Firestar's Quest

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Firestar's Quest is a one-off novel set during the time between The Darkest Hour and Midnight.

The Blurb
There is peace at last between the warrior Clans, and Firestar is proud of the strength and unity of the cats he leads in ThunderClan. All four forest Clans are thriving, training new warriors and keeping their boundaries without conflict.

But Firestar's dreams are haunted by wailing cats fleeing a terrible disaster. With unexpected help from an old kittypet friend named Smuge. He discovers a shocking secret: StarClan, the warrior ancestors who guide his paw steps, have lied to him.

Firestar is faced with the hardest decision of his life. Can he really turn his back on the forest that has become his home and embark on a perilous quest to discover a dark truth—one that has been buried beyond the memory of living cats? Whatever he finds at the end of his journey, he knows that nothing can ever be the same again.

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

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

"The series is patterned in the style of classics by J.R.R. Tolkein or Brian Jacques. Read this, and you'll never look at your plain old tabby the same way again."
 * -Cleveland Plain Dealer

Detailed Plot Summary
Brambleclaw and his sister Tawnypelt are made into warriors, and Firestar has strange dreams of cats crying out to him, one cat, Cloudstar, in particular. After asking questions of Bluestar (at the Moonstone) and Smudge (in Twolegplace) he discovers that Smudge's home was built over the warriors' den of the fifth Clan, SkyClan. SkyClan is a Clan long forgotten, who were driven out by the ancient leaders of ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan and ShadowClan when their home was destroyed by Twolegs.

Firestar and Sandstorm go off looking for the remnants of SkyClan, going through unknown territory. On the way, Sandstorm confronts Firestar about his feelings for Spottedleaf. They reconcile after Spottedleaf comes to them.

The two cats eventually come across a gorge, and find Skywatcher, who tells them a bit about SkyClan, but is evasive and runs off. They meet several other cats, and eventually get half of them, kittypets and rogues alike, to join them, noting the powerful hind legs and tough pads of SkyClan ancestry.

Leafdapple, a former rogue, trains the former kittypet Sparrowpaw, and Sharpclaw, another former rogue, trains Cherrypaw, Sparrowpaw's sister. Firestar acts as leader to the cats and grows to like them. He even considers staying, one day.They all eventually get warrior names, along with others noted below. However, they must find a Medicine Cat, a kittypet who already dreams of SkyClan's ancestors, Echo, who becomes Echosong, a Moonstone equivalent (which turns out to be Whispering Cave, found first by Tinykit, Rockkit, and Bouncekit) and confront a huge army of rats that drove out the first SkyClan from the gorge. Firestar manages to kill their leader, but dies once in the process. When he is killed, Sandstorm drags him out of the barn the rats have made their base in, sacrificing another rogue turned warrior, Rainfur.

After the rats are defeated, Firestar and Sandstorm leave, with Leafdapple becoming Leafstar. Sharpclaw is made her deputy, and the ancestors of the forest cats reconcile with the ancestors of SkyClan at last.

The epilogue shows Firestar and Sandstorm caring for their two kits, Leafkit (named in memory of Leafstar and Spottedleaf) and Squirrelkit (named that because of her bushy tail.

Trivia
An interesting fact about this book is that this is the only book that uses the same chapter picture for every chapter, whereas the other books generally use a pattern of different images spanning the beginning of a varying number of chapters. According to the Warriors Website, this picture is, in fact, Leafpool, which is odd, because she only appears as a kit in the epilogue.