Warriors: The New Prophecy series by Erin Hunter

I decided to review these books as a series, although I did review them individually at first (see those reviews on these pages: Midnight, Moonrise, and Dawn). I realized after beginning the series that I had actually begun in the middle of the story, having missed reading the original Warriors series (which I am currently catching up on). But this series can actually be read without having read the original Warriors books - Hunter does a good job bringing the reader up to speed with the lore.
The New Prophecy series has all the right elements for a very entertaining kid's book. There is a good amount of suspense and action in every book, as the cats deal with a variety of difficulties in each story. But there are also some very central themes that all kids deal with. There are many questions of loyalty and tolerance of outsiders, of trust and what it means to be a friend, and there are even some issues of romance and relationships. Hunter does a good job of keeping to the lore, and staying consistent with terms, and what the cats might know about the human world. The stories are entertaining just for that.
These are great books for ages 9 and up, although it does get bit violent in some of the books. Cats fighting and dying is not the most pleasant thing to read, but they are warriors, so it is to be expected in the story. I am looking forward to reading the other series that are in this same story line. I started in the middle, now I'll be going backwards, and then forwards again.