Definitely not what I had expected
Wow. This was different than what I'd normally have expected of Erin Hunter. Excellent plot twists, cliffhangers, foreshadowing, secrets revealed, captivating new secrets formed, I could go on. I was expecting a terrible series meltdown after Squirrelflight admitted that the three were not hers. However, I take this back as it went were I never knew it would. Hollyleaf was by far the most interesting character. I loved how she made Leafpool and Squirrelflight feel ashamed and humiliated with her smart retorts. Jayfeather and Lionblaze were almost as captivating, with Jayfeather determined to find out who his mother is, and Lionblaze's attitude towards Sol and Purdy. Sol. There is another strong point. Very mysterious character, and I could not put the book down while he was involved. His quiet wisdom-turned-rage should keep anyone reading.
The best part in the book, I think, is the climax. Hunter is very good at creating absorbing climaxes with exiting battles and gut-wrenching deaths and revealed secrets. I noticed this becoming less and less as 'The Power of Three' went on. It definitely ended on a good note.
However, according to Laozi, there can be no yin without yang. There were, in my opinion, four 1/2 main down parts. Two were in the literature, one and a half in the reading, and one in the ending spot choice. The two in the literature were that, at first, I felt I could stop reading for a while, as the book, in the beginning, failed to keep me interested for long. This was battled by the, if not frequent, at least occasional plot twist. If not for those, I would have not finished the book by now. The second, rather minor one, was that the scene in which Brambleclaw got mad at Squirrelflight was a bit rushed. He simply said "You lied to me so I'm mad at you," and left. I was a bit disappointed in this, as I wanted and expected a huge argument that left Squirrelflight dejected, sorry, ashamed, and hopeless. I didn't get it. The one in the reading was that unlike me, many of the readers of this series are not teenagers but young children who are not ready to deal with stressful content, such as the suicide after a deranged argument. The half was that Squirrelflight was not herself in this book. I understand that she was injured, but she had a whole book and a half in which to recover. I also understand that she would be tormented by the memory of admitting to the kits that she is not their mother. She's stronger than that. At the gathering, Hollyleaf was quite right in calling her a coward. But I digress. There was also the mistake of ending where it did. We need another book in Jayfeather and Lionblaze's perspective to patch things up.
Still, I highly recommend this book, and found it a great read.
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