Warriors: Omen of the Stars
Erin Hunter
4 out of 5
Sierra Auman
When I was in fifth grade, wandering around my middle school’s library, I stumbled upon a little book called Into the Wild in the children’s fiction section. The story followed Rusty, a house cat who dreams of living wild, catching mice, and running as far as his paws can take him. Throughout Into the Wild and its following five books, readers follow Rusty, renamed Firepaw, as he grows into his new life of living in the wild cat colony named ThunderClan. ThunderClan is one of four Clans around the forest, accompanied by the runners of WindClan, the swimmers of RiverClan, and the sneaky ShadowClan.
Years later, after three completed series of books, Erin Hunter (a pen name for multiple writers) released six more books in the Warriors series subtitled Omen of the Stars. These books follow three points of view: Dovepaw, a new ThunderClan apprentice; Lionblaze, a warrior with the power to fight in battles without getting harmed; and Jayfeather, a blind medicine cat who has the power to walk in the dreams of his Clanmates. Dovepaw, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze walk “with the stars in their paws,” meaning that they walk around with the Heavenly world wrapped around their fingers. Their magical powers come from the Heavens, and their purpose in life is to assist StarClan (the cat Heaven of this world) until their destinies are fulfilled.
I chose to discuss these books because of how much dream-walking happens. As I said before, Jayfeather can walk in the dreams of his Clanmates whenever he pleases. With his blindness cured, he can speak and touch them as if he were standing in front of them in the real world. On the other side of the spectrum, Dovepaw’s sister, Ivypaw, walks in her nightmares in a place called the Dark Forest.
In the Dark Forest, cats who died with evil in their hearts gather to suffer. It’s the cat version of Hell if you will. Any cat who walks in the Dark Forest wakes up exhausted as if they never got any sleep that night. They also can be harmed while in the Dark Forest, and if they are harmed, they wake up with injuries.
On a scale of one to five, my rating of Omen of the Stars is a four out of five. While this series is one of the best in Warriors, it has flaws. Since the main plot gets pushed across six books, the characters often talk in circles. Easily solved situations are looked at as if they require Einstein-level brain power to be solved. Something else that drags this series down is its reliance on the previous arc. Omen of the Stars is the fourth arc in the Warriors series. Its story extends on the story from the arc before it, The Power of Three. If readers start with Omen of the Stars, they are likely to be confused about the story and what’s going on.
However, I rate these books so high because of the plotline. The way Erin Hunter weaves the concepts of cat Heaven and cat Hell into the character’s dreams is quite interesting. My favorite part of the concept is how cats in the Dark Forest can wake up with the injuries they obtained while dreaming. The Dark Forest and StarClan play major roles in the story before, during, and after the arc’s climax. What this arc lacks in independence, it makes up for in action. The climax of the entire story comes in the final book of the arc, The Last Hope. The other five books, The Fourth Apprentice, Fading Echoes, Night Whispers, Sign of the Moon, and The Forgotten Warrior help build the tension and the anticipation for the final climax.
As an avid Warriors fan, I cannot recommend the series enough. Each book has flaws, but each arc is different from the last in some way. The content outside the main storyline is expansive, but in terms of worldbuilding, Omen of the Stars does the most throughout the whole series. I could go on all day about the many novellas and super editions needed to fully understand every little nook and cranny of Omen of the Stars, but casual readers are more than capable of understanding the arc, should they read only the main six. The additional materials aren’t needed, and in my opinion, that is a clear sign of incredible worldbuilding.
All in all, I understand that not everyone is comfortable reading books meant for children. It can be quite off-putting to some adult readers, and that’s okay! However, I’m one of those people who loves to read these books religiously. While these books have downsides, Omen of the Stars is an arc of Warrior‘s that I believe is a good read! It’s not perfect, but hey, what piece of media is? Maybe objectively, something can be. But realistically, nothing is ever perfect.