|
''Warriors'' is a series of juvenile fantasy novels published by HarperCollins; it is written by authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui Sutherland, with the plot developed by editor Victoria Holmes, who collectively use the pseudonym Erin Hunter. The series follows the adventures of four Clans of wild cats—ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan—in their forest and lake homes. SkyClan, the long-forgotten fifth Clan of the forest, is later introduced in the stand-alone novel ''Firestar's Quest''. It receives additional focus in the novel ''SkyClan's Destiny'', the manga trilogy ''SkyClan and the Stranger'', and the 2013 novella ''Cloudstar's Journey''. A few cats in the series are Firestar and Graystripe. There are currently six sub-series, each containing six books. The first, ''Warriors'' (later re-titled as ''Warriors: The Prophecies Begin''), was published from 2003 to 2004. ''Warriors: The New Prophecy'', published from 2005 to 2006, follows the first sub-series, chronicling the Clans as they move to a new home. The third story arc, ''Warriors: Power of Three'', was published from 2007 to 2009. The fourth sub-series, ''Warriors: Omen of the Stars'', was published from 2009 to 2012 and continued where the third story arc left off. The fifth sub-series is ''Warriors: Dawn of the Clans'', and the first book, ''The Sun Trail'', was released 5 March 2013. The sub-series acts as a prequel series, detailing the formation of the Clans. A sixth sub-series with the working title ''Warriors: A Vision of Shadows'' has been announced, with Kate Cary posting a working character list to her blog site asking fans to check for inconsistencies. The series appears to focus on Bramblestar's kits, Alderkit and Sparkkit. Other books have been released in addition to the main series, including seven lengthier stand-alone novels entitled ''Firestar's Quest'', ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', ''SkyClan's Destiny'', ''Crookedstar's Promise'', ''Yellowfang's Secret'', ''Tallstar's Revenge'', ''Bramblestar's Storm'' and upcoming book , ''Moth Flight's Vision''. Also originally e-book-only novellas called ''Hollyleaf's Story'', ''Mistystar's Omen'', ''Cloudstar's Journey'', ''Tigerstar's Fury'', ''Leafpool's Wish'', ''Dovewing's Silence'', ''Mapleshade's Vengeance'' and ''Goosefeather's Curse''. Another novella, titled "Ravenpaw's Farewell" is confirmed. These e-book novellas have also been published in two print compilations, with three stories each: ''Warriors: Tales from the Clans'' and ''Warriors: The Untold Stories''. Six guides and several volumes of original English-language manga, produced as a collaboration between HarperCollins and TOKYOPOP, have been published as well. Manga published after TOKYOPOP's shutdown is published by HarperCollins on its own. In addition to the books, the authors have also written several short stories and two plays. The ''Warriors'' series, with the exception of the manga, has been released in e-book format for popular e-readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle. The series has also been translated into several languages. In addition, the series has a website featuring games, promotional videos, quizzes, a message board, and news. Major themes in the series deal with forbidden love, adventure, the concept of nature vs. nurture, the reactions of different faiths meeting each other, and characters being a mix of good and bad. The authors draw inspiration from several natural locations and other authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and William Shakespeare. ''Warriors'' has received mostly positive reviews, but it has also been criticized for being confusing due to its large number of characters. Critics have compared it to the ''Redwall'' series, though one reviewer commented that the series is less elegantly written. Although nominated for several awards, ''Warriors'' has yet to receive any major literary prizes. The series has reached the ''New York Times'' Bestseller List and has found popularity in many countries, including Trinidad and China. ==Setting and characters== In the ''Warriors'' universe, there are four Clans of feral cats that live in a forest: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. A fifth Clan, SkyClan, is driven out by the other Clans when its territory is destroyed by humans building a town, and it scatters shortly after arriving at a new home in a gorge. SkyClan is later rebuilt during the events of ''Firestar's Quest''.〔 Cats in each Clan live and hunt in their own territory, which they defend from other cats. Each Clan is adapted to its own types of prey and members usually possess (or are taught) special skills which suit the territory's terrain.〔 BloodClan is a group of stray city cats introduced in ''The Darkest Hour''. However, they are not considered to be a true Clan because they do not believe in the warriors' spiritual ancestors, StarClan, or the warrior code, a set of rules followed by all Clan cats. BloodClan is considered to be a group of rogues (non-Clan cats who do not respect the Clan cats' rules) and was defeated in ''The Darkest Hour'' by the four warrior Clans. StarClan is a group of the Clans' deceased ancestors who give guidance to the Clans. After death, most Clan cats join StarClan. StarClan is said to be represented by Silverpelt (the Milky Way), and each individual star represents the spirit of a single dead warrior.〔 Upon joining StarClan, the cats' spirits take the form in which they were most happy while living (i.e. blindness and deafness can be cured).〔 StarClan warriors keep watch over the Clans, usually watching the Clan they lived in while alive. They provide guidance to the Clans, often through dreams and other signs like omens. Often, this occurs when medicine cats go to the Moonstone, a large piece of quartz in an abandoned mine, which is used in the forest territory to communicate with the medicine cats' ancestors every half-moon. When the Clans move to live by a lake because humans destroy their forest, the medicine cats gather at the Moonpool, a pool used as the replacement for the Moonstone. In an author chat, Hunter said that StarClan can "just get glimpses of" the future, which they occasionally pass on.〔 In addition to StarClan, there also exists the Dark Forest, also known as The Place of No Stars. The spirits of cats who cause great pain and suffering to others during their lives reside there instead of in StarClan. Dark Forest cats eventually gain the ability to walk in dreams like StarClan. Both Dark Forest and StarClan cats eventually fade away as they are forgotten. In addition, both Dark Forest and StarClan cats fade away before they are forgotten if they are "killed". Beyond the Clans' territories lies a mountain range, inhabited by the Tribe of Rushing Water. The Tribe is shown to be similar to the Clans, yet follows a different set of ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Tribe has a Healer, cave-guards, and prey-hunters, who each serve a different function in the Tribe. The Healer leads the Tribe, heals the ill and wounded, and communicates with the Tribe of Endless Hunting; the cave-guards defend the Tribe, and the prey-hunters hunt. The Tribe was formed by the Ancients when they left the lake to live in the mountains. In turn, cats from the Tribe moved to the forest of the original series and formed the Clans. The Clans' origin is described in ''Secrets of the Clans''. Originally, many small groups of wild cats from the Tribe of Rushing Water live in the forest. Without a code of honour to follow or ancestors to provide guidance, they fight constantly for food and territory. One night, a large battle occurs, and many cats die. The spirits of the cats killed in battle return and tell the remaining cats to "unite or die". In this way, the Clans are formed from the previous multitude of small groups. The dead spirits become StarClan, and the code of honour that the cats follow is gradually created, as described in ''Code of the Clans''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Warriors (novel series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|