The Silent Thaw is the second book in the seventh Warrior Cats series, The Broken Code.
The prologue shows Bramblestar's point of view when losing a life: he sees his Clanmates and the medicine cats looking grief-stricken at his body, hoping that he'll soon see StarClan and wake up on his second life. He watches as they take his body to the camp for a vigil, and then, horrified, he sees his body wake up - not controlled by him. He remembers that Tree can speak to the dead, and he heads toward SkyClan territory, hoping that the mediator will be able to help him.
Picking up immediately where Lost Stars left off, Rootpaw runs from the ghost of Bramblestar, frightened and confused that not only is he apparently seeing a ghost, but that he's seeing one of a living cat. He trains with his mentor and goes back to camp, but realizes only he can see the ghost-Bramblestar. Meanwhile, in ThunderClan, the living Bramblestar's been behaving somewhat strangely since coming back to life: everything seems new to him, and he insists upon keeping Squirrelflight near him and is constantly critical of the way things are run. Bristlefrost thinks things have just been hard for him, and offers to help; he decides to make her responsible for organizing all the daily patrols. In ShadowClan, Shadowpaw is rewarded for saving Bramblestar by being made a full medicine cat with the name Shadowsight (in honor of Spiresight, the medicine-cat-like tom from the city where Shadowpaw and his littermates had been born). The medicine cats are hopeful that they'll be able to share with StarClan now that the Moonpool's thawing, but when they try after Shadowsight's ceremony, they still cannot contact them.
Half a moon later, the Clans have their Gathering. Rootpaw's still been seeing the ghost-Bramblestar, but has been doing his best to ignore it: partly because of fear and confusion, partly because he doesn't want to be "weird" like his father. The medicine cats report what had happened at the Moonpool, and the living Bramblestar suggests that StarClan is still refusing to talk to them because they haven't done anything about code-breaking cats in the Clans. The next day, Bristlefrost has been doing well with her duties, and during one of her patrols, she suggests that they make sure they follow the warrior code by thanking StarClan aloud when they catch prey. Their hunting suddenly drastically improves, and Rosepetal thinks that perhaps they've pleased StarClan, and suggests they tell Bramblestar about it; he praises Bristlefrost, and asks her to tell him whenever she sees her Clanmates breaking the warrior code. ShadowClan's hunting, on the other hand, hasn't been going so well. Shadowsight wonders if it might be because Tigerstar won't let him tell anyone about the specific codebreakers he saw in his vision, but Tigerstar still refuses to change his mind. He becomes even more certain that this is the reason why when a falling branch badly wounds one of ShadowClan's patrols.
Rootpaw, after speaking to Fidgetflake about dead cats (the medicine cat said that they should always try to listen to dead cats' messages) and his father about leaving (during which time he realizes that Tree can't see ghost-Bramblestar), decides to finally talk to the ghost that has been following him around. Bramblestar is just as confused as Rootpaw himself about what's going on, but he asks Rootpaw to pass a message on to Squirrelflight.
Speaking of Squirrelflight, she's started to organize the patrols again, as she used to, but (living)-Bramblestar isn't happy about this, and declares that she is to no longer go on patrols, but rather stay in camp with him at all times. Even more strangely, he decides that before queens and elders eat, he and Squirrelflight should get the best prey first, and then possibly the warriors. Although Bristlefrost feels uncomfortable about the change, she thinks that Bramblestar must have a good reason for what he's doing, and continues to follow his commands. This includes reporting Lionblaze and Spotfur when they accidentally cross barely over the WindClan border when chasing prey; as punishment, everyone's ordered to not talk to Spotfur for a quarter moon, and since Lionblaze questioned him, he's banished for the same amount of time. Bristlefrost regrets doing it, but still thinks that Bramblestar should be obeyed as the Clan leader, and is confused when Spotfur's mate Stemleaf tells her that there's obviously something bigger going on and that they'll have to make choices.
In ShadowClan, Antfur, one of the cats who had been injured by the branch, insists that he feels well enough to patrol. Tigerstar lets him - against Shadowsight's better judgement - and Antfur falls to his death after a dizzy spell hits him while in a tree. Shadowsight is certain that this is a sign from StarClan, and decides that he needs to warn the other medicine cats about the codebreakers, regardless what his father wants.
Rootpaw, still unsure about passing a message to Squirrelflight from ghost-Bramblestar, gets in trouble with his mentor and with Leafstar for being too distracted during training. (They both think that it's because of his crush on Bristlefrost.) He decides that he can no longer let this mess things up further for him, and decides to talk to his father Tree about seeing the ghost. Tree believes him, but is uncertain of what they can do beyond telling Squirrelflight. Ghost-Bramblestar offers to lead him to the camp, and Rootpaw follows, but ends up being caught by a patrol. ThunderClan, too, assumes that Rootpaw's there because of his crush, and Bristlefrost is mortified. She confronts him, and he tells her about ghost-Bramblestar, asking her to pass on his message to Squirrelflight. She doesn't believe him, but does so anyway, and Squirrelflight seems uneasy but says she doesn't believe it either.
Shadowsight tells the other medicine cats about the codebreaker vision at the half moon (the Moonpool is notably dark without stars), and then lets Tigerstar and Dovewing know that he's done so. Everyone is unsure why he saw the particular cats - Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Twigbranch, Squirrelflight, Crowfeather, Mothwing, and Dovewing - or why certain others aren't listed, like Tigerstar. The leaders, including Leafstar, pass the message on to their Clans. At the next Gathering, impostor-Bramblestar announces that they need to decide what to do next about the codebreakers. As the other Clans argue about whether punishing the codebreakers is right or not, and the Gathering breaks up, Squirrelflight comes up to Rootpaw and asks him if what he said was true, and he tells her about a private conversation that she and Bramblestar had had after Leafpool's death, so she knows that he must be right. Spotfur and Stemleaf of ThunderClan also come up to him and tell him that they're planning a secret meeting for cats who are worried about what's happening in the Clans, and Rootpaw agrees to go.
Two days after Lionblaze was meant to return from his temporary exile, (impostor-)Bramblestar convinces Bristlefrost to tell him that Sparkpelt had vanished from her recent patrol. She was looking for the missing Lionblaze, and as punishment, she's ordered to check the abandoned Twoleg nest to see if there's catmint there in case they need it. Lionblaze returns while she's out, and Bramblestar has Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Twigbranch swear an oath that they won't break the warrior code again, that they'll listen to everything their leader says, and that they agree to be exiled "to protect ThunderClan from StarClan's anger". Sparkpelt returns badly injured; she'd been attacked by dogs while looking for the catmint. Bristlefrost examines the nest later, and discovers that fresh-kill had been piled up near there. She wonders if Bramblestar tried to lure the dogs there to kill Sparkpelt, and realizes that Rootpaw may have been right about her leader.
Shadowsight wonders if telling the Clans was the best after all; Dovewing reassures him that he was trying to do the right thing. His littermate Pouncestep is injured, and that also makes Puddleshine and him wonder if the visions really are from StarClan, since their Clan's bad luck seems to have not stopped. Shadowsight goes to the Moonpool for answers, but when he touches his nose to it, he sees only darkness, and senses another presence near him. He accepts that this means that while the voice that had contacted him knew the Clans, it did not speak the will of StarClan.
Rootpaw heads to the secret meeting, and is joined by his father Tree on the way. Tree tries to convince him to tell the other cats about the ghost-Bramblestar, but Rootpaw is afraid of being seen as weird. Cats from all the Clans are at the meeting, and they try to figure out what they can do about Bramblestar. Tree claims that he saw Bramblestar's ghost. Bristlefrost arrives and explains that she wants to join them. They need more support, and she knows that Squirrelflight now knows that the impostor isn't really Bramblestar, so she suggests Squirrelflight try to convince the other Clan leaders. Squirrelflight agrees, claiming she needs to do a brief exile like Lionblaze had done to "atone" for her codebreaking.
Shadowsight returns to his Clan and told them of what he'd made sense of at the Moonpool, that some unknown spirit was pretending to be StarClan to harm the Clans. At the next Gathering, impostor-Bramblestar again tries to rally the Clans against the codebreakers. Shadowsight explains that he had been mistaken about his visions, and Tree tries to argue with fake-Bramblestar using logic, but too many cats are afraid of StarClan's silence and believe what the impostor is saying - so many that the cats who went to the secret meeting are outnumbered. Fake-Bramblestar insists that Tree atone by trying to convince the other Clan leaders to listen to what he claims is StarClan's will, and the Clans agree. After returning to the ThunderClan camp, Squirrelflight tells Bristlefrost that she was only able to talk to SkyClan about Bramblestar being an impostor. Bramblestar confronts Squirrelflight about where she went to "atone", and then reveals that he sent Bumblestripe to follow her, so he knew that she was lying. He exiles her permanently from the Clan.
Tree and Rootpaw visit ShadowClan. At first, Tigerstar sends them away, thinking that Tree's there to try to convince him like the impostor-Bramblestar had ordered, but they speak to Shadowsight and explain about how someone else is possessing Bramblestar's body, and Rootpaw is able to summon the ghost long enough for Shadowsight to see him. They return to the camp; Squirrelflight is there asking for sanctuary, and Rootpaw summons the ghost again to convince ShadowClan. After her exile, the impostor-Bramblestar makes Berrynose deputy, as he's constantly fawning over his leader and enjoys bossing other cats around. The impostor summons Bristlefrost and asks her to find Squirrelflight and see what she's up to, and Bristlefrost suspects that impostor-Bramblestar knows something about the secret meeting. She goes to tell Rootpaw about that, and claims to impostor-Bramblestar that Squirrelflight's left the territories.
Shadowsight heads to the Moonpool with his mentor Puddleshine, as well as Tree and Rootpaw. On the way, Shadowsight has an ominous feeling, as if something's watching him. They hear a yowl as if some cat's in trouble, and the others rush to look for it, while Shadowsight gathers cobwebs. As he tries to find the others again, some cat attacks him. He does his best to fight off his unknown attacker, and begs StarClan for help as the other cat's claws dig into his throat. The book ends with the ominous sentence: But there was no answer, and darkness closed around him.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- Accidental Misnaming: Bramblestar calls Dewnose "Dewtail" and has to be corrected. It's one sign that it's not really Bramblestar currently in that body.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The reason why Rootpaw resents his father Tree: he's different from everyone else in the Clan, doesn't follow tradition, and has unconventional methods to doing things.
- Cliffhanger: The book ends with Shadowsight being attacked on the way to the Moonpool and falling unconscious, with his fate unknown.
- Dead Guy Junior:
- Violetshine and Tree's daughter, Needlepaw, is named after Violetshine's friend Needletail.
- Shadowsight's medicine cat name is in honor of Spiresight, the healer from the Guardian cats who had visions (including one about Shadowsight himself), who helped their family return to the Clans and gave his life to save Shadowsight's littermate Pouncestep.
- Dead Person Conversation: Bramblestar never returned to his body after losing a life, but Rootpaw is able to speak with his spirit.
- Ensemble Cast: The Broken Code features three main protagonists: Bristlefrost, Rootpaw, and Shadowpaw.
- Grand Theft Me: The imposter takes over Bramblestar's body.
- Hypocrite: The imposter denies food to the elders and appoints a deputy without an apprentice despite supposedly being all about following the warrior code.
- Immediate Sequel: Lost Stars ends with Rootpaw running from Bramblestar's ghost, who calls after him, "Wait! You have to help me! Please!" The Silent Thaw starts at the same moment, repeating Bramblestar's line.
- Killed Offscreen: Antfur. He leaves to go on patrol with some Clanmates, and they bring back his dead body.
- La Résistance: Several cats join in a rebellion against the fake Bramblestar.
- Not a Morning Person: Thriftear, especially after going to a Gathering the night before. She feels like Bristlefrost is showing off by saying how early she got up.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: "Needlepaw had looked at him for a moment longer, then retuned to her shrew."
- Series Continuity Error: In this book, it is said multiple times that Tigerstar is too young to remember the Great Battle against the Dark Forest. In the Omen of the Stars series, he was already an adult, and in fact it was a prominent plot point that he was training with the Dark Forest and that the others didn't know whether to trust him or not.
- Slashed Throat: Happens to Shadowsight, with it left ambiguous if he survives.
- Trust Password: In order to prove to Squirrelflight that he's met Bramblestar's true ghost, Rootpaw tells Squirrelflight something that ghost-Bramblestar told him to, which was from a private conversation between the two:Rootpaw: "After the battle you... You were here with Bramblestar and you were looking at the stars, wondering which one was Leafpool, but it didn't matter because she would always be watching over you."
- Switching P.O.V.: Shadowpaw, Bristlefrost, and Rootpaw.
- Thank Your Prey: This is one of the rules in the warrior code. Bristlefrost suggests that they do it aloud after every catch, and fake-Bramblestar decides to enforce it.
- Tragic Intangibility: Rootpaw is able to make Bramblestar briefly visible to other cats, and when Bramblestar's mate Squirrelflight sees him, she tries to touch her muzzle to his, but she just passes through him.
- Trapped on the Astral Plane: After Bramblestar loses a life, he is unable to return to his body since some unknown being has begun to possess it, leaving his spirit stuck and running desperately around the territories, visible only to Rootpaw.
