#curlfeather is my fave villain now

[everybody-loves-purdy]

My thoughts on Thunder / ASC so far!

- This is my favorite arc, hands down. TPB was great too, but I wasn’t ever a big fan of Tigerclaw/star as the main villain, as I found him rather generic. Splashtail, Curlfeather, and Berryheart, on the other hand… fantastic characters, I adore how they’re written.

- Frostpaw gets spayed? Hell yeah!! Interesting plot point, and at least we now know that the Erins can no longer pull a Violetshine with her and make her into another boring stereotypical background mother after her arc is over.

- I really like the writing of Sparkpelt, Finchlight, Bayshine, and Myrtlebloom here. I’m glad Sparkpelt and Finchlight aren’t getting demonized anymore

- I’m fine with EITHER Squirrelstar *or* Ivystar. I think it’s safe to say that Squilf didn’t get all nine of her lives - it’s quite likely that Bramblestar only has a few left, so maybe she only got one or two of them? Something is fishy abt that, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Ivystar by the end of the arc. If Squilf stays leader, though, I’m cool with that too!

- Finally some acknowledgement of Sparrowtail and Hollowspring! Hollowspring has been a fave background cat of mine for a while, so him getting more development is great

- The way Sunbeam handled Cherryfall’s disrespect was very mature. I really appreciate that, after how immaturely we saw Nightheart handling his own conflicts in ThunderClan back in Sky. Very stark contrast

- The park cats! I was kind of hoping to see WarriorClan initially, but I’m glad we got them instead. I really liked Rook and Bee, was kinda hoping that one of them would be coming back with them - Wasp is a bit of an odd choice, but I digress

- I loved the tasks that Ivypool gave Sunbeam. They make sense, and are completely reasonable - and I believe that it’s leading up to Sunbeam mentoring one of Spotfur’s kits, eventually! That would be sweet

- I kinda hope that Duskfur is morally ambiguous. Perhaps in on the murders of Mistystar and Reedwhisker, but not involved in the dogs attacking Curlfeather: I believe that she genuinely seems to care for her family, and for Frostpaw, and am hoping that she gets a chance to prove herself a better cat by the end of the arc

- SO GLAD the arc’s main villain wasn’t Mapleshade. Don’t get me wrong, I really like her, I just feel that she’s already had her time to shine and that she really shouldn’t become relevant again - it could ruin her character too

- The development for all three protags has been fantastic. Nightheart has matured a lot, and I’m very glad for that - I like him, but I’m not sure how much more Sky-esque angst and whining that I would’ve been able to take.

- VOTE TIGERHEART OUT. I assumed Berryheart was going to be exiled for something atrocious, but instead it was rather for questioning his leadership? What a terrible guy.

- Fingers crossed for Tawnystar. If Tigerheart gets voted out, I’m really hoping that she steps up to fill that role - she deserves it *far* more than he ever did to begin with

- I love Whistlepaw, Her interactions with Frostpaw are adorable, and I definitely ship them!

- Glad to see Smoky, Corriander, and Little Daisy again! Wasn’t expecting that, but hearing that they’re friends of Whitlepaw’s was nice

- I’m loving this arc too! It’s been so good so far and they don’t seem to be losing momentum!

- this whole Frostpaw situation is extremely interesting, I’m just hoping the Erins don’t botch the handling of it. But I am curious as to what role it will play and why.

- I just loved seeing Sunbeam make those friends. And how at the end Finchlight says she’s like kin? I love it.

- I personally think that worse case scenario she only got 8 lives. I just feel that such a deception would just be too big and risky to try and pull off if she didn’t get many or any lives.

- Yeah I’m interested to see where this is going to go with Hollowspring and Sparrowtail. I was starting to think they had forgotten about them like they have Pouncestep but I’m glad to see they’re including them!

- Sunbeam confronting Cherryfall is one of my favourite moments of the book!

- I’m still kind of sad we didn’t see WarriorClan, maybe in a few more years perhaps. I have a suspicion Bee could end up as RiverClan’s next true medicine cat that can have visions. I feel like his vision of seeing cats across and iced river is telling him to take the risk and go and join them.

- I really love how Ivypool’s tasks were all focused on teamwork and co operation, especially since that’s what mainly sets TC and ShC apart, a really interesting detail I love they included in this book actually.

- Yeah I do think Duskfur definitely has an idea about something even if she isn’t in on the full picture, I’ve still got my eye on her.

- Yeah I’m glad it isn’t Mapleshade too, I’m glad we’ve gotten at least one new female villain in her place. Mapleshade is great but given how last arc was all about using old villains, I do like how we’re getting some flesh blood here.

- The development of the protagonists has all been fantastic this book and I actually respect Nightheart a lot now? Wild times we live in

- Yeah I thought Berryheart was going to cause someone to die but instead she just gets told she has to leave because she disagrees with her leader. I can’t help but feel like ShadowClan May heading towards civil war now. Berryheart has allies with her and vocal allies in the clan, we have no idea how many more silent allies she may have.

- Given the end of Tawnypelt’s novella I doubt we’re ever going to see Tawnystar apparently, but it’s a nice dream to have. Hopefully her son is out of power by the end of the arc at least.

- Protip: everyone get yourself someone like Whistlepaw in your life: she’s just such an incredible friend

- yeah it was a nice surprise to see them again! Mainly the kits lol