Cats of the Clans is the second released
Warriors "Field Guide", a side book with additional information about the world. This book covers information from the original series (aka
The Prophecies Begin) through the third book of the third arc,
Power of Three.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- The Chains of Commanding: The section about Onestar focuses on his difficulties upon becoming leader of WindClan: his struggles to gain respect of his Clan, and how he was forced to give up his long friendship with Firestar in order to focus on WindClan.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: When Rock talks about Squirrelflight and Leafpool, he explicitly compares Squirrelflight to a burning fire and Leafpool to a calm pool of water.
- Gender Bender: Bluestar's dead kit Mosskit was originally mentioned as male in Forest of Secrets and Secrets of the Clans, but became female in this book. (The authors later decided that the kit's official gender would be female, and so that's what Mosskit later appeared as in her biggest appearance, Bluestar's Prophecy.)
- Line-of-Sight Name: Tribe cats are named for the first name their mother sees when they are born. Lampshaded by Rock when he wonders why Tribe cats aren't all therefore named "Wall of Cave" or "Roof of Cave" or "Floor of Cave".
- The Omniscient: Rock. Cats of the Clans makes it clear that he knows everything about the Clans and Tribe.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Squirrelflight and Leafpool's differences are highlighted: Squirrelflight is sharp-tongued and energetic, and becomes a warrior, while Leafpool is calm and more reasonable, and becomes a medicine cat. They're even compared directly to fire and water.
- Secret Test: According to this book, StarClan telling Cinderpelt about her death in advance was a test to see if she was worthy of a second chance at life.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Rock says "Cinderpelt was punished for raiding ThunderClan's store of herbs to cure two ShadowClan apprentices." Littlecloud and Whitethroat were warriors in Rising Storm, not apprentices, and only Fireheart found out and kept Cinderpelt's secret, so she wasn't punished.
- Rock mentions that Feathertail and Stormfur were "imprisoned in an old fox den with Feathertail's mentor, Stonefur". In The Darkest Hour, Stonefur was Stormfur's mentor.
- About Princess, he says, "When she learned her brother was the leader of a Clan of forest cats, she gave him her firstborn kit, Cloudtail..." In Fire and Ice, Fireheart had just barely been made a warrior and wasn't even deputy, much less leader.
- For Leafdapple, he mentions that when Firestar met her she was a kittypet. In Firestar's Quest, she was a rogue.
- Traced Artwork: Several of the cats appear to have been traced
from photos copyrighted by Dorling Kindersley that appeared in various editions of their Eyewitness Cat book. Although this was noticed by fans, no legal issues came of it. - Token Trio: The kits Rock tells his stories to are Mosskit, who is half ThunderClan and half RiverClan, Adderkit, who is from WindClan, and Blossomkit, who is from ShadowClan.
- The X of Y: The title Cats of the Clans.
