I've been quite enjoying this this arc of warrior cats and this book was a fantastic conclusion to this arc. Much like the last book, this one took place in the dark forest for the majority of the time and the stakes were even higher as fog and dark water was taking over the dark forest. A good chunk of the book was focused on recruiting forces to fight Ashfur and to free starclan. Once Starclan was freed, the action picked up. It was cool to see Firestar return and briefly possess Rootspring to allow him to escape. What I found most refreshing was the return of Firestar's POV as its been years since we've seen anything from his point of view. The final battle was good but at the same time I would've found it to be more fitting if it was Squirrelflight vs Ashfur as his quarrel had really only been with her and seeing her taking him down would've been empowering. However having Graystripe deliver her message worked out almost as well.

I'm most upset about Snowtuft and Bristlefrost. Both of them really deserved better and Bristlefrost's death is frustrating as the authors definitely weren't consistent with where cats who died in the dark forest ended up in this book. Bristlefrost's character very much felt like Hollyleaf and they both had tragic deaths. Graystripe's death was also sad but he'd been around for a long time and he's finally reunited with Firestar and Ravenpaw so it felt like his time had come.

I'm looking forward to seeing how changes to the Warrior code as result of this series. A big trope has been cats having forbidden romances with other clan cats but if that isn't as taboo anymore, I'm wondering how things will change.

I also found characterization of some of the Starclan cats to be a bit inconsistent. Silverstream, Feathertail, and Gray Wing are the main candidates that stuck out but that's a fairly minor nitpick at this point.