). the spirit cats sense ashfur coming, so they run away. shadowsight heads for the moonpool, while bristlefrost and rootspring split up to lose ashfur.

chapter 4: rootspring is chased a little bit, then decides to find and watch ashfur (?). he finds ashfur, dark forest cats, and spirit cats at the lake. then he decides to go to the moonpool, but mapleshade intercepts him.

chapter 5: shadowsight makes it to and through the moonpool. the leaders are there, arguing over whether bramblestar is still under ashfur's influence. shadowsight lets them exposit for a while before letting them know he's standing there. he tells them what's happened, then tries persuading them to send a patrol to the dark forest.

irritating moments:

squirrelflight whirled on the skyclan leader. "you should be glad to have [bramblestar] back!" (comment: i'm not)

shadowsight blinked in surprise. how could the skyclan leader believe that bramblestar could be anything but brave and honorable?

"but i am myself now, not ashfur!" [bramblestar] exclaimed. "i've never been anything like him!"

chapter 6: bristlefrost stumbles across redwillow, maggottail, and sparrowfeather. she eavesdrops on them, but they realize she's there, chase her down, and catch her. she tries persuading them to fight ashfur.

irritating moments:

[bristlefrost] had to persuade [redwillow, maggottail, and sparrowfeather]. puffing out her fur, she tried to imagine what bramblestar would say.

chapter 7: rootspring is imprisoned by mapleshade and houndleap, and ashfur checks on him. the voice in rootspring's head tells him to say something spooky (?). ashfur is freaked out, and he leaves to check the barrier.

chapter 8: shadowsight is still arguing with the leaders. they finally agree to send a patrol, and to meet at the moonpool before dawn. the shadowclan cats go home, and lightleap is picked for the patrol.

irritating moments:

[tree] paused, his eyes traveling over the group. "what i'm asking you now is, if you don't have starclan, what are you?"

shadowsight's paws tingled. this great warrior was volunteering to risk his life for his clan. he felt a new rush of affection for [graystripe]. thunderclan was lucky to have him.

"cloverfoot can't go," [lightleap] mewed earnestly. "she's our deputy. we can't manage without her. snowbird is a great warrior, but she's nearly an elder." (comment: but graystripe is an elder)

chapter 9: bristlefrost goes to the barrier with maggottail, redwillow, and sparrowfeather. needletail is on the other side and tells them that starclan is collapsing. they make an opening big enough for needletail to get through. bristlefrost suddenly feels dizzy, and rootspring's face appears to her, telling her that ashfur is coming (?). ashfur comes to them, with the spirit cats, including stemleaf, willowshine, and spiresight, under his control.

chapter 10: rootspring is still imprisoned. the voice in rootspring's head tells him to say more spooky shit, which freaks out darkstripe. the voice reveals itself to be firestar and asks to take over rootspring's body (?). rootspring lets him, and firestar kills darkstripe, scaring off all of rootspring's guards, except silverhawk. rootspring comes back to hismelf, and he and silverhawk go to find bristlefrost.

chapter 11: ashfur makes the spirit cats attack needletail. bristlefrost attacks ashfur to break his concentration. maggottail, sparrowfeather, and redwillow join bristlefrost, but ashfur takes control of the spirit cats, so they have to run away. redwillow falls in some water and dies, then needletail calls them up into a tree. they capture berrynose, stemleaf, and willowshine, holding them in place until ashfur is out of range, freeing them. they climb out of the tree, and rootspring and silverhawk join them.

irritating moments:

"firestar's with us?" needletail was pawing the ground. "i think so," rootspring told her. needletail whisked her tail happiily. "then we've got nothing to worry about."

chapter 12: shadowsight escorts lightleap to the moonpool, but she can't let the sisters' singing into her thoughts, so shadowsight takes her place in the patrol, and they go to the dark forest.

irritating moments:

"every one of us is risking our lives," [mistystar] told them. "and our future in starclan. but if we fail, our clans will lose more. that's why they are sending us on this mission. why else would thunderclan even think of risking an elder as loved and valued as graystripe?" she dipped her head respectfully to the gray tom, and he dipped his in return. then she turned her gaze to crowfeather. "as deputy of windclan, you've proved your worth over and over again."

"you're the youngest volunteer," [mistystar] mewed. lightleap glanced at her paws self-consciously. "which means you're risking more than any of us. you have many moons as a warrior ahead of you. you may yet decide to take a mate and have kits. it isn't just your future in starclan that you are risking, but your future beside the lake."

squirrelflight lifted her muzzle. "i'll go." "no." tree lifted his muzzle. "bramblestar will never forgive us if we let you go." (comment: i do actually agree with keeping squirrelflight safe once she's escaped ashfur, but this sentence made me cringe)

chapter 13: bristlefrost, rootspring, needletail, maggottail, sparrowfeather, silverhawk, berrynose, stemleaf, and willowshine go to the starclan barrier. many starclan cats as well as juniperclaw join them. the spirit cats sense ashfur coming, but they decide to stay and just resist ashfur's control (?). someone approaches, and firestar attacks them.

chapter 14: graystripe is attacked by firestar, but each realizes who the other is, and the two patrols merge. shadowsight tries to use his connection to reach out to ashfur, but sees himself, and something in his vision attacks him.

chapter 15: bristlefrost sees shadowsight cry out and fall unconscious, but he wakes up, so the patrol keeps going. they come across a river, and bristlefrost pulls down a tree so they can cross. they stumble across ashfur talking to himself in a clearing, and darktail emerges with a horde of rogues, who attack the patrol (?).

irritating moments:

[firestar] seemed so certain and unafraid. how could [bristlefrost] give up hope when firestar was with them?

chapter 16: rootspring tells shadowsight to climb a tree and focues on the fight. he throws a rogue into the water, which is eating up the battlefield. eventually needletail and violetshine kill darktail, and the rogues flee.

chapter 17: shadowsight feels useless up in a tree, but at least the rogues are gone! the rogues are herded back into the fight by mapleshade and thistleclaw. shadowsight falls out of the tree, and a rogue attacks him, but bristlefrost saves him and tells him to run. he passes out. ashfur comes to him in his mind and tells him he's dying, and asks him to join him. shadowsight refuses, so ashfur tells him he's pathetic and nobody likes him.

chapter 18: bristlefrost sees that ashfur is about to throw shadowsight in the water. she knocks ashfur into the water and falls in with him. in her last moments, she imagines a future with rootspring.

chapter 19: with ashfur dead, the battle breaks up and the water recedes. rootspring mourns bristlefrost.

chapter 20: shadowsight wakes up from his ashfur-vision and realizes bristlefrost is missing. as the patrol heads to starclan, shadowsight spirals, but juniperclaw grounds him. leafpool tells shadowsight that his connection with starclan is gone.

irritating moments:

"do you think i'm disloyal after i've fought so hard to save the clans?" [rootspring] asked. violetshine bristled. "of course not! no one does!" murmurs of agreement spread among the others. "and yet i loved bristlefrost. rootspring's through tightened, his voice growing husky as he went on. "i tried not to love her. i knew i'd be betraying my clan. i tried reasoning with myself, but it was impossible. when we got home, i was going to join thunderclan to be with her." …mistystar looked at rootspring, her eyes glistening. "i know how much it hurts to lose a cat you love," she mewed softly. "and i would never accuse you of disloyalty. but if we allow cats from different clans to become mates and have kits, it'll undermine every clan."

chapter 21: the patrol enters starclan, and rootspring watches the patrol reunite with lost loved ones. there is an argument over who deserves to be let into starclan, and whether someone deserves a second chance if they break the warrior code, and whether the code should be changed. graystripe reveals that he was mortally wounded in the battle.

chapter 22: the patrol goes through the moonpool, reentering the living world, and tell the others what happened. graystripe finally dies.

chapter 23: the next day, shadowsight and the healers meet at the moonpool. shadowsight tells the others that he can't share with starclan, and everyone apologizes to him, even though there was no buildup to it at all.

[shadowsight] blinked at her. "but you were so angry with me for bringing ashfur back." mothwing sniffed. "i had to be angry with some cat," she mewed. "i'm sorry i was so hard on you. i was grieving for my place in riverclan and needed some cat to blame. and i suppose, in some way, you represented my worst fear- that living cats would go against their own instincts to follow the dangerous instructions of some long-dead cat."

"mothwing gets along fine without sharing with starclan." [jayfeather] turned his blind gaze on mothwing, with just a touch of apology in his expression. i suppose he's sorry for revealing her secret to a whole gathering, shadowsight mused as the thunderclan cat went on. (comment: jayfeather's relationship with mothwing changes as the plot requires, but i choose to believe that they settled their differences in oots)

chapter 24: the clans have a gathering, and bramblestar summarizes the events of the arc. there is an argument about cats from different clans becoming mates, but rootspring speaks out. many cats stay after the gathering for a vigil. spotfur, ivypool, and fernsong ask rootspring to make their lost loved ones appear. he can't, but he realizes that bristlefrost will always be with him.

had [the clans] forgotten how easily they'd turned on each other and how far they'd gone in driving out codebreakers under ashfur's command? not to mention the warriors who'd insisted that the real bramblestar was gone and that they should kill ashfur even though it risked leaving bramblestar's spirit with no body to return to. bramblestar must know this. he'd watched the clans as a ghost. rootspring felt a new rush of respect for the thunderclan leader. he was being generous with his speech.

[rootspring] forced himself to go on. "would any of you question my loyalty?" kitescratch blinked at him. "of course not." "you're one of the lights in the mist," shimmerpelt called. "and yet i was willing to leave my clan for a cat i'd fallen deeply in love with," he mewed. kitescratch stiffened, surprise rippling through his fur. around the clearing, rootspring heard gasps. "leave his clan?" "who was he in love with?" (comment: who the fuck do they think he was in a half-clan relationship with? surely not that thunderclan girl who all of the clans have teased him about liking since he was a new apprentice)

part 2: my thoughts

verdict: i hate this book

to nobody's surprise, the theme of redemption was handled poorly

most of the book consists of characters telling each other to run and running away and splitting up and being recaptured and jumping in to distract ashfur and running away again

there's the way starclan and the dark forest and the spirit world work, and how none of it is explained, but at the same time all of it is overexplained, if that make sense. the worldbuilding is just incredibly unsatisfying, like the authors pulled it out of their ass

small pet peeve, but the dark forest intensifies the cats' feelings of fear and anger, and every time they realize it and they think, "oh no... the dark forest is getting to me... but i won't let it change who i am!" and it's kind of annoying

i hate that the barrier can be broken down by thinking positively, and i hate that a patrol is sent to the dark forest, and i hate the cats that were chosen for the patrol

what does the patrol actually accomplish? i just read the book and i can't remember

lightleap's rejection is a very transparent attempt to add tension and still get our third pov character in the dark forest, but this adds nothing to lightleap's character since her plot gets dropped in asc, so this scene is stupid

speaking of putting shadowsight in the dark forest, why is he there? when ivypool, tigerheartstar, et al talked about the dark forest, shadowsight argues that the dark forest has changed since they trained there, and he should join the patrol because he is the most familiar with the dark forest in its present state

but everything he knows about the dark forest, the others can quickly figure out

instead, shadowsight spends his time in the dark forest feeling useless, since he's injured and lacks battle training, and the worst part is he's right, because he's just constantly in danger and the others keep having to protect or rescue him

also, shadowsight and ashfur have a mental connection, but it's never used in an interesting or meaningful way

and i can't take the connection seriously, because the explanation for it is basically "we're not so different, you and i", except ashfur is cartoonishly evil, and little has been done to establish their similarities

but it's not just shadowsight! none of the characters do anything! if bristlefrost had drowned herself and ashfur at the end of the last book, we wouldn't be missing out on anything. in fact, she would've saved me from 200 pages of this nonsense

tldr: sure, this book was built on shaky foundations (the abysmal pacing of the previous four books), but it didn't even try.

part 2.5: my ending

i have an alternative end in mind, but i need to establish some things first:

antagonists: ashfur doesn't have some grand scheme, he's much more of an opportunist. bramblestar is controlling and manipulative in his own right.

the connection: shadowkit has a strong connection to starclan, as shown by his prophetic dreams (which are implied to have been ashfur? we're getting rid of that). when shadowpaw is an apprenticed, ashfur co-opts this connection for his own use.

rootspring's powers: keep his ability to see ghosts, since him seeing bramblestar's ghost is pretty important to the plot. but we're getting rid of his ability to feel things through the land, since he uses it like three times, and it's not worth the bullshittery.

bristlefrost: she starts off similar to ashfur. self-absorbed, broody, obsessed with someone who doesn't return her feelings. like shadowsight, she was manipulated by ashfur, but i want her to be messy. perhaps, unlike shadowsight, she enacted ashfur's will voluntarily. enthusiastically. she was loyal to the imposter because she believed what he preached, and she didn't care who it hurt... until it hurt her family. her arc could be about learning to care about issues that don't affect her, because they affect other people.

shadowsight's warrior training: there's a few scenes where shadowsight, feeling lonely and ostracized, joins his sisters on warrior patrols. this subplot doesn't go anywhere, but i'm making full use of it. shadowsight actually learns from these excursions, and develops stronger fighting skills, which he'll use to defend himself in the dark forest.

bramblestar and squirrelflight: it feels like squirrelflight is robbed of a climactic ending. again, i agree that sending squirrelflight back into the dark forest after she escapes is a stupid risk, but since bramblestar and squirrelflight escape in book 5, we lose those stakes in book 6. so i would keep them in the dark forest for longer, they don't get to escape until the final battle.

okay! we have the ingredients, so here's how i would end tbc:

i think the final battle in the dark forest should have been shadowsight, bristlefrost, and rootspring. just the three of them, no stupid patrol. they swear to end this.

shadowsight wants to save bramblestar, since he feels guilty for killing him. what kind of healer kills? bristlefrost wants to take ashfur down for encouraging her flaws and leading her down the wrong path. i think rootspring would compliment them nicely as a neutral force. it would be nice to rescue that ghost that pestered him for a few months, but it's more important to save themselves.

so they travel through the dark forest, searching for ashfur, and i would give all three of them get moments to shine, moments to show off their skills and growth. i'm running out of steam again so i'm not going to come up with specific examples. maybe shadowsight uses his connection to track ashfur and his new training to protect his friends. rootspring's power could actually be relevant, maybe he can do something with the spirit cats in the dark forest. maybe he can free them from ashfur's control. idk. bristlefrost is shown in the books to be impulsive but quick-witted under pressure. the point is, there's potential here.

the three find ashfur and his prisoners. after a long battle, they free squirrelflight and bramblestar, and to not deviate too far from canon, bristlefrost dies killing ashfur. he tries the "we're not so different" spiel first, appealing to the character she starts off as, but she's learned and grown and she won't let him get to her. in his last moment, ashfur severs his connection, shadowsight's connection, with starclan.

rootspring and shadowsight converse with starclan before they return to the living world, and i want this to be the first hint of discontent. after everything, the starclan cats are more concerned with their precious code than with pardoning the dark forest cats who helped save them. rootspring and shadowsight argue with them, and manage to convince them that the code should be changed, and they return to the living world feeling faintly disappointed. after all, these three young adults had their lives fundamentally changed after being caught up in grudges far older than and completely unrelated to themselves.

i want an epilogue where rootspring and shadowsight sit together during a gathering, quietly watching bramblestar. they were kids the last time they saw the thunderclan leader in this place, but they're adults now. old enough to know that leaders make mistakes, like all other cats. experienced enough to recognize bramblestar's controlling tactics, to notice when he subtly demeans squirrelflight.

rootspring remembers how bramblestar's ghost followed him, demanding his help. how he couldn't sleep, eat, or train without bramblestar's voice snarling in his ear. shadowsight wonders how it took so long for thunderclan to realize there was something wrong with their leader.

now that it's over, they doubt if it was worth the price. would bristlefrost have sacrificed herself if she knew who it was for?

part 4: extra

bonus thing that pissed me off! here's every time someone mentioned being a "true warrior":

a true warrior accepted defeat and moved on. protecting their clan was more important. but ashfur had let his bitterness grow until it tainted his whole life.

how could a warrior like squirrelflight ever love a warrior like you? no wonder she chose bramblestar. he's everything you're not. he's brave and loyal. he's a true warrior in a way you could never be."

"if [snowtuft] is dead, he died a true warrior's death," [bristlefrost] murmured.

"i was with them," [shadowsight] called out as he limped from the edge of the moonpool. "i know what happened there. bramblestar and squirrelflight were true warriors! they couldn't change even if they wanted to. they would die for their clan and for each other and you know it."

"you have a chance to do something you never did in the living forest," bristlefrost pressed. "you have a chance to fight on the side of goodness and courage and loyalty. you have a last chance to be true warriors."

"if we betray starclan, we give up what it means to be true warriors." bramblestar swished his tail.

there was only one way to end this fight. the thought of it made [firestar] shudder. but he would do what he had to do. a true warrior always did- and he had never stopped being a warrior.

"don't rely on us," willowshine warned. "why not?" needletail blinked at her. "have you forgotten ashfur can control us?" willowshine mewed. berrynose's pelt ruffled self-consciously. "we'll try to fight it, but ashfur's power is strong here." "but you're true warriors," needletail insisted. "that's not enough." berrynose told her darkly.

maggottail narrowed his eyes. "why risk your place in starclan?" he mewed sourly. "i'd risk anything to save my clan," stemleaf retorted. as berrynose whisked his tail in agreement, firestar looked at maggottail. "for true warriors, the clans' future is more important than our own," he mewed.

"if you're looking for a way out of the dark forest, forget it," needletail snapped. "you won't be forgiven for what you did." "i'm not!" juniperclaw mewed quickly. "and i know. i just want to prove that i'm a true warrior despite everything. to myself and to my clan."

"i've made nothing but bad decisions. but now-" he glanced at rootspring and then bristlefrost- "i've seen what it is to be a true warrior and risk everything for others."

rootspring remembered snowtuft. the dark forest warrior had given up any future he could have in order to save living cats. didn't any cat who finally became a true warrior, no matter how long it took, deserve to be accepted?

needletail's eyes widened. "did you name her after me?" "of course after you." violetshine nudged her old friend with her nose. "my kit deserves a true warrior's name."

"we discussed with firestar and leafpool how to make the warrior code more relevant to our lives beside the lake. you will know now that starclan agreed to reorder the rules so that we know which parts of the code they value most. loyalty is at the heart of every true warrior, and a willingness to protect those weaker than themselves."

"i thought starclan believed loyalty is at the heart of a true warrior," [shimmerpelt] grunted. "what's loyal about choosing a mate from another clan?"

dovewing's tail quivered angrily. "no true warrior would even think about switching clans for a crush!"

#i'm sorry this is long or if it's too negative or if it doesn't make sense #i've been writing for like four hours and i'm not proofreading it fuck it we ball #shadowsight #bristlefrost #rootspring #warrior cats #eel text

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eelclaw · 27 days ago

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the protagonists of the broken code. who's rootspring

i am tbc's number 1 hater! negative thoughts below

shadowsight: other characters sometimes acknowledge that he was manipulated by ashfur, but the narrative puts all of the blame for the ashfur situation on him, neglecting that (a) he did exactly what he was supposed to do as a healer (obey and take messages from a starclan cat), and (b) the codebreaker hysteria was far more a product of clan culture than the actions of a single apprentice. he isn't treated like the victim that he is, and it is frustrating and not cathartic.

bristlefrost: what the hell does she even do. what does her spy arc accomplish or contribute (like mother, like daughter). she finds out that bramblestar isn't bramblestar far too early. she's so perfect and she has no flaws and she's so empty. i want her to be worse. how much more interesting would she be if she was sneaky and selfish? if she was loyal to the imposter because she truly believed in what he was saying? not to mention how she reciprocates rootspring's feelings with literally zero warning, and ceases to have what little character she'd had to begin with. i genuinely don't care that she dies, they did nothing to make her an engaging character. miss bristlefrost, i'm sorry they did you so bad.

rootspring: first rootpaw thinks he's weird because of his father. i hate this because i hate tree. later, rootpaw thinks he's weird because he can see ghosts. so they give him this "i just want to be normal" deal, and the clans suddenly pretend that ghosts are silly and not real. sure, rootspring and tree are the first clan cats with this specific power. and i get that the clans have very rigid beliefs, and they are afraid of anything that contradicts those beliefs, and that's interesting! but ghosts have been appearing to clan cats all the way back to tpb. fireheart tries to kill clawface at one point and he senses spottedleaf's spirit beside him, there to avenge her death. so rootspring's issue is stupid and he's nothingburger to me.

bramblestar: the arc really depends on me giving a shit about what happens to him. which i don't.

i think bramblestar is unintentionally a bad person and a great character. he proves himself by rejecting tigerstar, but he's still deeply insecure. he makes mistake after mistake (conspiring with tigerstar; hesitating to save firestar from the fox trap; forsaking his children after finding out they're not biologically his; using his power over squirrelflight as a warrior, deputy, and leader to control her), and for none of these mistakes is he held accountable (no thunderclan cat except leafpool learns that he plotted with tigerstar; he is allowed to remain deputy; his children think he was the best father ever; in every situation, squirrelflight seems to bear the consequences of his actions).

in other words, bramblestar gets chance after chance to redeem himself, and he keeps fucking it up. again, that's interesting! there is a story here about how difficult childhoods affect adults, and how powerful men are not held responsible for hurting people. except that's not how he's written. he's written as a completely good person, a brave and noble leader, and all of the clans respect him and they need to get him back.

there's a crazy amount of bramblestar worship in this arc. even rootspring, a brand new skyclan apprentice, thinks about how important bramblestar, the thunderclan leader, is, and how all the clans wouldn't be the same without him. i can't take it seriously.

graystripe: graystripe also got a crazy amount of worship. i couldn't stand reading every few paragraphs about how great he is.

side note: shadowsight, bristlefrost, and rootspring all want the same thing. they advocate against killing bramblestar's body. wouldn't it be more interesting if the protagonists had different perspectives and opinions? if they wanted different things? for example, it makes sense that shadowsight wouldn't want bramblestar dead. he feels like the only way to make up for his mistake is to recover bramblestar alive. but bristlefrost could be in favor of killing bramblestar, because the only way to make up for her mistake (supporting the imposter) is to get rid of him. putting our protagonists at odds would generate some interesting conflict.

conclusion: i also have problems with ashfur (why does ashfur try to stir up trouble with codebreaking which will certainly get him caught when he could just take over bramblestar's body and live quietly with squirrelflight), tigerheartstar, mothwing, starclan, the dark forest insta-death water, firestar possessing rootspring, the pacing (oh my god! they were debating whether to kill bramblestar for like three books! and for three more books they were running in circles in the dark forest!), etc. but i've already written a lot and i'm out of steam lol.

let me finish by saying these are kids books, and i'm not expecting them to be the cream of the crop, but there are a lot of writing choices which are incredibly misogynistic and/or completely baffling from a narrative standpoint. i still have a soft spot for this series though. dammit. okay bye

#shadowsight #bristlefrost #warrior cats #eel art #eel text

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