There's always that penultimate novel, the one with the sacrifice you knew was coming. Of course, it's a trend you've seen before. And I think Hunter does a decent job of setting this up.

It's the big emotional moment before the hero must go on to face the darkness awaiting him. But it is this that makes the end of this book as powerful as it was.Ī Dangerous Path is the set up for the final novel in this arc of the Warriors series. It's depressing to realize how Bluestar's own failing confidence in her clan's loyalty is a detriment to the fiercely loyal cats around her. But the truth behind what will happen doesn't reveal itself until a group of apprentices, angry about being passed over by Bluestar, set out to prove themselves. Readers are given insight into what this pack is very early on in the story, knowing that it will eventually have an averse affect on the clan as a whole. Meanwhile all these different things are happening, many centered around this dark cloud of the pack looming over the ThunderClan cats. But, at the same time, at least Greystripe is back now.Īll these emotional moments almost give you whiplash. Already, the fire that devastated the camp has resulted in the loss of beloved clan members. It's easy to become thoroughly invested in the story, attached to the lives of these characters. Even the frustrating moments are thoroughly emotional. Despite the moments of annoyance, A Dangerous Path really gets you in the feels. It's bad enough when you have one cat doing it, but two? While Fireheart's decisions were certainly far more reasonable, he still acted incredibly stupid too often. Letting the trauma of Tigerclaw's betrayal lead her ability to recognize loyalty in her clan, Bluestar regularly made deeply problematic decisions. This was all especially frustrating as he was already experiencing such unreasonable antics from his own leader, Bluestar. Not to mention he's constantly distracted.

Fireheart regularly let his emotions get the better of him, refusing to take into account his own biases. Then there were the moments of ridiculousness. I always found it odd the number of times that Fireheart made decisions of inaction, creating problems that would have been easily handled, at least a little bit, if he would just open his mouth. Truth be told, there were very few others.Ī Dangerous Path begins right with the annoying, namely that the upperhand is gained quite easily by Tigerstar and Fireheart finds himself shocked into silence. A surprising number of events happen throughout the course of this novel and ultimately I found myself alternating between two feelings: annoyance and sadness. It's also, at times, the most frustrating. You will have the warmth of fire to protect your Clan and the fierceness of fire to defend it.Įrin Hunter's A Dangerous Path is easily the most emotional of her original Warriors series.

Warriors 5 a dangerous path