Reviews with content warning for Grief - Forest of Secrets

my favourite thing is that outside of the whole brokentail thing, there's no reason why the clans hate each other; they're literally hostile just to be hostile. like they're civil (and kind of even friends) during the gatherings and they all follow the same rules so there's no point to the hatred lol

fireheart and graystripe are honestly unnecessarily mean to each other??? like yea graystripe probably shouldn't be sneaking off and leaving his apprentice, but fireheart is just straight up mean to him while also immediately forgiving him over everything?? like

when brackenpaw got promoted to a warrior, graystripe was right in saying fireheart should be the one to tell bluestar cause graystripe didn't do his job, but fireheart is like "oh no youre his mentor you should do it"??? brackenfur basically had fireheart as his mentor his whole apprenticeship and graystripe wasn't even at that battle

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a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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rokinjaguar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyable and well done, but I was annoyed a little with the choices some of the characters made. Still, it was super easy to get through and I'm excited for the next book!

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samdalefox's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I enjoyed this installment more than the second one. I like that the book picks up exactly from where it was left previously. Forest of Secrets had lots more character development and side plots and it finally wrapped up the major ongoing storyline from the first book

of Tigerclaw being a traitor

. As usual the storyline is adventurous and moves quickly, there a useful recaps of what has happened previously in the saga (very useful for children and forgetful adults reading at a slower pace). Some new themes introduced or expanded upon in this book:

"There's more to being a warrior than killing", ideas of hierachy, respect for others, lenience, selflessness
Warning against blind loyalty to authority or a leader (shown via Tigerclaw and his favourite warriors)
Ideas of engaging in mutal aid during day-to-day (elders) and crises (the flooding of riverclan territory)
Teaching kids not to eat unknown berries outside - they could be poisonous!
Disability ethics and realities in the wild, e.g. Cinderpaw's usefulness to the clan with her physical disability, the perceived earned retirement of the elders through their usefulness as warriors or Queens [child rearing]
The arbitrariness, emotions, and reasons linked to blood relations vs chosen relations (shown through Cloudkit, Fireheart, Yellowfang, Bluestar and her children) - My only frustration at the book here is the lack of recognition that in the wild intermingling would be encouraged to diversify the gene pool.
Ideas of human interference and disturbance of nature, e.g. the pollution of the river, the danger to life the thunderpath (roads) are without animal-friendly infrastructure facilitating crossing, climate change caused by human activity impacting the wildlife.

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anne311's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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roryroams's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I want nothing more than to give this book 5 stars. I love Forest of Secrets so much. I'd argue that the ending is more satisfying than the end to the entire arc, and that's saying something.

Let's get right into it.
[See my review of Into the Wild for my thoughts on the writing style and biases toward this series.]

PLOT

Forest of Secrets wraps up the first half of the first series very well. It takes all the questions we have from Into the Wild and Fire and Ice, and wraps them up in a nice bow with a note saying "Good luck."

Following the events of the last book, Fireheart is even more sure that Tigerclaw must be stopped. On top of that, Graystripe's divided loyalties cause both of them trouble. I really wish I could go into why this book is so good, but to do so would be to spoil major plot points. Please read it.

What I forgot upon starting Forest of Secrets is that it shares the same problems as Fire and Ice for the beginning chapters, and that can't be excused. However, once you get to the last third of the book, every chapter is amazing. I'm not kidding when I say that the climax of Forest of Secrets is amazing. It's so satisfying, and by far makes up for Fire and Ice lacked.

CHARACTERS

I won't bring up Fireheart again until there's things to say about him. He was just same old Fireheart.

We really see Sandstorm start to warm up. We saw hints of it in Fire and Ice, but here it's easy to forget her hostility from previous books. There are glimpses of the character she's yet to become.

Ahhh Graystripe. There is so much to say, but to say any of it would be a massive spoiler. Every reread, I change my mind about how I feel about his arc. This time I was relatively indifferent towards his relationship with Silverstream, but that is subject to change.

Now, this is gonna come out of left field, especially if you're familiar with the books already, but we get some interesting moments with Tigerclaw. Keep an eye out for moments of softness from him.

And finally, I legally have to mention Brackenpaw. If you've read any of my reviews ever, you'd know that I cannot read a book without growing attached to a side character (whether that be someone close to the main character, or someone who's borderline a background character). We had the tiniest amount of character development, so I justified bringing him up again.

EMOTIONS

My God, this is an intense read. Even knowing what was gonna happen, I couldn't put it down. Those last few chapters are packed with so much tension, it's almost overwhelming. I love it. We also get the first death in this series that is really supposed to hurt us. Trust me, art of the scene in question is hard to avoid if you end up in the fandom.

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