Book #39 of 2025: Breakers of the Code | 4 DNF

[thistlechaser]

Bravelands: Thunder on the Plains #2: Breakers of the Code by "Erin Hunter" (Rosie Best).

Quick synopsis: A young cheetah (Stride) is helping a holy elephant to save the world. A buffalo calf (Whisper) is trying to save her brother and through him the world. A young hyena falls in with the dark side.

Brief opinion: "Erin Hunter" (a group of eight writers working under that name) has published 400+ books in 20 years. All of them follow the same formula; this book was no exception.

Plot: Stride the young cheetah has lost his mate, so now he's traveling with a honey badger to try to save her spirit from the Great Devourer (evil god). And also save the world.

Whisper the buffalo calf needs to save her younger brother (Echo) and restore him to his place as rightful leader of the herd. And also save the world.

Breathsnatcher the young hyena is trying to save her clan, and in doing so makes bad choices and ends up working with the evil god.

Book 2 of 6. If you've read any other series by the Erin Hunter group you'll know exactly where all this is going.

Writing/editing: While the writing is fine (I think Rosie Best is the best of the Erin Hunter writers) I wish she had done even basic research on the animals she's writing about. For example, repeatedly she described the cheetahs as having retractable claws...

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: I don't like that the gods of the world are real, actual things, but they are in all the other book series "Erin Hunter" writes, so that's just part of the same formula they never stray from.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Okay. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't hold my attention either. I doubt I'll continue with this series.

DNF #27: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. For some reason the author spoiled his whole story in the book's Forward. That annoyed me, but I also didn't like his writing at all, so DNFed pretty early on.

DNF #28: The Arctic Code by Matthew J. Kirby. This is an author I usually like, and the idea was interesting (thanks to environmental damage, the Earth has entered a new ice age), but the story just didn't hold my interest at all.

DNF #29: War Stories: New Military Science Fiction by various authors. I read this (for a second time) in 2024, I guess I forgot to delete it off my Kindle? Anyway, it was way too fresh in my memory to read again.

DNF #30: Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh. While the idea was really interesting (spaceship from Earth crashes on an already populated alien planet), the writing drove me up a wall. Redundant? It was redundantly redundant in the most redundantly redundant way it was redundantly possible to be redundant.

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

Not to mention: cheetahs don't form a bond when they mate. The female raises cubs alone. So why would the cheetah care if he "lost" his mate? unless this is in some future where cheetahs act a lot different than IRL ones. Details like that would bug me to.

I've always wanted to try reading Lonesome Dove, but not anytime soon!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I really wonder why the author didn't do the (basic!) research or if they decided to just ignore reality to give readers what they expect instead (that all cats have retractable claws).