River was a bit disappointing if I'm to be 100% honest- the characters weren't as deep and meaningful as Erin Hunter's norm. Frostpaw is the best one out of the three but I'm still holding out hope for the other two, Sunbeam and Flamepaw (the descendant of Firestar who's mad that everyone thinks he has to be "an echo of Firestar.") The chapters from Sunbeam's perspective are just filled with her mooning over a cat named Blazefire, her romantic humiliations, and her friendship with Lightleap (Tigerstar's daughter) that's quickly souring due to Lightleap getting closer with Blazefire, who turned Sunbeam down. Flamepaw is an apprentice who's struggling with his warrior training and with feeling like an echo of Firestar, which he "ToTaLly IsN't." He's like, EmO and his pelt is BLACK. So he wants an EMO name 'cause his fur is BLACK, not ORANGE, and when he finally passes his third assessment, he rejects the prefix he was given at birth, "Flame," and asks for the prefix of "Night" to make "Nightheart" instead. His relationship with his mother, Sparkpelt, is therefore not in a great position because of that rebelliousness- but honestly? I think his character is much too spoiled- the Clan should be harder on him and push him more to his full potential, not let him stew in how bad he feels for himself.
Now on to my favorite part of the review- Frostpaw. Now, I actually love Frostpaw. She's Mothwing (the medicine cat who can't communicate with StarClan)'s apprentice, and seeing as she's the only one able to get in touch with their warrior ancestors, she's in charge of that department. So when Mistystar falls ill and dies, and their deputy Reedwhisker promptly disappears (later is found to be dead), she has to take responsibility over her entire Clan as a rookie medicine cat apprentice. She has to receive and interpret StarClan's signs and appoint a new leader- her mother, Curlfeather- but as they're going to the Moonpool for Curlfeather's nine lives, a pack of dogs ambushes them and kills her mother. And once again, RiverClan is left leaderless. She's not a "naturally confident" leader like Firestar, but for her age and experience, does really well for the situation she was put in. I'm looking forward to how her character is going to develop, and am curious about what Erin Hunter's going to do for Sunbeam and Nightheart.
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