Finally got AThiTh (but with a twist)...

Here is my review of A Thief in ThunderClan (some things did come up later on as well as yesterday but I finally had some time to read it today).

To preface this, I've seen some people say that this book was boring, pointless and whatnot. While they are obviously entitled to that opinion, I feel like those who like/love Brightheart as a character, the BrightCloud ship or/and the past ThunderClan cast in the forest territory setting (or just ThunderClan in general, like I do) did largely enjoy her book overall even if the actual thief reveal was disappointing for most (understandably so).

Without further ado, here is what I liked/loved:

- The art
- All BrightCloud interactions (because they are awesome together)
- Various older ThunderClan character appearances (Ashfur, Ferncloud, Willowpelt, Dustpelt, Longtail and so on)
- Sisterly moments between Brightheart and Cinderpelt
- Longtail getting some focus
- Longtail's shocking injury and Willowpelt's funeral getting showcased as graphic scenes (no pun intended)
- Rainpaw being precious through it all
- Ferncloud also being precious (also her design because I adore it just like in ASiR)
- Ashfur giving Graystripe the side-eye at least three times (on page 112, 128 and 131)
- Some of the expressions were simply hilarious

And here's what I didn't like:
- The thief's identity

To explain this, I did like the owl design. But it just felt rather underwhelming (and then there's also the fact that owls are usually not scavengers although some do eat roadkill on occasion). I just feel like, if it had to be birds, a group of crows would just have been cooler, in my humble opinion. Not only because they are indeed scavengers and have been sighted/recorded to steal prey from other animals or even attack cats but also because they are usually prey to (Clan) cats and it could've been interesting to see them attack/defend against a patrol of cats.

Another option for the thief could've been to just make it revolve around BloodClan again since they show up not long afterwards anyways (in the Then portion of Graystripe's Vow which takes place after AThiTh in terms of the timeline as well as during Ravenpaw's Path which takes place not long after the birth of Squirrelflight and Leafpool). Or even make it be a dog. Although that would've been traumatizing for Brightheart.

Thank you <3

I feel like it might've had to do with the stakes not being high like it was in WoC and EfSh? Even in ASiR, there was an overall tension due to it focusing directly on the aftermath of TigerClan and the marks it left on Feathertail's mind in terms of her trauma from it and the ensuing trust issues.

In AThiTh, there is Brightheart's trauma regarding the dogs as well as her nightmarish dreams being caused by them. But it's not really the focus of her story there. Instead they created a new one like with ASiR but it works out well there because that was simply expanding on aspects of Feathertail's life we already knew about as readers from TPB (her PTSD from TigerClan which, even if that was never stated in the main series, it makes sense for her to have). With Brightheart, we didn't see her ever be particularly distrustful of her Clanmates before (then again she was not much focused on as a character outside of her trauma with the dogs and her relationship with Cloudtail, except for the brief Daisy stuff later on in TNP). I feel like it does work for her in this book but the payoff is just not fully there in the "whodunnit (stole prey, not murdered someone)" regard.

You quoting me made me realize that I misspelled ThunderClan (wrote ThuderCla instead), by the way lol. Thank you for that, I fixed it immediately.