Withering Herbs
anfarlamb

"A sickness - like a mere case of the chills or a minor whitecough in a patient - is something a medicine cat can easily fix, with some leafy catmint or perhaps a pawful of feverfew. It is vanquished effortlessly, and the illness is gone. It does not come back until someone receives it again.

But when the Clans have contracted a terrible sickness, StarClan has not answered for moons, and they are losing numbers quickly, nobody knows what to do. The medicine cats have done all they can for their Clanmates, however, nothing has worked. No longer outside the elder's den lay a lazy, gray-muzzled cat. The nursery, ever so faintly smelling of milk, only contains memories of what use to happen in the usually cheery den. The warrior's den only have three or four inhabitants, each which thinks grimly of the day that sickness could come upon them. The apprentice's den, in some Clans, has one cat who comes to sleep in it each night, cold and alone. Others are empty, filled with grief for lost futures.

Leaf-fall has tumbled upon the Clans. Leaf-bare approaches, peeking over the treetops some mornings. This awful illness has lasted since Green-leaf and, still, with the medicine cats searching everyday and warrior's eyes peeled for it, a cure has not been found. However, each Clan has a reason for StarClan not answering them, and they mostly stick to it. Withering herbs, Clanmates, may wilt until they are nothing but a pile of dust, blown away by the wind.

{ Copying of any sort is NOT PERMITTED }

{ The cover is made by the lovely @talfli - go give her a follow & some votes. }

{ highest ranking: 40 in warrior cats }

OUR COMMENT

Okay, I, for one thing, loved reading this book. At first, it was on my list to read, but I never got the chance to start. Once I did, I was instantly hooked into it. The setting starts out with little Clan members, already showing that the sickness has taken over all of the Clans. Then the chapters slowly began  to unfold into how bad the sickness took over like the plague. 

I liked the choice of words used, able to see the struggle of the Clan fighting the sickness. I remember looking at each end of the Chapter and thinking, "Is that cure coming now?" Then all of the Clans also suffering from the same sickness. Cats are dropping like flies in the middle of winter now, where food is scare already. Warriors and apprentices to weak to hunt now, and the medicine cats trying to find a cure for this plague with the herbs they have. The solution does, eventually come into play, and how the villain is disposed of, interesting. (No spoilers will be present here).

 Even the title, Withering Herbs already made me think that something was doing to die off. Whether it be the herbs or cats, I knew something bad was going to happen. The protagonist is very interesting, not like most where they have outstanding hunting or battling skills, but has tons of patience and suffers loss. Yet, he still pulls through for his Clan, and truly cares for all of the sick Clans, not just his own Clan. 

All together, Withering Herbs is a very good book to read that you'll stay up all night. It has lots of suffering that the readers can relate to, if something like this ever happened to. If you're looking for a book with an interesting plot twist, emotion, and struggle within all of the Clans, than Withering Herbs is a must read. 

Brought to you by Solstice