My Opinions on Crowfeather's Trial (SPOILERS, obviously)
Sept 4, 2018 12:19:05 GMT -5
❅Maplefrost❅, Sundance, and 1 more like this
Post by briarfrost on Sept 4, 2018 12:19:05 GMT -5
So I got the book on Kindle today, and...yeah, I liked it. It was better than I expected, honestly. There were some parts I think could have been done better, but a lot of stuff I was afraid of didn't happen, and stuff I wanted to see happen but thought wouldn't, did. The good outweighs the bad in my opinion, so to start:
- Nightcloud gets a great portrayal here. She's well-respected not just among her Clan, but among the other Clans as well. She's given a reason for her overprotectiveness and is shown to grow out of it a bit, at the end, when she agrees to let Heathertail watch over the injured Breezepelt instead of getting mad. We also get to see more of her depths, like how she's kind to a kittypet or actually considered staying with the Twolegs who took care of her because they adored her wholeheartedly--something she felt she didn't get from Crowfeather.
- Speaking of, she and Crowfeather don't become mates again. I was pretty worried that'd happen, and there were signs that could possibly have indicated it, but they don't. They agree to be friends who respect each other and that's great.
- Speaking of Crowfeather, I really liked his POV. Or I guess the development. It starts off angry and prickly and jerkish, and at first a lot of his throwing the blame is hard to read. But he comes around to acknowledge his flaws and takes steps to apologize--to Breezepelt, to Nightcloud, and even to Lionblaze and Jayfeather! And you know what? Not all of his relationships with them are mended--Breeze and Night's are, Lion is amicable but doesn't want to have a father-son relationship with him, and Jay is angry and doesn't forgive them. And he isn't shown as wrong for it! And Crow accepts their decisions! It's just---realistic and nice to see that not all your broken relationships can be fixed, but you can still apologize for them. I wasn't expecting it.
- You know what else I wasn't expecting? Breeze apologizing to Lion and saving his life in the battle with the stoats. That's a good mark for redemption. There are some problems I have with it (which I'll get to later), but there are good parts. He admits that he never should have listened to the Dark Forest and that his loyalty should be with the Clan--good! He volunteers for dangerous missions and does, overall, work harder--good! He goes through a lot of suffering--excellent. It's not Hollyleaf's redemption (which is a gold standard that I doubt the Erins will ever match again), but it's a lot better than I was afraid of.
- The Crowfeather/Ashfoot dream sequences were great. They're just great, some good development for Crow (like when he admits he doesn't want to love because it just gets him hurt, that made me feel bad for him) and Ashfoot's relationship with him is touching. And a Feathertail cameo was nice!
- There are a lot of good mother-son moments between Breeze and Nightcloud. Like, they really show how much he loves his mom, and how much she loves him. And I think that relationship played the best part in his arc--his fury when he thinks she's killed by the stoats, his hollow realization that killing them meant nothing because she's still dead, his grief as he tries to come to terms with it, and his desperate hope when he thinks she might still be alive, are a good ride.
- He also gets a lot of cute moments with Heathertail. If you don't like them as a couple this would probably be a con for you, but I was hoping to see more of them and they're just cute. Frankly, his relationships with her and Night are where his best traits comes out. It's also really nice that Heather found love again instead of pinning over Lion forever.
- Actually, I just really like Heathertail in this book. We haven't seen much of her since PoT, and it was usually her being mad at Lion. Getting to see that she's still a funny, kind, and clever cat is nice.
- Honestly, she wasn't the only side character getting screentime. Harespring, Kestrelflight, and surprisingly Gorsetail got some too. I liked seeing them all, especially the first two and their relationships with Crowfeather. Also, the apprentices; Hootpaw and Featherpaw are adorable.
- Crow gets a lot of funny lines. There's one where he and Harespring are heading to ThunderClan to ask for help, and he remarks that ThudnerClan would never pass up the chance to stick their noses in other cats' business. I got a good chuckle out of that.
- Jayfeather gets an amazing speech that I'm not going to spoil. It's tied back to him not forgiving Crow and Breeze and I love it.
- And of course, I can't leave it off without talking about the Crow-Breeze relationship. Honestly? I liked the development. I like that there were stumbles, moments where it seemed things were improving only for one of them to put their paw in their mouth. I like that Crow had memories of looking after Breeze as a kit, that he wasn't always a horrible father. I like the time he realizes he barely remembers Breezepaw getting injured because he thought Nightcloud was overreacting. I like that he recognizes his own failures as a father, and tries to make up for it.
So, what didn't I like?
- holy smokes Onestar is a huge jerk. Like yeah, this is Onestar, that's expected, but he's unreasonably a jerk. A jerk to the point it puts his own Clan in danger. He has a couple moments of being a good leader (I liked his punishment for Weaselfur), but for the most part he just comes off as incompetent. The story tries to portray Crow as equally in the wrong at points, and I do think he made mistakes...but not the to extent Onestar did.
- There's a sense the narrative is a little too much on Breeze's side, during his redemption arc. I don't mean his Clan talking bad about him while he atones--that's part of the suffering process, he very much deserves it--but there is a little too much leeway given for his actions. They're not completely brushed over (like I said, he apologizes to Lion and saves his life) and he's not forgiven by everyone (Jay is still furious with him, and he's not portrayed as in the wrong for it, to say nothing about how not everyone in his Clan is okay with him) but there's still a kind of...a shifting away of his accountability for his crimes. That's how I can best describe it.
- Some cats I thought would die, to explain their missing presence in AVoS, didn't. That's a bit of a wasted opportunity, and it weakened the stoats' presentation as an actual threat--I did buy they were a danger in battle, but they didn't feel like something that would absolutely destroy all the Clans because no one actually died to them.
There are, of course, a couple Warriors-esque mistakes, like thinking the Great Battle happened in the Dark Forest, or Breeze and Heather apparently expecting kits at the end of the book despite Heather not being listed as a queen in Bramblestar's Storm (I think, I might be wrong), but nothing as huge as Beetlewhisker being alive (he stays dead!). I've come to expect this kind of thing, so they didn't detract from my enjoyment.
And honestly? Yeah, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It wasn't perfect when it came to Breeze, but I bought his redemption, and it handled the Crow-Night-Breeze family drama a lot better than I thought it would. Everything worked out in a way I was satisfied and happy with, without being "perfectly happy because Crow and Breeze are sorry" (casual reminder that I LOVE Jayfeather's speech).
- Speaking of, she and Crowfeather don't become mates again. I was pretty worried that'd happen, and there were signs that could possibly have indicated it, but they don't. They agree to be friends who respect each other and that's great.
- Speaking of Crowfeather, I really liked his POV. Or I guess the development. It starts off angry and prickly and jerkish, and at first a lot of his throwing the blame is hard to read. But he comes around to acknowledge his flaws and takes steps to apologize--to Breezepelt, to Nightcloud, and even to Lionblaze and Jayfeather! And you know what? Not all of his relationships with them are mended--Breeze and Night's are, Lion is amicable but doesn't want to have a father-son relationship with him, and Jay is angry and doesn't forgive them. And he isn't shown as wrong for it! And Crow accepts their decisions! It's just---realistic and nice to see that not all your broken relationships can be fixed, but you can still apologize for them. I wasn't expecting it.
- You know what else I wasn't expecting? Breeze apologizing to Lion and saving his life in the battle with the stoats. That's a good mark for redemption. There are some problems I have with it (which I'll get to later), but there are good parts. He admits that he never should have listened to the Dark Forest and that his loyalty should be with the Clan--good! He volunteers for dangerous missions and does, overall, work harder--good! He goes through a lot of suffering--excellent. It's not Hollyleaf's redemption (which is a gold standard that I doubt the Erins will ever match again), but it's a lot better than I was afraid of.
- The Crowfeather/Ashfoot dream sequences were great. They're just great, some good development for Crow (like when he admits he doesn't want to love because it just gets him hurt, that made me feel bad for him) and Ashfoot's relationship with him is touching. And a Feathertail cameo was nice!
- There are a lot of good mother-son moments between Breeze and Nightcloud. Like, they really show how much he loves his mom, and how much she loves him. And I think that relationship played the best part in his arc--his fury when he thinks she's killed by the stoats, his hollow realization that killing them meant nothing because she's still dead, his grief as he tries to come to terms with it, and his desperate hope when he thinks she might still be alive, are a good ride.
- He also gets a lot of cute moments with Heathertail. If you don't like them as a couple this would probably be a con for you, but I was hoping to see more of them and they're just cute. Frankly, his relationships with her and Night are where his best traits comes out. It's also really nice that Heather found love again instead of pinning over Lion forever.
- Actually, I just really like Heathertail in this book. We haven't seen much of her since PoT, and it was usually her being mad at Lion. Getting to see that she's still a funny, kind, and clever cat is nice.
- Honestly, she wasn't the only side character getting screentime. Harespring, Kestrelflight, and surprisingly Gorsetail got some too. I liked seeing them all, especially the first two and their relationships with Crowfeather. Also, the apprentices; Hootpaw and Featherpaw are adorable.
- Crow gets a lot of funny lines. There's one where he and Harespring are heading to ThunderClan to ask for help, and he remarks that ThudnerClan would never pass up the chance to stick their noses in other cats' business. I got a good chuckle out of that.
- Jayfeather gets an amazing speech that I'm not going to spoil. It's tied back to him not forgiving Crow and Breeze and I love it.
- And of course, I can't leave it off without talking about the Crow-Breeze relationship. Honestly? I liked the development. I like that there were stumbles, moments where it seemed things were improving only for one of them to put their paw in their mouth. I like that Crow had memories of looking after Breeze as a kit, that he wasn't always a horrible father. I like the time he realizes he barely remembers Breezepaw getting injured because he thought Nightcloud was overreacting. I like that he recognizes his own failures as a father, and tries to make up for it.
So, what didn't I like?
- holy smokes Onestar is a huge jerk. Like yeah, this is Onestar, that's expected, but he's unreasonably a jerk. A jerk to the point it puts his own Clan in danger. He has a couple moments of being a good leader (I liked his punishment for Weaselfur), but for the most part he just comes off as incompetent. The story tries to portray Crow as equally in the wrong at points, and I do think he made mistakes...but not the to extent Onestar did.
- There's a sense the narrative is a little too much on Breeze's side, during his redemption arc. I don't mean his Clan talking bad about him while he atones--that's part of the suffering process, he very much deserves it--but there is a little too much leeway given for his actions. They're not completely brushed over (like I said, he apologizes to Lion and saves his life) and he's not forgiven by everyone (Jay is still furious with him, and he's not portrayed as in the wrong for it, to say nothing about how not everyone in his Clan is okay with him) but there's still a kind of...a shifting away of his accountability for his crimes. That's how I can best describe it.
- Some cats I thought would die, to explain their missing presence in AVoS, didn't. That's a bit of a wasted opportunity, and it weakened the stoats' presentation as an actual threat--I did buy they were a danger in battle, but they didn't feel like something that would absolutely destroy all the Clans because no one actually died to them.
There are, of course, a couple Warriors-esque mistakes, like thinking the Great Battle happened in the Dark Forest, or Breeze and Heather apparently expecting kits at the end of the book despite Heather not being listed as a queen in Bramblestar's Storm (I think, I might be wrong), but nothing as huge as Beetlewhisker being alive (he stays dead!). I've come to expect this kind of thing, so they didn't detract from my enjoyment.
And honestly? Yeah, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It wasn't perfect when it came to Breeze, but I bought his redemption, and it handled the Crow-Night-Breeze family drama a lot better than I thought it would. Everything worked out in a way I was satisfied and happy with, without being "perfectly happy because Crow and Breeze are sorry" (casual reminder that I LOVE Jayfeather's speech).