Real life got busy for me in the past few weeks and I only had proper time to sit down and read this book today in a few hours on a Sunday lol.
As per usual, please know that this is not a professional review, but rather just my own personal thoughts and rambles about the books, plot(s) and characters.
My Wind ReviewPros:- Splashtail doing his job as a cruel, violent, arrogant and obnoxious menace to (Clan) society
Cons:- Splashtail not being nearly as interesting as other previous villains (will elaborate further down)
Plot Points:Splashtail's reignTo start things off positive, as already mentioned above, Splashtail is effective in his current role as the now main villain of the ASC arc. But that being said, his motive/motivation for villainy is not that interesting. Sure, at least he has one (he was fed up with the leadership under Mistystar and Reedwhisker as well as how much the Clans rely on StarClan) but it's just not clicking for me as to why he'd be one particulary dissatisfied to this extent as opposed to other cats of his Clan who have been living as such for way longer than him.
Splashtail himself is not even two years old (he's 17 moons old according to the wiki), after all. With Curlfeather at least, she was alive longer and had actually lived through multiple instances of her Clan suffering particularly (in AVoS). Both Curlfeather and Splashtail saw what Ashfur did in TBC but have not been mentioned to have any lingering personal feelings on that apart from not being happy with Mistystar's leadership as mentioned in the Wind prologue (valid tbh) even though it would've been perfectly fitting for Splashtail to be personally upset at his mentor Softpelt dying in the VoS battle as it could give him more depth as a character. I just highly doubt they'll add that on so late now though. And it would make him a hypocrite anyway since he has now killed her brother Harelight, although he wouldn't be the first hypocritical villain tbf.
As for his actual reign of terror during Wind, I think he's not doing himself any favors with how he immediately starts training his Clanmates with unsheated claws and especially not with how he executes his own deputy in front of the entire Clan for criticising his methods by the end of the book (granted, the narrative implies that he planned this all along by murdering Harelight as a symbol of the old RiverClan in order to make way for his new version with Berryheart as his next deputy option but still). He was doing a pretty good job at the gatherings when discrediting Frostpaw's accusations by appearing reasonable. And his scene with Podlight at the Moonpool was hilarious with how outrageously cocky he was acting there lmao. He's entertaining, I'll give him that.
Berryheart's schemingShe didn't do a whole lot in this book besides getting cut by glass from a car, having an ensuing injury and fever, berating her daughter who wanted to help her and then showing up in the RiverClan camp once again in cahoots with her old conspiracy buddy Splashtail who gave her a promotion as his deputy. I'm still so looking forward to what else she's cooking up after her failed attempt to remove Tigerstar from leadership over ShadowClan and certainly hope this means she really won't just get a redemption and be done with it.
Leafstar siding with Splashtail and RiverClanI know people have been ripping into her for that and I get it. But just like it makes sense for Tigerstar and Squirrelstar behaving with caution for most of the book, such is the case for Leafstar to be on Splashtail's side here from a narrative standpoint. Leafstar was against Tigerstar being all up in RiverClan's business from the start and even ready to go to war with him over this. Now Tigerstar has finally gotten his warriors out of RiverClan's territory and they have a new leader who has not yet given her any reason to distrust him (even though Splashtail has talked shit about her behind her back by calling her a weakling while at the Moonpool but she doesn't know that, of course). She'll come to her senses next book. One can only hope it will be before a battle breaks out but I still want one so...
Tigerstar & SquirrelstarJust like mentioned above as well as already by other members on here, it also makes narrative sense for these two leaders to act with caution now that RiverClan has a leader (who is lying his ass off). Tigerstar suprises me considering his attitude in the previous two books, but seeing how that was exactly the problem, him now taking a step back, after constantly overstepping boundaries (literally) in order to lord his own authority over another Clan, is a good thing. I still want him to also step back from the leadership position or perish though.
As for Squirrelstar, she literally says this in the book herself, she's a new leader who wants to make a good impression/be respected and is also very much aware of the reputation ThunderClan has when it comes to helping others ("sticking their noses into the business of other Clans"). And yet, she still helps out like she has done as deputy but now with bigger responsibilties as actual Clan leader. She takes in Waffle and Wasp temporarily, of course allows Sunbeam to look for her exiled family members (just don't get caught) and believes Nightheart and Frostpaw about Splashtail early on.
Harestar's change of heartHim going from initially believing Splashtail as the rightful RiverClan leader at the gathering after Splashtail went to the Moonpool to then finally believing Frostpaw's version of events after she had the vision of WindClan's nursery being in danger during the storm and came to help was such a relief to read. I truly hope this means we'll get to see more of this Harestar because I've been missing him. He was great during his deputy days as Harespring in AVoS but fell off in terms of interesting character moments/scenes after ascending to leadership (besides getting accidentally killed by Lionblaze in the VoS battle during TBC).
Harelight's demiseOthers have pointed out that his execution reminded them of how Stonefur died but I don't really see it. The only similarties is that both toms were RiverClan cats, died in the camp (old and new), were deputies, their Clanmates watched them die, and figures of authority they trusted either did nothing to help them (Leopardstar) or killed them (Splashtail). Oh wait, now I see it. Rest in peace, Harelight, you did not deserve this!
Still think this was an utterly foolish move on Splashtail's part though. Because now he's murdered a fellow Clanmate, his own deputy, in front of his entire Clan as witnesses. Two of which were noted to have emotional reactions to his death (his father Lizardtail and his brother Gorseclaw) while all others either looked shocked or scared (understandably so). If he still has cats in RiverClan who full on support him after this, I can only hope it's either out of fear or misguided loyalty because holy shit.
Waffle and WaspI like them. Especially Wafflepaw. Hope Wasp makes it home safe and that other Park cats come to visit someday (soon). Wafflepaw being Nightheart's apprentice is awesome but I do hope he won't just get killed off in a battle. Although him being named after a fan's actual cat hopefully means he'll stick around for a while. Or at least go back to being a Park cat unharmed by the end of this arc if the team decides his character has to be removed for some reason.
Main Character Development:FrostpawFrostpaw could somewhat catch a break but not really in this book. At least she got taken in by Tigerstar, had good interactions with Shadowsight (was hoping for that) and Puddleshine (loved that he went with her to the Moonpool and witnessed Splashtail's bs), had Mothwing, Duskfur and Icewing on her side, Harestar and Kestrelflight came around later on as well, even Jayfeather was in her corner too as well as Nightheart and Sunbeam. And, of course, a special shoutout to her friendshiep with Whistlepaw <3 She has become much more confident in herself which was already evident during her interactions with Nightheart in
Thunder while on the quest. I very much enjoyed her confronting Splashtail multiple times at the gatherings in this books as well as her standing up for herself and not backing down to Podlight, Appleshine and Woodsong. You go, girl!
NightheartI think Nightheart and Sunbeam both took backseats compared to Frostpaw in this book as protagonists. At least when it came to the main storyline. Nightheart had Waffle and Wasp to train as well as standing up for Frostpaw multiple times. I'm personally very glad that his family issues have been resolved and that he too has gained confidence in himself and those around him. Still not a fan of NightSun as a pairing but that ship has long sailed so there's no point in debating things at this point. I did like some of their interactions in terms of platonic vibes though.
SunbeamAs already said and pointed out by others, there was a bit of a disconnect when it came to NightSun's storylines compared to Frostpaw. Of course, they still had connections to it and each other, Nightheart on a personal level with Frostpaw since he went on the quest with her and defending/backing her in regards to the Splashtail situation while Sunbeam's connection to the main arc plot is Berryheart, whom she tried to take care of by hunting prey and getting herbs for her as well as worrying about her condition constantly. Sunbeam herself had a lot of character development in the previous book already and this one focused more on her internal struggle of worrying about her three exiled family members in comparison. Though she did have a heroic moment when saving Leafkit in the WindClan camp during the storm.
As a quick sidenote, I usually write down notes in my phone while reading but this time blazed through the book in one go so there's no mentions of favorite chapters or scenes with page numbers this time.
