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A review by cassidylynnereads
Crowfeather's Trial by Erin Hunter
2.0
This review is now live on my Tumblr blog! Go check out the likable/rebloggable version of this review here: https://cassidylynnewrites.tumblr.com/post/186635456241/reader-review-of-crowfeathers-trial-by-erin
Don’t take the two star rating the wrong way; I didn’t think this book was horrible. If anything, it was mediocre. The whole plot just felt so unnecessary to me. I read on the Wiki that the Erins considered writing a novella based on Crowfeather, but in the end they couldn’t think of a story about them that hadn’t already been told. I’m not sure how they went from that assessment to deciding he needed an entire Super Edition with a contrived plot, but I feel like it would’ve been better had they stuck to the novella idea.
I think the reason the Erins likely expanded Crowfeather’s story from a novella to a Super Edition was because a novella might be too short for a new, strong bond of love to be formed between father and son. But at the pace the bond formed in this book, I’d say a novella would’ve done just fine. All it would’ve taken for Crowfeather to learn to accept Breezepelt was the message from Ashfoot and his defense of Lionblaze in the battle with the stoats, all of which could’ve been explored in a shorter format without dragging the plot out so long. Even his reunion and new friendship with Nightcloud took about a page or two to develop once the Erins decided to stop dragging it out.
Really, that’s mostly what this book’s plot was. Dragged out and forced. It’s supposed to be set after the Great Battle, but I think the book came too late for that to be an effective timeline. How are we supposed to believe that the entire battle with the stoats and Onestar’s new respect for Bramblestar actually happened when they were never even mentioned in the main series? Or has it been so long that I forgot these details being mentioned in the main plot? Because I don’t remember any of this seeming to have happened except in this book, when it was necessary to make up a plot out of thin air. The other major facet of this book was Nightcloud being lost, but it was pretty quickly decided that she’d died, only for Crowfeather to realize she hadn’t chapters later. Even though her supposed death was believed for so long, it only took a few short pages for her to be rescued. It really felt like nothing was at stake because of how long she was believed dead and how quickly she was rescued after the truth came out.
Aside from the pacing being all over the place, a lot of the cats in this book were also extremely irritating. Onestar was a total dunce, and yeah he was always a jerk in the main series (at least after he’d been made leader), but he was even more infuriating in this book. He’s rash, impulsive, and repeatedly put his Clan in danger for the sake of his pride, all the while yelling at Crowfeather to put his Clan first. Crowfeather is whiny, indecisive, and as I saw another reviewer mention, repeated the phrase “bees in their brain” at least fifty times. Harespring was too passive to be a proper deputy. Nightcloud was made out to be an amazingly brave, strong, loyal warrior, but her only role in the book was as a damsel in distress that Crowfeather needed to rescue. Breezepelt was reckless, albeit not as annoying as he was in the main series. Bumblestripe seemed uncharacteristically hostile. And Berrynose was just typical annoying Berrynose.
The one thing I did like about this book was the new side of Breezepelt that we got to see. It’s hard to judge a WindClan cat when the books usually only give us the perspective of ThunderClan warriors. Even though this was Crowfeather’s Super Edition, I feel the real Star was Breezepelt. He was a grieving son, a loyal warrior trying to prove himself to hostile Clanmates, and a gentle soul with love interest Heathertail. Even though he was reckless and did stupid things that could’ve easily been avoided, I understood Breezepelt’s anger for the first time and saw him as something more than an annoyance. Yeah he may be a bit emo, but no wonder he was so bitter with a father who acted like he hated him and a Clan who wished he was dead.
Maybe my criticism that this should’ve been a novella is inaccurate. Maybe instead I would’ve liked this book more had it been told through the perspective of Breezepelt. And I never thought the day would come when I’d say that about a character I was never fond of.
Don’t take the two star rating the wrong way; I didn’t think this book was horrible. If anything, it was mediocre. The whole plot just felt so unnecessary to me. I read on the Wiki that the Erins considered writing a novella based on Crowfeather, but in the end they couldn’t think of a story about them that hadn’t already been told. I’m not sure how they went from that assessment to deciding he needed an entire Super Edition with a contrived plot, but I feel like it would’ve been better had they stuck to the novella idea.
I think the reason the Erins likely expanded Crowfeather’s story from a novella to a Super Edition was because a novella might be too short for a new, strong bond of love to be formed between father and son. But at the pace the bond formed in this book, I’d say a novella would’ve done just fine. All it would’ve taken for Crowfeather to learn to accept Breezepelt was the message from Ashfoot and his defense of Lionblaze in the battle with the stoats, all of which could’ve been explored in a shorter format without dragging the plot out so long. Even his reunion and new friendship with Nightcloud took about a page or two to develop once the Erins decided to stop dragging it out.
Really, that’s mostly what this book’s plot was. Dragged out and forced. It’s supposed to be set after the Great Battle, but I think the book came too late for that to be an effective timeline. How are we supposed to believe that the entire battle with the stoats and Onestar’s new respect for Bramblestar actually happened when they were never even mentioned in the main series? Or has it been so long that I forgot these details being mentioned in the main plot? Because I don’t remember any of this seeming to have happened except in this book, when it was necessary to make up a plot out of thin air. The other major facet of this book was Nightcloud being lost, but it was pretty quickly decided that she’d died, only for Crowfeather to realize she hadn’t chapters later. Even though her supposed death was believed for so long, it only took a few short pages for her to be rescued. It really felt like nothing was at stake because of how long she was believed dead and how quickly she was rescued after the truth came out.
Aside from the pacing being all over the place, a lot of the cats in this book were also extremely irritating. Onestar was a total dunce, and yeah he was always a jerk in the main series (at least after he’d been made leader), but he was even more infuriating in this book. He’s rash, impulsive, and repeatedly put his Clan in danger for the sake of his pride, all the while yelling at Crowfeather to put his Clan first. Crowfeather is whiny, indecisive, and as I saw another reviewer mention, repeated the phrase “bees in their brain” at least fifty times. Harespring was too passive to be a proper deputy. Nightcloud was made out to be an amazingly brave, strong, loyal warrior, but her only role in the book was as a damsel in distress that Crowfeather needed to rescue. Breezepelt was reckless, albeit not as annoying as he was in the main series. Bumblestripe seemed uncharacteristically hostile. And Berrynose was just typical annoying Berrynose.
The one thing I did like about this book was the new side of Breezepelt that we got to see. It’s hard to judge a WindClan cat when the books usually only give us the perspective of ThunderClan warriors. Even though this was Crowfeather’s Super Edition, I feel the real Star was Breezepelt. He was a grieving son, a loyal warrior trying to prove himself to hostile Clanmates, and a gentle soul with love interest Heathertail. Even though he was reckless and did stupid things that could’ve easily been avoided, I understood Breezepelt’s anger for the first time and saw him as something more than an annoyance. Yeah he may be a bit emo, but no wonder he was so bitter with a father who acted like he hated him and a Clan who wished he was dead.
Maybe my criticism that this should’ve been a novella is inaccurate. Maybe instead I would’ve liked this book more had it been told through the perspective of Breezepelt. And I never thought the day would come when I’d say that about a character I was never fond of.