The Sun Trail
 2015 reprint cover of The Sun Trail | |
| Author | Erin Hunter |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Warriors: Dawn of the Clans |
| Genre |
Children's literature Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 5 March 2013 [1] |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 |
| Preceded by | "Cloudstar's Journey" |
| Followed by | Thunder Rising |
The Sun Trail is a children's fantasy novel, the first book in Erin Hunter's Warriors: Dawn of the Clans series. Published on 5 March 2013, it was the first novel in a six-series arc to be published following the last novel in the previous arc, Warriors: Omen of the Stars: The Last Hope, though was immediately preceded in publication by the short story "Cloudstar's Journey", and preceded the second novel in Warriors: Dawn of the Clans, Thunder Rising. As the first novel of a prequel arc, the novel centres on a group of feral cats living before the rise of the five Clans in the other main Warriors series: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, ShadowClan, and SkyClan.
Series overview
Warriors: Dawn of the Clans acts as a prequel arc within the Warriors series and mainly focuses on how the Clans of wild cats that are central to the series came to be, as well as detailing the early days of the Clans, including the formation of the warrior code, a code of honour followed by the warrior cats, and early Clan hierarchy. The Sun Trail takes place during a time when the Clans had not yet formed. It details the formation of the Clans during an event in which the spirits of the cats' dead ancestors visit the living cats, telling them to unite or die. As a result, five cats named Thunder, Wind, River, Shadow, and Sky volunteered to be leaders of a single Clan; however, differences among them led to the formation of five different Clans.
Plot
The Sun Trail begins with a group of cats known as the Tribe of Rushing Water, led by Stoneteller (formerly Half Moon), starving due to lack of food in their mountain home. Stoneteller receives a vision in which she is told that there is more prey if one follows the Sun. Later, when a young kit named Fluttering Bird dies of hunger, members of the Tribe vote to leave in search of food. A group of Tribe cats, led by Clear Sky, one of Fluttering Bird's elder brothers, decides to follow the "sun trail" as described to Stoneteller in her vision. When Jagged Peak, Clear Sky's youngest brother, who is still a kit, sneaks out of the Tribe's cave to catch up to Clear Sky and his group, their mother Quiet Rain becomes worried and asks Gray Wing, Clear Sky's other younger brother, to go follow as well, to which Gray Wing reluctantly agrees. Gray Wing finds Jagged Peak and saves him from an eagle, after which they catch up to Clear Sky's group. One of the journeying cats, Bright Stream, is Clear Sky's mate, and she reveals that she is carrying Clear Sky's kits. When the group stops to rest one night, a trio of eagles attempts to hunt the cats, forcing them to hide. However, while saving Gray Wing from an eagle, Bright Stream is carried away by an eagle; though she successfully kills, she falls to her death as a result. In the aftermath, a rift forms between Clear Sky and Gray Wing because Gray Wing believes that Clear Sky blames him for Bright Stream's death. However, later in the book, Clear Sky reveals that he blamed himself for Bright Stream's death, to which Gray Wing replies that perhaps it was no one's fault, and that the death was just a terrible accident. The journeying cats leave the mountains shortly after Bright Stream's death. While crossing a river, Quick Water slips and falls in, but Falling Feather saves her, revealing her swimming abilities.
References
- ↑ "Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail". HarperCollins. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
