Cover artist Wayne McLoughlin Language English Publication date January 6, 2004 | Country United States Publisher Avon
HarperCollins Originally published 6 January 2004 Page count 336 | |
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Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Series Warriors: The Prophecies Begin Characters Firestar, Yellowfang, Cinderpelt, Ravenpaw Genres Children's literature, Fantasy Fiction Similar Erin Hunter books, Fantasy books | ||
Rising Storm is a children's fantasy novel, the fourth book in the Warriors series, written by Cherith Baldry and Kate Cary (Plus two others) under the pen name of Erin Hunter. Rising Storm was written by Kate Cary. The series follows the adventures of four Clans of wild, anthropomorphic cats. In the previous book, Forest of Secrets, Graystripe's mate, Silverstream, died while giving birth. ThunderClan and RiverClan fought over the two kits, seeing as the mother of the kits, Silverstream, was the daughter of the RiverClan leader, Crookedstar, and the father was Graystripe, a ThunderClan warrior. Graystripe decided to join RiverClan, despite knowing he will be shunned there. In Rising Storm, Fireheart has to tackle his new duties as deputy, knowing that the old one, Tigerclaw, who had been exiled, is in the forest somewhere, seeking revenge against Fireheart, Bluestar, and ThunderClan. At the end of the book, Tigerclaw becomes leader of ShadowClan and receives the name Tigerstar, finally achieving the position he killed for. The main theme in the book is power. The forest in the book is inspired by multiple natural locations, such as the New Forest, in southern England.
Contents
The book was first released as a hardcover in the US on January 6, 2004. It was then released in both paperback and e-book format. The UK has received the paperback version along with Canada. Rising Storm has been published in multiple languages including Chinese, German, and French. Reviews for the book were mixed to positive, with reviewers praising the suspense and cliffhanger ending; however, some reviews criticized the growing number of characters and lack of humor and depth.
Setting
Rising Storm takes place in a fictional forest just like the previous three books. The forest is home to four Clans of wild cats, ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan and ShadowClan. In the middle of the book, Fireheart and Bluestar take a visit to Moonstone, which is a stone in an abandoned mine north-west of the forest. The Clans' name for the mine is Highstones.
The forest is based on New Forest, in Southern England. In addition to the New Forest, Loch Lomond, the Scottish Highlands, and the Forest of Dean also inspired the fictional locales in the novel.
Plot
Fireheart is now ThunderClan's new deputy, but the previous deputy, Tigerclaw, still haunts Fireheart's dreams. Fireheart wonders if ThunderClan would be ready if Tigerclaw attacked, as many of the cats are still shocked about Tigerclaw's disloyalty, and many warriors are still badly injured. Bluestar also begins to become distrustful of the Clan after Tigerclaw's betrayal, trusting only her most senior warriors, and Fireheart, who she brought to the Clan.
One day, Bluestar, accompanied by Fireheart, goes to speak with StarClan at Mothermouth, a quarry mine. On the way there, a patrol of WindClan warriors, led by Mudclaw, stop them before Bluestar is able to talk with them. The ThunderClan leader later fears that StarClan sent WindClan to stop them from going to Mothermouth and speaking with StarClan, which causes her to slip into further paranoia.
In the summer months, Fireheart struggles with his disrespectful nephew and apprentice, Cloudpaw, who goes to a Twoleg (human) for food and is one day abducted by them. Fireheart and Sandstorm rescue Cloudpaw, who is found near the barn where Ravenpaw and Barley live. He is accepted back into the Clan, since Fireheart keeps it a secret that Cloudpaw went to humans for food. Fireheart must also deal with the fact that his best friend, Graystripe, is still in love with the dead RiverClan she-cat Silverstream.
Meanwhile, the forest gets hotter and hotter, and a fire sweeps through the forest, destroying ThunderClan's camp and taking the lives of two elders, Patchpelt and Halftail, as well as Yellowfang, ThunderClan's medicine cat. At the end of the book, it was revealed at a Gathering that both Nightstar and Cinderfur have died from a sickness, and that Tigerstar is the new leader of ShadowClan.
Publication history
Rising Storm was first published as a hardcover in the US on January 6, 2004. The book was later also published as a paperback on February 15, 2005 and an e-book on September 4, 2007. In the UK, the book was first released on October 2, 2006 as a paperback. The Canadian version released early on January 8, 2004. It has also been translated into other languages such as German, Japanese, French, Russian, and Korean. The Chinese version was released on November 30, 2008, and also includes a 3-D trading card of Graystripe.
Themes
A major topic in this book is power. Tigerclaw is determined to take over ThunderClan, even after being banished from the Clan for trying to do so earlier. Other themes are violence and death. Booklist notes that "teens may find their own journey toward adulthood echoed in the protagonist's struggles and self-doubts".
Critical reception
Rising Storm was mostly well received by critics. In one review by Booklist, the reviewer calls the novel suspenseful, also noting how the story echoes the journey to maturity. Another review, by VOYA, noted that while the books lacks humor and depth, there was still appeal in the hidden world of the warrior cats. A BookLoons review particularly praised the ending, calling it a cliffhanger. A review by Horn Book Review for both Rising Storm and A Dangerous Path was also positive writing "The fourth and fifth entries in the series continue the development of the complex, dynamic characters". However, Children's Literature was not as positive, saying it was getting hard to remember all of the characters' relatives and leaders.