A Light in the Mist is the finale of the Broken Code arc. While it isn’t the best Warriors finale ever, it’s definitely one of the better, so it got a 3.5-stars rating from me. The beginning was a bit slow, but the final fight itself was just amazing. 

After realizing that Rootspring is stuck in the Dark Forest, Bristlefrost and Shadowsight are returning to save him, the other cats stuck in the Dark Forest, StarClan, and the Dark Forest itself – the stakes are so high with all those things on the line and the Dark Forest is shrinking fast, so that the cats have to act fast. For this, the help of all other Clans is needed to defeat Ashfur once and for all. Of course, they have to discuss at length what they should do now, especially because Mistystar and Tigerstar don’t want to send their warriors which was so annoying. When they finally return to the Dark Forest, there’s the same creepy and dark atmosphere as it was before. 

For the final fight, many of the more or less beloved characters from past books are returning because the cats are able

to tear down the barrier because they still have hope which was kinda cliché but cute nevertheless

. My favorite moment here was

Firestar taking over Rootspring’s body to kill Darkstripe. Because of this, we got one chapter of Firestar’s POV which sadly felt a bit shallow? It was so cute later how he met Graystripe again – It was obviously that he would die though. To be honest, I had to look up if Firestar dies in this book because if he did, I would’ve been so mad. It was also nice to see Needletail and Feathertail again – I’m surprised the Erins remembered Crowfeather’s crush on her. We also meet characters that I didn’t miss, like Onestar

. 

But not only good cats are back,

Darktail is there suddenly as well and fights with Ashfur. Speaking of Ashfur, I can’t take him seriously since he’s such a comical evil villain

. What is nice about this final fight is that it’s not just over in one chapter, like it was with other last books in the Warriors universe but spans a few chapters. It was so epic and tragic, especially with

Bristlefrost sacrificing herself to save Shadowsight and kill Ashfur. This was such an amazing and character defining moment for her, and it had real consequences, since she disappeared and has no way to go to StarClan. This is probably mean to say, but I liked this ending to her character arc. Of course, I feel so sorry for Rootspring  and Bristlefrost herself  but at least Bristlefrost doesn’t end up with kits and loses her personality like every other female protagonist in the series. It was also so sad to see how Shadowsight blamed himself for her death and how Bristlefrost’s parents ask Rootspring to communicate with her where he realizes that she’s gone forever

. 

Besides this fight, I don’t know what to think about the ending:

What it showed us definitely is that StarClan can’t be trusted with anything, but oh well, they still go there and there are again many emotional encounters. What I really hated here is how Briarlight was “healed” in StarClan as if she needed this healing in the first place. StarClan suddenly decides that Shadowsight is not allowed to talk with them anymore because of his dark thoughts or something. They then decide that they want to change the Warrior Code in the future and I’m not sure what to think about this. I have the feeling that this is kinda the last straw for the writing team to give the series a new spin, but I’ll see if it works in A Starless Clan

. What this book lacks though are explanations for all the events. With the Ashfur prologue, we get a told explanation how he was able to return to the living world and block out StarClan, but not how he was able to control the cats in the Dark Forest. 

What I like about the characters is how much they developed in the course of the story and that all three of them became likable in the end. Shadowsight finds peace with his role as a medicine cat in the conflict and he realizes that

he doesn’t need to believe Ashfur’s lies anymore because he knows he belongs to the Clans like every other cat

. Even Mothwing apologizes to him. I like Bristlefrost most of the protagonists and she had such an amazing development as well. I even started to like the Bristlefrost x Rootspring more. There are other characters that I liked so much in this arc, like Stemleaf or Snowtuft who both deserved so much better. 

All in all, I have ambivalent feelings towards The Broken Code. I disliked the beginning of it and its repetitiveness there but later, I was able to be bound with the characters. What was great here was that there was a continuing plot throughout all six books which I enjoyed as a whole, especially because it was so absurd at times. But like in almost all arcs, there are some moments that just feel dragged out and conflicts that could be resolved quickly if the cats would just talk to each other.