Schwarzfuß' Abrechnung

Warriors Novellas #21

by Erin Hunter

Tigerstern, Anführer des SchattenClans, ist tot, die Krieger sind geschwächt. Schwarzfuß, der Zweite Anführer, weiß nicht sicher, ob er den Clan anführen kann. Wie sollte er auch, nach all den falschen Entscheidungen, die er getroffen hat? Unsicher und zaudernd tritt er trotzdem die Reise zum Mondstein an. Dort wird er von Katzen aus dem SternenClan begrüßt und vor die Wahl gestellt: Er kann sich neun Prüfungen stellen oder überlässt er jemand anderes die Führung des SchattenClans?

Genres: Fantasy, Animals, Middle Grade, Cats

104 pages, Paperback

Published February 7, 2024

About the author

Erin Hunter is the pseudonym of five people: Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui T. Sutherland, Gillian Philip, and Inbali Iserles, as well as editor Victoria 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.

Reviews

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

not starclan judging blackfoot as if they didn’t give tigerstar & brokenstar nine lives too.
i did like this format tho. It was a good concept to show the past and then to give the life it belonged to

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there Scourge? Yes!

I thought the way he got his nine lives was actually really neat. Showing him how he did wrong in the past so he can do good in the future. I love that!!!

[clara:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

blackfoot realizing he blindly followed fascist cat clan leaders for 109 pages straight

hat mir sehr dolle warrior cats phase flashbacks gegeben 👍

[Oliwia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ocena: 5⭐

Pomijając już fakt, że ta nowela dotyczy chyba mojej ulubionej ceremonii nadania 9 żywotów przy Księżycowym Kamieniu - cała historia była przedstawiona w taki sposób, że w końcu działania Czarnej Stopy, który swoją drogą zawsze był gdzieś w top moich ulubieńców, można nie tyle co usprawiedliwić, a je zrozumieć.
Czarna Stopa jawił mi się już w Super Edycji poświęconej Żółtemu Kłowi nieco inaczej - jako zwyczajny, oddany wojownik, niż ten okrutny zastępca opisywany w głównym toku fabuły i te dwa obrazy kłóciły mi się aż do "Osądu Czarnej Stopy".
Nigdy nie był "tym złym", a przynajmniej nie w takim znaczeniu tego słowa, gdy używa się go do opisania chociażby Złamanego Ogona. Lepiej pasujące do niego słowo to po prostu naiwny. Naiwny, początkowo szukający swojego miejsca w klanie, któremu tak bardzo pragnął udowodnić, że jest w stanie zrobić wszystko, by dobrze mu służyć - rozdział w którym spotyka Nocną Gwiazdę i wraca pamięcią do obozu Klanu Cienia pogrążonego w chorobie przyćmiewa nieco pretensje o śmierć Różanego Ogona czy Kamiennego Futra.
I mimo tego, że nic nie powymazuje dawnych, boleśnie opisanych w toku głównej fabuły występków, Czarna Stopa zdecydowanie zasługiwał na tą nowelę by opisać go jako kogoś więcej niż tylko bezwzględnego kata u boku tyranów. Jako kogoś z charakterem, większą głębią, oczekującego na osąd, w którym nastąpi rozliczenie z przeszłością i ulga w przyszłości.

[ᜊ ָ࣪ vickytoria࿆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que libro tan maravilloso; y es que Erin Hunter no deja de sorprender. Es el segundo libro que me leo de las novelas de la saga los gatos guerreros y por el momento es uno de mis favoritos, verdaderamente creo que si son importantes estos libros en la saga ya que si no me lo hubiera leído seguiría con la misma mentalidad hacía Patas Negras y lo seguiría ODIANDO, pero al leer el libro entre mas en el personaje y lo comprendí en lo que iba pasando en el libro; Y es cierto nunca se me hubiera pasado por la cabeza que Patas Negras seguía las ordenes de sus lideres el cumplía con el código guerrero, al adentrarme mas en el personaje estoy segura que el Clan de la sombra tendrá un mejor futuro y prosperará. En los otros libros las acciones de Patas negras me causaban conflicto y solo me guiaba en lo que él hacía y no por lo que estaba pasando/pensando y con este libro se volvieron a vivir esas escenas pero desde su perspectivas y todo cambio. Me fascinó 10/10

[Naomi McKinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book! Blackstar is my favorite character and this was a great story! Maybe not everyone loves him, but I do! He’s super great!

[Fathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like they had a difficult time figuring out what Blackfoot's personality was supposed to be.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright. I liked some of it, but it felt repetitive after reading so many of the other POVs from the same events. Still though, it was satisfying to see how Blackstar regretted everything and basically became the leader ShadowClan needed!

[MacKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean I enjoyed it but it was not a great redemption

[Nelicja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ogólnie sama treść zmienila moje spojrzenie na czarną gwiazde. Jak kiedys uważałam go za aroganckiego kocura to teraz nawet calkiem go polubiłam! Jenak daje cztery gwiazdki bko straszsie ciezko mi sie to czytało, sama nie wiem dlaczego.

[Niffty · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems like a good idea to have leaders relive each memory for each life

Blackstar seems out of character because the written wanted to redeem him. A lot of scenes were reused but with Blackfoot thinking how much he regrets his actions and is actually good

It does not work to go back and write a book after years about a character that was established to not be good cats.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackstar is one of those interesting characters in Warriors that leave me unsure of how I feel about him. He does some pretty bad things, kills Stonefur (who was one of my favorite side-characters) and blindly follows two horrible cats. Basically, he is not very bright (a trait Yellowfang gives him both in the original arch and in this book) but this book shows why he might be the way he is. It hints at some of the more stupid choices Blackstar makes later and it makes me wonder why Starclan never gave him a life for intelligence. The way his leadership ceremony was unique but also appropriate for what needed to happen with Blackstar going forward. This is not to defend Blackstar but his only crimes were carrying out terrible orders by equally terrible cats and Starclan felt this needed to be done. Tigerstar and Brookenstar on the other hand are just flat out awful cats and Starclan doesn't even bat an eye in giving them lives even though the two of them had done far worse. I also like how Stonefur and Rosetail (both two victims of Blackstar) don't really want to give him lives and I get the sense they never forgive him. I think this book helps better explain some of the stuff Blackstar will come to do later because he is fully aware right now that Starclan does not 100% trust him to lead Shadowclan properly. I also like how Runningnose finally decides to be wary of a potential dangerous cat instead just blindly following him. That is one thing that annoys me though is that Runningnose isn't present at all during Blackstar's ceremony to see that he isn't much better at being mindful of dangerous cats. Starclan basically harps on Blackstar for not standing up for what is right and resisting his leaders for the sketchy stuff they are doing but Runningnose's part is clearly ignored in this too. He followed Brookenstar and Tigerstar too and never spoke out against what was happening either but is quick to judge Blackfoot for the same things.

[Birdie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine doing war criminal apologism in a children’s book. Viewing a compilation of your worst atrocities won’t make you good at questioning authority suddenly.

And murdering people for not being “pure blood” isn’t an oopsie that can be explained as “all leaders make mistakes! 🥺 you gotta learn from them.” Tell that to the victims and their families. Their deaths aren’t your class for becoming a good leader.

Blackstar doesn’t deserve shit.

[Joseph Fullbright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this novella. I have always really liked Blackstar, but even more so now! The short story covers his leader/nine lives ceremony, and with each live that he receives, he enters a flashback of poor decisions that he has made in the past.

He has had a very controversial, troubling past- he’s adhered to poor leaders, he’s made mistakes, he’s done some bad things- but he now realizes that, having lived through them again in these flashbacks. They made him a better person(cat).

As I continue re-reading the Warriors books from the very beginning, I now have even MORE respect for Blackstar than I did before. I truly loved this coming-of-age novella and can’t wait to continue my re-reading of the series. I’m so PROUD of how his character developed. I’m excited to re-read this particular novella again in the future, too.

My favorite quote from the novella: “He [Blackstar] could see more of his own past. He had done terrible things. He had sought out strong leaders to attach himself to, and he had never considered whether what they did, what they ordered him to do, was right-if it was for the good of the Clans they led, the cats they led, or only to quench their own thirst for power and vengeance.”

[Emma Schenk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great redemption story about a character who was “just following orders” coming to terms with the things he’s done in blind loyalty.

I appreciate Blackstar’s leader ceremony being more like a trial and reflection on his past choices and actions. I know this was published after some of the earlier leader ceremonies, and I don’t like retconning, but I do wish we saw this for leaders like Tigerstar and Brokenstar who did significantly worse things and seemed happily ushered in by StarClan. But it isn’t the fault of this author that things were written that way, and I still like to see the world and characters change and gain depth even if it’s in real life time (as more books are written) and not storyline time.

Rounded down to four stars because, like a lot of the novellas, they’re just really poorly edited and include a bunch of goofs like switching pronouns from one sentence to the next, incorrect character descriptions, etc. If you aren’t mentioning a cat by name and describe how they look by an entirely wrong color or gender, that gets super confusing and irritating fast. I wish the authors would use their own Wiki more when writing.

[Soda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly solid novella that brings us more insight on an interesting character. Beyond Blackfoot’s backstory he’s seen as a flat out asshole and then suddenly a decent leader. I always wondered personally how he had such a character change.

So this answered that question. I am fairly satisfied! I really liked the uniqueness of his leader ceremony, and I felt it was a justified way of making sure that Blackfoot wouldn’t repeat his predecessors’ mistakes. However I feel like this sort of process should happen to all leaders with questionable histories. HoweverHowever… another review mentions that maybe StarClan didn’t bother with Tigerstar and Brokenstar because they were awful at their core. Blackfoot was awful at… critical thinking?

It would be interesting to read more about Blackstar’s perspective, making the decision to be a better cat while his past and his victims haunt him. He’s a very grey character for me, I think I like him for it.

[SaraBeeReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warriors is a unique series in that there’s so much material that examines the same events over and over, but each time it’s with a new perspective. This particular perspective was of a character I thought of as a villain and never trusted after the original first six books. As the title promises, it is a reckoning. Blackfoot has to face what he’s done, re-examine his lowest moments and atone for what he did. The novella allows the reader to understand Blackfoot, be sympathetic even if we don’t agree with what he did, and watch him change. Watch him strive to be better than what he was, and I really like that.

Overall, the novella tweaked with the formula these side stories of warriors typically take, and it was nice. I enjoyed this one. :)

[Shizu Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das Short Adventure liest sich sehr flüssig und bietet einen guten Einblick in den Schattenclan. Da der Schattenclan ja meist eher als "böse" dargestellt wird, ist es schön, über diese Katzen und ihre Beweggründe mehr zu erfahren. Die Geschichte wirft dieses Mal die wichtige Frage auf, ob man seinem Anführer immer blind vertrauen sollte – ein Thema, das zum Nachdenken anregt und auch Schwarzfuß sehr beschäftigt. Die Geschichte ist kurz, aber gespickt mit vielen kleinen Details, die einem den Clan gut näher bringt und auch mehr Sympathie wachsen lässt. Mir hat Schwarzfuß' Geschichte sehr gut gefallen. Mittlerweile gehören die Short Adventures zu meinen Favoriten, da sie schöne Einblicke liefern ohne sich zu sehr im Detail zu verlieren.

[Raelyn Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️ Calling Blackfoot a morally-gray character is kinda an overstatement. He’s a character who is more muscles than brain, he follows the warrior code overtly even when he knows his leaders were very much in the wrong. I do like how the Erin’s made his leader ceremony a reflection on his past actions instead of like “here ya go u lil champ”. Overall I do like this novella and have more insight to ShadowClan from the first series, and for that i really appreciate!


SPOILERS BELOW!!!
I just wish when Blackfoot was thinking how horrible he was he would’ve said sorry out loud *once* especially to Stonefur! like c’mon, u knew he was coming after Bluestar, you should’ve at least tried to apologize. Stonefur deserved better.

[𝕂𝕖𝕚𝕣𝕒 · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.8 - 2 ⭐️


I am currently in between books as I am waiting for a release on April 8th, so I didn’t want to get into one of the other books on my TBR. So I thought, “Let’s read some Warriors books while I wait!”


At this point the quality of these books has just dropped so much. I’m pretty sure there are at least 3 other novellas/super editions I have read with the exact same plot. The nine lives ceremonies are just so boring and repetitive. We are just retelling the same events over and over and over again. I ended up getting so bored with this book. It was less than 100 pages and halfway through I just wanted it to end so badly. At least it’s done now…?

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is everything that a Warrior Cats novella should be. It explains things that deserved more attention that they received in the main series books, this time it's about Blackfoot/star's past, which before now we haven't known much about, and how he came to realise his mistakes and grow and be a better leader because of it.

I also like the flashbacks that he gets inbetween receiving his nine lives, so we get to see interesting snipets of his life and we get to know why he did the awful things that he did. This books is very good and well worth the read.

[lenita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good !! It was a good idea to show Blackfoot’s past while giving him his nine lives. I loved that his father cheated on his mate with Blackfoot’s mother, it was something we never saw in Warriors. Also, I loved all the scene with Brokenstar and Tigerstar, it shows how vulnerable Blackfoot’s was and that he really needed a leader. Him being one after all those years of being a loyal follower feel a bit weird, but I guess that’s why Tall Shadow gave him the life of leadership, which feel like a great end.

[Melka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na prawdę podobało mi się, fajnie że tak z każdym życiem zostawał podsumowanie tego co zróbil zle czego oczywiscie było w chuj dużo i nadal nie wiem jakim cudem został przywódcą ale no xd jedynie co to zdenerwowało mnie że jeden moment był powtórzeniem tego co czytałam w furii tygrysiego, dosłownie takie same dialogi tylko inna perspektywa. No ogl czarny zrobił w chuj złego był mega głupi i serio n wiem jakim cudem udało mu się zostać przywódcą,,, klan gwiazdy na prawdę musiał być zdesperowany co do rozjebanego Klanu cienia xdddd

[Ikaitana Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Taking in mind that this is a novella I expected it to be boring. But I really love that I got to read how Blackfoot got his nine lives. All the characters from beginning arcs brought me so much nostalgia. A lot of my favorite characters in one short novella really brought this book together for me. This idea could have been explored more though and it was kinda bland at some points, but overall an okay book!

[Hitori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podoba mi się że pokazali ze Czarna Stopa nie tyle był zły, co bardziej naiwny. I że ma potencjał by zostać nowym przywódcą. No i całość dotyczy otrzymania 9 żywotów, a uwielbiam ten event. Nie da się rozklejać.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s honestly an ingenious idea that they made Blackfoot go through a sort of trial before becoming leader. I always wondered how his nine lives ceremony went with the kind of past he had. I really liked the structure of this book and I think it was a very good insight into Blackstar’s character.

[shilooh_u · Rating 5 out of 5]

Format wspomnień był zajebisty, ale czarny nie. Naprawde uważam że rdzawa albo jeleni byli by lepsi od niego. Chlop se mocno przejebal, i dla mnie to głupie ze wybrali akurat go, w szczególności ze wiadomo ze pozniej jeszcze bardziej sobie przepierdala zycie (Sol akcja)

[S.L. Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this one more than most of the novellas. in my opinion, I think leadership ceremonies should have always been about learning from the mistakes of your past. I like Blackstar though, despite the fact that he is, objectively, an idiot. Blackstar would absolutely be a Trump supporter.

[Alex T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blackstar goes to flashback-town.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...

[Romy Sprokkerieft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this concept with the dreams!