This series continues after the cliffhanger in Power of Three, but unfortunately lacks the big twists and willingness to break the status quo the previous series had.

You see, since Hollyleaf’s death leaves questions of who the real third cat of destiny is, it is quickly answered to be Dovepaw. Her journey is sort of a rehash of the original trio’s. First in denial and wanting to be normal before embracing the power and getting too ahead of herself before balancing her destiny with real life non-prophecy skills. Her sister, Ivypaw, takes Lionblaze’s rolle as the ‘darker’ cat whose jealousy of Dovepaw leads her to take Tigerstar’s advice so she can be a better fighter even though she has no power.

Lionblaze’s and Jayfeather’s storylines are contiuations of their previous arcs with being battle-worthy and a good-healer respectively aong with the usual who’s my real parent, and love tribulations.

I say this one felt like a step back in not only repeating the arc through Ivypaw and Dovepaw but it went back to the more black and white, good vs evil storytelling. There was no pushing the boundaries through the character’s actions as it felt clear who the real bad guy was. Same with the spiritual lore of the Starclan. Previously, Sol had made the cats really question Starclan’s purpose as a guide to the Clans and really made cats doubt the faith. Hunter tries to do this again, but it lacked tension.

Then you add cats returning from the dead and the retread of Tigerstar being the big bad, it felt like the series was drawn out too long. I mean, there were some big surprise twist moments but it mainly dragged.

Now to the rankings.

1. Fading Echoes: Feeling left behind by her sister’s glorious new future that she falls prey to Tigerstar, and his manipulations in wanting to become a stronger, better fighter, and she’s so certain that she can help the clan that she iadvertedly encourages the clan to invade Shadowclan territory in a hurt them first method that goes disasterously wrong. Meanwhile Lionblaze is dealing with mentoring an impatient Dovepaw and Jayfeather focuses on a new sickness plaguing the cats and whether his responsibilities should cater to Thunderclan first or without bias. This is the one that really felt like it was pushing the boundaries, and it was only the second book of the set so I was interested in the aftermath.
2. Night Whispers: Reeling after the previous novel’s event, the sisters are at war with Ivypaw saying Dovepaw is jealous of how much better she is getting. Even though Dovepaw is obviously right that Tigerstar’s influence is never a good thing and her loyalty may be considered compromised, you can understand Ivypaw’s feelings. Meanwhile, Jaypaw deals with what happens when you can’t save everyone like in the case of the paralyzed Briarlight and Lionblaze gets closer to realizing the dire threat the Dark Forest to all if the clans The final battle and Flametail’s death only fuels the fire. Interclan drama is always the best mixed with family angst so this gets second.
3. The Forgotten Warrior: Introduces the return of Hollyleaf which provides excellent personal and clan conflict over whether or not to accept her and whether she can be redeemed for her mistakes. I know, I complained a bit of the whole character back from the dead but I liked how Hunter utilized the situation as a parallel to Ivypool who goes further into her role as a spy and wonders if she’ll really have to betray her clan. It also gives insight to why other cats would join the Dark Forest, out of malice or out of mistreatment, guilt and jealousy like Blossomfall to her sister, Briarlight. Unfortunately with the return of Hollyleaf comes the return of Sol which ugh, this cat again, manipulating the Windclan to do his dirty work and turn the clans against Tigerstar with his version of the truth that feels remiscent of what we’d call today, alternative facts. It’s getting annoying that no one can stay dead on the villain side.
4. The Last Hope: The final battle brings things back to the status quo in terms of good winning over evil. But I found the fourth apprentice thing pulled out of thin air after eleven books focusing on a trio, and undermines Ivypool’s arc of being okay with not being chosen like Dovewing. Also again, with the final battle between Tigerstar and Firestar, can the former one stay dead! Surprisingly, Firestar is officially dead, transferring leadership to Bramblestar. It really is a whole new generation.
5. The Fourth Apprentice: Felt a bit of a repeat with Dovekit being in denial of her new important role as the third one in the prophacy, wanting to be normal but soon learning to hone her powers in case of the beaver dam that has been causing scarcity of fish for the Riverclan and others. So, yeah, put it in the bottom.
6. Sign of the Moon: Returning back to the Tribe always feels like a detour from the main event. Yes, it usually relates to the greater arc where it is revealed even Starclan is unsure of what the prophecy is for, means, the consequences etc. It has spiritual significance for Jayfeather and Lionblaze as they consider the fate of their fallen sister, it was less interesting compared to the other books in the set