Warriors: A Vision of Shadows #1: The Apprentice's Quest by Erin Hunter
- Cana Clark
- Apr 6
- 3 min read
It may not surprise you to learn that I grew up reading Warriors. Known colloquially as "Warrior Cats," these dramatic middle grade books center around four groups of feral cats living, hunting, and battling it out. As a child, these novels consumed my every waking hour. I devoured four series of them, picking up special edition spin-offs and even creating my own Warriors roleplay site. When I finally put them down, it wasn't for long. My college roommate and I read the first series together in a nostalgia-filled buddy read during our sophomore year. Now, over a decade after first reading Warriors: Into the Wild, I'm picking up where I left off with A Vision of Shadows.
The fifth series, A Vision of Shadows, follows Bramblestar and Squirrelflight's son, Alderpaw and a brand-new prophecy. The Allegiances list at the beginning lists Graystripe and Sandstorm as elders, which actually brought tears to me eyes. (How unfair that Firestar didn't live to be an elder with his best friend and his mate).
Unable to catch a mouse no matter how hard he tries, young Alderpaw leaves warrior training and instead becomes a medicine cat apprentice. Meanwhile, a prophecy haunts the four Clans, — "embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky." Alderpaw's dreams connect him to this prophecy and to StarClan, who show him visions of mysterious cats in a faraway Clan in an unfamiliar gorge...
For anyone who read Warriors Super Edition: Firestar's Quest, this is thrilling. The gorge cats are SkyClan, a long-forgotten Clan that was resurrected by Firestar and Sandstorm in the aforementioned special edition.
Alderpaw's dreams lead him and a choice few ThunderClan cats on a quest to find SkyClan. Halfway through, the cats realize they're being followed by an upstart ShadowClan apprentice — Needlepaw. Needlepaw will become one of the most interesting cats of this series. Like many of the ShadowClan apprentices in A Vision of Shadows, she shows little respect toward her elders and the warrior code. Her need for ShadowClan to be strong and important drives her to join Alderpaw's quest for SkyClan.
At the gorge, Alderpaw and his band are surprised to find a small, disorganized, code-flaunting SkyClan. They fight over fresh-kill, and most don't have proper warrior names. Their leader Darktail sneers at the questing cats' loyalty to the code. Worryingly, Needlepaw finds plenty in common with them. Alderpaw runs into a lone cat, only to discover this loner is a former SkyClan warrior, who informs him that the gorge cats are actually rogues who drove out the true SkyClan. Darktail finds the two and kills the SkyClan warrior, taking Alderpaw and the questing cats prisoner.
Alderpaw and his companions escape, but he and Needlepaw get separated while crossing a river. Alderpaw and Needlepaw make their way home, becoming friends despite Needlepaw's flippancy towards the warrior code. When crossing a busy highway seems almost impossible, Needlepaw suggests they take a dark path through a drainage tunnel. Down in the shadowy tunnel, they discover an abandoned nest with two starving kits. The apprentices rescue both kits and argue over which Clan to bring them to. With the prophecy fresh in their minds, the two agree to bring the kits to ThunderClan until the next Gathering.
Now named Violetkit and Twigkit, the two kits are almost certainly part of the prophecy. The Clans all agree and argue over them at the Gathering. To avoid a fight, the kits are split between ShadowClan and ThunderClan. Alderpaw watches in dismay as Violetkit is torn from her sister and taken to ShadowClan.
Needlepaw and the ShadowClan apprentices' disrespect for the code indicates a coming trouble, while the prophecy promises the drama of SkyClan's return. The rogues of the gorge show signs of bringing more trouble, and the devastation of Twigkit and Violetkit's separation foretells tragedy. (Siblings in different Clans... Bramblestar and Tawnypelt, anyone?) It's an exciting start to the series!
The Apprentice's Quest was the perfect re-entry into the world of Warriors. The quest, the prophecy, the angst, the callbacks to earlier books... the drama! I've already finished A Vision of Shadows 2, and the only thing keeping me from the third book is a hold at the library. For any former and current fans, I highly recommend starting A Vision of Shadows!
Book Info
Title: Warriors: A Vision of Shadows #1: The Apprentice's Quest
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780062386373
Author: Erin Hunter
Illustrator: N/A
Pub date: March 15, 2016
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