Crookedstar's Promise

Crookedstar's Promise is the fourth book in the Super Edition arc. The cat on the cover is Crookedstar.

The Blurb
A perilous promise

''Two healthy kits have just been born in RiverClan—Oakkit and Stormkit. The whole Clan rejoices, and no cat is more pleased than their mother, who immediately recognizes her kits’ innate skill and bravery.''

But when tragedy befalls Stormkit and he is permanently disfigured, his mother renames him Crookedkit and casts him aside.

''As the young cat grows in strength, he dreams of becoming Clan leader. Then a mysterious cat appears in his dreams, whispering of prophecies untold and destinies undiscovered. She proclaims that Crookedkit will have all that he desires—but he must pledge his undying loyalty to RiverClan.''

No cat could ever have imagined the terror and destruction that would lie in one hastily made, seemingly harmless, promise.

The Praise
"In this fourth installment of the Super Edition series, Crookedstar confronts his fate. The fulfillment of a dire prophecy leaves him helpless and threatens the delicate peace among the four feline warrior Clans. A deeply nuanced, suspenseful standalone novel."
 * -Barnes and Noble

Detailed Plot Summary

 * The prologue begins in a storm that is flooding and destroying the RiverClan camp. During the flood, the loss of a cat occured: Duskwater, a RiverClan elder that was not found and suspected to be dead. Rainflower begins kitting, and gives birth to Stormkit and Oakkit. It is said by Shellheart, the deputy of RiverClan and their father, that kits born on such a stormy night will be powerful one day.


 * After this, when the camp is being rebuilt due to the flood, Hailstar insists on sleeping out in the clearing, saying he won't let his den be rebuilt until the rest of the camp is fixed. Echomist is worried he'll get sick, but he still does. Stormkit tries to catch some minnows swimming in the reeds, but falls out of the tree because the magpie swooped trying to get him. Tanglewhsker saves him and he disscused that the warriors were all too busy to save him to his mate Birdsong. He helps the others rebuild the camp, but since he is so small he can only fit a couple reeds in his mouth. Hailstar compliments Shellheart on his son saying that he would grow up to become a great warrior.


 * Later, ThunderClan invade Sunningrocks, but RiverClan does not fight back because Brambleberry does not have enough herbs to treat the injured cats. A patrol confronts the ThunderClan cats, saying that Sunningrocks is theirs for now. Stormkit and Oakkit follow the patrol, to see what's happening.


 * Stormkit is shown to be an adventurous kit, and he takes Oakkit out to explore and play. Oakkit complains that he is the oldest while they were playing, and that he should be the leader, but Stormkit leads, anyways, because he always imagined himself to be leader first. The two brothers get all the way to the stepping-stones, where they see a mysterious tom. They think he's a loner, and they go across the stepping-stones to chase him off, though that was ThunderClan territory.


 * The old gray cat turned out to be Goosefeather, ThunderClan's medicine cat. Goosefeather gets angry when the kits tell him he's on their territory, and chases the kits off. Stormkit loses balance while at stepping-stones and trips, his face slamming into a stone. He nearly drowns in the river, but Mapleshade appears to him in a vision, saying that it wasn't his time to die and he has a destiny. Stormkit believes she is from StarClan.


 * He was then saved by Mudfur, who was a warrior at the time. As Stormkit was being carried, he tastes blood in his mouth, and there was a throbbing pain all over his face. When he recovers from shock and infection a moon later, he sees his reflection in a puddle, and sees his broken jaw that scars him for life. His mother, Rainflower refuses to look at him because he's an "ugly mess," and she's not proud of him anymore.


 * Stormkit is deeply saddened when Rainflower doesn't want to be around him and doesn't like him because of the way he looks. When Rainflower informs Shellheart she is going to have Stormkit's name changed to Crookedkit, Shellheart is furious at her cruelty and threatens to not be mates with her anymore. Stormkit overhears this and bursts between them and tells them not to fight over him. They end up changing his name to Crookedkit.


 * Crookedkit is unhappy especially when Rainflower forces him to sleep in his own nest and Oakkit becomes an apprentice before him. He decides to go to the Moonstone to find out if his broken jaw was part of his destiny, and on the way through WindClan territory he sees Fallowtail with a WindClan cat, Reedfeather, thinking she's on a "special warrior mission". He falls asleep before even making it halfway to the Moonstone, and Mapleshade visits him in his dream. She tells him he is special, and insists that he returned to his Clan. Crookedkit refuses saying that they won't miss him.


 * Crookedkit ends up living and learning with Fleck, a barn cat, and his littermate Mitzi, with her four kits Mist, Magpie, Soot and Piper. He gets better at hunting, learns how to eat and hunt with his twisted jaw, and grows bigger. During harvest, when a monster threatens Mitzi and her kits, Crookedkit saves Soot, and he realizes he should be saving one of his own Clanmates, not a loner. Though he will miss his barn friends, he tells them he has to return to his Clan. He is later found by one of his Clanmates and taken back to camp. A lot of cats crowd him and ask him questions while the other question his loyalty. He says that he is RiverClan and nothing else. Then Hailstar tells him that he will have to prove his loyalty to the Clan.


 * After Crookedkit saves Fallowtail's kits from a heron, Hailstar gives him his apprentice name, with Cedarpelt as his mentor. The next day, the Clan finds Reedfeather, the WindClan deputy, sitting in their camp. He says he has come for his kits, in which Fallowtail is the mother. Fallowtail gives up Willowkit and Graykit to the WindClan warrior, desperate to keep the peace.


 * Later, Crookedpaw defeats Beetlenose in training, but doesn't receive his warrior name. Suddenly Oakpaw and his patrol race into the camp and tell Hailstar that Oakpaw drove off a huge dog. Oakpaw then becomes Oakheart. At the warrior ceremony, Rainflower tells Crookedpaw that his brother will always be better than him. Shellheart overhears this and defends his deformed son.


 * Crookedpaw fights at Sunningrocks against Bluepaw and Snowpaw, and ThunderClan wins. When they return to camp a lot of cats have deep wounds, but Hailstar has the most severe wounds of all. Brambleberry and Echomist try to clean up the blood and protect the wounds, but regardless, Hailstar loses his eighth life. He is now down to his last life.


 * RiverClan launches a raid on WindClan to steal back Fallowtail's kits. They succeed, and a moon later Graykit and Willowkit become apprentices. Brightsky is Graypaw's mentor and Owlfur is Willowpaw's. Crookedpaw is very fond of Willowpaw, and when he becomes Crookedjaw, Willowpaw tells him she will miss sleeping with him. He tells her to hurry up and become a warrior.


 * As Crookedjaw moves on in life, Mapleshade appears to him many times, constantly reminding him of his promise. One day she causes Willowbreeze to be captured by Twolegs by rolling their ball over to her. Crookedjaw decides to go rescue her even though Hailstar told him to wait. Mapleshade is angry at him and reminds him of her promise. She says Crookedjaw cannot have a mate because it would stop him from being a great warrior. Crookedjaw doesn't listen to her because Hailstar had a mate and kits, and he was a great leader in his opinion.


 * Hailstar declares that RiverClan will snatch Sunningrocks back from ThunderClan. He brings only a handful of warriors. They meet a ThunderClan patrol, who challenge them to fight. Mudfur challenges Adderfang to fight with him alone. Mudfur wins, and Sunningrocks now belonged to RiverClan. After they return to camp Mudfur declares that he would like to switch to being a medicine cat, as he wanted to save lives, and not end them. Crookedjaw realizes he was still mourning for the loss of his mate, Brightsky, and three of their kits.


 * Shellheart announces that he, too, would like to retire. After a whole day of consideration and discussing with his senior warriors, Hailstar still hadn't chosen the new deputy. He comes back and sees the squirrel Crookedjaw caught. He notices it has a crooked jaw, and declares Crookedjaw deputy, believing it to be an omen from StarClan. Brambleberry is distraught because she knew the sign wasn't from StarClan, it was sent by Mapleshade, in the Dark Forest.


 * That night, Crookedjaw dreams of Mapleshade. She tells him there was someone he had to meet. Crookedjaw thinks she means Rainflower, as his mother was already dead. Mapleshade brings him to see Thistleclaw training with Silverhawk. He watches in horror as Silverhawk and Thistleclaw practice killing moves. Crookedjaw can't believe StarClan was like that. Thistleclaw laughs at him and tells him this isn't StarClan, this was the Dark Forest. Crookedjaw is angry at Mapleshade for lying at him, but Mapleshade told him he never asked her directly if she was from StarClan, and she never told him she was from StarClan. She tells him he shouldn't be mad at her, because she was the one to give Hailstar the sign to make him deputy. Crookedjaw thanks her for making him deputy, but he has decided he doesn't need her help anymore. Mapleshade tells Crookedjaw it was too late, as he had already promised her.


 * Crookedjaw is only deputy for a short while and, after Hailstar is killed in a rat attack, becomes leader. He exchanges doubts with Brambleberry about whether StarClan would accept him, due to his relationship with Mapleshade. However, these doubts prove unfounded and he receives his nine lives.


 * Mapleshade visits Crookedstar only once more, to suggest the true father of the kits that Graypool found on the border: his brother, Oakheart. Crookedstar confronts Oakheart, who confirms that the kits are his and Bluefur's.


 * Soon, Willowbreeze confesses that she is expecting Crookedstar's kits. The pregnancy seems to go well until Willowbreeze develops a bad cough. She delivers the kits, but within a day the cough grows worse, also spreading to two of the three kits. Brambleberry realizes that Willowbreeze and the two sick kits have greencough, and are dying. Crookedstar goes to them and names the three kits (Minnowkit, Willowkit, and Silverkit), and spends one last night with Willowbreeze, who begs him to take care of their daughters. When he wakes up, Willowbreeze is dead. They take her body, and Silverkit, who is not sick, out of the nest. Crookedstar does not leave to mourn, instead staying with Minnowkit and Willowkit. However, when he woke up, they were already dead. Crookedstar is overcome by grief, and intentionally visits the Dark Forest to confront Mapleshade. He was about to kill her when she reveals her terrible past. She says that she was a ThunderClan cat who fell in love with a RiverClan cat, and lost her kits when she tried to cross the river to RiverClan. Her mate cast her out and took another mate, this one RiverClan, who was Shellheart's grandmother.


 * Crookedstar gets beyond his grief, and tries to be a good leader to his Clan. However, he has been neglecting his only surviving kit, Silverkit, afraid of growing too close to her, for fear of losing her. Oakheart confronts him, and Crookedstar nearly does the killing move that Thistleclaw had taught him, but stops at the last minute, and finally acknowledges his daughter.


 * The bonus manga at the end of the books shows the final moons of Crookedstar's life. During this time, he has to deal with Silverstream falling in love with a ThunderClan cat, Graystripe. For the next moon, Crookedstar has to deal with his daughter sneaking out to see Graystripe. One night, he finds himself on the border of StarClan and the Dark Forest. He doesn't know why he is there, but he sees Silverstream going to StarClan, and she asks him to watch over her kits. After she leaves, Crookedstar confronts Mapleshade for one last time, saying that he didn't lose everything, and that Mapleshade was wrong.


 * A few moons pass, and Crookedstar recalls that his daughter lives on the lives of her two kits, Featherpaw and Stormpaw. He also notes that Silverstream would have been shocked that Graystripe joined RiverClan to be with them. Crookedstar then dies, and finally meets up with all of his friends and loved ones in StarClan. He is last seen finally meeting Willowbreeze, the one cat he truly loved.

Trivia

 * In the manga part of book, Graystripe's kits are apprentices and Graystripe is still in RiverClan. But Graystripe's kits are apprenticed after he left RiverClan.
 * There is an inconsistency with when Brambleberry went to StarClan, in Secrets of the Clans, it is shown that she is dead when the half-Clan kits come to RiverClan, as she protects them, but in Crookedstar's Promise, she is alive when they arrive. She is only shown dead at the end of the book.
 * In Cats of the Clans, it says that Crookedstar knew who the father of the half-Clan kits were immediately, but in Crookedstar's Promise, he doesn't realize who their father is until Mapleshade tells him.
 * In Crookedjaw's meeting with Mapleshade when he first becomes a deputy, he is accidentally called Crookedstar.
 * When Crookedkit comes back to RiverClan from Fleck's barn, he is confronted by Beetlepaw, whose name is mistakenly written as Beetlenose, despite not having his warrior name at the time.
 * When Oakheart is accusing Crookedpaw of liking Willowpaw, he is called Oakpaw when he was already a warrior.
 * After Crookedpaw is done talking to Brambleberry about him following the right path, he runs into Graypaw, who is mistakenly called Graypool, despite not having her warrior name yet.
 * After the battle with the rats, Crookedjaw is mistakenly called Crookedpaw.
 * In the manga, Mistyfoot was alerted about Silverstream's death the day it happened, but in Forest of Secrets, she hears about it the next day.

Publication History

 * Crookedstar's Promise (EN), HarperCollins (hardcover), July 5, 2011
 * Crookedstar's Promise (EN), HarperCollins (e-book), July 5, 2011
 * 钩星的承诺 (CN), Wuhan Press (paperback), 1 May 2012