Return to the Clans

Return to the Clans is the final book in the Tigerstar and Sasha arc.

The Blurb

 * Sasha has gone back to the forest to raise her kits, Moth, Hawk, and Tadpole. She thinks she's a safe distance from ShadowClan's prying eyes, but Tigerstar still haunts her dreams, and Sasha fears that he will soon discover the existence of his kits. As leaf-bare stretches on, and Sasha finds it harder to feed, she wonders if her kits might be better off as warriors, with a Clan to protect and train them. But where does Sasha belong?

The Praise

 * "Sasha returns to the forest with her kits and faces the problem of scarce prey to hunt in order to feed her babies. She is worried that ShadowClan will find them. Tigerstar is still in her thoughts all the time and she begins to wonder if her kits would be better off as warriors where they would be properly trained by a Clan and would be able to take care of themselves. If this happens, Sasha knows she will not go with them and wonders what will become of her. This book is written in graphic format that happens to be a favorite of mine. It makes it perfect for young adults who are reluctant readers and never seem to finish a book on their own. It is also a wonderful way to hook a non-reader into reading. Young adults who want to read anything they can get their hands on will enjoy the graphics and fast paced text. Even though the author provides a mini summary of what has happened in the book before this one, I do recommend reading books one and two first. This is an adventure series and readers will have a better feel for all of the characters if the series is read in order. At the end of the book, the author provides information about additional "Warrior" books in the series. She also includes a sneak-peek into Warrior Sunrise, book six, which begins with "Dead bracken rustled beneath Lionblaze's paws as he stalked through the forest… Terror raised the hairs on the young warrior's neck, and he shivered from ears to tail tip. This is the place that has never known the light of StarClan." I do recommend this book to both boys and girls"


 * -Kathie M. Josephs, Barnes and Noble

Detailed Plot Summary

 * Sasha has gone back to the forest to raise her three kits, Hawk, Moth and Tadpole. While hunting for her kits, she gets caught by a ShadowClan patrol. Afraid that they will take them, she lies and says they died from the cold. Russetfur seems shocked by that and lets her go. Sasha then lets her kits play outside, but when they come back in she tells them about Ken. Later, she lets them outside and Russetfur walks in on them. Russetfur guesses that Tigerstar is their father.


 * The next day Sasha goes out hunting and the kits go out to find Ken, because they want to make their mother happy. They go into Twolegplace and get confronted by some BloodClan warriors. They run from them and go into a Twoleg house. Meanwhile, Sasha has come back to find her kits gone. She goes out to look for them when she is joined by Shnuky. They find the kits then go through a basement window then the last kit pushes down what was holding the window up. They become trapped. Sasha, who is still trying to find the three, is confronted by the same BloodClan warriors. She tells them she was a Clan cat, and they let her pass. In the basement a pipe blows and water leaks rapidly from it. Sasha rescues Hawk and Moth, but Tadpole drowns.


 * That night she dreams of Tigerstar and asks if Tadpole is with him. Tigerstar says no but confides that he is safe. Sasha later meets with Pine and he takes her and the kits to a barn where another she-cat lives. After Pine leaves, the she-cat attacks the kits and Sasha. While Sasha gets attacked by the queen herself, Hawk and Moth are attacked by the she-cat's kits. Sasha beats the she-cat after getting taunted about motherhood. She leaves with the kits to go to RiverClan. In the outskirts of the territory, Sasha tells the kits who their father is and says that its their secret.


 * Once they start to progress they run into a RiverClan patrol. Sasha tells them that she and her kits wish to be warriors. At first they don't agree, but then they finally give in because their nursery is almost empty. When they get back to camp the kits get their apprentice names but Sasha refuses. Not long into their apprenticeships they see kits from the nursery pretending to be Tigerstar. They ask Sasha why they acted like that about him. Sasha tells them the truth about him and makes them promise again that it was their little secret. Later Hawkpaw and Mothpaw discover the remnants of Bonehill. Leopardstar lectures them on how horrible Tigerstar was and how much pain they suffered because of him.


 * Later Sasha decides Clan life isn't for her, but her kits stay. In the end Tigerstar whispers to her, "I am proud of my kits. I will watch over them forever."

Publication List

 * Return to the Clans (EN), HarperCollins (paperback), 9 June 2009
 * Return to the Clans (EN), HarperCollins (library binding), 9 June 2009
 * Главный выбор (RU), Tokyopop (paperback), 25 June 2011
 * Tigerstern und Sasha (DE), Tokyopop (paperback), 13 January 2011

Trivia

 * There is quite a conflict with the coloring of the cover. Both Hawk and Tigerstar are colored incorrectly: Hawk is shown as a silver tabby with green eyes, when he's actually a dark brown tabby with ice blue eyes, while Tigerstar is shown as a creamy-gray tabby, when he's really a dark brown tabby.
 * On the English Language Edition, Tadpole is shown with a white blotch on his shoulder. However, in the library binding and on most dust covers, the mistake is fixed, and he is pure black.