User:Brambleberry of RiverClan/Survivors

Survivors is a series of children's fiction novels published by HarperCollins. It is written by authors Gillian Phillip and Inbali Iserles under the pseudonym Erin Hunter. The series follows the adventures of Lucky, a dog who has survived the apocalyptic "Big Growl". There are various packs full of dogs called Pack Dogs, former pets called Leashed Dogs, and stray dogs called Lone Dogs.

There is currently one book published. The Empty City was published on 21 August 2012 and chronicles the immediate aftermath of the Big Growl. The second book, A Hidden Enemy, was published on 7 May 2013. The third book, Darkness Falls, was published on 3 September 2013. The fourth book, The Broken Path, is set to be published on 11 February 2014.

Survivors has garnered a positive reception from critics for its pacing, characters, and style.

The dogs' mythology
The authors knew ahead of time that spirituality was going to be a large part of the lives of the dogs, and that domestication and wildness would affect their dependence on it, and the characters' varying degrees of belief and dependence on religion would vary throughout the course of the series. The Leashed Dogs do not really believe in the pantheon the same way Lone and Pack Dogs like Lucky do, but as they become more wild they become more spiritual. The dogs have a pantheon of gods for different natural elements, like forests and earth. The series begins with Lucky as a pup being told the story of the "Storm of Dogs", when this pantheon would fight and trap living dogs in the middle; this becomes the "Big Growl" which the story is centered on.

Dog hierarchy
There are multiple different kinds of dogs, with various hierarchal systems. Leashed Dogs are pets, Lone Dogs are stray but live without dependence on other dogs, and Pack Dogs are stray and live dependent on their leader and packmates. After the Big Growl, most of the Leashed Dogs have lost their owners. The main characters are part of the "Leashed Pack", a group of dogs that are all dependent on one another but without a complex social structure; it can be construed that Lucky is their alpha. The Wild Pack has a stricter hierarchy, with the wolfdog as a leader; Alpha, Beta, and Omega are referred to by their titles, while hunters and patrol dogs are given different names to distinguish.

Dog terminology
There was a large group effort put into the terminology that the dogs used, as it was to be vastly different from the terminology that the cats used. As opposed to "twoleg", humans are referred to as "longpaws", and their cars are called "loudcages" instead of "monsters". The dogs refer to cats themselves as "sharpclaws". In addition, there are four types of dogs: a Pack Dog, who is part of a pack; a Leashed Dog, who belongs to a human; a Lone Dog, who is a stray dog living on their own; and a Fierce Dog, which is a dog bred to fight or defend.

The Empty City
The Empty City is the first book in the series and was released 21 August 2012. It begins with the main character, Lucky, hearing a story of an apocalypse from his mother. Years later, the "Big Growl" strikes in the form of an earthquake. He escapes a cage and strikes out on his own, having dreams of the apocalypse, known as the "Storm of Dogs". Lucky and his friend Sweet escape the cages they have been trapped in; Sweet runs away soon after without an explanation. After saving his friend Old Hunter from being electrocuted, he takes a nap with steak. When Lucky wakes up, foxes have surrounded him. He is saved by his sister Bella and a group of former pets who are sure that their owners will come back for them. Lucky decides to join them temporarily and show them how to survive in this new world before going back to being a loner. After Martha, a Newfoundland, saves another dog from drowning because she has webbed paws, Lucky teaches the pack how to divide work based on their abilities. When the bulldog Alfie finds a place that there is food and other dogs just a little farther off, everyone but Lucky follows him. Lucky finds that the others were captured by three Doberman Pinschers. He uses trickery to help the other pack members escape and leads them to safety. He makes them bury any trace of their owners, but the Border Collie Mickey holds tight to his owners' son's baseball glove. Lucky leaves his pack, but wakes up the next morning to hear fighting.

A Hidden Enemy
A Hidden Enemy is the second book in the series and was released on 7 May 2013.

Darkness Falls
Darkness Falls is the third book in the series and was released on 3 September 2013.

Upcoming books
The fourth book in the series, The Broken Path, will be released on 11 February 2014 and will pick up where Darkness Falls left off..

Inspiration and origins
When the Seekers series was being created, it started as a request from HarperCollins to Victoria Holmes, saying that the team should develop another series about a group of animals, but this time not cats. HarperCollins first suggested that they write a book about dogs, but Holmes was reluctant to create stories that would be too close to Warriors, and dogs lived in packs, hunted for food, had a strict hierarchy, and guarded their territories, like the cats. Eventually it was decided that the series would be about bears instead. In another chat two years later, Holmes said that, though she was "happy to focus on cats and bears right now", she would consider doing a series about dogs. Philip said later that "dogs just felt like a natural progression" from cats.

For the Survivors series, there is a different approach taken than with the Warriors series. The whole team creates a detailed story outline and develops the characters together, and then the actual writing gets done by a single author, who is allowed to change something significant about the plot or characters if they feel that a certain character would not act a specific way.

For the first book, The Empty City, readers were encouraged to vote for one of two covers; eventually a YouTube video was posted online of HarperCollins staff members showing their pets the two covers and having each of the pets "choose" between the two.

Themes
Philip has said that a main theme of Survivors is "fitting in", as Lucky is a Lone Dog at heart and feels out of place in his Leashed Pack. Philip says that the theme is especially relevant to many of the young readers, who are trying to find "their own place in the world and at the same time keeping hold of their new identity". Philip has also said that an advantage of writing stories is that "[y]ou can do all the romance and war and friendship and loyalty. You can do all that human stuff through animals." Philip has said that an advantage of writing about dogs is that they "are so much less self-reliant than cats", which she believes will "make for some good stories". Another main theme of the series is the complex canine pack structure that is different, but is also familiar to a human family.

Publication history
Philip says that there are currently six installments of Survivors planned, but afterwards "we'll [the Erin Hunter team] see how it goes, though we hope to be able to do more series — as a team." The first book was published in hardcover and ebook format on 21 August 2012. It was released in paperback form on 7 May 2013, the same day the second book was published in hardcover and ebook.

Critical reception
The Empty City has received a positive response from critics such as Kidsreads.com, Kirkus Reviews (where it got a starred review) , Booklist, and Common Sense Media. The general reception was that The Empty City was a "new and creative twist" to dystopian fiction that was "alive with magic" and "a wild canine spirit"; many reviewers also said that it was a promising start to the series. While A Hidden Enemy received another starred review from Kirkus Reviews for its characters, folklore, and use of problems lacking obvious solutions, Booklist commented on the cliffhanger, saying that all but avid fans would be "jarred by the lack of a satisfying conclusion".

Other media
The Survivors website features Survivors book descriptions, character descriptions, a map of the city, news, and a quiz. In addition, there are three videos: one in which the author of The Empty City, Gillian Philip, introduces herself; one of a book trailer for The Empty City, and one for the cover vote.