Warriors Thunder Rising starts when the mountain cats are settling in the there new territory below the mountains. Thunder who is much older has been mentored and raised by Grey Wing. Though Thunder still has the lingering thought about his father Clear Sky. He wonders why Clear Sky didn't want him or even appreciate Thunder's existence in the world. Though when a tragic forest fire occurs Thunder, Grey Wing, and several other warriors went into the forest to save Clear Sky and his cats. Impressed by his son Clear Sky takes Thunder back to the forest with him after the forest recovered from the burning. Fortunately Thunder finds out that Clear Sky is a total jerk and treats Thunder like he has no experience. Eventually Thunder stands up for Frost who had been injured and was being banished because he was "to weak". Therefore Thunder leaves Clear Sky's camp and goes back to Grey Wing's camp with Frost. Claiming that Grey Wing will be nice enough to take them in.
Thunder Rising was a pretty good book with a ton of detail. Although the theme of this series seems to be almost the exact same as books in later parts of the series. With a different take though this time the characters were just mad at each other just to because reasons and in the later series they were mad because evil people and stuff. This would be a bad book to start someone on since there isn't really much backstory in the beginning but you would know who Storm is and other characters and why there is war in the first place. Overall though it is a pretty good book it one understands the general storyline. ( )

Book 2 in Dawn of the Clans: continuing my read of this series, to have a keener sense of what R likes in the books, as well as to speak knowledgeably about it.

There's a lot going on, plot-wise: clearly a big story arc, but Hunter wisely doesn't hurry things along and skip over events and situations which clearly would be big for the characters at the time, even if later on (as from the perspective of an adult looking back on childhood?) those same events and situations wouldn't rate quite as important. And as with the first book, not flinching from unpleasant aspects of nature: view of newborn kits, killing a rabbit, violent death of a friend (cat). Interesting juxtaposition of community organised around survival and physical strength with community organised around mutuality and social strength. Seems reasonable to expect this is true of the entire series, though these were written later.

Certainly see why R is into it, and find myself mapping the various characters, events, myth to my own parallel interests as a young reader, though the specific books were different.

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I am curious to know how true the feline behavior it is, and how much is invented. Seems clear that cats do indeed angle their ears in reaction to things going on, but presumably not as a means of indicating to other cats where their interest lies. Still, the anthropomorphising is clever: pointing with tails, touching one another with tails after the manner parents might ruffle a child's hair. ( )

The journeying cats have finally made it to their new home. But Clear Sky, Gray Wing's brother, wants to spilt the group apart. He insists that it would be better to live among the trees, so he takes some of the group to live there. With one half of the moutain cats on the moor and the other under the trees, it has been eaiser to survive here than in the moutains. But the easy life is disturbed when Clear Sky starts acting aggressive. He starts to set down borders and claim more territory than he needs. he is cruel to his group of cats and the final, horrible act he did that made him and Gray Wing no longer brothers, was send away his own son because he reminded him to much of his dead mate. Now war has been declared between the forest and the moor cats.

I really loved this book! It was awesome, just like the book before it. I liked how they made Clear Sky the bad guy because it will help lead up to what happens in clan history. There is supposed to be a big battle at the end. That is how the clans come to be. Thats how the story is told in ealier books. So, I think Clear Sky will cause that battle. But, this was overall a good book. ( )