First edition cover
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Author | Erin Hunter |
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Cover artist | Wayne McLoughlin |
Country | United States/United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Warriors (novel series) |
Genre |
Children's literature Fantasy novel |
Publisher | Avon, HarperCollins |
Publication date
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June 1, 2003 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 317 (hardcover) 336 (paperback) |
ISBN | |
OCLC | 55800667 |
Preceded by | Into the Wild |
Followed by | Forest of Secrets |
Fire and Ice is a children's fantasy novel, the second book in the Warriors series, written by Kate Cary under the pen name of Erin Hunter. The plot centers around Fireheart and Graystripe, newly promoted warriors of ThunderClan, which is one of the four groups of feral cats living in the wilderness. Fireheart learns that his best friend Graystripe has fallen in love with Silverstream, a warrior from RiverClan, even though it is against the cats' "warrior code".
The book was first published on June 1, 2003 in the US as a hardcover. Since then, Fire and Ice has been released in paperback and e-book format in other languages. The main theme of the book is that the type of person one is inside is more important than the way one seems from the outside. The book received mixed reviews: the negative reviews criticized the flat characters, and how troublesome it was to flip back to the characters list due to the large number of cats; positive reviews praised the suspense and rising tensions in the book.
Fire and Ice takes place in a fictional forest which is home to four Clans of wild cats, ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan and WindClan, each of which lives in a territory best suited to their skills/abilities. The authors based the forest on New Forest in southern England.
Fire and Ice begins with Fireheart and Graystripe performing a traditional silent vigil after their promotion to warrior status in Into the Wild. In the first couple chapters, the book explains in third person how Fireheart and Graystripe start to get comfortable with being warriors. ThunderClan thinks Ravenpaw is dead, but Fireheart reveals the truth to Bluestar not long before a Gathering is held.
As their first task as warriors, Fireheart and Graystripe are assigned to find WindClan, which had been driven out by ShadowClan, and bring them home. They go to the WindClan camp and search for clues there. On the way, they see some RiverClan warriors hunting on WindClan territory. Graystripe finds the correct scent trail, and they follow it to a makeshift WindClan camp. Fireheart spots Barley's farm a little ways off the trail and the pair hurriedly leaves in fear of the dogs that live on the farm chasing them after they get let out.