WARRIORS BOOK REVIEWS

NOVELLA: Redtail's Debt

I am extremely upset and this novella made me feel violent.

Redtail's Debt has to be one of the most poorly written novellas in the entire franchise and that's just objectively speaking. We all know that the writing with many of the Warriors books has been on a steady decline for a very long time now, in spite of the new wonders that AVOS and now TBC have brought us. I'm going to keep this review short and sweet since this novella really had nothing much to offer the reader at all, in spite of how much potential there was for it to be incredible.

Redtail's Debt is grossly boring and uneventful and covers how briefly, over a period of time, Redtail feels that he owes Tigerclaw after he saved him from a hawk when Redtail was an apprentice. Tigerclaw's character is so exaggerated in this novella its cringeworthy to read him and the character butchering goes beyond the franchise's most iconic villain, I'll have you know. Tigerclaw was always a bad guy right from the get go but he was menacing and calculated and very hard to read; not some cheesy 'LETS KILL EVERYONE!" Kind of villain. Furthermore, Ravenpaw is described as being excited to go to battle against RiverClan in the second last chapter of the novella which to me is just a total misrepresentation of the nervous, anxious and very withdrawn character he's written as throughout every other book before this. Additionally, Redtail was so fucking painful to read. I understand he felt pressured and was easily manipulated by Tigerclaw but god is it exhausting to watch him juggle between such black and white morals for half the story. It genuinely makes me question why he was ever made deputy if this is what he was supposedly like: morally insecure and easily threatened into actions unaligned with his beliefs by other characters. I know that throughout the novella he develops into someone who stands up for their own beliefs when he calls the retreat from WindClan camp when Bluefur is badly injured but still. It pisses me off to no end.

Also the fact that his 'debt' to Tigerclaw was that Tigerclaw saved him from a hawk? Really?? They couldn't be any less creative? How about Redtail makes some sort of agreement to kill Thistleclaw with Tigerclaw's aid since he sees how disgusting Thistleclaw is being to his sister, Spottedpaw, in return for some sort of power? Like if Tigerclaw helps him do this, Redtail will try and sway Bluefur into choosing Tigerclaw as Deputy or if Redtail is chosen he refuses the role and offers Tigerclaw instead? Something that holds meaning and shows more underground issues within ThunderClan prior to the events of Into The Wild.

Another VERY important thing about this novella is that they TOTALLY fuck up the timeline. Bluestar, in the prologue of Into The Wild states that she has not lost a single battle on ThunderClan territory since becoming Leader: the battle she is referring to is the battle at Sunningrocks were Oakheart and Redtail are both killed. Mousefur is badly injured in this battle and Redtail, Tigerclaw and Ravenpaw still have yet to return from the battle as well. It is a huge battle between literally all the warriors of RiverClan versus all the warriors in ThunderClan. This moment in the prologue of Into The Wild is crucial for another reason being that Bluestar is speaking to Spottedleaf who, in this same moment, receives the 'fire alone can save our clan' prophecy. In Redtail's Debt however, a battle has already been lost on ThunderClan territory and Mousefur has already been badly hurt and Spottedleaf has ALREADY RECEIVED THE PROPHECY???!!!! Not to mention, the only ThunderClan warriors present at the battle at Sunningrocks against RiverClan are Tigerclaw, Redtail and Ravenpaw versus five RiverClan cats, including Oakheart!

Redtail being murdered by Tigerclaw is so anti climactic because it feels as though nothing at all has been building between them because you as the reader don't feel like Redtail owes something to Tigerclaw! It literally feels like there's no debt at all. Not to mention the vapid emotions of Redtail as a character. After he's murdered he's angry and scared for his clan but then he sees Firepaw and is all 'fire alone will save our clan' and he's suddenly okay with having been murdered and having that murderer wistfully galavant about among his clanmates?? Redtail almost doesn't feel real at this point. Why couldn't we have shown him feeling more anger and hate towards Tigerclaw? Maybe even more anger towards StarClan for allowing Tigerclaw to continue down his path and for not doing anything about the fact that he was murdered?

This novella was just a fucking fever dream and I hated every god damn second of it.
Goodnight everyone. I'm going to cradle Tawnypelt's Clan in both arms and thank my lucky stars something halfway decent followed this fucking shitshow of a book.