Warriors – The Power of Three, Sunrise, Book Six
Review of Erin Hunter's New Warriors Book, Fiction for Ages 9 - 12
May 10, 2009
The main characters in the six books of The Power of Three part of the Warriors series are three cat sibiings: Jayfeather who was born blind and is a medicine cat; and Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, trained warriors who hunt and protect the others. They live in a society of cats known as "Thunderclan".
Review of Sunrise, by Erin Hunter
Sunrise is just as engaging, exciting and compelling as any of the books in the Warriors series. But Sunrise definitely takes on a different tone. Past books included some weighty themes, such as when a traitorous cat helped lure a pack of blood-thirsty dogs to try to wipe out all the cats. At other times in the series, a forest fire and a badger attack caused suffering. But the problems in this book seem heavier because the "good" and well-meaning characters are contributing to their own problems and to those of their loved ones. Unnecessary lack of communication and trust wreaks havoc and results in tragedy.
In Sunrise, it is revealed that honorable cats who have lived exemplary lives have, in fact, made mistakes in the past. They covered up their secrets and in the end, these secrets cause a great deal of pain and suffering for the main characters.
All of the books in the series usually involve younger cats like Jayfeather, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze keeping secrets. Readers want to cry out, “Just tell her!”, but the secrets create tension needed for a good read and things usually get resolved in the end. But in Sunrise, the secrets kept and the lack of discussion on the part of the three young cats and even older cats who should know better, is what causes the pain and problems to escalate, and escalate they do, in a big and tragic way.
The apparently evil, charismatic cat Sol who was introduced in this series has something to do with the problems, but, just like evil forces in the real world, this cat cannot be blamed for everything. In Sunrise, things are going more wrong than usual, it seems, because too many walls have gone up between the characters who have seemed to grow way too far away from each other.
It will be interesting to see, when the next book comes out, how all this is ultimately resolved, and to see whether the cats of Thunderclan can draw upon what was always their very positive way of living to overcome the problems they now face.
Recommendations to Parents About Erin Hunter's Warriors Series
Erin Hunter’s Warriors series is highly recommended for kids and parents. The series was a winning page-turner right from the beginning with the first book, Into the Wild. The books are entirely appropriate for the 9 through 12-and-up range of readers, and parents will also find themselves engrossed in the stories if they read them. Cat-lovers in particular will cherish these books and they often say that they will never look at their pet cats the same way again, after having read them.
Because these books focus on the real "stuff of life", they provide parents with so many opportunities for parent-child discussion around real life issues that may arise for the children. Therefore, it is recommended that parents read these books if their children are reading them. This is particularly true for Sunrise, because things do go so terribly wrong and the young reader is bound to feel sad.
Themes in the series include: tradition, faith, spirituality, loyalty, authority, fitting in, not fitting in, identity, mercy, compassion, growing up, peace and war, personal accomplishment and more. It is recommended that people begin with Into the Wild, the very first book of the Warriors series, and read them in sequence. There are eighteen books in the series, as well as six mangas and three special editions.
The Book is: Warriors, Power of Three, Sunrise, Book 6 by Erin Hunter. Published byHarperCollins April 21, 2009, # ISBN-10: 006089217X and # ISBN-13: 978-0060892173.
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