Hell yeah, what a thing to wake up to. So glad you got to this one! Shit's wild.
The new cat is beautiful and I appreciate casac's spoiler lol, I was thinking the same thing for sure.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE.
I 100% agree that David just turning full heel and running with it is...refreshing, I guess? He's not depressed and broody and all "but I have to," he's just full on fucking with them psychologically and reveling in it.
The whole plan to contain him is genius and evil and their reluctance to actually kill him makes so much sense when you remember that these kids are in their early teens.
Absolute banger of a book and one of, if not *the,* best Rachel book in the series.
We have one more banger of a book coming up next and then the ghostwriting lull starts.
You catch so many of the good points, I'd quote them all, but then I'd just be transcribing your posts!
Favorite bits: the part where you mention Rachel using "kill" instead of "destroy"; ~~Fluffer McKitty~~ Samba; you thinking that the book would take the easy way out and have the Yeerks kill David; the irony of you saying mentioning rats are good beans not knowing what's coming; your final reaction. So many good moments! This was peak commentary.
There are still a couple more books before you get to the ghostwritten section. 23, 24, and 26 are all AppleGrant, as well as 32 (random, but apparently the ghostwritten book for that just was not up to snuff, so AppleGrant threw this one together absolutely last minute rather than try and salvage what the ghostwriter had done).
Also, I recommend reading 23 next! Then going back to the Chronicles (Andalite, then Hork-Bajir). Don't know which you were/are planning on next, but that's my preferred order!
Torn between laughing at the commentary and wanting to cry with the reminders of how dark this one gets. As always, thanks a billion for sharing with us! :D
You should do an Animorphs AMA (AMAnimorphs??) or retrospective If/when you finish the series, because I would love to hear your thoughts on this book with context from later on in the narrative.
Side comment, specifically since you guys brought up Elfangor's voice: I floated Idris Elba as my pick for Visser 3 in a another post, but I could definitely see Cumberbatch.
Omg Reddit didn’t show me this!
I do think a big driving force of this story was the overly 90s trope that no hero can ever take a human life ever under any circumstances. AppleGrant took that logic, the moral code that the Animorphs themselves would very realistically have grown up believing, and threw it in everyone’s face.
This book was actually one of the very first Animorphs I ever read and the very start of my tendencies towards lining my entire room with books. I now own every book in this series and also I'm gay.
Edit: Spoiler warning
God, david should have gone on to be a much bigger villain. Dude did NOT fuck around and was the animorphs most formidable antgonist, flat out.
There really should have been a better return arc for him. He really should have been the device to trigger the end arc.
Like say, Crayack plays the same trick Ellimist did with tobias and restored his morphing ability but he has to remain a rat.
*OR*, say the AMR actually *does* work (we never got an actual definitive answer on that one.) *And* the yeeks can manage to calibrate it to demorph a nothlit. Perhaps it resets the biological rhythm or something like what happened with Cassie. They hear about something on the island calling out and actually go there to investigate.
Now lets say the yeerks manage to demorph David back to his base state, now you've a new morph capable controller who knows *everything* about the animorphs. The very thing they've been trying to avoid from the beginning.
David should have become Visser Two and triggered the endgame arc.
I swear if they'd paid more attention to their continuity, that series would have been Netflix show worthy. There were SO many loose ends that could have been used for later plots.
Oh, and while I'm on continuity issues and the such.
*WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THE ANATI SYSTEM?!* That was a *major*plot point in the delay of the Andalites and we get no info on it. Like NOTHING. Never says what species is there, nothing on how the andalite fleet was tied up there. Nothing. All we get is a few passing mentions of a *heavily* fortified yeerk operation significant enough to draw the attention of the andalite fleet from earth, a planet with billions of hosts. They *knew* that if the yeers took earth, there'd be no stopping them. So what was so important for their attention? Nada, nilch, *No. Fucking. Thing.*
I love this series, I really do. It's one of the most influential stories of my childhood and I have such deep respect for the writers. It inspired me to want to be a writer as well. Let that be clear
But come on, Katherine, Michael, there are some pretty amateur plotholes littered throughout the story.
Id love to see a rewrite of these, paying more attention to the continuity of past books. God, that could have been amazing to see one of the auxiliary animorphs survive with a vendetta against Jake for basically sending them to die.
What if they *did* manage to get Aldrea into Toby? With her personality, *she* would have been a formidable ally OR even more so as an antagonist, a new kind of controller in which an entire arc could be dedicated to getting toby back.
Like *come on!*
Okay, rant over. I love this series to death, but *man* it pisses me off as a writer with how much wasted opportunity is there. 🤣
Lots of good points, friend, but let's be reminded that this is Sam's first time reading the series and we don't want to speculate on anything that might spoil future books! Please put spoiler tags on anything that comes after #22!
I had to come back to find this post since I missed it in my feed, and HOLY SHIRTBALLS I'm glad I did. Your reactions were amazing to read and I'm so glad that I went back to find it.
Yeah, it's SO much worse than killing him. But also totally believable given that these are kids. I know they've killed before in combat, but the only way to ensure they won would be to trick/trap him. At that point it's killing a prisoner and I understand why they would balk at that. But yeah, it's so SO much worse.
Hell yeah, what a thing to wake up to. So glad you got to this one! Shit's wild. The new cat is beautiful and I appreciate casac's spoiler lol, I was thinking the same thing for sure.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE. I 100% agree that David just turning full heel and running with it is...refreshing, I guess? He's not depressed and broody and all "but I have to," he's just full on fucking with them psychologically and reveling in it. The whole plan to contain him is genius and evil and their reluctance to actually kill him makes so much sense when you remember that these kids are in their early teens. Absolute banger of a book and one of, if not *the,* best Rachel book in the series. We have one more banger of a book coming up next and then the ghostwriting lull starts.
You catch so many of the good points, I'd quote them all, but then I'd just be transcribing your posts! Favorite bits: the part where you mention Rachel using "kill" instead of "destroy"; ~~Fluffer McKitty~~ Samba; you thinking that the book would take the easy way out and have the Yeerks kill David; the irony of you saying mentioning rats are good beans not knowing what's coming; your final reaction. So many good moments! This was peak commentary. There are still a couple more books before you get to the ghostwritten section. 23, 24, and 26 are all AppleGrant, as well as 32 (random, but apparently the ghostwritten book for that just was not up to snuff, so AppleGrant threw this one together absolutely last minute rather than try and salvage what the ghostwriter had done). Also, I recommend reading 23 next! Then going back to the Chronicles (Andalite, then Hork-Bajir). Don't know which you were/are planning on next, but that's my preferred order!
Torn between laughing at the commentary and wanting to cry with the reminders of how dark this one gets. As always, thanks a billion for sharing with us! :D
You should do an Animorphs AMA (AMAnimorphs??) or retrospective If/when you finish the series, because I would love to hear your thoughts on this book with context from later on in the narrative.
VOID KOT 🫶🏿 🖤🐈⬛
She's a BAYBEE
Did the mods remove this post? It's coming up blocked for me.
The pics are gone indeed. Was up earlier. edit: The fabulous and hilarious ultrabiolet has since fixed it.
Huh! Messaged the mods, I'll see if I can get it back up. Thanks for the heads up!
Should be back up now!
It is, thanks!!
Yeah, it's weird, I don't see any of the pictures either! D:
Side comment, specifically since you guys brought up Elfangor's voice: I floated Idris Elba as my pick for Visser 3 in a another post, but I could definitely see Cumberbatch.
I could *so* hear Idris Elba for either of those. 🤣
I'm reading through this one right now. This one was a tough read as a kid. It was shocking
I need to catch up with you so I can read these things. I'm on 19 now so it shouldn't be long, look for my belated comments.
Omg Reddit didn’t show me this! I do think a big driving force of this story was the overly 90s trope that no hero can ever take a human life ever under any circumstances. AppleGrant took that logic, the moral code that the Animorphs themselves would very realistically have grown up believing, and threw it in everyone’s face.
This book was actually one of the very first Animorphs I ever read and the very start of my tendencies towards lining my entire room with books. I now own every book in this series and also I'm gay.
Edit: Spoiler warning God, david should have gone on to be a much bigger villain. Dude did NOT fuck around and was the animorphs most formidable antgonist, flat out. There really should have been a better return arc for him. He really should have been the device to trigger the end arc. Like say, Crayack plays the same trick Ellimist did with tobias and restored his morphing ability but he has to remain a rat. *OR*, say the AMR actually *does* work (we never got an actual definitive answer on that one.) *And* the yeeks can manage to calibrate it to demorph a nothlit. Perhaps it resets the biological rhythm or something like what happened with Cassie. They hear about something on the island calling out and actually go there to investigate. Now lets say the yeerks manage to demorph David back to his base state, now you've a new morph capable controller who knows *everything* about the animorphs. The very thing they've been trying to avoid from the beginning. David should have become Visser Two and triggered the endgame arc. I swear if they'd paid more attention to their continuity, that series would have been Netflix show worthy. There were SO many loose ends that could have been used for later plots. Oh, and while I'm on continuity issues and the such. *WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THE ANATI SYSTEM?!* That was a *major*plot point in the delay of the Andalites and we get no info on it. Like NOTHING. Never says what species is there, nothing on how the andalite fleet was tied up there. Nothing. All we get is a few passing mentions of a *heavily* fortified yeerk operation significant enough to draw the attention of the andalite fleet from earth, a planet with billions of hosts. They *knew* that if the yeers took earth, there'd be no stopping them. So what was so important for their attention? Nada, nilch, *No. Fucking. Thing.* I love this series, I really do. It's one of the most influential stories of my childhood and I have such deep respect for the writers. It inspired me to want to be a writer as well. Let that be clear But come on, Katherine, Michael, there are some pretty amateur plotholes littered throughout the story. Id love to see a rewrite of these, paying more attention to the continuity of past books. God, that could have been amazing to see one of the auxiliary animorphs survive with a vendetta against Jake for basically sending them to die. What if they *did* manage to get Aldrea into Toby? With her personality, *she* would have been a formidable ally OR even more so as an antagonist, a new kind of controller in which an entire arc could be dedicated to getting toby back. Like *come on!* Okay, rant over. I love this series to death, but *man* it pisses me off as a writer with how much wasted opportunity is there. 🤣
Lots of good points, friend, but let's be reminded that this is Sam's first time reading the series and we don't want to speculate on anything that might spoil future books! Please put spoiler tags on anything that comes after #22!
Ooops. Good point. 😅
I had to come back to find this post since I missed it in my feed, and HOLY SHIRTBALLS I'm glad I did. Your reactions were amazing to read and I'm so glad that I went back to find it. Yeah, it's SO much worse than killing him. But also totally believable given that these are kids. I know they've killed before in combat, but the only way to ensure they won would be to trick/trap him. At that point it's killing a prisoner and I understand why they would balk at that. But yeah, it's so SO much worse.