A review by chamomiledaydreams
Thunder and Shadow by Erin Hunter

3.0

By the second book in this series, I'm finally settling down into the time period and the new characters. I like Twigkit much more than I expected, and Alderpaw, too. My biggest complaint centers around the conflict. Although I enjoy the drama going on with ShadowClan, I find it difficult to imagine how they got to such a point in the first place. For example, when the apprentices turn against the older warriors, I enjoyed the scene, because I felt anxiety for the older cats and sympathized with the younger cats' impatience and desire for a change in their Clan. However, repeated references to how ShadowClan casually breaks the warrior code and how the apprentices are unruly and often misbehave gave me pause. Is ShadowClan really that lax with its own cats? Is this an attempt to give ShadowClan a distinctive culture apart from ThunderClan, even if that culture is essentially rule-breaking and being subversive? (I feel similarly about Violetkit's story-line. I wish she weren't in such terrible and avoidable circumstances, but as things stand, I can understand how she is being tugged from one Clan to the next, desperate to find someone who won't abandon her. Her plot-line definitely tugs on my heart strings quite a bit.)