The biggest point to be made; this isn't much like the movie. There aren't many fights in it, and it spends more time describing the lives of the Family and everyone around them instead of describing any action.
It does have it's merits though. It is a fantastic description on life of lost souls, wandering teenagers and the like. It shows some complete turns of character, including one young man who comes upon maturity, both real and "manhood" maturity, in the course of one night.
Mixing the slow parts with the action, this book warrants three stars out of five.

Fans of the film will be shocked to learn that the Warriors were originally an all black gang. This is a must read, especially for the lengthy and informative introduction by the author.

This book is fiction but it used to go dwon like this in real life. Once upon a time, in the recent past, gangs would actualy fight and not just shoot and run. The Warriors were a multi racial gang and their leader / shot caller was one bad white dude. After being wrongfully blamed for puting a hit on a heavy weight gang boss, the Warriors are targeted. Far away from their own territory, they have to make it back to the safety of their "Set" or turf when the news of the Warriors deed hits the streets. They have to travel through every, Varrio, Set, Hood, Burro and enemy turf back to their own and it is acton packed. The book starts fast and ends fast with a great ending.

"the old philosopher's stone could convert base metals into gold. now humans, real estate, social relations are converted into electronic signs carried in an electronic plasma. the dream of magical controll has never been exorcised. perhaps, after all, modern capitalism is a great factory for the production of angels."

-read the book once and you'll be enlightened, read it again and you'll scratch your head, read it a third time and you'll nearly be narcistic with growing pathological complications. -this book will, oddly enough, mix elements of sociology, metaphysics, and philosophy. packaged with strong literary concepts it is delivered well.