What doyouthink?
Rate this book
Bravelands: Thunder on the Plains#2
Breakers of the Code
A thrilling new arc in Erin Hunter’s bestselling Bravelands series! Set in the African highlands and told from three different animals’ points of view, this is a perfect adventure for dedicated fans and readers new to the Bravelands world. Cast out of his coalition, Stride the cheetah embarks on a perilous mission for the Great Parent, accompanied by a honey badger burdened with a dark and mysterious past. Whisper the water buffalo has been searching desperately for her brother Echo, presumed dead after a terrible fall. And the hyena now known as Breathstealer finds herself courted by the Great Spirit at one moment and other times tempted by the Great Devourer, who sends her compelling visions of power and plenty. The balance of power in Bravelands rests on a knife’s edge, and the Great Devourer waits hungrily in the shadows. Will these unlikely heroes be able to restore their home? Full of epic adventure and intrigue, this adventure will thrill readers who love the Spirit Animals and Wings of Fire series, as well as the legion of dedicated fans who’ve made Erin Hunter a bestselling phenomenon.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published February 6, 2024
About the author
Erin Hunter
352books9,565followersErin Hunter is the pseudonym of five people:Kate Cary,Cherith Baldry,Tui T. Sutherland,Gillian Philip,andInbali Iserles,as well as editorVictoria Holmes.Together, they write the Warriors series as well as the Seekers and Survivors series. Erin Hunter is working on a new series now called Bravelands.
Erin Hunter is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having a great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior, shaped by her interest in astronomy and standing stones.
Erin Hunter is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having a great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior, shaped by her interest in astronomy and standing stones.
Ratings&Reviews
Friends&Following
Create a free accountto discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 10, 2024
We stan Breathstealer, our morally gray queen.
Big fan of this one, it has a lot of great elements to keep the reader engaged. Whether it's the intrigue and building threat of the Great Devourer, the character development of Breathstealer, the dark past of Stonehide, the great chemistry between some of the characters, it's got it all.
My main criticism really lies with the buffalo subplot: Whisper is not a very proactive or well-developed protagonist and it genuinely feels like Echo would make for a better one at times. He's just the more active player with the higher stakes in the plot here, with him being the chosen one. But instead he's just relegated to a side character in Whisper's story. Meanwhile Whisper mostly just calls out Holler and goes to look for her brother once, but doesn't do much more across these two books.
Full review at:https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Big fan of this one, it has a lot of great elements to keep the reader engaged. Whether it's the intrigue and building threat of the Great Devourer, the character development of Breathstealer, the dark past of Stonehide, the great chemistry between some of the characters, it's got it all.
My main criticism really lies with the buffalo subplot: Whisper is not a very proactive or well-developed protagonist and it genuinely feels like Echo would make for a better one at times. He's just the more active player with the higher stakes in the plot here, with him being the chosen one. But instead he's just relegated to a side character in Whisper's story. Meanwhile Whisper mostly just calls out Holler and goes to look for her brother once, but doesn't do much more across these two books.
Full review at:https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
February 1, 2024
Oh, boy, there is a lot to say about this book and I feel like regardless of how much I say about it, it won't exhaust my feelings on the matter completely. But let's try.
First, the expectations I came with to this book. I was truly enamoured by The Shattered Horn, the first book of the series. The characters, the story, all the little details and the promise of a grand adventure all made me think that this could be the greatest Erin Hunter arc that we had ever got. Breakers of the Code doesn't live up to that, but it's still a good book.
But before getting more into the details, we can't ignore the elephant in the room: The book is short. It's very short. At 195 pages, it's like 30% shorter than the second shortest Erin Hunter book and I just can't understand why. It's not like there isn't a story to be told here. It feels like the early parts of the story got super rushed to accommodate the very limited page count and the book overall suffers a lot because of that. Many plot hooks that were set up in the previous book get dropped or get resolved in a very unsatisfying matter.
All this would have been avoided if we had 60-80 more pages to flesh out the story. Is the series doing so badly that they are cutting down on the cost in the extreme manner? Is the Bravelands team hated by the CEO of the company? We'll probably never know and it's really unfortunate because Bravelands has been some of the best Erin Hunter content we've got and Thunder on the Plains had potential to be a shining diamond of the series.
Getting more into details, the early parts are extremely rushed. All three of our heroes achieve their goals from the previous book almost immediately, probably because there wasn't any page space left to have some build up or tension. Whisper finds Echo in her second chapter. Breathstealer goes back to her clan almost immediately and Stride likewise achieves his mission extremely soon. Super rushed. At least the story picks up from there and it only gets better.
This time, Stride gets the best parts. I like his character development and his relationship with Stonehide is great. The honey badger is a great companion and mentor and his personality really works well with Stride's. He's also a great character on his own. Stride gets to tie some loose ends of his story and ends on a good cliffhanger and a promise of an epic mission in the final book. On the downside, as of now, his character really didn't have all that much impact on the overarching plot, but it's clear that it's going to change dramatically in the finale, so I'm fine with it.
Whisper is again the weakest part of the story, but she's not as bad as say, Bramble, from the second arc. She's a perfectly workable character, that just lacks a bit of oomph that the other two PoVs get. She gets a few opportunities to shine and establish herself as her own character and Echo gets some growth as well.
Her storyline though, feels pretty weak overall. Despite achieving seemingly a lot, none of this seems to change her overall position. Sure, Echo is rescued, Echo wins the leadership over the herd and Quake realizes his wrongs and joins the good guys against his villain father, Holler, but all this doesn't really lead to anything. The migration still appears to be doomed and we end the book with three characters outside the herd wondering what to do. Just like at the end of the previous book.
And finally, there's Breathstealer. She doesn't shine quite as much as in The Shattered Horn, but she still has a strong presence and I really like her development. It's a bit unfortunate that The Great Devourer is the main villain of the arc, I would have liked to have another supernatural force to balance The Great Spirit somehow. But The Great Devourer is cool as a villain, so I don't mind it too much. Breathstealer is reluctant to fully commit to becoming The Great Devourer's champion early on, because it feels wrong, but ultimately succumbs to all the promises of power and greatness that he offers.
The book continues Breathstealer's character development from the previous book really well. While at the start of The Shattered Horn, Tailgrabber was a hyena that was unlike all the other hyenas, after the climax of the previous book she becomes more and more like a peak ideal of hyenas. And that's a pretty welcome and refreshing way for an Erin Hunter character to go. We don't get all that many characters who willingly go towards the more villainous path. Sure, it's pretty clear that Breathstealer will have an ultimate change of heart, but it's good for her to stray from the right part first.
I really like way hyenas are presented in general. Bravelands usually did societal construction better than the other Erin Hunter series and Breakers of the Code continues with it. Hyenas are tough and intense but they also feel pretty unique. I really like their creation.
What I didn't like is Breathstealer's companion, Graypelt. Ultimately, he's just not interesting. We never really get to know him well, again, probably because of how short the book is, and his personality doesn't really work that well with Breathstealer's. For most of his appearances, he's only there to nag Breathstealer that The Great Devourer is evil and I feel he doesn't contribute much in that. There are some interesting parts about him, but the book doesn't really focus on them, so he simply falls flat. Again, maybe if the book had some space to properly develop him, he would have been much better - Stonehide proves that Rosie Best knows how to write a good companion. But Graypelt is not him.
The resolution to Noblepride problem also feels rushed. The previous book made it look as if there's more than meets the eye to the troublemaking group of lions with each of the groups having some ties Noblepride and implication that there is some strange events behind the scenes with them. But it's never revealed here. Noblepride just gets deleted to showcase the power of The Great Devourer and while I wouldn't mind that as the ultimate resolution, it feels like a waste not to explore them more before that. Again, this probably boils down to lack of space. I really hope that Realm of Lost Spirits, the final book of the arc, is given the fair number of pages to give the series a proper epic ending.
So, overall. Breakers of the Code is a step down from the previous book and suffers greatly from being so short. But despite all this and all the other problems that the book had, I still really enjoyed it. The good points are all still here and while there's a lot of wasted potential, a lot of things are executed well. It could have been a great book, but it's still a good book and I am eagerly awaiting the final book of Bravelands.
First, the expectations I came with to this book. I was truly enamoured by The Shattered Horn, the first book of the series. The characters, the story, all the little details and the promise of a grand adventure all made me think that this could be the greatest Erin Hunter arc that we had ever got. Breakers of the Code doesn't live up to that, but it's still a good book.
But before getting more into the details, we can't ignore the elephant in the room: The book is short. It's very short. At 195 pages, it's like 30% shorter than the second shortest Erin Hunter book and I just can't understand why. It's not like there isn't a story to be told here. It feels like the early parts of the story got super rushed to accommodate the very limited page count and the book overall suffers a lot because of that. Many plot hooks that were set up in the previous book get dropped or get resolved in a very unsatisfying matter.
All this would have been avoided if we had 60-80 more pages to flesh out the story. Is the series doing so badly that they are cutting down on the cost in the extreme manner? Is the Bravelands team hated by the CEO of the company? We'll probably never know and it's really unfortunate because Bravelands has been some of the best Erin Hunter content we've got and Thunder on the Plains had potential to be a shining diamond of the series.
Getting more into details, the early parts are extremely rushed. All three of our heroes achieve their goals from the previous book almost immediately, probably because there wasn't any page space left to have some build up or tension. Whisper finds Echo in her second chapter. Breathstealer goes back to her clan almost immediately and Stride likewise achieves his mission extremely soon. Super rushed. At least the story picks up from there and it only gets better.
This time, Stride gets the best parts. I like his character development and his relationship with Stonehide is great. The honey badger is a great companion and mentor and his personality really works well with Stride's. He's also a great character on his own. Stride gets to tie some loose ends of his story and ends on a good cliffhanger and a promise of an epic mission in the final book. On the downside, as of now, his character really didn't have all that much impact on the overarching plot, but it's clear that it's going to change dramatically in the finale, so I'm fine with it.
Whisper is again the weakest part of the story, but she's not as bad as say, Bramble, from the second arc. She's a perfectly workable character, that just lacks a bit of oomph that the other two PoVs get. She gets a few opportunities to shine and establish herself as her own character and Echo gets some growth as well.
Her storyline though, feels pretty weak overall. Despite achieving seemingly a lot, none of this seems to change her overall position. Sure, Echo is rescued, Echo wins the leadership over the herd and Quake realizes his wrongs and joins the good guys against his villain father, Holler, but all this doesn't really lead to anything. The migration still appears to be doomed and we end the book with three characters outside the herd wondering what to do. Just like at the end of the previous book.
And finally, there's Breathstealer. She doesn't shine quite as much as in The Shattered Horn, but she still has a strong presence and I really like her development. It's a bit unfortunate that The Great Devourer is the main villain of the arc, I would have liked to have another supernatural force to balance The Great Spirit somehow. But The Great Devourer is cool as a villain, so I don't mind it too much. Breathstealer is reluctant to fully commit to becoming The Great Devourer's champion early on, because it feels wrong, but ultimately succumbs to all the promises of power and greatness that he offers.
The book continues Breathstealer's character development from the previous book really well. While at the start of The Shattered Horn, Tailgrabber was a hyena that was unlike all the other hyenas, after the climax of the previous book she becomes more and more like a peak ideal of hyenas. And that's a pretty welcome and refreshing way for an Erin Hunter character to go. We don't get all that many characters who willingly go towards the more villainous path. Sure, it's pretty clear that Breathstealer will have an ultimate change of heart, but it's good for her to stray from the right part first.
I really like way hyenas are presented in general. Bravelands usually did societal construction better than the other Erin Hunter series and Breakers of the Code continues with it. Hyenas are tough and intense but they also feel pretty unique. I really like their creation.
What I didn't like is Breathstealer's companion, Graypelt. Ultimately, he's just not interesting. We never really get to know him well, again, probably because of how short the book is, and his personality doesn't really work that well with Breathstealer's. For most of his appearances, he's only there to nag Breathstealer that The Great Devourer is evil and I feel he doesn't contribute much in that. There are some interesting parts about him, but the book doesn't really focus on them, so he simply falls flat. Again, maybe if the book had some space to properly develop him, he would have been much better - Stonehide proves that Rosie Best knows how to write a good companion. But Graypelt is not him.
The resolution to Noblepride problem also feels rushed. The previous book made it look as if there's more than meets the eye to the troublemaking group of lions with each of the groups having some ties Noblepride and implication that there is some strange events behind the scenes with them. But it's never revealed here. Noblepride just gets deleted to showcase the power of The Great Devourer and while I wouldn't mind that as the ultimate resolution, it feels like a waste not to explore them more before that. Again, this probably boils down to lack of space. I really hope that Realm of Lost Spirits, the final book of the arc, is given the fair number of pages to give the series a proper epic ending.
So, overall. Breakers of the Code is a step down from the previous book and suffers greatly from being so short. But despite all this and all the other problems that the book had, I still really enjoyed it. The good points are all still here and while there's a lot of wasted potential, a lot of things are executed well. It could have been a great book, but it's still a good book and I am eagerly awaiting the final book of Bravelands.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2024
I'll try to keep this one shorter than my review for The Shattered horn. I am also giving this book 3 stars because it's good, but not excellent. It does suffer from some of the same problems I mentioned before.
In this case, the worst storyline is probably the water buffalo plot. It suffers immensely from having Whisper as the main character, as she does VERY little. Most of the plot happens AROUND her. It would have been so much better if the POV character was Echo. Even Whisper's search for him was relatively uninteresting, especially since the epilogue from the previous book made it clear that he was alive. I do like the PACING of this plot, though, so that's a point in its favor.
I just found myself thinking so much of how exciting and interesting this would have been from Echo's POV. A female lead means nothing if her entire plot is centered around rescuing another character, and she is led BY the plot instead of affecting the plot.
At least Quake's turn felt relatively natural.
I gotta say that the standoff between Echo and Holler would have felt more natural if:
1) ALL challenges between herd members only lasted until one of them lost their footing (IE the first one to get knocked over is the loser)
and,
2) Echo had shown any previous signs of vigilance, high intelligence, and cunning.
As it was, this part of the plot was ruined when Echo suggested it was only until one of them fell, because then it was less about his bravery, and more about something weird going on in his head. ALSO. ALSO. It brought a random mud hole into things, instead of using what would have been a smart, previously-established way to cause Holler to fall. THERE WERE MEERKAT BURROWS. I was SURE the idea was for Echo to lead Holler over the meerkat burrows and have him stick his leg into one and fall over/break his leg. That would have been SO SATISFYING, and would have made the meerkats earlier in the book seem a whole lot less pointless and random.
The only thing that would have had to be added would be a line that the meerkats had seen Echo and wished him good luck/a quick death when it came to the lions.
I can't stress how angry I was about this. I feel like it MUST have been the plan at one point, then the writer just... forgot? I don't know. It's not even one of those wishful thinking scenarios where I feel like I could have written it better. IT WAS SET UP THAT WAY. Ugh.
Holler as a villain is also way too two-dimensional. It's obvious he's not doing what's best for the herd, nor does he even want to. He's doing what's best for Holler. And the stereotypical sycophants surrounding him are just annoying. It's the plot of every high school book. This could have been done so much better.
Stride's plot isn't much better. In fact, it's equally as disappointing as Whisper's in a lot of ways. He and his honey badger friend, Stonehide, didn't do much throughout the book, and while there were hints at the lore, there was no actual diving into it. No effort in the narrative to help readers understand it. It still maintained the confusing "cheetahs who run too fast get caught by Death" narrative without truly explaining it, and it continued to make little sense. Considering Stride is faster than Flicker was, why isn't he also dead?
Then there's the underwhelming encounters between Stride and the lions, then Stride and Jinx. I find Jinx to stereotypical a villain to be enjoyable at all, but then he's kinda stupid, as well.
Absolutely nothing of consequence happens in Stride's entire plot, and as I write this review... I'm actually realizing every chapter of his story could have been removed from the book entirely, and the book wouldn't have suffered at all for it. His story was literally all filler to pad the word count. No information was gained, nothing happened, and he was just kind of a living vehicle to gain insight into the Great Mother's purpose.
Stonehide suffers from the Iced Girlfriend stereotype, too. I'm about done reading books where a character's entire personality and motivation is stretched on the premise of a girlfriend/wife/mate being killed. That's really all I have to say about him.
Without Breathstealer's plot, I would have given this book two stars. But I also can't give it back more than one, because it feels like a weird wish fulfillment fantasy. I had them a lot when I was a kid and I just wanted the popular kids to pay attention to me. In fact, I wrote a fanfic when I was 14 about how I personally saved the world, and then everyone loved me. That's what Breathstealer's entire plot felt like.
But I also have a problem with the Great Devourer. In the first book, it really felt like it was going to be a lot more than Generic Evil God(tm), and that it had a very important part in the circle of life. I wanted the hyenas to be more than evil sycophants to an evil god. But the Great Devourer turns out to be evil, and promises great rewards to Breathstealer if she follows it.
This whole plot could have been forgiven if Breathstealer didn't VERY quickly fall into its influence so easily. She was established in the first book as an intelligent, peace-hopeful hyena. And despite her initial reluctance and the presence of a new character named Greypelt who helps her understand what the Great Devourer is, she seems to have no agency.
The worst part was that she very genuinely befriended Greypelt, then immediately turned on him when he suggested maybe it wasn't a great idea to start waving flags for the Great Devourer. She literally did exactly what her entire clan did to her, and learned nothing at all from their attitudes toward her, or her life in exile. There should have been more hesitation. More nuance. This complete 180 in personality turns Breathstealer from a relatable or sympathetic character into a stereotype.
It really would have been refreshing to get a book where Death isn't the bad guy, or where the Great Spirit turns out to be the one who has something to learn. IE: death is a part of life, and all animals--even gods--must accept and embrace it.
I also noticed this book was a whole lot shorter than the first one, and other Bravelands books. Did the writers get bored of it? I feel like a lot of the problems could have been corrected, or at least mitigated, if there were more plot. I don't necessarily feel like the book was rushed, just that very important things were just... missing.
I'm still going to read book 3, because now I have to know how it all ends.
In this case, the worst storyline is probably the water buffalo plot. It suffers immensely from having Whisper as the main character, as she does VERY little. Most of the plot happens AROUND her. It would have been so much better if the POV character was Echo. Even Whisper's search for him was relatively uninteresting, especially since the epilogue from the previous book made it clear that he was alive. I do like the PACING of this plot, though, so that's a point in its favor.
I just found myself thinking so much of how exciting and interesting this would have been from Echo's POV. A female lead means nothing if her entire plot is centered around rescuing another character, and she is led BY the plot instead of affecting the plot.
At least Quake's turn felt relatively natural.
I gotta say that the standoff between Echo and Holler would have felt more natural if:
1) ALL challenges between herd members only lasted until one of them lost their footing (IE the first one to get knocked over is the loser)
and,
2) Echo had shown any previous signs of vigilance, high intelligence, and cunning.
As it was, this part of the plot was ruined when Echo suggested it was only until one of them fell, because then it was less about his bravery, and more about something weird going on in his head. ALSO. ALSO. It brought a random mud hole into things, instead of using what would have been a smart, previously-established way to cause Holler to fall. THERE WERE MEERKAT BURROWS. I was SURE the idea was for Echo to lead Holler over the meerkat burrows and have him stick his leg into one and fall over/break his leg. That would have been SO SATISFYING, and would have made the meerkats earlier in the book seem a whole lot less pointless and random.
The only thing that would have had to be added would be a line that the meerkats had seen Echo and wished him good luck/a quick death when it came to the lions.
I can't stress how angry I was about this. I feel like it MUST have been the plan at one point, then the writer just... forgot? I don't know. It's not even one of those wishful thinking scenarios where I feel like I could have written it better. IT WAS SET UP THAT WAY. Ugh.
Holler as a villain is also way too two-dimensional. It's obvious he's not doing what's best for the herd, nor does he even want to. He's doing what's best for Holler. And the stereotypical sycophants surrounding him are just annoying. It's the plot of every high school book. This could have been done so much better.
Stride's plot isn't much better. In fact, it's equally as disappointing as Whisper's in a lot of ways. He and his honey badger friend, Stonehide, didn't do much throughout the book, and while there were hints at the lore, there was no actual diving into it. No effort in the narrative to help readers understand it. It still maintained the confusing "cheetahs who run too fast get caught by Death" narrative without truly explaining it, and it continued to make little sense. Considering Stride is faster than Flicker was, why isn't he also dead?
Then there's the underwhelming encounters between Stride and the lions, then Stride and Jinx. I find Jinx to stereotypical a villain to be enjoyable at all, but then he's kinda stupid, as well.
Absolutely nothing of consequence happens in Stride's entire plot, and as I write this review... I'm actually realizing every chapter of his story could have been removed from the book entirely, and the book wouldn't have suffered at all for it. His story was literally all filler to pad the word count. No information was gained, nothing happened, and he was just kind of a living vehicle to gain insight into the Great Mother's purpose.
Stonehide suffers from the Iced Girlfriend stereotype, too. I'm about done reading books where a character's entire personality and motivation is stretched on the premise of a girlfriend/wife/mate being killed. That's really all I have to say about him.
Without Breathstealer's plot, I would have given this book two stars. But I also can't give it back more than one, because it feels like a weird wish fulfillment fantasy. I had them a lot when I was a kid and I just wanted the popular kids to pay attention to me. In fact, I wrote a fanfic when I was 14 about how I personally saved the world, and then everyone loved me. That's what Breathstealer's entire plot felt like.
But I also have a problem with the Great Devourer. In the first book, it really felt like it was going to be a lot more than Generic Evil God(tm), and that it had a very important part in the circle of life. I wanted the hyenas to be more than evil sycophants to an evil god. But the Great Devourer turns out to be evil, and promises great rewards to Breathstealer if she follows it.
This whole plot could have been forgiven if Breathstealer didn't VERY quickly fall into its influence so easily. She was established in the first book as an intelligent, peace-hopeful hyena. And despite her initial reluctance and the presence of a new character named Greypelt who helps her understand what the Great Devourer is, she seems to have no agency.
The worst part was that she very genuinely befriended Greypelt, then immediately turned on him when he suggested maybe it wasn't a great idea to start waving flags for the Great Devourer. She literally did exactly what her entire clan did to her, and learned nothing at all from their attitudes toward her, or her life in exile. There should have been more hesitation. More nuance. This complete 180 in personality turns Breathstealer from a relatable or sympathetic character into a stereotype.
It really would have been refreshing to get a book where Death isn't the bad guy, or where the Great Spirit turns out to be the one who has something to learn. IE: death is a part of life, and all animals--even gods--must accept and embrace it.
I also noticed this book was a whole lot shorter than the first one, and other Bravelands books. Did the writers get bored of it? I feel like a lot of the problems could have been corrected, or at least mitigated, if there were more plot. I don't necessarily feel like the book was rushed, just that very important things were just... missing.
I'm still going to read book 3, because now I have to know how it all ends.
April 5, 2024
High three stars, SHOULD be four stars. Ugh. I want so badly to rate this book four stars, but I am refraining from it because it was so short.
The length was definitely the biggest issue with this book, which sucks, since the usual Erin issues are almost absent. I’m salty about this because if this book had had the time to develop the characters more and make some decisions and relationships make more sense, I think this could be one of the best books the Erin’s have written. But, alas. Here we are.
All the plots feel rushed, but I think Stride’s was the weakest by itself. He basically did nothing all book except run around, and have an underwhelming fight with Jinx at the end. Stonehide was the one actually fighting all book, but his really interesting moment was supposed to be his past... And his backstory reveal was so basic and boring, largely because he just kind of explains it to Stride when he asks. All the mystery, gone. If the book had taken more time to build a slow reveal, I think it could have worked a lot better despite the backstory being pretty predictable.
I hate that I have to do this, but I think Breathstealer’s plot has to not be my favorite this time because it was SO RUSHED. Plot details fly by, and we’re introduced to who should be a super interesting wolf character, Graypelt. However, within a few pages of meeting this character, we suddenly know everything about him, he knows everything about Breathstealer, and oh bye Graypelt! Sure hope you didn’t want any personality, character, or time! They leave a little tease that he works for the Great Mother, which is fine, but even that felt rushed and underdeveloped. I don’t care, but I should. We’ve had half a book to get to know him... But the book isn’t even 200 pages and he has nothing interesting to him. I don’t care about Graypelt, no matter how much I want to. And Breathstealer herself is no better. Her plot skims by so fast that it practically doesn’t exist. This hyena must be SPRINTING between chapters to make it around the plains like this. And she had so much potential. Why, Erins?
Speaking of Breathstealer, let’s talk about the Great Devourer. I am so disappointed; instead of a fascinating, unknown spirit, we get generic evil Death who just LOVES stealing people and keeping them in... The Underworld? They call it the spirit world, but come on. It’s Hades’ Underworld. I think my biggest issue with it is that it’s sentient. Sentient Death doesn’t really fit with this world or what we’ve been led to believe about the Great Spirit. I DON’T WANT ANOTHER STARCLAN-DARK FOREST FIGHT! We already have Warriors for that; why do we need it in Bravelands, too? Ugh. In addition to stealing spirits, the Great Devourer hates the Great Spirit, because of course it does, and it needs Breathstealer to bring the hyenas into its grasp for some unknown reason. Very creative. Once again, the mystery is explained away (by the Great Mother in Stride’s POV for some reason) and now I’m not invested. The only clue we had to this was Death being capitalized last book. And if you know the Erins well you probably guessed this one. There was no buildup, and it feels like lazy writing.
Ok, last one: Whisper. Her plot is also super rushed, but compared to the others I’d say it’s much better. Some of the herd even seems to have some character traits now, instead of just following whoever is in charge, but that’s mostly for plot convenience so I’m not sure I can give it to them there. Holler and his allies don’t feel like a threat; he just seems stupid and evil for no reason. I saw Quake turning against his father coming from the first book. It feels cheap to me, but it is character development so if they play their cards right I may grow to like it next book.
Speaking of, this is the second-to-last Bravelands book. Hooray! Do you think they realized they aren’t making money from them yet? (Looks at the new cover material, lack of raised lettering, and tiny size.) Yup. Something tells me that’s the real reason they’re ending the series here, but I don’t care because I still say it should have ended with the first series. We didn’t need any more, and I’m glad we won’t after this. Nobody wants another dragged-out series.
The length was definitely the biggest issue with this book, which sucks, since the usual Erin issues are almost absent. I’m salty about this because if this book had had the time to develop the characters more and make some decisions and relationships make more sense, I think this could be one of the best books the Erin’s have written. But, alas. Here we are.
All the plots feel rushed, but I think Stride’s was the weakest by itself. He basically did nothing all book except run around, and have an underwhelming fight with Jinx at the end. Stonehide was the one actually fighting all book, but his really interesting moment was supposed to be his past... And his backstory reveal was so basic and boring, largely because he just kind of explains it to Stride when he asks. All the mystery, gone. If the book had taken more time to build a slow reveal, I think it could have worked a lot better despite the backstory being pretty predictable.
I hate that I have to do this, but I think Breathstealer’s plot has to not be my favorite this time because it was SO RUSHED. Plot details fly by, and we’re introduced to who should be a super interesting wolf character, Graypelt. However, within a few pages of meeting this character, we suddenly know everything about him, he knows everything about Breathstealer, and oh bye Graypelt! Sure hope you didn’t want any personality, character, or time! They leave a little tease that he works for the Great Mother, which is fine, but even that felt rushed and underdeveloped. I don’t care, but I should. We’ve had half a book to get to know him... But the book isn’t even 200 pages and he has nothing interesting to him. I don’t care about Graypelt, no matter how much I want to. And Breathstealer herself is no better. Her plot skims by so fast that it practically doesn’t exist. This hyena must be SPRINTING between chapters to make it around the plains like this. And she had so much potential. Why, Erins?
Speaking of Breathstealer, let’s talk about the Great Devourer. I am so disappointed; instead of a fascinating, unknown spirit, we get generic evil Death who just LOVES stealing people and keeping them in... The Underworld? They call it the spirit world, but come on. It’s Hades’ Underworld. I think my biggest issue with it is that it’s sentient. Sentient Death doesn’t really fit with this world or what we’ve been led to believe about the Great Spirit. I DON’T WANT ANOTHER STARCLAN-DARK FOREST FIGHT! We already have Warriors for that; why do we need it in Bravelands, too? Ugh. In addition to stealing spirits, the Great Devourer hates the Great Spirit, because of course it does, and it needs Breathstealer to bring the hyenas into its grasp for some unknown reason. Very creative. Once again, the mystery is explained away (by the Great Mother in Stride’s POV for some reason) and now I’m not invested. The only clue we had to this was Death being capitalized last book. And if you know the Erins well you probably guessed this one. There was no buildup, and it feels like lazy writing.
Ok, last one: Whisper. Her plot is also super rushed, but compared to the others I’d say it’s much better. Some of the herd even seems to have some character traits now, instead of just following whoever is in charge, but that’s mostly for plot convenience so I’m not sure I can give it to them there. Holler and his allies don’t feel like a threat; he just seems stupid and evil for no reason. I saw Quake turning against his father coming from the first book. It feels cheap to me, but it is character development so if they play their cards right I may grow to like it next book.
Speaking of, this is the second-to-last Bravelands book. Hooray! Do you think they realized they aren’t making money from them yet? (Looks at the new cover material, lack of raised lettering, and tiny size.) Yup. Something tells me that’s the real reason they’re ending the series here, but I don’t care because I still say it should have ended with the first series. We didn’t need any more, and I’m glad we won’t after this. Nobody wants another dragged-out series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2024
I think this is a pretty underrated Erin Hunter series. This is the second book of the third arc of the Bravelands series. So far, after reading book 2, this is my favorite arc out of the others, even the original arc. I find these characters to be interesting and compelling. The water buffalo one is the most lackluster for me, but it's still better than other characters. Breathstealer is the one who 'steals' the show. She seems to have the most interesting plot considering that she's being led down a dark path. Others have been tempted by it (Like the gorilla in the other arc) but turned it down quickly. Breathstealer seems to be embracing it for more complex reasons than other characters have had to face. I feel that Stride didn't have much to do in this book, but the bond he developed with Stonehide is nice.
I'm looking forward to the next book.
I also like how this book shows how things don't stay the same as time goes on, yet the same patterns remain. You get to see different views than what you've seen previously in other books. Ruthless' descendants (Noblepride) are far from noble and would be a disappointment to Fearless. You get a different perspective on lions and now understand other animals when they say lions are bullies. In the first book, it shows how there is only one bad pride and the other lions are fine and only Titan's descendants are no good. So I did like that element put in the book. The lions are not evil, but they do abuse the power and strength they have. So I like how this book is able to shift its viewpoints in regards to the characters it is following. So far, my favorite characters are Stride and Breathstealer.
I'm looking forward to the next book.
I also like how this book shows how things don't stay the same as time goes on, yet the same patterns remain. You get to see different views than what you've seen previously in other books. Ruthless' descendants (Noblepride) are far from noble and would be a disappointment to Fearless. You get a different perspective on lions and now understand other animals when they say lions are bullies. In the first book, it shows how there is only one bad pride and the other lions are fine and only Titan's descendants are no good. So I did like that element put in the book. The lions are not evil, but they do abuse the power and strength they have. So I like how this book is able to shift its viewpoints in regards to the characters it is following. So far, my favorite characters are Stride and Breathstealer.
February 8, 2024
Since Bravelands (used to be) my favourite of the Erin Hunter series, I still decided to give this one a try after how awful the last was. Well… it hasn’t improved. The writing style is clunky, it’s riddled with typos, and the character’s convoluted internal logic is all over the place. Characters seem to switch moods on a dime, and the story keeps contradicting things it just established two paragraphs ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book series take such a massive quality dive before.
Read
February 8, 2024I want to read this but it's rated so lowly I'm not gonna bother
February 18, 2024
4.5 Stars
April 5, 2024
my favoritest book in the shattered horn seris by erin hunter
May 22, 2024
This series is why I keep reading Erin Hunter books omg <3333
Want to read
May 31, 2024SM
June 7, 2024
I was shocked at house in the book was, but I did enjoy it. As I usually do enjoy books by Erin.
June 8, 2024
Even better the 2nd time around. Can't wait for #3 Realm Of Lost Spirits in October.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews