A forest fire forces Clear Sky and his group to temporarily seek shelter with Gray Wing.

After seeing that Clear Sky is power-hungry and uncaring about the needs of the cats he leads, Thunder returns to Gray Wing's group.

[1] Thunder Rising takes place in several locations inspired by similar locales in the United Kingdom.

Clear Sky's group consists largely of cats who are adept at hunting in the undergrowth and a few who fish and swim.

A writer for Books-A-Million stated that Thunder Rising was a contributor to a strong children's and young adult's book market for fall of 2013.