Dark River (Warriors)

Dark River

File:Darkriverwarriors.JPG Cover of Dark River
Author	Erin Hunter
Cover artist	Wayne McLoughlin
Language	English
Series	Warriors: The Power of Three
Genre	Children's literature Fantasy novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	December 26, 2007
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	322
ISBN	978-0-06-089205-0
Preceded by	The Sight
Followed by	Outcast

Dark River is a children's fantasy novel, the second installment of the third series of Warriors, Warriors: The Power of Three, by Erin Hunter. It continues the adventure of the ThunderClan cats Jaypaw, Lionpaw and Hollypaw which began in The Sight and continues in Outcast. It takes place in a fictional forest surrounding a lake, where the four Clans, ShadowClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan and WindClan, reside.

Publication history

Dark River was first published in hardcover format on December 26, 2007, in the USA by HarperCollins. The UK began publishing the novel on March 1, 2008. It was released in Canada on December 13, 2007. The book has been released in eBook format as well.

Plot summary

In Dark River's prologue, it is revealed that there are tunnels beneath the moorland. Fallen Leaves, a mysterious cat not mentioned before in any of the books, enters a tunnel, meeting a misshapen, old cat by the name of Rock, who explains to him that to be a "sharpclaw", he must find a way out of the tunnels and onto the moor. When Rock asks if it will rain, Fallen Leaves says no because he is afraid that Rock will make him wait until another day if he says yes. Fallen Leaves enters the tunnels and is trapped when it does rain; he drowns.

Lionpaw becomes friends with Heatherpaw, a beautiful WindClan apprentice, and begins meeting her at night. Hollypaw discovers their secret and Lionpaw begins to be wary of his "nosy" sister. Afterwards, Heatherpaw and Lionpaw begin meeting in hidden tunnels that no Clan cat has ever seen before (the same tunnels that Fallen Leaves drowned in). They meet every night they can.

Meanwhile, RiverClan reveals that their Clan is facing a "small problem" and that they are being forced to live on the Gathering island for a short while. Though Leopardstar is fiercely protective of her Clan and refuses to elaborate, Hollypaw knows something is not right because her friend Willowpaw and the rest of RiverClan are acting extremely nervous. She informs Firestar of her concerns. However, he does not believe this is ThunderClan's problem and refuses to take action. Hollypaw heads to RiverClan on her own. When she arrives, Willowpaw shows her how human children are disturbing their camp, but the RiverClan cats are widening the river to discourage the children from playing near the camp. Hollypaw is kept with RiverClan so she cannot tell anyone about their secret because they think she is a spy. However, her brother Jaypaw has a dream that reveals her location, and Squirrelflight goes to retrieve her.

Tigerstar, who meets Lionpaw in ghostly apparitions, like he did with Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw, starts teaching Lionpaw battle moves that even his mentor, Ashfur, does not know, although Brambleclaw seems to recognize them. When Lionpaw starts to teach the moves to Heatherpaw, Hawkfrost scolds him for showing battle moves to the enemy, and under pressure, Lionpaw must choose between his love of Heatherpaw, and loyalty to the warrior code and ThunderClan. He chooses to remain loyal to his Clan and leaves Heatherpaw, who is extremely hurt and betrayed.

ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice Jaypaw finds a washed-up stick when he is out gathering herbs with his mentor, Leafpool. It has odd scratches on it; some that are crossed out and some that are not. As he struggles to figure out what it means, he has a dream in which he experiences what Fallen Leaves experienced. Jaypaw then understands that the scratches record ancient cats who undertook the trial in the tunnels and that the last uncrossed one was Fallen Leaves' mark, indicating that he did not emerge.

Cinderpaw falls from the Sky Oak, breaking her back leg. As Leafpool's determination to heal her begins to border on an obsession, Jaypaw begins to wonder why. One night, he falls asleep by Cinderpaw and wakes up in a strange forest. There he meets Cinderpaw, unhurt, who leads him to a camp filled with familiar smells; ThunderClan's previous home in the forest. Cinderpaw describes how she once lived there before the Great Journey and asks Jaypaw to tell Leafpool that she is proud of her, and that she has learned far more than she could have ever taught her. By then Jaypaw is confused, but upon looking into Cinderpaw's eyes, he sees a series of flashbacks from her previous life. Jaypaw realizes that when Cinderpelt, the former ThunderClan medicine cat, died in Twilight she was reincarnated as Cinderpaw, without Cinderpaw herself knowing it. Jaypaw tells Leafpool what he has discovered and his mentor confirms his suspicion. However, when Cinderpaw wakes she does not remember the dream, only that Jaypaw had been able to see in it.

Near the end of the book, Jaypaw and Leafpool must go to WindClan to take Onestar a message from Firestar about not shedding unnecessary blood in a battle over something that may never happen, while Hollypaw convinces Mousefur and Firestar to do something to help RiverClan. When they arrive, WindClan queen Gorsetail's kits (Sedgekit, Thistlekit and Swallowkit) are missing and WindClan blames RiverClan, saying that there will be a battle if RiverClan does not return the kits. Jaypaw and Leafpool return to camp and Lionpaw tells his brother and sister about the tunnels, where he thinks the kits may have gone. They enter the caves, coincidentally meeting up with the WindClan apprentices Breezepaw and Heatherpaw, who share their motive for being there. Jaypaw is guided by the spirit of Fallen Leaves and the group finds the kits behind a boulder that blocked the tunnel. It starts raining and the tunnel floods, but Jaypaw figures a way out just in time and they return the kits, saving the Clans from an unnecessary battle. The tunnel is blocked during the flood, and Lionpaw states that it ended the most important friendship he ever had. So Breezepaw, Heatherpaw, Jaypaw, Lionpaw, and Hollypaw return the kits back to WindClan and avert the battle. Then, once again, Lionpaw and Heatherpaw meet up again. They both talk about the future and how they want things to go. Then, Lionpaw makes the most difficult decision ever: choosing ThunderClan over his beloved Heatherpaw.

Critical reception

Dark River climbed up the bestseller lists after its release, reaching #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

External links

• The official Warriors website