Into the Shadows

Survivors: The Gathering Darkness #3

by Erin Hunter, Laszlo Kubinyi (Illustrations), Julia Green (Illustrations)

Darkness threatens the Wild Pack in this thrilling new Survivors adventure! Into the Shadows is the third book in the second arc of the bestselling Survivors series, from #1 nationally bestselling author Erin Hunter.

United, a Pack can face any threat. Divided, they will fall.

There is a traitor in the midst of the Wild Pack, and tensions—and suspicions—keep rising. Storm is determined to protect her Pack…but if they don’t find the traitor soon, there may be nothing left for her to protect.

Survivors’s winning blend of epic action, canine friendship, and animal folklore has earned it rave reviews, including two starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, which praised the series as “wild and wonderful adventure.” This action-packed second arc is perfect for both new readers and existing fans who’ve been howling for more of the Wild Pack!

Genres: Fantasy, Animals, Fiction, Middle Grade, Dogs, Adventure, Young Adult

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Erin Hunter is the pseudonym of five people: Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui T. Sutherland, Gillian Philip, and Inbali Iserles, as well as editor Victoria Holmes. Together, they write the Warriors series as well as the Seekers and Survivors series. Erin Hunter is working on a new series now called Bravelands.

Erin Hunter is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having a great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior, shaped by her interest in astronomy and standing stones.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the first two in this arc were promising, but this is the third book in a row where no headway is made in the plot whatsoever. I'm just extremely bored at this point. Yeah, Storm is great, but she can only carry this so far.

Three books into this arc and still absolutely nothing. has. happened. We are in the exact same position as the first page of the this arc. It's still fierce dog racism and a mysterious killer that we are no closer to finding. Honestly, being able to say absolutely nothing in three books full of words is kind of a talent in and of itself.

Let me say this for the tenth time in my Erin Hunter book reviews: if you don't have enough plot for six books DON'T WRITE SIX BOOKS! Where did you guys get the idea that every. single. arc has to be six books?!

Do you think the fans would riot if you did a trilogy? If you can write a solid action packed trilogy rather than forcing it into double the necessary length, I'm sure the people who read this series would be more than happy. But who am I kidding; if they did that, they wouldn't be able to pump out a new $16.99 hardcover every three months...

Also, Lucky is a ridiculous character and this series just reinforces what I thought when I was reading from him. He's an annoying self-righteous arrogant character.

So, can you tell I'm a little annoyed at this one? Lol, I want this series to be good. It's just getting really tiresome keeping up with all these new releases when nothing happens in them.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I am loving the series I can't help but find that I am getting a bit bored with this constant "the fierce dogs are bad dogs". I mean, we already covered that on the first series, right? I hope the Gathering series manage to close this line of thought because it is getting to be kind of a nuisance for me...

[✮Luna✮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10 (review contains spoilers)

Sadly, I feel like this series just gets progressively worse. I loved the first arc, but this one lacks in action, character development, suspense... I know this is supposed to be the build-up until the traitor gets revealed, but this is the 3rd book and I don't have any clue about who is the traitor or at least who could be, which at this point just bores me.

I started to hate almost all of the characters and bcz of this, everything else became kind of annoying to read. Why is Lucky like this? I loved him in the first arc, but now I feel like he is unjust with Storm and the other pack members and the whole world revolves around his puppies, like... I literally don't care about them🙄 and because of all the problems that occurred in the pack, my favourite dogs (Bella and Arrow) decided to leave, like bffr..😑

I think the series should've ended at the first 6 books. I gave this volume 5/10 bcz I loved the first arc too much to give this one less than 5. I'll still continue the series cause I want to find out who is the traitor, but I want at least the plot twist to be better if the other things are not.

[Liza · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please help me.



Will these books ever get good?



If people have been seeing my status updates, this book is infuriating.

Why. Why is this series a thing? Why did this need to be a thing?

Thankfully the final ending part was at least somewhat enjoyable. Couldn't save this nightmare of a book though.

My comments is pretty much what I thought about this book.

This pack is utterly useless. Can Storm, Bella, Arrow and Sunshine form their own pack? Like I feel like that will be much more interesting and not covered in stupid fighting. Also Lucky and Sweet are just so dang infuriating. I know being a leader can be hard but they are terrible at it.

The pack is unfair in every possible way and the urge to chuck the book across the room was so dang high. Honestly, I can't even think straight enough to write a coherent review and lay all of my thoughts out. Oh well.

Pretty much like the previous books in this set. Storm is awesome, the pack is dumb. There is so much "danger" coming(ahhhh, so scary!).

I didn't think I would say this but give me the lions, baboons and elephants(Oh my!) please.

[MacKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish someone would just die it's been two books smh

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The original Survivors arc was a fun read, even if it lacked depth. This book, though, continues the downward trajectory of the Gathering Darkness arc established in the last 2 books.

Lucky continues to perplex me in regards to his drastic personality switch. Storm was everything to him in the last arc and now it's like she can't do or say anything right in his eyes, when he even makes time to notice she exists.

Alpha (Sweet) infuriates me with her lack of leadership and passive cruelty  (she doesn't speak up for dogs being bullied so that they end up leaving the Pack, and yells at the whole Pack for a few dogs being aggressors). Really, though, I can't say it's surprising, since she tried to help hold Lucky (her mate!) down while a dog maimed his leg under the old Alpha's rule; it was the old Alpha's orders, but she was happy to oblige.

This series seems to have some awful hold on me. I usually drop books I dislike so fast it's crazy, and never understood hate reading, but now I just realize it can be dedication to the author and hoping they keep writing books like what made you a fan in the first place.

[Caley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a bit scary but I loved it!
I can't wait to read the next book.

[Cassidy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is it just me getting older and losing interest in these books, or are the Erin Hunter books that have been published lately not up to the usual standard? I have to admit the ShadowClan story line in the Warriors series has me interested, but even in that series it seems like the characters are irrational and make annoying decisions. I'm starting to feel the same way about the characters in this story, but instead of the main character annoying me it's all of the other characters. It seems like as soon as a new dog takes over all the other dogs seem to be cruel and stupid. I'm all for writing diverse characters with different outlooks and opinions, but to differentiate your characters' voices you shouldn't have to make only the character telling the story rational. Alpha has especially changed for me in this book, and I definitely see the rationality behind Bluestar's choices in the Warriors series of choosing between motherhood and being a leader. Most of the things I want to rant about include spoilers, so if you don't mind them or have read the book and want to see my thoughts in more depth, continue reading.

I have to agree with a lot of people who read this series and say that this book, as well as the one before it, seem like boring filler. I know it's a thing to publish six books per arc when using the pen name Erin Hunter, but if nothing of significance is going to happen in two of the six books, you can condense the series into a trilogy and you wouldn't tarnish the name. Honestly I don't see how this series is going to be dragged out into another three books unless something major happens. The thing that bothered me the most about this book though is that we still don't know who killed Whisper and did all of the bad stuff to the Pack. This particular plot point has dragged on so long it better be a darn good plot twist when the murderer is finally revealed. Or if I'm just dull enough to not understand what the ending was trying to imply and it was showing that the murderer is the Fear Dog himself, then I am going to bang my head repeatedly into a wall. That is probably the dumbest storyline this series could go with just to shield our beloved characters with plot armor and keep them from being "bad dogs" (which, by the way, I don't like as a description for the traitor. They couldn't just call the "bad dog" a traitor or a conspirator? The current description just makes me think of the dog memes going around about being the good boy). I don't mind if the "Fear Dog" and his actions are part of a larger plot, but if there's going to be a traitor implied for two books than I want an actual traitor who I never would have suspected. My second least favorite part of this book was every interaction with Arrow and Bella after they leave the Pack. When Lucky and Storm first go out together to find them, Lucky acts really vague and tells Storm he didn't really ask Bella and Arrow how they were doing, so it seems like he's hiding something but then it turns out he was acting weird for nothing? Then Storm reappears because she walked to their new camp in her sleep, and she revealed that she sleep walks to a very surprised Arrow who shouldn't be so shocked considering he already knows Storm sleep walks and told her that's normal and nothing to worry about. The author definitely needs to reread her own books because she shouldn't be forgetting such obvious things that already happened. It's kind of weird that this is the second book I've read in 2017 where the author has mistaken big plot points because they forgot what they already wrote about in previous books. All of the interactions with Bella seemed really artificial and rushed too, and the only time she actually seemed like herself was when she got in an argument with the Pack over the weasel. By the way in that fight she seemed pretty angry at Lucky, only for the confrontation to be brushed off quickly during their next meeting. Seriously, they acted like it never happened, and it wasn't implied even once that Lucky was forcing himself to act a certain way to Bella after the rest of the Pack confronted her, so there is really no explanation why that tension suddenly dissipated? Was it because of the super convenient coyote attack that made zero sense and was only added to drive Bella away? That attack definitely should have been made more dramatic for it to make them leave. Arrow should have at least been hurt a tiny bit. Also I'm super confused about why Arrow and Bella didn't just join the Pack again since most of the dogs who wanted Arrow gone left the Pack. Sure Bruno wouldn't have been too happy, but Lucky definitely could have brought them back in and there wouldn't have been any major issues, especially since the dogs later admit they treated Arrow unfairly. That brings me to the other point that I hated how the characters acted. Alpha is a wuss who only puts on fancy airs to make herself look good, then backs down whenever an actual conflict arises that needs to be solved. I was kind of hoping Storm would challenge her for position as Alpha, it got that bad. I also find it completely out of character that Mickey and Lucky would just let Bella and Arrow leave. I also find it ridiculous how big of a deal it is that Arrow and Storm are Fierce Dogs in this series. I'm pretty sure the entire final book of the first arc was supposed to dispel those prejudices, but suddenly every dog is against Arrow and Storm, even Mickey who saved Storm and her litter mates without hesitation based on their breed, and Lucky to a degree with his snide comments about Storm fighting against her "nature." That comment made me super angry because it essentially negated the books in the first arc, where Storm was shown to be fighting her violent nature and Lucky defended her every step of the way, insisting that she didn't have to be violent just because of her lineage. So many other details didn't make sense, such as Storm taking notice that Breeze left her out of the story of killing the tusk nose early on. I have suspicions that this might be pointing out that Breeze is the traitor, along with the fact that she was the one who implied the Pack thought Storm sabotaged her own bedding, but why develop those tiny details if the killer isn't even going to be revealed this book? I highly doubt most readers will remember those hints for the next book, and again I'm only guessing about Breeze and if I'm wrong those comments don't make any sense being included at all. The way Snap was written in this book honestly made it seem like the writer forgot she was mates with Mickey. They are never seen together, Snap acts very suspicious of Storm despite Mickey being so close to them both, and the way Storm mentioned their relationship at the end seemed like it was forced in at that spot to make up for the fact that the writer forgot about it. I didn't completely dislike this book, in fact I was thinking of giving it three stars, but I feel like it definitely went a step down from the normal caliber of this series. The plot points that were meant to be dramatic fell flat during the rest of the filler that was this book. The most interesting part was the conflict with the pups, and that didn't even happen until the end of the book. Beetle and Thorn take sibling bickering to a whole new level of annoying and unnecessary (I have two sisters and fights are not as frequent as they make them out to be). Alpha truly does show favoritism to her original Pack. I will say thought that I liked the friendship between Storm and Twitch, and I wouldn't be completely against them becoming mates. I also noticed little hints about Breeze and Beetle at the end, but I may be reading too far into things.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the mystery involved in the story but it ended kind of flat. Dislike the obvious agenda of how wonderful it is for everyone to have babies. Storm doesn't feel the need to have pups, but I'm being led to believe that by the end of this series she'll come to her senses and desire to have pups. The writers must have children and are trying to force their agenda on the readers. Storm doesn't need to have the desire to give birth. Let her live her life her own way.

[✨Rebel Fairy Hiatus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tension in the pack is rising more than ever. After Whisper's death, the troubkes haven't stopped for the pack. No one knows who to to trust. The climax is building in the series and I can't wait to see where it will lead. Who is the culprit? This book was filled with intrigue and the characters arw well thought out. I can't wait to read the next one.

[Abdullah Usman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was amazing and had many cliffhangers.l loved it and the details were crisp and nice

10/10 from me

[Kaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very high three stars. The urge to give this four stars was definitely strong, but despite my love for this book I’m almost entirely sure my feelings are based in nostalgia, so I’m bumping this down to three stars like its predecessors.

To start with, the writing is of course typical Erin Hunter style. There really isn’t much to say; I will always enjoy the way these books are written. There were a few typos, I think, but nothing terrible. That’s it for writing.

Though I love this book for its nostalgia factor, I must admit it is mostly stalling the reveal and subsequent face-off with the mysterious bad dog. While I found this batch of filler very entertaining (if incredibly frustrating and mildly concerning at times- more on that later), at the end of the day very little progress was made in the murder mystery. Last book, the dogs finally accepted that there was a traitor, but they still thought Whisper was killed by foxes. In this one, Lucky randomly decides at the very end that maybe Storm was right the whole time, and he was murdered by a dog. But this is glossed over, and only acknowledged by one character of the Pack. This lack of progress is frustrating, but the fact that the Pack actively debates and eventually splits over the issue does make it feel more critical and urgent. As usual, the dogs in the Pack are all pretty conveniently stupid and hostile towards Storm, which is very frustrating to read, as it’s an obvious way to stall the plot.
My problem with this is the way Fierce Dogs are treated here. Obviously, the Pack is racist toward Fierce Dogs. That much is clear. The problem is the way this is presented. Driving Bella and Arrow out, however sad it was, made it very clear to the audience that the racist dogs were wrong, since we know from Storm’s POV they’re the only two truly trustworthy dogs. Great. So why is the Pack never punished for this ridiculous prejudice? The narrative shows these dogs doing a bad thing (being super racist to Fierce Dogs), and then NEVER ADDRESSES IT. Sweet says “maybe we shouldn’t have done that” and Lucky insinuates it’s really sad his litter-sister and her mate had to leave. Excuse me? REALLY SAD? A mistake? Absolutely no dogs take any credibility for this, which is a HUGE problem in a kids’ book. Yes, the racist dogs are rightfully portrayed as wrong. That sends a good message. The BAD message is that racism is/should be inevitable, some people are just racist and you can’t do anything about it (yes this is kind of true, but only a select few truly awful people are purposefully racist and can never/will never learn to do better), and if someone was racist they don’t need to take any accountability for it or try to do better in the future. This could also be interpreted as poor representation of a toxic relationship. Both of these issues are thankfully super easy to fix, though. In the next few books, somewhere, the racist/toxic dogs apologize to Storm and Arrow, promise to do better, and actually try to do better. That’s it. I can’t remember if they ever do or not, but rest assured the later books will be rated lower if they fail to do that, regardless of how much I loved them as a kid. I know in this one Lucky apologized to Storm at one point, but it was a little sketchy and convenient, in my opinion. I hope more dogs do that though, and that they all commit to changing their actions.

I haven’t even addressed this concerning our main character. Ugh. Character time.
Storm is a great lead on her own as usual. Not super unique, but very likable and strong, and I’m still pretty sure she’s asexual, which is awesome. But she is the victim of this extremely toxic cycle in her Pack, calling out injustice and being shut down, then being gaslit into thinking nothing was wrong in the first place. It’s definitely concerning; I sincerely hope this is addressed in later books.
Lucky I kind of already mentioned earlier with the racism/toxic relationship rant, but to put it bluntly, I’m not a fan. He was a fine lead, but his personality has become parent 100%, and it’s extremely annoying. Is it worth hoping he’ll be better in the next one?
Bella and Arrow left:( I am very sad about this; they are absolutely the best side characters in the book. Also, they’re kind of Storm’s only friends, which means she really doesn’t have anyone to talk to now, which is a bit awkward. But I loved what we got of them in this one; can’t wait for book 5 when they finally return.

Well, the traitor is pretty obvious again, but not as much as the first book! And I appreciate that the Erins are trying to hide it by having Breeze help other dogs and be sweet with the pups. Not much happens in this one with this plot, so I’ll comment more next book, hopefully.
There aren’t really any outside threats in this book. Honestly, I think that’s okay. The splitting Pack and heightened tensions do a good enough job of keeping the stakes high without needlessly bringing in more dog-cousins. The coyotes appear briefly, which felt weird, but for the most part they’ve been forgotten. I’m alright with that, honestly. The fox plot was wrapped up last book, and the coyotes were always a weirdly paced add-in.

Overall, I love this book because of how nostalgic it is, and because I think it actually does do a great job of making entertaining filler. But I’m not ignoring those concerning racist undertones. I hope they get addressed in the last three somewhere. Onto Red Moon Rising!

EDIT: I forgot to mention the plot holes. I don’t think the Erins remember which dogs are supposed to know about Storm’s sleepwalking (DAISY ALREADY KNEW), and they forgot half the Pack still believes the foxes killed Whisper at the end of the book. I’m sure there are more, but those are the big two I can recall right now.


SERIES RATINGS:
A Pack Divided: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dead of Night: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Into the Shadows: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Red Moon Rising: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Exile’s Journey: Currently rereading
The Final Battle: —

[Nathin Carter]

Language art 7
Mrs Nance
10/5/18
The book that I had read I thought that it was pretty good for the fact that it had wolves hunting and some killing with a little mystery and. My favorite part of the book is when they all go out to go hunt and even the little puppy wolves went to go hunt with them and when they came back. The puppy wolves don't her the howl to come back, then the big wolves see that there is blood on the tree and on the ground all over the place they thought that the blood had belonged to the pups and so they all panic and when all the bigger wolves cleaned up the blood they were still nervous and an 1 hour later the pupps come back with 12 rabbits so that night all the wolves ate good and no one died.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this middle school series. All the dogs have their little quirks, and you love the main charactor, Lucky. As you continue the series you meet new dogs, mostly bad dogs so far. I can't like the pack leader Alpha, half dog, half wolf. I feel sorry for the little dogs, trying so hard to fit in.
So far we have Lucky, the lone dog and main charactor. Then we have the leashed dogs, where their owners have disappeared and Lucky teaches them to survive. Then you meet the Wild dogs, with Alpha as their leader, rather cruel wild dog. Then you have the Fierce Dogs, Dobermans that are pure evil. I can't wait to see what happens next!

[SavannahW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. It was entertaining and full of mystery, however they are really stretching out the plot to make an entire series on this but it is kind of annoying. And at this point they are kind of repeating things so nothing new really happens. Oh, something bad happens and the pack falls apart and the alpha and beta don't know what to do so they give an inspirational speech and everything is okay. Then it happens again.

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is great. I have read a lot of books from this author, especially this series. I recommend people who like reading about animals, adventure and mystery. This story is about a dog called Storm and one of her friend Whisper got murdered by another dog. After the Whisper got killed, other dogs start getting attack by this mysterious dog. But the dog is clever though it leaves no trace on its scent or its fur. This makes it harder when Storm thinks that dog is inside her pack. Storm has to hurry if she doesn't find out who the killer is there might be another dog murdered. No dog is safe now when the killer is still loose.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't really say anything bad or good about this book; it is just a Survivors novel in the middle of an arc. Nothing extremely important happened in this one...Just a lot of small things that may or may not come back to the plot in future books. Still no closer to figuring out the mystery that surrounds this Pack...

[_linduska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opět skvělý
Třetí díl Zákonu Svorky hodnotím jen pozitivně. Přečtenej jsem ho měla za chviličku. Už to ale není vůbec takové „pohádkové“. Celá druhá série ukazuje na špatné lidské vlastnosti, akorát jsou přetaveny do psů. Například nedůvěru, lež, podrazy, tajemství, škodolibost atd. Je to celkem krutý a už bych to nedávala číst menším dětem. Pro starší děti ale moc doporučujů, je to má srdcovka.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really good. Really held my interest and I'm so intrigued to see what's going to happen! This second Survivors series is ten times better than any other Erin Hunter book I've read. I'm really hooked.

[artemis · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME!
SO COOL!
SO LIT!
BEST BOOK EVER!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book.

[Flora Daisyfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good although I just wish they would SOLVE THE MYSTERY ALREADY ACK

[Taco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn Breeze, you a cold bitch. Alpha really be over here giving no fucks unless it's her kids 🤣

[mischa GT · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

[Binky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filler novel in the story. boring.

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Christian Lenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book !! Breath taking

[Lovegsd2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down!!!

[Veronika Součková · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5✰

[Marie Pekařová · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5