Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #1 (2024)

amazing, outstanding, give me 14 more

AMAZINGGGGGG....

It was nice to be back in this world, but through the lens of a graphic novel. It generated my energy to get back into the series and continue. I am always shocked by how wrapped up I can get into this series especially because I'm not the intended audience. The artwork was great and while it isn't a perfect adaptation, it does encompass the intention of the story as a whole. I cannot recommend this graphic novel or the series enough.

bluestar x yellowfang yuri

In my heart of hearts I WANT to give this a 5 star review. I was hoping I’d be able to give this a shining review and recommend it to new fans but I just can’t. If you have never read the original books, do not read this. It will make no sense to you. This is 2 books shoved into one short graphic novel that can be read in an hour. There is SO MUCH that is lost and it makes me so sad. Don’t get me wrong, there are good things - like others I absolutely loved the art. But there are so many issues too. The pacing. The (lack of) characterization. This is going to sound really harsh, but this is little more than (beautiful) fanart of scenes from our beloved books, mashed together in somewhat sequential order and then labeled as a graphic novel. I should honestly be giving this a 2/5 stars by my own standards but I can’t bring myself to do it.

All of that being said, I will be abiding by the warrior code and I’ll be first in line to read the next one when it comes out.

Yellowfang is still my mom.

Adapts the first two books in the series. They needed fantastic artists for this to succeed and omg these artists are PERFECT.

Graphics were super cute!!! Loved it but there was so much left out and I would definitely recommend the books first :) this was an enjoyable review/reminder read though!! And again, the illustrations were great and I love the colors :)

Not Warriors debuting the graphic novel edition right when I'm in the middle of my low-key obsession with this damn series. *ded*

This is good, for what it is. It combines the first two novels into one graphic novel, so the plot is condensed, the pacing quicker, and you therefore miss out on a lot of what was in the novels. Most people would hear that and think it's a no-brainer to read the novels instead, and I mostly agree. Where I can see the graphic novels having value is for younger readers who aren't yet ready for the full chapter books (with the constant reminder, though, that this is basically Game of Thrones but with cats).

I cannot express with words just how much this series meant to me growing up, and still does to this day. I think being a warriors fan as a kid genuinely changed the person I became, and it's a series that I hold extremely near and dear to my heart. Seeing my absolute ride-or-die book series be made into a phenomenal graphic novel for a new generation of readers to enjoy, and being able to see the characters that hold so much nostalgia to me depicted in such a beautiful way makes this book so so special.
Although this is hardly the first time I've read this story, I haven't read the original Into the Wild or Fire and Ice since I was probably about 8 or 9 years old, so being able to experience the story again in such a fresh way was so much fun.

First of all: The art style is simply gorgeous! The colours and backgrounds are stunning to look at and had me lingering on every page just to admire the scenery. I love the linework as well, it's very aesthetically pleasing. The character designs are great, each character is so distinct and recognisable from one another!

This book helped remind me of what I loved so much about the original series, and made me realise just how much I've missed this story and it's characters. It reminded me of why Yellowfang, Cinderpaw(pelt) and Sandstorm are still some of my favourites to this day. Fireheart's little herb-hunting date with Sandpaw filled me with so much joy, they were my OTP when I was probably about 9-10 years old and seeing them together again made me so happy.
There were also a few moments of what I thought were brilliant foreshadowing for Tigerclaw's villainy that I'm not sure were in the original books or not, or if I just never picked up on them until now, such as Tigerclaw deliberately sendig Ravenpaw into dangerous situations or putting himself on the patrol to fight with WindClan so he knows where the WindClan camp is. Either way, although I already knew where Tigerclaw's arc would lead, there were still little moments like that that made flap my hands in excitement when I realised the implications.

Even the changes to the story that were made in the adaption were changes that I, for the most part, actually enjoyed. I liked the desicion to introduce Princess at the beginning of the book alongside Smudge.

My one main critisism would probably be that the thrid part of the book, the Fire and Ice portion, didn't feel quite long enough. While I do like desicion to put both of the first books together into one volume, I wish more time had been spent with the Fire and Ice plot points.
As it stands, the majority of the book contains almost every single event from Into the Wild, with much of Fire and Ice's story being condensed into a much shorter arc in the last part of the book. I understand the contraisnts of having to put together the plots of two entire novels into one moderately sized graphic novel, and accept the fact that not every single detail will make it into the adaptation, but there were still a few moments in Fire and Ice that weren't present in this volume that I wish had been inculded.
I assume the more mjor plot points with long lasting effects to the story, such as Cinderpaw's accident, Cloudkit being brought to the clan, and Brokentail's attack on Thunderclan, will be featured in the next graphic novel. There were still a couple smaller events that I wish had been inculded in this one though, such as the battle with RiverClan after bringing WindClan back and Whitelaw's death, or just in general more time spent on the quest to save WindClan.

Aside from that though, I really have nothing bad to say about this book at all! It is an almost perfect adaptaion of my favourite childhood series and I am super excited to read the next installment!
I have a younger cousin who loves fantasy series with animal characters, and who I've always thought would love Warriors, but she struggles reading text-based novels and much perfers comics and graphic novels. I'm going to buy her a copy of this book next time I see her. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did when I was her age :)

What an absolute standout! It’s a 1:1 adaptation that compliments the source material perfectly. Incredible stylized art and they kept a surprising amount of violence from the book! My expectations have been 100% exceeded, and I’m so excited to see the next volume!

Ahhhhh I need to reread these books...

The art style was really cute and stylized, and it showed a lot of movement and action

12 year old me would have screamed in excitement!!! I hope I see an adaptation of all 1,000 books

yep this was everything i could have possibly wanted. yellowfang supremacy 4evr

Low four stars. This was an awesome adaptation!

Overall, like most graphic novels, this is a super fast read and very enjoyable. It’s also visually GORGEOUS. I LOVE this art style, and every single panel was colored and shaded to perfection. The character designs were visually distinct (Silverstream is canonically big and I love it), and I felt they all were true to each cat’s personality, too. I also adored the few little behind-the-scenes pages at the end, especially the alternate cover sketches! I hope there are more things like that in the second one.

Into the Wild as a book is definitely iconic, and very nostalgic for me. But it’s not the greatest objectively, so this book was never going to be perfect. That being said, overall the adaptation was very smart. There are a lot of cats that need introducing in a short time, and for the most part they were all mentioned by name. Having Princess in the beginning is also a good writing choice, so next book we don’t have to waste time introducing her.
I would have appreciated some more focus on Spottedleaf (she got even less here than in the original Into the Wild), more on Ravenpaw (so he feels more important and less like a barely-there strange side character), and maybe some more of Yellowfang, too. Some of the side characters also felt glossed over, namely Dustpaw and Sandpaw, who will be important in the next few books. I also think the book could have been paced better. Fire and Ice took up only a third of the book rather than half of it, which isn’t inherently bad, but I do think it needed a bit more focus. That last third was very rushed, especially with Graystripe and Silverstream’s romance and the journey to find WindClan.

Final thoughts: Tigerclaw was appropriately menacing, Bluestar’s design is so cool for no reason, wow these cats used to be way more violent in the first arcs didn’t they, and I didn’t know that I needed to see Barley with a mustache, but now that I have that is forever his only cannon appearance in my head.

I can’t wait to read the next one in a year or two!

Too much story smushed into too few pages, if I didn't love the original series so much when I was younger I don't think I would like this all that much. The pacing is off and I would've liked to spend more time getting to know the characters.

outstanding, give me 50 more. real talk - the art is literally so beautiful. this series meant sooo much to me as a kid (and now lol) and seeing a new life brought into it in graphic novel format??? breathtaking & creates a new accessibility to the warrior cats universe for children now which i heavily support and encourage!! gotta traumatize them young.

Reminds me of my childhood like I GREW up on these books (not the graphic novels)

SPOILERS

LOOOOOVED THIS. Please keep in mind I read the original Warriors series twenty years ago as a small child so I am inherently biased, haha.

Natalie Riess and Sara Goetter do a really great job with portraying the cats as both cute fluffballs and fangy, clawing, blood-dripping forces to be reckoned with. Artistic choices when it came to the paneling, panel breaking, and heavily stylized moments almost always struck me as very visually appealing. Reading their art process at the end in the author's notes was interesting.

I've seen a few reviews saying that this is not a good introduction to the series, but I disagree. Warriors has a LOT of characters and I found it helpful to have visuals of each character to keep track of who's who. Otherwise, names like, say, Sandpaw and Dustpaw might blend together. The scenes that were left out or rewritten generally make sense, to my knowledge, and I thought that the overall pacing was good, if a fair bit faster than the original novel(s).

My one criticism would be that I found the more exaggeratedly anthropomorphic qualities like eyebrows and blushing on the cats a bit distracting. I can buy them smiling and glaring and all of that but it broke my suspension of disbelief just a little when they had blushies over their fur. It was still cute, though, so I can forgive it.

Yellowfang remains my favorite character after twenty years and she gets a lot of time to shine. The transition from grumpy suspicious loner to valued and trusted friend is so natural. I particularly enjoyed a sequence where Firepaw and Bluestar are sparring and talking about Yellowfang interspersed with Firepaw growing closer to Yellowfang and earning her trust over time. I get the feeling that the illustrators like her, too. I'm happy to see that she will be on the cover of the next issue and can't wait to read it.

idek how many warrior cat books there are in the year 2024 but I want ALL OF THEM LIKE THIS RIGHT NOWWWW AND GIVE ME AN ANIMATED SHOW WHILE YOURE AT IT !!!

read this to comfort my inner child and it was such a nostalgia trip

Makes absolutely no sense if u haven’t read the series, kind of disappointed as it skips a lot of plot, but fun graphics & will be first in line for the next one

This book was pretty decent! I loved the art style, and especially Firepaw/Fireheart’s character design! The part of the book that is supposed to be “Into the Wild” seemed like a pretty close resemblance to the original chapter book. The art style was very fun and cozy as well. But when I got to the part supposed to be “Fire and Ice”, everything just seemed more… dull? And definitely more rushed.

I recommend reading the actual books before the graphic novels, which is what I’ll be doing with “Forest of Secrets” and “Rising Storm” (which I haven’t gotten to yet).

I look forward to reading the second book!

I was a warriors cats kid and it turns out that with the assistance of a graphic novel illustrated in the style this series deserves, I can be a warriors cats adult too. Next installment, please!

Good graphic novel that complements the source material, but doesn't replace it. I would not recommend this to any new fan, unless they also read the original books as well. But for someone who wanted to also visualize some of the story as well as read it, its great!

The art is fun, whispy, and dynamic. As a big Warriors fan, many of the panels made me smile. Bluestar and Yellowfang are adorable and my favorite characters in this version. Every panel that they're in together is even cuter. Barley has a mustache. Smudge has a bowtie. Silverstream is a chunk. The world is looking up.

Ravenpaw, however, was sorely lacking in the story. I was greatly disappointed by how little Ravenpaw content there was. So much of his arc was left out. :(

Also, where the heck is Brightkit/paw?? She wasn't in the "stolen kits" scene! Also, Dustpaw and Sandpaw were barely in it, but I'd assume that Sandstorm would be in it more in the next book, right? (right???)

So yeah, I have some gripes about this. However, all in all, a good book by talented artists (despite the fact that I really loved James L. Barry's art), which compliments the source material well.

Well i dont understand why that one very important scene is missing other things being glossed over makes sense but THAT ONE DOESN'T!!!!!! BUT. i love how i spent the whole time reading this book thinking that a gay person drew this stuff. Nope!!! It was TWO gay people :p

First of all I am so thrilled that Warriors is receiving a graphic novel series, because this heavily art-based fandom deserves one, but I’m not sure I like the way this one is going

I didn’t realize until I bought this and read the back cover that it was the first TWO books. I was surprised but not immediately concerned. Eventually, though, I saw the glaring issue: Into the Wild is 75% of the book and Fire and Ice is 25%

Into the Wild’s portion is mostly faithful; the one thing I didn’t like was that Firepaw’s relationship with Yellowfang was rushed. Also, while reading it I realized how well Into the Wild works as its own story. It is the introduction to the series with a strong, exciting ending in which Fireheart vows to take down Tigerclaw. As such, the Fire and Ice portion feels tacked on, rather than an important addition to the canon

One big problem I had was with FirexSand. This book gets rid of the skirmish with RiverClan where Whiteclaw dies (I was really wondering if they were gonna rename him lol but he didn’t appear) and as such, there was no scene in which Fireheart saves Sandpaw from falling off the cliff. This is what is supposed to begin her initial turnaround on him. Here, Sandpaw simply has an inexplicable flipping point because she decides Fireheart is cool after he becomes a warrior ???

Similar issue with Graystripe and Silverstream. We see Silverstream ONCE before the final battle with RiverClan, and the scene where Fireheart chooses to let Silverstream go is completely different. We got barely any arguing or angsting, or the character development that comes with it. The ending is a lot less impactful when Fireheart and Graystripe have not been fighting the entire book. The crux of Fire and Ice is that Fireheart feels lonely without his best friend; it’s part of what causes the development of his relationship with Sandstorm AND!!!! Causes him to bring in his nephew! WHICH DIDN’T HAPPEN

If Cloudkit does not appear in the next book I will not forgive the graphic novel series. They also introduced Cinderpaw, but she was never disabled/became a medicine cat apprentice, which is extremely important? If Forest of Secrets and Rising Storm are combined PLUS some important unused content from Fire and Ice, everything will be even more rushed next time around. That’s my worry for the rest of the series: if they keep combining every two books, but leaving out essential plot points, they are going to run into the same issues again and again x10

Honestly, what was the point of including Princess early on if they weren’t going to bring her back?! CLOUDKIT BETTER BE A THING

We also didn’t get anything in the Fire and Ice portion with Fireheart warning Bluestar about Tigerclaw. The main villain’s plotting and scheming is left to the wayside for the final act, when it is the driving point of the first series. In the regular books, Into the Wild has a good ending and Fire and Ice has a good ending. But the graphic novel is like 75% an interesting story with a good ending, completed with a messy 25% that is a jumbled collection of subplots, with the emotional ending falling flat

Another issue with combining the first two books is the age range. In this book we see little Firepaw and Graypaw as apprentices, then warriors 3/4 through, then they have their own apprentices right off the bat, plus Graystripe has a girlfriend. I can see new readers becoming confused at this sudden shift; since Into the Wild ends with them becoming warriors, there’s supposed to be a clean split between books before we see them in their more adult roles

So in case you didn’t realize, FIRE AND ICE GOT THE SHORT END OF THE STICK!!! It deserved to be a lot longer or to not be combined with Into the Wild at all. Into the Wild also deserved better in terms of pacing, but at least it was fairly accurate

FINALLY: The art is so-so. I felt like everyone was very bulky and fluffy. Cats who are more bulky and fluffy than usual appear HUGE. I didn’t think their faces were all that cute; some frontal facing shots were downright ugly. Don’t really like them all standing on their hindpaws sometimes either.

In terms of text, the language is a lot less formal for some reason. For example, one line in the OG book is, “Lionheart was convinced he would not.” This was changed to “Lionheart was sure he wouldn’t.” This is spoken by who is supposed to be an older, dignified character…didn’t really get why they felt the need to change those lines???

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this to new Warriors readers. The original books are so much better. However, this is coming from a seasoned Warriors fan who loves to nitpick. Graphic novels are huge with kids right now, and I really wonder if this would draw them in. I am actually fascinated to know whether this could take off like the Babysitter’s Club graphic novel series and become more popular than the books, but selfishly I hope not. So far, they don’t stand up on their own.

On a dark, gloomy day it was time to read something light and fun so I dug out Warriors: The Prophecies Begin, the first 2 books in the cat Warriors Young adult graphic novel series by Erin Hunter. It contains the graphic novel adaptation of the first two books, Into the Wild and Fire and Ice.

The story follows housecat Rusty who dreams of living in the wild. He decides to wander into the woods one evening and ends up being attacked and repelling a wild cat and then being invited to live with the Thunderclan of wild cats. Rusty is renamed Firepaw and becomes a trainee warrior of the Thunderclan. There are 3 other clans that live in the forest; the Riverclan, the Shadowclan and the Windclan. Each has their own area of the forest and doesn't hunt in the other clans areas.

But this wouldn't be an adventure story if there wasn't trouble right? The Shadowclan wants more land in which to hunt. The chase away the Windclan and want to gain admission to hunt in the other areas as well. The Riverclan bends to their will but not the leader of the Thunderclan, Bluestar.

So there is your basic adventure. There will be cat fights / battles, traitors within their midst, heroism and adventure. It's a well drawn, entertaining story. Sometimes a bit confusing as the cats do look similar (they are cats after all) and I (due to my increasing older age) have trouble remembering their names.. LOL. But I enjoyed the first two stories. Rusty / Firepaw (who becomes Fireheart when he gains warrior status) is a true hero defending his clan and trying to help instil peace in the forest amongst the clans. And there is a wonderful mix of characters amongst the rest of the clan(s). Most enjoyable, great for middle grades I think. (3.5 stars)

For the better part of fifteen years, the Warriors series has been my favorite book series of all time. When I first heard there would be a graphic novel adaptation of the first book, I was overjoyed. I looked forward to enjoying a series I loved to bits again in a fresh way. It certainly was different, and the art was excellent. It helped me visualize and add a new look to characters I've known for fifteen years of my life.

Despite my 4 star rating I had a lot of things about this that didn't satisfy me. The pacing was incredibly quick, zooming through the story arcs of the first two books at rocket speed, at the expense of key character moments and characterization all around. Some characters lost dialogue, Longtail and Darkstripe weren't as mean or vicious as they were in the books, and many characters didn't get the page time to be more fleshed out. It did add some new characterization, which was nice, but there were so many things missing from the first two books. I understand for trimming purposes, but it still felt like it was a crazy fast paced adventure. (I read the second half of the book within 20 minutes)

This is not a format I would recommend newcomers to the series to read. It reads as though you should understand the Clan rules and the history of the original books that came before it. That said, it is still a piece of Warriors media that any fan of the original series should own. I am still looking forward to the next one, though.

When I saw this on the shelf at a bookstore, I could not help but indulge in some nostalgia. 'Warriors' was my favourite book series through high school, and it's hard to believe it's been 20 years since I first picked it up!

This is the first volume in a graphic novel adaptation of the original series of 'Warriors' books. We follow Rusty/Firepaw as he decides to leave his luxurious life with human owners to join a group of local wildcats. He soon learns that life in the wild, while rewarding in some ways, can be devastating in others.

The artwork is stunning, particularly in the scenes depicting visions from Starclan. I love how bright and colourful the whole book is. Due to the nature of the graphic novel format, the pacing of the original story does suffer a bit and relationships and characterisation in general would not be as clearly established to any readers who are completely new to the series. However, anyone reading for nostalgia-sake like me or otherwise already a fan of the series will likely get a kick out of this adaptation. I've always imagined that 'Warriors' would make an excellent animated television series and this graphic novel has further cemented that.

It was good, the art was beautiful and it really did bring the story to life. What I didn’t like was that it cut so much of the plot. Fireheart meeting Princess never even happened, and the conflict between Graystripe and Fireheart in Fire and Ice is minimized. Whiteclaw’s death was entirely cut, even though it was a major plot point in the original. Fireheart and Silverstream never properly met, and that really downplayed the tension of Fire and Ice. The book didn’t have the same sense of knowing what was going on as the original. If I hadn’t read the original first, I don’t think I would know what was going on. The pacing was rushed and I didn’t really feel like it covered even half of the original events. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but it didn’t really contribute to my overall view of the series, the originals did it better, but that was bound to happen.