''Firestar's Quest'' is a volume in the ''
Warriors
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have be ...
'' novel series by
Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Clarissa Hutton, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, and Rosie Best in the writing of several juvenile fantasy novel series, which focus on anima ...
.
''Firestar's Quest'' follows Firestar, the leader of ThunderClan, one of the four Clans of cats living in a forest, as he goes on a journey to find the lost fifth Clan, SkyClan. After receiving dreams from the previous leader of SkyClan, Firestar and his mate, Sandstorm, leave ThunderClan to find and rebuild the lost tribe. At the end of the book, the Clan is rebuilt with a leader, medicine cat and territory. It is set in between
''The Darkest Hour'' and
''Midnight''.
''Firestar's Quest'' returns to being written from Firestar's point of view as in the original ''
Warriors
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have be ...
'' series, after the subsequent series were written from the perspectives of other characters. The book allowed Hunter Erin to explore the old territories again, having moved to the lake territories in ''
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
''. An excerpt of ''Firestar's Quest'' was released to promote sales of the book, which were very successful. The novel has also received positive critical reception.
Concept and development
Firestar narrated the first six books but, for the later ''
Warriors: The New Prophecy''
and ''
Warriors: Power of Three'' series,
other cats were chosen to speak. Firestar was chosen to narrate the special edition. Cherith Baldry wrote ''Firestar's Quest'' and Gary Chalk illustrated the book. Erin Hunter has said the novel was a chance to explore the old territories,
which had been left behind in the ''Warriors: The New Prophecy'' series.
To promote the book, an excerpt was released online on the Warriors website,
and later at the back of the ''Warriors''
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
volume ''
Warrior's Refuge
''Warrior’s Refuge'' is the second in an original English-language manga trilogy based on the best-selling book series ''Warriors'' by Erin Hunter. The manga was published by the distributor Tokyopop, and was released on 26 December 2007 alon ...
''.
AuthorTracker emails mentioned increasingly ''Firestar’s Quest'' as the launch date approached.
The book was also commonly mentioned in the author chats on Wands and Worlds.
Background
All of the ''Warriors'' novels are listed as being written by Erin Hunter. Erin Hunter is a pen name for four people,
Victoria Holmes
Victoria "Vicky" Holmes is an English author. She is better known by the name Erin Hunter, a pseudonym under which she and others write the New York Times Bestselling '' Warriors'' series.
Biography
Victoria Holmes was born in Berkshire, London ...
, who creates the storylines and edits,
Kate Cary
Kate Cary (born 4 November 1967 in Birmingham, England) is an author, most well known for her work on the ''Warriors'' series.
Works
Cary is a contributor to, alongside several others, the pen name Erin Hunter. She is also the single author ...
,
Cherith Baldry
Cherith Baldry (born 21 January 1947) is a British writer of children's fiction and fantasy fiction. Beside publication under her own name, she is the author of some works published under the pseudonyms Adam Blade, Jenny Dale, Jack Dillon, and ...
, and
Tui Sutherland, who write the books in turns.
Chronologically, ''Firestar's Quest'' takes place between the first two series—after the events of ''
The Darkest Hour
"The Darkest Hour" is a phrase used to refer to an early period of World War II, from approximately mid-1940 to mid-1941. While widely attributed to Winston Churchill, the origins of the phrase are unclear.
The phrase
The phrase "the darkest ...
'' and before ''
Midnight
Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...
''.
''Firestar's Quest'' was put under the title ''Warriors: Super Edition'', as a special edition extra long book.
Sequel
After the publication of the novel, Holmes confirmed the possibility of seeing SkyClan again:
''SkyClan's Destiny'', the third super edition and sequel tells of a civil war in SkyClan and was released on 3 August 2010.
SkyClan was also brought back in the ''SkyClan and the Stranger'' manga, including ''The Rescue'', ''Beyond the Code'', and ''After the Flood''. These detail how Sol lived in SkyClan for a time and shows how he came to have such a strong vendetta against the Clans.
Synopsis
''Firestar's Quest'' takes place between
''The Darkest Hour'' and
''Midnight''. The novel follows Firestar, leader of ThunderClan (one of four Clans of wild cats living in a fictional forest) on a journey to find a fifth lost Clan of the forest called SkyClan. Firestar and his mate Sandstorm journey upriver in order to rebuild the long-lost Clan. When they arrive at the Clan's former home, they meet Skywatcher, a descendant of SkyClan, who tells them about SkyClan's story, and shows them the Whispering Cave, they also find SkyClan's old home deserted, the caves strangely marked with tiny claw marks resembling those of
rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...
s. Firestar gathers together Leafdapple, Sparrowpelt, Sharpclaw, Echosong, Rainfur, Petalnose, Clovertail, Patchfoot, Shortwhisker, Cherrytail, Sagekit, Mintkit, Tinypaw, Rockpaw, and Bouncepaw. Eventually, Firestar re-establishes the Clan and helps the Clan fight the force that destroyed the ancient SkyClan: rats. Though SkyClan emerges victorious, the warrior Rainfur is killed and Firestar loses his second life. As Firestar and Sandstorm prepare to return home, Leafdapple is made the leader and renamed Leafstar on the Sky Rock, which is used to connect to the SkyClan ancestors. Sharpclaw is made deputy of SkyClan, and Echosong becomes the medicine cat.
In the epilogue, Sandstorm and Firestar's new kits are born. They decide to name one Squirrelkit (after her sleek tail), and the other Leafkit (in honor of SkyClan's new leader, Leafstar). SkyClan blood runs through ThunderClan in cats such as Tigerclaw from his ancestor Cloudstar, a leader of SkyClan from when they lived alongside the other four Clans.
Before Firestar left the forest, a whole series of events happened that weren't shown in ''The New Prophecy''. Such events included the warrior Longtail losing his sight when a rabbit clawed his eyes, Willowpelt being killed by a badger, and Bramblepaw receiving his warrior name; Brambleclaw. Additionally, Sootpaw got a new mentor, Thornclaw. This book is also the origin of the prophecy "There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws." The prophecy was passed on to Firestar by Skywatcher.
Themes
In an AuthorTracker email, Victoria Holmes says that one of the main themes of ''Firestar's Quest'' is "two cats are genuinely torn between following the warrior code and doing what they believe is right for themselves". In the book, Firestar is asked to find and rebuild SkyClan which described as Holmes "will take him a long way outside the warrior code and all that he believes in".
A review commented that "themes of faith and responsibility give it depth" and also added that "It's quite satisfying watching Firestar and Sandstorm assemble a ragtag group of cats into a true Clan," and compared to movies such as ''The Bad News Bears'' to ''Major League''.
Publication history
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
published the hardcover edition of ''Firestar's Quest'' and released it on 21 August 2007.
The book had a 150,000 first release.
After the release, Erin Hunter went on tour to talk about ''Firestar's Quest'' with fans.
HarperTrophy
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...
, an imprint of HarperCollins, released the paperback version of ''Firestar's Quest'' on 13 May 2008.
Russia has published a translation of ''Firestar's Quest''.
The German version of the book has also been released as both a hardcover and audiobook. The United States,
the United Kingdom,
and Canada have English versions of ''Firestar's Quest''. Canada launched the book early on 9 August 2007.
''Firestar's Quest'' ended up on many bestseller lists, including
the New York Times Best Seller list
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
.
Critical reception
A reviewer from
''Children's Literature'' gave a very positive review, calling ''Firestar's Quest'' a “fantastic extension” to the Warriors series, and near the end of the review, the critic said ''Firestar's Quest'' showed that the Warriors books had evolved “from simply entertaining to thought provoking adventures”. A review by ''
Booklist
''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...
'' noted the longer length of the book and also praised the mission and new characters introduced in the book. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' also gave a positive review writing "Fans of the Warriors books will excitedly delve into ''Firestar's Quest'', the latest edition to Erin Hunter's bestselling series."
See also
*
Warriors (novel series)
''Warriors'' (also known as ''Warrior Cats'') is a series of novels based on the adventures and drama of multiple Clans of feral cats. The series is primarily set in fictional forests. Published by HarperCollins, the series is written by aut ...
References
External links
The official ''Warriors'' website
{{Warriors (Erin Hunter)
2007 American novels
Warriors (novel series)
American fantasy novels
Novels about cats
HarperCollins books
2007 children's books
American children's books