Oathkeeper

Bravelands #6

by Erin Hunter

At long last, the Great Herd is united against Titan—now so powerful that even Fearless, who vowed to avenge his father’s death, cannot defeat the rogue lion alone. Thorn may have a plan to bring about Titan’s downfall, but the animals of Bravelands must decide how much they are willing to risk—and who they are willing to lose.

Genres: Fantasy, Animals, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Chapter Books, Adventure

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 22, 2020

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

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2'5-3

This series has been an up and down. There were two books which were 5 stars for me, one that was a 4 star and the rest were 2 or 3 stars.

I think one of the problems this authors have is that they always make series of 6 books, even if it makes the plot drag. I guess it might be a contract thing, but this series (and the last take of "Survivors") would actually benefit from the "less is more" philosophy.

This book has amazing moments, but it also has very dull ones. All in all the ending does the series justice, but it could have been done with two books less.

[Abbigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, wonderful ending to the first arc!! Makes me wonder if we’ll see from different perspectives in the new book coming out next year. I for one, would love it if Lively or her brother had a point of view. Amazing book series. So happy I finally got around to catching up!

[Cheetah Universe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not have expected more of this book. It gave us everything we needed and wanted: an epic final battle, sadness, hapiness, honor, friendship, a fight for what is right. These books always promise us quality, so the writers are indeed oathkeepers.

[MistyWish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm totally broken and saddened by the end of this book, so much happened in so few pages. My only question is WHERE THE HELL IS GRACIOUS!??? I loved her!! But is it wrong that I rock hard ship Keen X Fearless??

[Kaitlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was possibly one of the best Erin Hunter books. Even though it was shorter than normal, every single piece of it was AMAZING! This series is a must read.

[shannon✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed listening to it and I think that it was a very good ending for this series. To be honest, this wasn't the ending I had envisioned, but that's a me problem. It was very adventurous and it was nice to see everything coming together, and again, literally no one was spared.

[Critter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this conclusion to be disappointing. The character development was its biggest flaw as there really wasn’t any meaningful character development. Situations felt like they were conveniently wrapped. Fearless has always been a frustrating character and I’ve had difficulties with him because he rarely experiences any consequences for his actions. He also has only one goal in life and that is all he seems to care about. While I think the ending was good, I think Fearless’s character arc was wrapped up poorly as it felt like it fell flat. I also find an issue with an event in the book that essentially says that the lions’ beliefs, or lack of a faith in the Great Parent, is wrong and needed to be fixed. While the story frames the Great Parent as good and knows best for all creatures, not all animals benefit or follow the Great Parent. The use of a miracle to convert the lions and force them to give up their own beliefs, which may be a form of atheism, feels rather gross. There were also a few scenes that went nowhere or were never brought up again that could have been utilized for great character development. Overall, this book felt underdeveloped and rushed.

[Cienna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely under-rated young adult/older reader book series. I went into this expecting it to be as disappointing as Seekers was back in the early 2000's but man was I wrong. These characters are fleshed out, they have passion and they make me feel emotion. One character's death in this book was gut wrenching and heart breaking and I was driving to work listening to it (a mistake). I did not expect to be this attached to animal characters who acted so animalistic. Compared to warriors this book is much more violent and there is a smaller cast of characters so that you don't feel so spread out. Overall I highly recommend this to almost anyone who just enjoys a good fantasy.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice end to a beautiful and magical series.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spectacular final book in the first Bravelands arc! There are so many positive things to say about this book, it really was well done, especially considering that it is only 250 pages. The only drawbacks were hindrances that affect the whole series, not just this book, such as Fearless having a one-track mind, Sky being a difficult character to like, and the plot dragging a bit at times with the passage of time being a bit confusing (seems short even if characters indicate that it has been a while). However, none of that really held this book back from being outstanding!

The opening scene of Titan's confrontation with Fearless was well-staged, appropriately dramatic, and a genuinely great opener. It transitioned well from the previous book and set the stage for what would be the climactic final battle between the two. Similarly, Thorn's grief-stricken hallucination of Stinger towards the beginning was really well-written and convincing. I understood immediately that it was a vision and how it would have felt for Thorn. It was visual and described impeccably. I only wish that this had been a continuing thing throughout the story! How cool would that have been, Thorn secretly tormented by visions of his old enemy trying to discourage him, and he would have to overcome that which is essentially overcoming his own self-doubt.

THE ENDING! The ending was truly spectacular. It was a fantastic finale to this series and really powerful. I couldn't tear my eyes away. The imagery of the fire and the plain of our ancestors was so vivid (Spider remains one of the coolest and weirdest characters I've read in children's literature) and the brutal fight between the lions was intense. It reminded me a little of the battle in "Avengers: Endgame" because of the desolate setting and Thanos and Tony Stark battling it out with the latter, represented by Fearless, being victorious (though not in a predictable or untragic way). I like that Fearless's perspective cut off just as the two clashed in midair. Then it went to Thorn's perspective and we got to see the scene of Fearless ascending to lion heaven with all three of his parents, which was so sweet and called back to the dream sequence Fearless described earlier in the book. When all of the lost spirits ascended upon Titan's death, it was a beautiful scene. I could picture it so vividly.

There was a total Grinch moment when Fearless's heart was no longer full of vengeance but full of loyalty and love, which I thought was a clever and fitting way to resolve his storyline. The fact that Keen was mentioned in there was also great, because I definitely think those two were more than friends and the author crafted it so subtly that it could be read either way, and it's perfectly wonderful if they were just absolutely close friends. Either way, Fearless's demise was gentle, peaceful, very bittersweet, and it felt right, even though it was a daring move by the authors. It made sense for the story. That is something very important to me, and this major character death felt like it belonged. The ending was not uncomplicated or straightforward, and I respect the author for making that decision.

There are definitely callbacks to the Lion King film, which is something to which the first book in this series held quite strongly. In Oathkeeper, Titan (Scar) joins up with the wolves (hyenas) to take down Fearless and Bravelands (Simba and Pride Lands) in an elephant graveyard. There are very clear and powerful ties to the plot of the Lion King, though this story is considerably less for children than the film. It's not bad, but it doesn't seem very original. Though, finding the parallels between the two was rather amusing!

In the next arc, I would love to see the perspective of Nimble or Lively, the cheetah cubs! They are characters I really enjoyed throughout the series and think they could be interesting going forward.

All in all, there couldn't have been a better conclusion to this series. It really wrapped things up nicely, and I especially liked the epilogue of "five years later" (another similarity to "Avengers: Endgame," though this five years later was much happier). Sky became a mother and lived happily ever after it seems, finding her place among the elephant traditions. Thorn became old and gray and lived alongside the spirit of Berry and the reality of his friends. It was nice!

Finally, I have also come to the irrefutable conclusion after reading this book that Fearless is, without a doubt, Inigo Montoya from "The Princess Bride." (Imagine: "Hello. My name is Fearless Fearlesspride. You killed my fathers. Prepare to die!" See? It works!)

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

At long last, the sixth and final book in the Bravelands series has come. After rating Bravelands, Book 5: The Spirit-Eaters 4 stars, I've correctly predicted that I would give Oathkeeper a 5-star rating. Erin Hunter's best series yet (IMO) had an incredible ending. It all comes down to this. Way back when I reviewed the series first book, Bravelands, Book 1: Broken Pride, I mentioned that Fearless the lion cub had a similar story to Simba from The Lion King, in that his father is murdered by a rival lion. Now, the climatic final battle between Fearless and Titan reminded me of Simba and Scar's showdown in The Lion King. Because it's set against the backdrop of a burning landscape. But it differs in a major way. Fearless does kill Titan, only to die himself. Because lions are my favorite animals, you can imagine how upset this made me. On a happier note, Thorn the baboon and Sky the elephant survive. And the book ends with an epilogue taking place 5 years later, showing Sky with a baby of her own, and Thorn continuing on as Great Father.


Where one Bravelands arc ends, another begins. It's called Bravelands: Curse of the Sandtounge, and the first book, Shadows on the Mountain, comes out later this year. If it's anything like the first arc, it should be epic. And I can't wait to read it.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was brilliant and unexpected. I have been looking forward to this finale for ages and it did not disappoint. I think that Erin Hunter wrapped this up with a lot of success and I am looking forward to the next series of Bravelands. My emotions are still all over the place but I know that this book was fantastic and I will always hold this series very close to my heart.

Side note: I'm a Christian and I think that there are many cool parallels between the Great Parent and God... mostly with faith, unbelief, how God works... ike definitely a very loose parallel but something that I did pull out of it.

[Alex Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I genuinely appreciate that the ending was bittersweet - the Erins didn't want everything to end totally well for the protagonists - but, looking back, Fearless's death was just a cop out from him to actually face the consequences of his actions and bad decisions in the process to get revenge. I think it would have made more sense to have him live and have to confront what he'd done wrong and Sky Strider's honestly kind of eventless PoV to be flavored by her death. (It would make the ending even more bittersweet, and I actually liked Sky Strider, but I think it would have worked a lot better than what actually happened.)

[Lily Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEED MORE STARS AVAILABLE SO I CAN RATE THIS BOOK A MILLION

Update:Honestly this book is great the only sad part is Fearless's death. But I love how Keen and Ruthless have their own prides

[Willemijn jufwillemijnopallstars · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik heb speciaal voor dit boek een dag uitgekozen dat ik het boek in 1 dag kon uitlezen. En wow, dat is gelukt! In de proloog kijken we terug naar het allereerste begin van de Bravelands serie, maar in hoofdstuk 1 gaat het verhaal weer verder waar het gebleven was.

De hoofdpersonages zijn Fier, Doorn en Sky. Fier is een leeuw, hij wil Titaan doden dat lijkt zijn enige doel te zijn. Doorn is een baviaan die in deze serie een zeer bewogen leven heeft gehad, vol met liegende bavianen. Sky is een olifant, ze gedraagt zich niet zoals dat verwacht wordt van een olifant. Ze trekt er alleen op uit met enkele vrienden. Onder andere twee cheeta welpjes die ze in dit avontuur ergens heeft opgepikt.

Heel Bravelands (alle dieren op de savanne) gaat samenwerken om Titaan te verslaan, want iedereen is het erover eens: hij moet weg/dood. Nu is dat best lastig om met al die diersoorten samen te werken. Doordat iedereen in dit boek hetzelfde doel heeft, voelt het toch anders aan. Je leest nog steeds afwisselend vanuit de hoofdpersonages, maar nu is het eigenlijk 1 verhaallijn in plaats van drie.

Het is heel mooi om te lezen hoe de dieren samen bedenken welke diersoort het beste de eindstrijd aan kan gaan. Het uiteindelijke einde was dan ook mijn voorkeur geweest qua diersoort, maar waarschijnlijk niet qua locatie. Hoe het precies afloopt zul je zelf moeten lezen. Het is wel zeer belangrijk om de delen op volgorde te lezen en dus bij boek 1 te beginnen.

Ik kan nergens op internet vinden of er al een tweede serie aankomt, maar het zou me niet verbazen als die komt. Maar het zal nog wel even duren, ben ik bang.

[Inge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeker een waardig slot voor het einde van de serie, al hield het verhaal me niet zo stevig in de greep als de eerdere delen. Voor mij werd er door Fier té vaak herhaald dat hij Titaan zou verlslaan en dat het zijn recht was. De andere delen in de serie waren wat dat betreft wat minder repetitief. Voor mij had het deel van het verhaal over hoe Titaans waanzin Bravelands beïnvloed wel meer ruimte en diepte mogen krijgen. Maar al met al toch jammer dat de serie nu uit is.

[Carsyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying ending to an entertaining series. I loved the character development that we see throughout this story.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3 stars, best book of the series.

[aarony__22 · Rating 5 out of 5]

nooo

[Manon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an amazing end to this series!

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly beautiful conclusion to one of my beloved series!
The writing in these books flows beautifully! Gorgeous scenery! An Africsn Savannah with a Lion King vibe for adults!
Loved this series!
Fearless 💜💜💜💜

[Jay Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oathkeeper by Erin Hunter is a thrilling dystopian fantasy novel about revenge and love. The main theme of this masterpiece is that revenge cannot stay, either deal it early, or never come back to it again. One of the main characters, Fearless, lets revenge take over his life after a tyrant pride leader named Titan kills his father. Fearless devotes his life to kill Titan and it leads him toward the harder path away from his pride mates. He struggles as the great father, Thorn, struggles with loss and what his life is about. This moving novel stole hours of my life and I couldn’t put it down.

As I wrote before, Oathkeeper by Erin Hunter is a dystopian fantasy about three savanna animals; Fearless the lion, Thorn the baboon, and Sky the elephant. The book begins when wolves have come to the Bravelands. The wolves eat the hearts of the animals they kill to feed their tyrannical leader, Titan, with souls. As the Bravelands are trying to survive, Sky and Thorn work for the greater good, but Fearless is still stuck on revenge. He loses his pride, his friends, and the honor of his mane. He continued to be thirsty for Titan’s blood and had a hard time putting it to the side. Throughout the story, the animals of the Bravelands have horrifying experiences with the wolves as the wolves tear into their friends chests. It gets worse and worse and more and more animals are being brutally murdered. The Great Father Thorn finally decided enough is enough and began to chase after Titan and his goons. They corner him in a cavern with nowhere for Titan to go. Fearless realizes this is his final chance to get his revenge on Titan. He goes in alone as the rest of the animals he is with are worried. After the battle cries of Titan and Fearless halt, the animals go in to find Titan’s carcass on the ground, but no Fearless. After traveling hundreds of yards they find Fearless, taking his last breath.

Reading Oathkeeper was similar to a rollercoaster. There are ups and downs and crazy inverted moments and you know it will work out in the end, but there is still some adrenaline that keeps it going. It is a very unique book and I personally love it because it is mostly dialogue so it feels as if you are listening to a conversation with your friends. The setting is a huge part in the story as without the nature and fire and water and seasons the animals would have life as easy as could be. It builds the characters, and I love seeing nature in books so it was a perfect story for me. There are also so many different emotions as you root for main characters that have been around since the beginning. The highs are really high and the lows are really low, making this story an emotional train ride. Some moments can get gory and graphic, but there are no spots at which I got disgusted. These parts make it a little more sad as the characters that are built up to be the protagonist end up passing. However, the action in this book outweighs the drama by a landslide. Moments of fights and tension are described so clearly and put a perfect picture in my brain. The vocabulary is a mediocre level but it is enough to make the book interesting, but not too much so that everyone can read it.

Overall, I had a fabulous reading experience and if I could read it for the first time again, I would. I would give this book a five out of five stars. After my time reading Oathkeeper I would recommend it for children just out of elementary school to the end of middle school. Kids who love nature, drama, action, and a little comedy would be a perfect fit for this book. If you ever have a chance to grab this book, you definitely should because it will give you a once in a lifetime read.

[Kaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

. . . Three stars. This 100% should have been a four-star read at least. I am extremely disappointed.

The writing of this book is much the same as all the previous installments. I love the old Erin Hunter style, and probably always will, even though it’s definitely not the best. It’s just so nostalgic and simplistic in the best way. And I don’t think this one had many typos, so that was a nice change of pace from most Erin Hunter books.
This book was a little on the short side, and unfortunately felt rushed in some parts. At the same time, though, tons of scenes felt dragged out to me. I think the struggle to find a good pace came mostly from the fact that this book had to find a logical time-waste until Fearless and Titan could finally duke it out at the end. And that obviously was going to feel like a time-waste, so they tried to rush through it to the point where it didn’t match any previous comparable scenes from the series, which made the whole thing somehow feel too fast and too slow at the same time.

You can apply that dichotomy to most of the plot, too. The end felt rushed because Titan and Fearless’s fight scene was described in broad strokes and then we POV shifted before seeing its conclusion so we could have maximum shock factor. But it also felt too long because we switched POVs to Thorn halfway through and had to spend another half a chapter rejoining the fight, which was already over at that point, before we could finally get a conclusion to it. A long period of suspense isn’t bad, quite the opposite, but it works to the story’s detriment when we cut away and kill that tension halfway through the wait.
The entire fake Great Gathering plot was so pointless, as I mentioned earlier. It was obviously filler, so it didn’t really add to the tension much. I guess Rip dying helped a bit with stakes, but by this point in the series, most of our semi-major supporting cast had plot armor, so there wasn’t really any danger of losing major characters. I think if Boulder had somehow been killed, that might have helped the tension and stakes so the rest of the plot could feel less like fluff. (I suggest Boulder, by the way, since Sky and Rock already had an arc and just resolved their conflict, killing anyone else in Fearless’s plot is redundant and pointless when Fearless himself is killed at the end, and Thorn already lost Berry last book.)

Character time. Oh boy.
Let me get the biggest issue out of the way: Fearless. This book is giving me mixed signals on this character. On the one hand, the idea that he was stuck in this cycle of vicious rage for so long and was finally free in death is a very tragic and complex route to take his character. On another hand, why was his sacrifice and moment beating Titan THE MOMENT of the book? Why was that a good thing, if this cycle of rage was a bad thing? Why was that never addressed? On another hand, this cyclical character arc could maybe be a reason for Fearless’s general lack of development or maturity throughout the series. But on the other hand, if that was on purpose, why did he have the exact same ‘arc’ of seeming to mature or develop before suddenly reverting back to immature, rash, angry child multiple times? I feel like I can’t even have a discussion about this character when the book is trying to push a narrative at me that isn’t at all backed up by the rest of the story. Even Fearless’s supporting cast espouse conflicting messages: Keen leaves him last book because he’s growing too obsessed with killing Titan, then returns this book saying he always believed in Fearless, but just didn’t want to encourage his grudge match. Okay, makes sense enough. Until you remember that Keen joins in again with full support to Fearless to go back and finish the exact same revenge quest he left over last time. So. . . Either last book was pointless, or this one is just wrong. Great.
For the record, I do still really appreciate that they killed a main character in this book. While I definitely don’t think it was done well, I think it’s really hard to know when a story would benefit from it, and I think for what the Erins WANTED to do with him, killing Fearless was by far the best decision. Fearless was also the first POV character they ever killed (while that character had a POV), and I think that was a huge step to writing more meaningful character arcs. Fearless’s death is sad, despite all the mess surrounding it, and the very very end of this book, in the epilogue, captures those same feelings perfectly. If the rest of the book was even half as good as those two scenes, I’d be giving it four stars.
Oh, and if you were curious about Keen or Ruthless outside of their relationship to Fearless, Keen doesn’t do anything outside of helping Fearless, and Ruthless is mentioned for the first time at the start of the climax. AKA like page 200 of this 220 page book. Keen has little personality or agency at all outside of Fearless, and Ruthless LITERALLY doesn’t exist outside of Fearless noticing him, apparently.
Sky has been an unnecessary POV since book three. Her return to normal at the end of the story should feel sweet and all, but it should have happened ages ago and it doesn’t even feel that earned. Sky hasn’t really grown or developed at all. She moved the plot a lot in the first three books, but that’s about it. Her own character has been stale this whole time, so why should I care if she gets to go be stale somewhere else? Oh, and she gets a zebra herd halfway through the book to look after, which is instantly forgotten after the fake Gathering. They are never mentioned again.
Rock and Boulder have literally nothing going for them. The most blank-skate characters ever. Nimble and Lively are much the same, disappointingly enough. At least the authors remembered to mention them, though.
Thorn was just fine in this one. I still think his suicide arc was pretty poorly done, but that was mostly last book, so there honestly isn’t much to talk about regarding him.
Nut, Mud, and Spider are by far the most unique and consistent supporting characters of the whole series. They’re not great or anything, mostly because they don’t do much in this book, but they’re not bad. I appreciate that they stay distinguishable, at least.

The villains were SO underwhelming in this book.
Titan was disappointing. He fell into cliche and cliche and wasn’t threatening for most of the book. Mighty’s death scene felt so weird; if Titan was powerful enough to beat him the whole time, why didn’t he? And if he wasn’t, why is he the main antagonist!?
Menace was annoying in that this book seemed determined to make her into something worse than she should have been, logically. This was kind of an issue with Fearless the whole series, but when compared to Menace and Ruthless, Fearless grows at a snail’s pace. Menace is apparently big enough to be threatening to other lions after only a few months of existence? Really? And she’s defeated by a bone shard, which could have been poetic justice, but instead feels lazy because she was never really a logical threat in the first place, and she had little emotional stake in any conflicts beyond being Titan’s annoying daughter.
The wolves don’t really exist. They’re sidepieces to scare the Bravelands animals, and that’s it. It’s also never explained why Titan became their new leader, or why they came to the plains at all, or why everyone is so sure they would leave immediately instead of just electing a new wolf leader. . .

Definitely not the ending I was hoping for. I really wanted to love this last book, and while I still think it was groundbreaking for the Erins’ writing team in general, as a conclusion to a story with such high potential, I don’t think it delivered half of what it intended. I have decided to finish rereading all of Bravelands, though, so I’ll be moving onto the next arc after this. Hopefully it’s more consistent in quality overall.


SERIES RATINGS:
Broken Pride: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Code of Honor: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blood and Bone: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shifting Shadows: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Spirit-Eaters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oathkeeper: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Brittney Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Rating: 4 stars

Note: This is the 6th and final book in the Bravelands series by Erin Hunter so this will not be an in-depth review.

Although I have thoroughly out-grown my love for Erin Hunter, I was one book away from finishing the Bravelands series so I decided to go ahead and pick it up. This book concludes the story of Fearless the lion, Thorn the baboon, and Sky the elephant as they struggle to save their home land, Bravelands, from the ravages of Titan, a maniacal, power-hungry lion.

The best thing about this book is the learning experience that it allows young readers to have. Bravelands is an ecosystem very similar to the African savannah, and since most young children will never experience the savannah in real life, this series allows them to gain some knowledge of how this unique ecosystem works and how the different organisms that call it home are dependent on it and each other for survival. The plotline with Titan also allows them to see what happens when something throws off this unique balance, and it might just inspire them to take a stand on issues that affect the environment, such as climate change, poaching, and habitat destruction.

The one thing that I will like to point out about this book was that it gave me a lot of Lion King vibes. I don’t know if this was intentional or not and without that knowledge, I couldn’t enjoy that aspect of the story as much. These allusions have been stretched across the whole series, particularly in Fearless the lion’s storyline and by the end of the series; they were starting to get on my nerves. I don’t mind having allusions to different works in my literature, after all, one of my favorites series is the Daevabad trilogy by S.A. Charkaborty, and it is basically a mature re-telling of Aladdin, but they have to add to the story and the ones in Bravelands don’t, they are just made and then tossed aside to never be explored further, and it really bothered me by the end.

In retrospect, I think Bravelands will be an amazing series for young people to read as it will teach them about the natural world in a fun and exciting way. However, I think that I am no longer the audience that this book series is intended for so I will not be reading anymore of Hunter’s works. 4 stars and a solid ending to the series!!!!!!

[Good Manticore · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ending would have hit a lot better if Fearless's story wasn't so disjointed from Thorn and Sky's throughout the series. The trio only ever interact all together at the end of the books, so they don't get to form a believable shared relationship. Each have their own group of friends on top of (supposedly) being friends with one another--Fearless with Valor, Keen, and his pride, Thorn with Mud, Nut, and Spider, and Sky with Rock and Boulder. Fearless's relationship to the others suffers the most since being separated from the baboons in book 2. When Fearless dies, Thorn thinks about all the time they spent together and how he can't imagine a life without Fearless, yet the two of them haven't shared a life since the very beginning of book 1. Everything after that only revolved around their conflicts momentarily converging. It felt cheap. Keen's reaction to Fearless's death hit harder than Thorn's.

As a whole, the series should have ended at book 3. Titan's plot was stretched far too thin for it to have any real impact by the end. And the majority of the conflicts are contrived and repeated from earlier books. Mighty's death by Titan felt especially forced since Mighty was told again and again that Titan would trick him. And then Titan pulls the exact same trick that he's pulled since the beginning. -_- Are we supposed to be surprised? Because I'm only annoyed.

The sequel arcs seem to have realized the length issue since they are each only 3 books long. I'm not sure if I will read them.

[Ellaura Shoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I pick up an Erin Hunter book I can pretty much guarantee that I will love it. My favorite books are stories about animals told by animals so naturally Bravelands is a favorite series of mine. This series has even inspired my own writing (as I tend to favor meerkats as the subjects of my works). I connect with all three protagonists. Fearless especially is a great character. Speaking of Fearless his quest for revenge comes to a head in this last novel of the arc. I thought it was about time for this to happen. He spent six books obsessed with killing his father's murderer Titan, which was maybe a little too long? While I did enjoy this book I'm only giving it 3 stars because I found the ending predictable and not satisfying in any way. Also a very minor character's gender was changed in the end of the book from female to male. That's maybe just a nit-picky thing that I noticed, but still.

[Chillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

[rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5
This book was really good. I thought it was kind of back and forth, just because of Titan being a coward while trying to seem "scary" and disappearing while he is pursued. The book is mainly centered around trying to kill Titan, so it was unpredictable at times but also felt very predictable. Titan going to hide in the elephants' sacred place seems just like the thing his character would do. And then he would demolish everyone. Why is Titan so evil? Does he just want power (it seems like it, but what made him want power in the first place?)

Also, the golden wolves. They specifically eat hearts. It isn't mentioned that anything was killed for meat, only for the hearts. Why? Don't the golden wolves (and Titan) still need to eat? Can you survive merely from eating hearts.. (I don't know.) But besides a few missing details, a repetitive story, there were a few exciting moments.

Just because Fearless has one goal (Killing Titan), I feel like we can still see some other parts of his personality. I just wish he had survived so we could see what his actual life was like. I mean, what would have happened if he hadn't been left to survive with the baboons? How would the story have ended then? Or how would it have ended if Fearless did survive? I would have really liked to know, just because Fearless is a relatable character (plus he was my personal favorite.)

Also, is it just me, or is Menace really a pest? I feel like she is a good addition to the story because she really is an awful sister (and a terrible lion.) She is pretty much damaged and I doubt Fearless would break the code, even to kill that menace of a lion.

Characters I liked:
Fearless - relatable. I could understand how he wanted revenge. Sad he died, though. Not a lot is known about his personality, but cares about his friends. The fact that other lions might think he is different doesn't make him wary about believing in the great father I feel makes the story interesting.
Sky - wise. For the young elephant WOW is she wise. Not the most relatable though, just because she acts way older than she is.
Valor - we don't know a lot about her, but of what we know, she is a mother to two cubs. Even as a half-sister to Fearless, she still treats him just like a brother (not like an outcast.)

Characters I thought were OK:
Thorn - he could be wise at times, powerful for sure, but he is skittish and needs advice to get important things done. He happens to rely on Sky a lot in a previous book.

Villainous characters:
Titan - this is obvious, but Titan acts like a coward in this last book. Also, he slaughtered HIS OWN PRIDE in a previous book. We don't know much of his intentions other than taking over Bravelands, though. Any backstory about any melodramatic/extremely scary parts of his past we don't know about?
Menace - I don't know what is her deal. She's an extremely good "evil SIDEKICK" but she is only brave for her dad, who is an utter coward (and i'm not sick of saying this.)
Crown Guard - These guys are AWFUL. Especially Creeper. He didn't HAVE to die, but part of me felt he deserved it.

I enjoyed this series thoroughly even with a few parts not being my favorite. It was interesting, had a few cliffhangers, a few characters died (Berry Crownleaf, Tendril, Fearless, Titan, Menace (?)), detailed at some points, unpredictable at times, but this made for an extremely interesting story. I think the good and interesting details outshine the details that made no sense.

[Taco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent conclusion to the first arc of the Bravelands series. As sad as Fearless' death was, it made sense given that he was injured and he had accomplished everything he could ever want from having his own pride to killing Titan. Sky and Rock's romance was beautiful, and I wish Sky would've said fuck tradition and stayed with Rock. I don't care how many times the author referred to Keen as Fearless' friend, they were lovers as far as I'm concerned. Keen's affection towards Ruthless proves that he loves lions and not lionesses, and I'm happy he moved on from his grief, even though I absolutely loved the relationship between him and Fearless. The ending with Thorn grieving Berry was bittersweet, even though I firmly believe Berry killed herself to hurt Thorn and not to help the Bravelands. She treated him awful in her final days, and the way she died was very symbolic of just that.

Again, as I've said for Erin Hunter books, this is not for kids. I don't know why the books keep being tagged as books for middle grade children, but there's so much gore and eating of hearts that the idea of this being labelled as a children's book series blows my mind. Regardless, I very much look forward to the second arc, and hope we get to see some of the old characters in it.

[Booksanddrawings_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

De avonturen van Fier, Doorn en Sky gaan weer verder in bravelands, de belofte. Zover ik weet is dit ook het laatste deel in de de bravelands serie maar wie weet volgt er meer?

Heel bravelands komt in opstand tegen Titaan de kwaadaardige leeuw die al langere tijd de rust in bravelands verstoord. Daarvoor moeten alle dieren van bravelands helpen, want Doorn de Oppervader van bravelands heeft een plan.

“De vogels waren beter bekend met de kracht van de Grote Geest dan de andere dieren van Bravelands, en die kracht kon hen allemaal samenbrengen.”

-Bravelands-de belofte, Erin Hunter.

Het verhaal is weer zo soepel en fijn geschreven zoals altijd, ook blijft het fijn om in de verschillende perspectieven te lezen. Zo volg je de gebeurtenissen van alle drie de dieren waardoor je niks mist. Tegen het einde komt alles bij elkaar en viel alles op zijn plek en werd het verhaal één groot geheel wat het boek goed afsloot.

Dit (e-) boek mocht ik ontvangen als recensie exemplaar van de uitgeverij in ruil voor een eerlijke recensie,bedankt hiervoor!