The Rise of Scourge

The Rise of Scourge
General
Author:	Dan Jolley
Cover artist:	Bettina Kurkoski
Details
Publish date:	24 June 2008
Identification:	ISBN 978-0061478673
Editions:	Paperback
Summary
A 112 page manga detailing Scourge's life, from kittypet to blood-thirsty leader.
Resources
Chapter subpages

The Rise of Scourge is a stand-alone manga that details the past of the BloodClan leader, Scourge. Scourge is also the cat on the cover.

The Bookjacket

The cat inset is Scourge, the one to the left is Scourge, and the cat to the right is Tigerstar.

The Blurb

When kittypet Tiny crosses paths with some wild forest cats defending their territory, he is left with scars - and a bitter, deep-seated grudge. As his reputation grows among the strays and loners that live in the dirty brick alleyways of Twolegplace, he changes his name to Scourge and puts everything about his old life behind him - except his deadly desire for revenge.

The Praise

"Grade 4–7—This adaptation provides a look at the origins of the cat Scourge, the evil leader of the Bloodclan. Tiny is a fearful house kitten who is the runt of the litter. Once he strikes out on his own, though, he renames himself Scourge and vows to take revenge on the wild forest cats who once attacked him. Though drawn and laid out in a manga style, the illustrations are more detailed than typical manga drawings and effectively bring out the cats' personalities and characters."

-School Library Journal

Plot Summary

The book begins with close ups of Tiny, and his brother and sister, Socks and Ruby. After several complaints from Tiny's siblings addressing they don't like to play with him because he is so small, as well as the kit's first journey outside, Quince leaps onto a couch and reminisces over her litter's father. Quoted, "Strange that none of them have your ginger fur..." This is a pointer towards the fact that Tiny and Firestar are infact half-brothers.

Later on, when Quince takes her kits outside, Tiny notices a hole in the fence and wanders out. After looking around and playing, Tiny runs back to his family, where he then tells them he went into the forest. However, he greatly exaggerates things, like saying he climbed a 'tower' in place of a tree stump, and is yet again ignored by his siblings. Coming back inside, several Twoleg kits looking to adopt kittens come into the house, and before adopting Ruby and Socks, Ruby frightens Tiny by telling him that unwanted kits get thrown into the river. Believing his sister's lie, Tiny tries to play with the Twoleg kits, but gets ignored, most likely because of his size. He doesn't want to be thrown into the river, so he runs away.

Venturing into the forest, Tiny encounters a ThunderClan patrol composed of Tigerpaw, Bluefur, and Thistleclaw. Tigerpaw, as ordered by Thistleclaw, barrels into Tiny and nearly kills him, but he is stopped by the more sympathetic Bluefur, who yowls at them to stop, and the patrol heads back into the forest. Tiny, consumed by fear and the need for revenge with Tigerpaw, flees to the alleys of Twolegplace.

Upon arriving, Tiny survives by accepting a share of chicken from an elderly she-cat. Wandering aimlessly, Tiny attempts to take off his collar, but accidentally impales an old dog's tooth in it. Nearby cats start to laugh, and he flees. Hungry, he finds a group of cats eating, and asks if he could join them. Being questioned about the tooth in his collar, he lies and says that he wrenched it from a dog's mouth that he killed, and soon begins to feed with them, his trickery not seen through, but believed instead.

The next morning he is visited by Bone, a massive black cat with white markings, and Brick, a thin and gaunt tawny she-cat. Both soon-to-be-BloodClan cats, who ask him if he will drive out a territorial dog that is guarding a dumpster. Scared, yet not admitting to lying yet, he reluctantly enters the dog's premises. The dog seemingly prepares to attack, before it goes whimpering off, spooked by Tiny's enlarged shadow. Praised by the cats, Tiny comes up with a name that was once used in a phrase, "Those savages are a scourge on the name of all cats," by Quince; Scourge.

Soon after, Scourge somewhat becomes the leader of the alley cats. Consulted yet again by Bone, he faces a gang of cats and drives them off by slaughtering one of them (from the images, these cats appear to be Brokenstar and his followers, driven out from ShadowClan; as one of the cats is a tabby with a crooked tail - just like Brokenstar). By now he has been completely consumed in revenge and comments that the chill in his blood grows, yet he welcomes it. Somewhat later he is visited by his siblings, who tell an unfortunate tale of being abandoned by their Twolegs. When his siblings ask him if blood means anything, seeing as they are kin; he replies to them that the only blood he is interested in is the blood gushing from his enemies, that his cats are bathed in blood. He allows them to eat but then permanently banishes them from his territory. They are never heard from again.

The book draws to a conclusion as Tigerstar, guided by Boulder, comes to Scourge and asks for his alliance (as seen in the prologue to The Darkest Hour). Fast forward the amount of time before he leads BloodClan into the forest, Tigerstar and Scourge face off, and the books ends with Scourge standing triumphantly over Tigerstar's dead body. He states that he finally has won.

See Also

• Chapter-by-Chapter Notes
• Character List
• Book Cover Gallery
• HarperCollins Browse Inside

References and Citations

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