Moonrise

Moonrise is the second book in the New Prophecy arc. Feathertail is the cat on the cover.

The Blurb

 * Darkness, air, water, and sky will come together. . . and shake the forest to its roots.


 * Moons have passed since six cats set out from the forest on a journey to save their Clans. Now they are traveling home again, but on their way through the mountains, they meet a tribe of wild cats with a secret... and their own mysterious prophecy to fulfill. Stormfur can't understand their strange fascination with him, but he knows the danger they face is real.


 * Meanwhile, back in the forest, Firestar and Leafpaw watch ThunderClan's world crumbling around them. Will the questing cats make it back in time to save the Clans, or will they be too late?

The Praise
"Action-packed. Certain to please any young reader who has ever wondered what dreams of grandeur may haunt the family cat."
 * -Publishers Weekly

"A suspenseful adventure story that urges readers onward."
 * -ALA Booklist

"This second entry in a cat adventure series has solid plotting and enhanced complexity but is marred by the same preciousness of its predecessor. Six cats are far from home, on a quest for information that may save their forest from destructive Twolegs (humans). Though the cats come from different Clans, they've bonded on the trip, so when they meet an unknown cat Tribe and new dangers, they work together. The strange Tribe has had a vision in which one of the Clan cats is their savior; does this give him a moral obligation to fulfill their prophecy? Meanwhile, back at home, cats desperately watch their forest bulldozed and their prey disappear. Hunter's writing is mundane, the cats' names blend (Leafpaw, Squirrelpaw, Brambleclaw), and the replacement of the verb "said" with "meowed" and "mewed" is repeatedly cloying. However, a small plot twist is refreshing and suspense builds steadily towards the final installment, the plot of which is nicely unpredictable. (name chart, maps) (Fantasy. 8-11)"
 * -Kirkus Reviews

Detailed Plot Summary

 * In the prologue, the reader is introduced to a cave at night. A cat, streaked with mud is in this cave, looking at the rocks hanging from the roof, the dripping of the water into the pools that surround him. He then realizes he has been sent a prophecy, and leaves the cave to find many mud-streaked cat's at the entrance of the cave. They ask the cat what he has seen, and he reveals that their ancestors, the Tribe of Endless Hunting, sent him a prophecy, telling him that a silver cat would save them from Sharptooth, the creature that has been terrorizing them for so many moons,


 * Several moons have passed since six cats set out from the forest on an urgent journey to save all of their Clans. They are now traveling home again, but face many challenges along the way.


 * They debate whether to travel through Twolegplace, or go through the snowy mountains. On Midnight's suggestion and from fear of the dangers that they encountered in the previous book, Midnight, they decide to travel through the mountains. In the midst of the snowy danger, Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Crowpaw, Feathertail, Stormfur and Tawnypelt stumble across a group of feral cats living in the mountains, who belong to The Tribe of Rushing Water.


 * The somewhat friendly Tribe takes the questing cats in to shelter them and feed them. Stormfur takes an interest in Brook Where Small Fish Swim, a young she-cat who is one of the Tribe's prey-hunters.


 * But they have their own prophecy to fulfill: they see Stormfur as their only hope, the silver cat mentioned by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, their spiritual ancestors. Taken as a form of prisoner, Stormfur is forced to protect the Tribe from Sharptooth, a blood-thirsty mountain lion with a taste for the smaller cats' blood.


 * Brambleclaw and the rest of the Clan cats rescue Stormfur, but later decide to return and help get rid of Sharptooth by leading him into a trap. However, they do not have time to set up the trap, as Sharptooth appears. In the midst of all the chaos, Feathertail jumps up at the roof of the cave, dislocating a rock spike that crushes the wild cat, yet she also dies from the impact.


 * It is thus revealed that the silver cat of the prophecy was Feathertail, not her brother Stormfur. The Tribe celebrates and the Clan cats mourn their companion, who is later buried at the base of the Cave of Rushing Water's waterfall, which is a great honor.


 * The remaining five cats continue traveling home. Tawnypelt is the first to spot Highstones in the distance, remarking that they are almost home.


 * Meanwhile, Leafpaw, the ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice and one of Firestar's daughters, has to deal with the threats at home. The destruction of the forest has begun, it being uprooted by the Twolegs. Near the end of the book, she enters into what seems to be a Twoleg trap for cats. Sorreltail tries to to call out for her, but it is too late. Leafpaw recalls hearing many other cats call for her, one of them being Spottedleaf. This indicates that the other cats were most likely from StarClan.

Trivia

 * Stormfur is mistakenly called "Sormfur" once.
 * Rowanclaw is again listed as a she-cat in the allegiances.

Publication History

 * Moonrise (EN), HarperCollins (hardcover), 2 August 2005
 * Восход луны (RU), OLMA Media Group (hardcover), 18 October 2005, translated by Veronica Maximova
 * Moonrise (EN), HarperCollins (paperback), 25 July 2006
 * Moonrise (EN), HarperCollins (e-book), 6 November 2007
 * Clair de lune (FR), Pocket Jeunesse (paperback), 5 March 2009, translated by Aude Carlier
 * 月明り (JP), Komine Shoten (unknown binding), 18 March 2009, translated by Yukako Takabayashi
 * 新月危機 (CN), Morning Star (paperback), 1 April 2009, translated by Gao Mei
 * Mondschein (DE), Verlagsgruppe Beltz (hardcover), 19 February 2011, translated by Friederike Levin
 * Mondschein (DE), Verlagsgruppe Beltz (audiobook), 19 February 2011, translated by Friederike Levin narrated by Marlen Diekhoff