Is Breezepelt's more remorseful, less cocky, and less murderously evil persona a bit of a retcon? Yeah. But it's really not one that I mind. I'm not used to Warrior Cats putting much thought into its family dynamics (or moreso the complex emotions that come with them) so this book felt like a blast of fresh air; I'm glad that Breezepelt got to be a person instead of a comedically terrible cartoon character for the first time, and that Crowfeather gets to be...awkward, and terrible at relationships, and straight-up wrong about stuff. We've had father-son angst, and we've had bad-at-feelings characters, but something about the way they were done in this super edition felt uniquely more fleshed-out and earnest to me.

Firstly, I love Crowfeather and Nightcloud gradually becoming friends, and him acknowledging that he never truly treated her as she deserved; the awkward little moment where he suggests being mates again and she says that's never been the right course of action for them is so sweet. Breakups and long-dead relationships are a rarity in this series (or, at least, ones that don't end in attempted homicide), so I genuinely loved the exploration of these two, as well as the minor looks at Leafpool and Crowfeather-- honestly, I like them more as longtime exes than I ever liked them as a couple.

I love how the book doesn't forget about Lionblaze and Jayfeather, and how Lionblaze forgives Crowfeather and Breezepelt (plus the acknowledgement that Bramblestar is, in fact, his real father-- thank god, by the way) while Jayfeather doesn't. The fact that Lionblaze and Jayfeather both get to...cut Crowfeather off, acknowledge that there's never going to be a father-son relationship between them? The fact that Jayfeather actively choosing not to forgive isn't framed in the wrong? Again, these are rare gems for this series, and it's interesting, and it sends a strong message.

I love how the book effectively continues the suspicion around Dark Forest trainees from Dovewing's Silence, even though the books were written years and years apart. And most importantly, I thought the relationship between Crowfeather and Breezepelt itself was written really well, certainly better than it ever had been before.

I had to suspend my disbelief a bit, and Onestar (+half of WindClan) are just comedic levels of terrible, but this was a really strong read. WindClan is two for two on getting the really good super editions, huh?