I started (and finished) Squirrelflight's Hope yesterday and it literally changed everything about the sisters for me.

WARNING: this will contain spoilers of Squirrelflight's Hope, and possibly events leading up to it. Read at your own risk.

Squirrelflight used to be a rather simple character, following the "algorithm" I explained the first time I gave my opinion of her: she sees someone (Brambleclaw) doing something, demands to be included, then disregards every single rule just to follow him into danger whether he likes it or not because it looks fun.

However, to my surprise, she actually had a change in personality. It is rare for a cat to actually mature - they're usually either forever a background character, like... Oh, I've forgotten what Lionblaze's kits are called. Actually, I forgot he had kits at all until the book said "Lionblaze's kits". Oops.

Squirrelflight still has the feistiness she had as an annoying apprentice but it is so much more justified. She is insecure about her relationship with Bramblestar, and sad that they don't have fun any more. When she tries to make something fun he shuts her down, saying that he now had a Clan to think of and couldn't be immature anymore.

Even from that moment in... I'm not sure what chapter it is but it was very early on... Anyway even from then, I could see the way she was going to be presented in the book and I liked it. Finally, poor Squirrelflight, who never had a hope in terms of my favourites list, would get a chance to show me her good side.

She did not disappoint.

She learned to be sympathetic, and while she still doesn't really respect Bramblestar as a deputy should, speaking out against him, it is clear that not only does she not mean to just annoy him but she also really cares what he thinks. Yes, the whole Sisters business with Moonlight and her cats was a bit weird, and Squirrelflight probably cared about them a bit too much, but at least it proved that she had that kind of compassion in her. I believe that having kits matured her, and in an actually believable way.

My main quarrel with a lot of cats is that they aren't given a chance to mature, or the Erins have just given up on them in terms of character development. Squirrelflight was in the "externally annoying" pile until she was given that maturity. I love what they did with her.

I know I said this would contain spoilers - and it does - but I'm still trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum for those people who can't keep themselves from reading despite hating spoilers.

Also, I know that the title of this chapter includes Leafpool, and this is why:

Leafpool is, without a doubt, my favourite character.

That book had me in tears as soon as I found out that Leafpool was in the cave with Moonlight's kits, and cats were planning to destroy the cave. I'd unfortunately heard (thanks to me foolishly reading first book of The Broken Code before Squirrelflight's Hope) that she would die, so when I realized that I'd gotten to that point, I suddenly realised that I really didn't want her to die.

She is such a kind, soft cat and the sympathy and the empathy I feel for her is overwhelming. Crookedstar is still my favourite tom, followed by Whitestorm and Thrushpelt (and Larksong and Fernsong have slipped in there somewhere) and Cinderpelt is second in the she-cat department, but Leafpool has stolen my heart as my favourite character.

Again, I could probably give a very long summary of the book and Leafpool in it and why she is now my favourite but despite my warning I would still like to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

So, to sum this up, Squirrelflight's Hope knocked my socks off, though not for the cat it was intended for. While Squirrelflight is undoubtedly in my top ten now, Leafpool, who probably sat around in the 30-40s, is my favourite.

Also, I really should post (and actually create) a list of my top 10 warrior cats.