Tropes appearing in this book:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Crowfeather to Leafpool, after saving her from falling off a cliff.Crowfeather: Is that what you think? Don't you know how I feel about you? And how much I hate myself for feeling that way about another cat so soon after Feathertail's death? I loved her, I really did! How can I love you too?
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: This conveniently happens to Mudclaw, a minor villain. StarClan may or may not have been behind that one, as they have a strict rule of non-interference in the physical plane. It was, in any case, an extremely convenient lightning strike for the Clans: not only was Mudclaw killed, but the lightning felled a tree which created a very handy bridge to a nearby island.
- Breaking the Fellowship: After the Great Journey, the chosen cats have to split and return back to their Clans.
- The Coup: Attempted. Tallstar, in his dying breaths, names Onewhisker as his successor instead of Mudclaw. As the only cats who witnessed this are Onewhisker himself and two of his friends, Mudclaw doesn't believe Onewhisker should be leader, and leads a rebellion against him before the younger cat can receive his nine leader's lives. ThunderClan helps out Onewhisker and he wins.
- Dark Is Evil: Mudclaw, who plans a coup to become WindClan's leader after Tallstar makes Onewhisker deputy instead, is dark brown. Hawkfrost, who helps him, is dark brown - and identical to his father Tigerstar, the former Big Bad who is now in the Dark Forest.
- Disney Villain Death: A pair of ShadowClan warriors fall over the top of the quarry to their deaths.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Rather than Mudclaw dying in a dramatic battle, a tree fell on him when it was struck by lightning. Said tree was then used as a bridge, therefore literally dropping a bridge on him...
- Ensemble Cast: This book focuses on Brambleclaw's and Leafpaw's points of view.
- Gender Bender: The tabby kittypet in ShadowClan territory is referred to as "he". Later books reveal that this cat is a she-cat named Susan.
- Hanging by the Fingers: Leafpool gets knocked off the cliff overlooking the ThunderClan camp during a battle; while the warriors who bumped her fall to their deaths, she manages to barely hook her claws over the edge, starting to slip as the rain falls. Crowfeather finds her there, and after freezing in horror because it reminds him of a similar situation where he lost the cat he loved, he manages to save her life just as she loses her grip.
- Healthy in Heaven: When Leafpaw sees Dappletail in StarClan, it's noted that Dappletail is beautiful and graceful again, not thin and desperate like she had been before her death.
- His Story Repeats Itself: In Moonrise, Crowfeather watched the she-cat he loved die before his eyes. In this book, the same nearly happens again when Leafpool is in a Literal Cliffhanger, but this time he's able to save her.
- Humans by Any Other Name: Smoky and Daisy refer to humans as "Nofurs".
- Immediate Sequel: Starlight begins minutes (at the longest) after Dawn ends - the Clans arrive at the lake just at the beginning of dawn, and Starlight's first page describes how they're staring down at the water, and it still describes it as very early dawn.
- Killed Off for Real: Tallstar loses his ninth life in this book.
- King on His Deathbed: Tallstar is old and dying by the time he gets to the Clans, and the succession crisis as a result of his dying statements forms a large part of the book's plot.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Leafpool accidentally gets knocked off the edge of the cliff at the top of the quarry. She's only holding on by her claws hooking over the edge. Just as she slips, Crowfeather grabs her scruff and pulls her to safety.
- Literal Soapbox Speech: After the Clans arrive at the lake, Blackstar jumps up on a nearby tree stump to address all four Clans. At one point, three of the leaders stand on it together and the fourth clearly won't fit, and Squirrelpaw remarks that they'll need to find something else for the leaders to sit on at Gatherings.
- Love Confession: Crowfeather saves Leafpool's life and then confesses that he's loved her for a while.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Clans all think Mudclaw's death was a clear intervention from StarClan to show Onewhisker was the true leader, though later books imply it was just a convenient coincidence.
- The New Adventures: The New Prophecy.
- One-Word Title: Starlight.
- Putting the Band Back Together: The chosen cats from Midnight join back together to scout the lake.
- Rescue Romance: Crowfeather admits he loves Leafpool after saving her from falling off a cliff.
- Series Continuity Error: In Dawn, Smokepaw died when falling off a cliff. In this book and the ones afterward, he remains in the Allegiances and even becomes a warrior later.
- Sigh of Love: Leafpaw sighs after thinking about something difficult. Cinderpelt misinterprets it and asks if that sigh had something to do with a certain WindClan warrior.
- Smart People Speak the Queen's English: The original audiobooks of Starlight, Twilight, and Sunset are read by Nanette Savard, an American actress. The narration and most of the characters are read with an American accent - except, for some reason, the medicine cats, who are read with a British accent.
- Still the Leader: The WindClan leader Tallstar is so old and ill that his second-in-command, Mudclaw, makes most of the decisions for the Clan. With his dying breaths, Tallstar decides that he doesn't want Mudclaw to be the next leader, so he makes Onewhisker his successor instead.
- Succession Crisis: Tallstar's switch in deputy right before his death causes a crisis in WindClan, as Onewhisker claims (truthfully, as the readers know) that Tallstar named him deputy and demoted Onestar right before his death, an official ceremony that must be recognized according to the warrior code, but Mudclaw is skeptical since Onewhisker, who is known to be close with ThunderClan, only has his ThunderClan leader friend and another ThunderClan cat to support his claim, and Mudclaw was deputy first.
- Switching P.O.V.: Brambleclaw and Leafpaw.
- Title Drop: "I have to follow a stream filled with starlight." - it's how Leafpaw finds the Moonpool.
- Trilogy Creep: The New Prophecy was conceived of as a spin-off trilogy ending with Dawn, but turned into a six-book sequel series.
- Unexplained Accent: In the original audiobook, the narrator gives medicine cats a British accent, possibly due to Smart People Speak the Queen's English, despite all the other characters and the narration being read with an American accent. Medicine cats are just normal cats - born and lived with their Clanmates all their lives - and just chose a different job, so where did the accent come from? Are they born with it and for some reason all cats with this accent take the medicine cat's job? Or does healing cats suddenly give you a different accent somehow?
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Leafpool and Crowfeather before Crowfeather confesses his feelings at the end of the book.
- While You Were in Diapers: Mudclaw is told to show more respect to his dying leader, Tallstar, because Tallstar was leader when Mudclaw was a kit mewling in the nursery.
