字幕表 動画を再生する 英語字幕をプリント After a long stretch of supplemental material, it's time to return to Power of Three with the second book, one that I genuinely have a lot of fondness for, but also difficulty reading at some points. It will be easier to explain this one with more context, however, so I'll get straight into the basics. Dark River came out on December 26th of 2007, 4 months after Firestar's Quest, the last published material, and 8 months after the first book in Power of Three, The Sight. Perhaps the rapid influx of new content earlier in the year motivated or even forced the team to slow down from their rapid-fire release pace, even if four and even eight months are still very short timeframes for a book to be completed in. We'll just see if they were able to do any more planning or polish with the bit of extra time they got. One other factor in the slower speed may be that this one, like The Sight, was written by Kate Cary, which could have given a better chance of continuity over the first two books in this arc. But once again, we'll have to wait and see if that chance was followed through on. As usual, I will begin with an examination of the allegiance changes. Thunderclan, of course, has a new medicine cat apprentice, Jaypaw. With her kits as apprentices Squirrelflight left the nursery and Graystripe has returned with Millie at his side so Thunderclan now has 16 warriors instead of 13. But the really shocking number is that, with Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw added, the clan now has *9* apprentices. Half of the warriors, plus Leafpool have an apprentice so Thunderclan is definitely experiencing a surge in population now, and Icekit and Foxkit are still to come in the nursery, where Ferncloud and Daisy are now alone. This book has a total speaking cast of 79 cats, up 9 from The Sight, and the top 10 characters still have 70% of the lines. One thing this arc is definitely good at is expanding the world enough for other cats to shine sometimes, one of the main things that makes this arc so beloved by a lot of fans. Even more pleasingly, 47% of the cast, nearly half, is she-cats, and they get 47% of the lines, exactly the percentage that they should be getting given their prominence in the cast, so that is a great note to start off on. Now, though, it's time to see if the plot will hold up as well as the general statistics do. The prologue has nothing to do with the clans. Instead, someone named Fallen Leaves is preparing to enter a challenge through some tunnels that will allow him to become a sharpclaw, and soon upon his entry he is greeted by a hairless, sightless, somewhat disfigured cat named Rock who, based on his opening line, seems to have similar feeling-sensing abilities to Jaypaw. Rock seems to act as a respected spiritual guardian to Fallen Leaves' group, but he cannot help cats in their challenge, so he invites Fallen Leaves to go in, only pausing to ask him what the weather was like. Hiding the fact that it looked like there might be rain, Fallen Leaves said it was clear and was allowed into the tunnels, hopeful that he could become a sharpclaw. Back in the world we know, Lionpaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw are going to the gathering that evening, their first one together. Jaypaw isn't especially enthusiastic but Hollypaw is excited to see Willowpaw and Lionpaw is interested in seeing Heatherpaw again, who you may recall called him brave in the last book for his work in the dog attack on Windclan's territory. Hollypaw is also even bossier and more of a stickler for the code than she was in the last book, leading not only to her littermates getting exasperated with her, but to Graystripe jokingly telling Firestar that Hollypaw is preparing to challenge him for leadership. Hollypaw doesn't seem to appreciate all of the teasing, insisting that she's not leading other cats, just telling them what's right. At the gathering, it seems that the contest from the end of The Sight had a positive effect, as cats from different clans are mingling like friends, with the exception of Breezepaw who wants nothing to do with any of this. Hollypaw and Lionpaw get in a quick argument about whether Lionpaw's strong desire to see Heatherpaw is right, and whether or not it's equivalent to Hollypaw's desire to see Willowpaw. They don't get into many specifics, but Lionpaw insists they're just friends. I would actually cut in here to say…you spoke twice, mostly in smalltalk. I don't even know that I would consider you friends at this stage. Anyway, Lionpaw and Heatherpaw get to talk and Heatherpaw is, much like in the last book, more excited at Jaypaw's arrival than Lionpaw's. Jaypaw, though, is still quite grumpy and gets angry with her. Hollypaw gets a hurried hello from Willowpaw, who seems worried about something but can't talk long. Blackstar announces that Tawnypelt has three new kits: Flamekit, Dawnkit, and Tigerkit, the final name of which rings some alarm bells based on Tawnypelt's father, but isn't discussed. Leopardstar gives a short and curt speech that nothing is wrong at all everything is fine now let's go home and the main part of the gathering ends. Importantly though, while every cat is discussing the announcements, Crowfeather tells Breezepaw, and pointedly Leafpool as well, that “Thunderclan actually *celebrates* mixed blood.” That's very harsh and inaccurate for a guy who left Leafpool on somber but loving terms two books ago. Lionpaw gets very angry at this, but Squirrelflight calms him down just in time for Heatherpaw to come over and request that they meet up the next night at their boundary, which Lionpaw agrees to. Okay, now that the first chapter is over and the groundwork is laid out, I'm going to speed up a bit on this summary. Hollypaw is worried about a lot of things: Willowpaw and what might be wrong in Riverclan, the current drenching of the camp and territory, whether or not she'll eventually have to fight her new Shadowclan kin, and at the base of all of this, how morality works and if the warrior code could ever be less important than another standard. Brackenfur tells her to stop worrying and start doing but provides no real answers to any of her questions, and Hollypaw hunts all morning while Lionpaw is still asleep. Hollypaw tries to ask him about this and he gets angry and defensive, proving they aren't quite as close as they used to be. She then tries to ask Jaypaw about Lionpaw and he brushes her off like a grump as he complains about being a medicine cat and not having a good relationship with anyone, Willowpaw included. Hollypaw then goes out with Cinderpaw, their mentors, and Birchfall, where Cinderpaw demonstrates remarkable knowledge of fox scents despite never previously meeting one or coming to their abandoned den. Hm… Anyway, they get suspicious of Lionpaw and follow him, where they discover him meeting Heatherpaw and get into an angry confrontation about it, leaving Hollypaw worried even with Cinderpaw comforting her and Lionpaw furious. Jaypaw attends a half moon meeting where he hears some mysterious voices and goes into Willowpaw's dream to get confirmation that something is definitely wrong in Riverclan. Yellowfang then gaslights him about being part of the prophecy at all, while also chiding him for invading other cats' dreams. Jaypaw and Leafpool report Riverclan's trouble to Firestar who decides to do nothing with the information since, in the last book, Jaypaw had asked to attack Windclan while they were busy with the dogs using information he got in a similar way. Hollypaw is, unsurprisingly, not happy to hear about any of this, but Jaypaw is tired and decides to leave her to think about it herself. He is still tired when Leafpool takes him out to look for herbs, and he finds a stick with an odd series of scratches. He leaves the stick behind but promises it that he will be back. Meanwhile, Lionpaw is angry at Hollypaw for being angry at him for breaking the warrior code which is exacerbated when they are asked to train together and Hollypaw does much better since Lionpaw is so sleep-deprived, and Lionpaw retaliates by raking her spine and actually hurting her in a fit of anger, an action he apologies for. Brambleclaw takes him aside to see what's wrong and, after hearing about his problems with Hollypaw, shares the wisdom that he also had trouble being trusted, but while his father was remembered for his faults, he wants to be remembered for his strengths, dropping in the idea that Tigerstar wasn't actually all bad. You can't force someone to believe in you, so he encourages Lionpaw to prove his loyalty to Hollypaw through his actions. Lionpaw then immediately goes to meet Heatherpaw again, and she shows him a completely new and private place: the tunnels under their territories. There, they start up their own little clan, Darkclan, with Heatherstar as the leader (since she found the tunnels) and Lionpaw, later Lionclaw as her deputy. They spend the night there and Lionpaw hurries back to camp with a piece of prey as an excuse for his absence. He then insists to himself once again that he's very loyal and is doing nothing wrong. Following a quick camp scene and another odd moment with Cinderpaw knowing something she shouldn't, this time about badgers, Millie becomes a full warrior but decides to keep her name, with Graystripe, Daisy, Brook, and Stormfur's support. Hollypaw is still worried, though, that not taking a warrior name will cause Millie to not be accepted by Starclan as a true warrior, a fear that Squirrelflight quickly dismisses. A bunch of the apprentices then take an assessment, ending with Mousepaw climbing the Sky Oak and getting stuck until Cinderpaw comes up to help him and falls from the tree herself. Birchfall getting a thorn out is quickly interrupted by Hollypaw fetching both medicine cats to help her friend. Leafpool seems particularly intense and panicked about Cinderpaw's broken hind leg, resulting in Leafpool and Jaypaw getting into an argument about her treatment before Jaypaw enters Cinderpaw's dreams. They end up in the forest territories, which Cinderpaw says she recognizes from being Cinderpelt…Cinderpelt apparently returned as Cinderpaw to take a different path than when she was a medicine cat, and she tells Jaypaw to tell Leafpool that she will recover. Jaypaw passes along all of that information and Cinderpaw wakes up, not remembering anything that transpired in that dream. Lionpaw is once again meeting Heatherpaw in “Darkclan” in the tunnels, just playing and chatting and wishing they could be together more often. When he leaves though, Lionpaw hears another couple of voices who soon reveal themselves to be Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, and who say they have been watching him before they disappear. To hide the fact that he was out all night, Lionpaw joins the dawn patrol and comes across some Windclan cats, Breezepaw included among them, who say they are learning to hunt in woodlands, prompting cats to think that Windclan is planning to invade. Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw discuss this possibility. Jaypaw wants Firestar to do anything at all, Hollypaw doesn't want any cat to invade so that they can keep the sacred clan balance, and Lionpaw thinks they should leave Windclan alone since he doesn't want to fight Heatherpaw. Another, much more tense gathering comes and it looks like all of Riverclan is attending since they can't stay in their own camp and are going to shelter on the gathering island until the problem goes away. Hollypaw tries to talk to Willowpaw about it, but nothing comes of it and no one seems willing to do anything in support of Riverclan so, after checking on Cinderpaw, Hollypaw decides to do…something. Cutting to Jaypaw, Hollypaw is gone, and Leafpool is trying to force Cinderpaw to remember her life as Cinderpelt and getting mad with Jaypaw for him getting mad at her for trying to feed her the wrong herbs and sometimes not wanting to actually cure her…which is reasonable, on Jaypaw's side. Leafpool then patronizes him and quizzes him on herbs he already knows but immediately pivots to saying she loves him…MMM okay. Jaypaw finds the stick again, Leafpool says it's just a stick, Jaypaw tries to spend time with it, and Leafpool pulls him away until Jaypaw recruits Lionpaw to get the stick with him. Jaypaw is now hearing voices from the lost stick. You know, if this wasn't Warrior Cats I think there would be a problem. Jaypaw dives into the lake and barely makes it out with the stick in his teeth. The stick thanks him. Lionpaw thinks this is a problem. Lionpaw is also doing badly in hunting and Ashfur is angry at him, which gets worse when he is teased by and loses a fight to Berrypaw. More Tigerstar Hawkfrost time, this time with actual training, and Lionpaw uses the move he was taught to beat Berrypaw. Time for Hollypaw again who hasn't left…huh. More camp scene, more clan tensions, more training, and then Hollypaw actually leaves finally to go find Riverclan and help them. They are…moderately accepting of her presence after Willowpaw vouches for her, and explain that it's twoleg kits playing in their streams and scaring off the fish that have driven Riverclan from their camp. That said, Leopardstar decides to hold Hollypaw semi-hostage until her clan fetches her back. But that won't be too long because back in Thunderclan they've already missed her presence and are preparing to look for her and Leafpool begs Jaypaw to dream his way into finding Hollypaw somehow, but Jaypaw can't just fall asleep on command so, despite Leafpool's intense levels of worry, he goes off on his own to spend quality time with his stick, leading him to watch a conversation between Fallen Leaves and Rock, the one shown in the prologue. But Jaypaw follows Fallen Leaves for longer than we saw before, enough to see the tunnels flood, drowning Fallen Leaves and causing Jaypaw to feel like he's drowning too. Lionpaw is having more fun times with Heatherpaw and doing moves to impress both her and Tigerstar. Heatherpaw mentions that she was late because Gorsetail's kits tried to follow her and after a night spent together, Hawkfrost growls that Lionpaw is a traitor and berates him for several pages, which I've heard is a technique *truly* proven to improve your relationship with someone you are trying to gain any loyalty from. Lionpaw then joins a small fight against Windclan at the border where he gets his ear nicked by Breezepaw but is mostly just happy to show off for Tigerstar, and that battle convinces him to break off a relationship with Heatherpaw, much to her chagrin. Back with Hollypaw, she promises not to tell anyone how badly Riverclan is doing and is rescued by Squirrelflight. Her mother is sympathetic but scolds her for running off to meet a friend from another clan and thinking she could solve the problem on her own, a criticism that seems to land painfully. Hollypaw tells Firestar not to attack Windclan but can't tell him why thanks to her promise to Riverclan and also Cinderpaw seems to be doing better and is regularly playing catch with Jaypaw in the den. Both medicine cats go to a tense confrontation with Onestar in the Windclan camp, which is cut off by Gorsetail crying that her kits, Sedgekit, Swallowkit, and Thistlekit, are missing. Windclan believes that Riverclan has stolen their kits and prepares to launch a war. Despite Tigerstar telling him not to care about anything but Thunderclan, Lionpaw goes to his littermates and tells them where he thinks the kits are: in the tunnels, given what Heatherpaw said. The three of them venture down together despite the rain and quickly find Heatherpaw and Breezepaw doing the same. Jaypaw leads them through the dark tunnels since he's used to using his other senses and also he has Fallen Leaves to help him, a ghost no other cat can hear or see. They find the kits but the river is starting to flood just like in Fallen Leaves' time and they need to get out before they all drown, which they do by swimming to the top of the cavern and out of the little hole that leads to the river and down to the lake (all of course based on Jaypaw's deduction that he saw the stick lost in the tunnels but he found it by the lake, so there must have been a connection). Jaypaw wishes Fallen Leaves well and the apprentices return the kits in time to stop the war; Heatherpaw and Lionpaw share one last goodbye, and Hollypaw sees this to mean that she has to stop being friends with Willowpaw too since she's not a medicine cat anymore, and has to follow the warrior code. Tigerstar and Hawkfrost also congratulate Lionpaw for making the right decision. Friendship is worthless, but he has the chance to be a great warrior with them. That's much better. I will begin by declaring what might be a controversial opinion: I prefer Dark River to The Sight. Most second books in the series are looked upon less fondly than the first books of their respective arcs, but in this case, it feels a lot like Dark River *is* the first book in the arc. Where The Sight meandered around randomly and had no ties to the supposed main plot until the last scene, Dark River picks up with still very young apprentices as our points-of-view and has each of them truly begin showcasing who they are, what they want to do, and taking actions in accordance with their goals, which also opens them up to wider Thunderclan and all-clan conflicts that could potentially drive some tension in the arc. Windclan and Riverclan's border dispute and their respective reasons for being wary is a relatively nuanced, albeit short-lived plot, and letting all three of our protagonists take a part in the solution made it feel like a well-rounded story. But the resolution was very clean and left little possibility for an overarching story arc beyond Lionpaw's new shadowy mentors and the still mostly-untouched powers plotline so, as in most of Power of Three, the big draw is going to come in the characters. Let's begin with Hollypaw, mostly because she's the one I hear the most discourse about for this book specifically. Dark River Hollypaw is already different from The Sight Hollypaw, but in subtler ways that you probably wouldn't be able to get from a plot summary in any article or video you saw. Hollypaw is definitely still a follower of the code, and still encourages that in the cats around her. Like in the Sight, she's even still showing off bits of her hypocrisy…though I have my own piece to say on how extreme that part is given that her only out-of-clan friend was a medicine cat who is meant to cross borders anyway and that she was trying to save another clan, much like Fireheart did in his youth, rather than just sneaking off to find a girlfriend. And even if it wasn't fair for her to scold Lionpaw for what he was doing, the point of the book was her learning that they both had to let go of their friends so she could focus on her own clan and the code, so I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be. All this aside though, the *source* and *intensity* of all these behaviors she carried over has changed quite a bit. The Sight made it clear through the medicine cat switch plotline that Hollypaw was motivated in large part by ambition, finding a way to be important in the clan, and that being a great warrior, then perhaps more, was the only way she could do that since she didn't like her job as a medicine cat. Now, she actually shies away from ambition and feels uncomfortable rather than proud when cats equate her bossy behavior to being a potential leader. Her goal now really does seem to be following the warrior code in the strictest, least nuanced way she can, to the point that she actually becomes less intelligent and capable of her own opinions when it comes to matters of morality that might overlap with the code. There are absolutely ways you could string these characters together, but this book didn't do a great job of it on its own. Lionpaw has probably the most well-known journey from this book, in his relationship with Heatherpaw and, eventually, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost as well. Despite being very well-known, this is one of the clunkier aspects of the story. It repeats a lot of elements from Leafpool and Crowfeather's romance, down to the Thunderclan cat turning the Windclan cat down out of duty and them breaking up amicably despite knowing each other for a very short time, and it is worsened by the reactions of Hollypaw, Tigerstar, and Hawkfrost. Hollypaw tells him *twice* that he shouldn't be so close with Heatherpaw, and only once after they have actually started meeting, but Lionpaw is thinking about Hollypaw's judgment of him in nearly every chapter, and he goes as far as to scare and physically hurt his sister on separate occasions because of his insecurity. I don't think this is a bad plotline, actually. It makes sense for the characters and Lionpaw having anger issues is an interesting fault to have to confront throughout his arc, but he is absolutely not a victim in this book. I have more in-book problems with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost than I do with Hollypaw. We don't know exactly why, at this point, but they are trying to get Lionpaw to trust and train with them much in the same way that Tigerstar ahem…helped, Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw. But they only have a couple of scenes together, most of which are Lionpaw thinking about how proud Tigerstar *would* be for the moves he *already learned* at some point offscreen, and with what we do see of them, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost are actively worsening their relationship by arguing with Lionpaw and taking the same stand as Hollypaw. Not really the technique I would have used to get a cat to trust me, guys. Jaypaw meanwhile is uhhhh a massive grump with negative empathy for any cat aside from himself and sometimes his littermates. He is disinterested in other cats' problems, unsympathetic with both Lionpaw and Leafpool, and tries to use his powers and knowledge of Windclan and Riverclan's weaknesses to justify attacking them rather than helping them in any way. The only cat he really seems to put in the work to care for is Cinderpaw, and this seems to be partly motivated by spiteing Leafpool who is refusing to treat her. He also has a…very odd relationship with that stick. Nothing much to say about that yet, it's just strange from an outside perspective. Speaking of Leafpool, and Cinderpaw as well, how Leafpool treats both her and Jaypaw in this book is not okay. This isn't an ableism issue as much as it was in The Sight. Instead she is just desperate and controlling of Jaypaw in ways that are inappropriate for a mentor or a family member (because Leafpool is his aunt, remember) and she gets upset whenever he doesn't use his power in exactly the way she wants him to. Particularly egregious is her inconsistent willingness to treat Cinderpaw at times because of her connection to Cinderpelt and the necessity that Cinderpelt be able to live a "better" life as a warrior this time, a sentiment that actually is ableist. I covered this whole topic in a video a while ago but the whole Cinderpelt reincarnation was a mistake. Dark River is a tight little story with many flawed characters and, despite a few clunky choices and insensitive treatment, it still becomes much more engaging than The Sight. However, we're now two books in and lacking in any direction for the overall arc, so we'll have to see if that improves or only gets worse when we catch up with the third book in a future episode, of our Trip Through Time.
B1 中級 米 Dark River – Trip Through Time | Warriors Analysis 6 0 WarriorsCatFan2007 に公開 2024 年 02 月 18 日 シェア シェア 保存 報告 動画の中の単語