A review by samdalefox
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I'm reading this as a 28 year old British adult woman. My pen pal (10 year old American girl) kindly gave me a copy of this for my birthday because she's enjoyed reading the series and we both like cats. It was a quick read and I really enjoyed it! I'll be reading the rest of the first series for sure. One, to be able to discuss it with my pen pal, but two because I'm genuinely enjoying them. It reminded me of the kind of books I enjoyed reading at her age (Pendragon, The Last Dragon Chronicles etc.); it's adventurous and fast paced. The first book is all about setting the scene of who the cat clans are and how they operate. We follow Rusty (Firepaw), who was once a housecat and his journey to joining the Thunderclan as a warrior. 

So far I think this is a great book series for kids. They tackle most of the things you'd like them to introduce to kids: e.g. working together as a team, being confident in yourself/independent, the importance of honesty, respect for nature, it showcases a strong women leader. It does have violence, but this is the natural violence of nature, not gratuitious violence and it certainly isn't gory or detailed. The one and only point I thought wasn't explained well, was why the cat clans couldn't reach an accord and share hunting rights of their lands to ensure everyone prospers. I hope that this is a storyline they return to in the future, otherwise the story does endorse the idea of borders, them vs us mentality, militarianism, and resource scarcity. 
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