Book Review: Into the Wild

By Vitora

It was late night, and I was bored. I had already completed my Visual Basic programming for the night, but my laptop was still connected to the Internet and Mom was working on the family computer. So I decided to search for some books—school was, after all, quite light, and my summer reading had been rather sparse.

The year was 2003, and I had just about run out of good “young adult fantasy novels”’; as my family’s restrictions on the magic and such that goes on in such a genre is pretty strict, so most of the new books out were off-limits. And so when I read the title, saw the cover—the one with the cats all over it—and read the review blurb, I decided to put a hold on this new book. Erin Hunter was the author’s name; her book was entitled Into the Wild, and it was a fairly decent length—272 pages. Besides, upon further investigation I discovered that there was already a sequel at the library and another one on order.

Getting Mom to drive to the library took some convincing, but finally I had the book in my hands. It looked even better upon closer inspection, as it seemed to combine just the right amount of mythological and magical aspects with the wild cat (yes, two words) and adventure world. I dove into my favorite easy chair and started to turn the pages.

Right away, I was hooked. The main character, Rusty, a farm cat who wants nothing more than to be free and live in the nearby woodlands, is interesting right from the start (though in later books, he gets slightly unbelieveable—however, that’s another story…literally); he has dreams he wants realized, he has goals—to catch and eat a mouse, for instance, instead of just dry cat food—he has friends, and he even has a few flaws. And the secondary characters, such as Bluestar and Tigerclaw, leaders of ThunderClan, and Rusty’s (whose name becomes Firepaw part of the way through the novel) friends Graypaw and Ravenpaw, have unique qualities as well.

There is a mystery surrounding the cat clans—of which there are four: ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan—that is revealed from the very beginning and is developed through the first four books. This first novel, however, focuses mostly on Rusty’s journey to becoming a warrior’s apprentice, taking on the surname -paw as well as many responsibilities and duties. We are introduced to the other clans and their leaders, although the style of writing is such that the reader is shown only what Rusty/Firepaw knows himself, and so at first the story and characters are limited to what goes on within ThunderClan.

I can’t spoil the ending, as from there the storyline (which currently spans five books and, I believe, is going to span seven or eight) only grows more exciting—though slightly predictable. I recommend this book, and its sequels, if you have some time to kill and a cozy corner somewhere. The terminology used by the warrior cats may be a little confusing at first, but don’t give up; the book is written with children in mind, same age as Redwall readers (though the plot is heavier and deeper than BJ’s novels), and so it can’t be too confusing. May StarClan guide you on your journey through the Warriors series!