Author Topic: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution  (Read 4866 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline RYTX

  • Shadow and Flame
  • Xtreme Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 4877
  • Karma: 140
  • Gender: Male
  • Pretend I said something clever
Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« on: April 14, 2012, 12:31:27 PM »
Synopsis
A mistake has been made. His name is David....
Things have never been this bad. The Animorphs are still desperately trying to keep a group of world leaders out of Yeerk control, and all the while the new Animorph turned traitor David is waging war against them. David has to be stopped. If not, it will be the end the Animorphs. But even if they succeed, Rachel and the others will never be the same....

Questions
   1. Ultimately the Animorphs failed to inform the world leaders of what was happening, but succeed in keeping them free. What did you think of the method they used to achieve this?

   2. Just for fun, which country do you think had the drunken leader Rachel came across?

   3. What do you think of David's plan to assume Saddler's life? Do you think there are any ethical concerns with someone disguising themselves as another person for a life time? Would you be okay with someone else pretending to be you in the event of your death? Would you be okay pretending to be someone else?

   4.  Could David have been successful with his own group of morphing followers? It seems he was prepared to leave the Animorphs and Yeerks behind him: could the Animorphs have just let him go?

   5. What do you think of this quote "I was going to hunt him down and destroy him. No, not destroy. That was a weasel word. It was vague, meaningless. I was going to kill him." Is it significant that this distinction is made when planning what to do with David, considering the series is aimed at a youth audience? Is it significant that it is Rachel who makes this distinction?

   6. Why is it that ultimately Rachel and David had the highest conflict? Why do the tensions he previously had with Marco and Jake subside so greatly once he and Rachel clash?

   7. Rachel often is the one in the group encouraging the route of action. Her friends see her as bold, reckless, and sometimes frightening. What do you think of Rachel in this pivotal book? What do her introspections and dealings David with one-on-one reveal about her? How has she changed since the beginning of the series, and where does that change come from? How do you think she views herself? How does that compare to the way the others see her?

   8. Rachel and Jake have known each other their entire lives, and share family ties in addition to being Animorphs. What do you think of their relation in the group up to and beyond this point? What do you think of the views they have of one another that are expressed in this book? How well do they work with each other to the team's benefit, and what do you think of any conflict between them?

   9. David's fate is to spend the rest of his days as a rat. What do you think of the portrayal of this animal in this book and throughout the series? Do you think Applegate's descriptions of its abilities and attitudes were accurate or exaggerated? What do you envision the experience of being a rat to be like?

   10. Every move, every emotion David had was anticipated and manipulated perfectly to trap him as a rat forever. By Cassie. Thoughts?

   11. Was trapping David as a rat the right call? Do you think they should have killed him? Why or why not? What would have you done in the Animorphs' position?

   12. By not killing him, the Animorphs left him options, however few: What would you do in David's position? Would you endure life in the body of a rat? How?

   13. Approximately when is the last time you read this book? What changes do you expect or would like to see in a re-release?

   14. Anything else?

Answer, ignore and submit your own questions and comments as you please; but remember to vote!

Next week: The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

Something, something, oh crap I pissed everyone off again....

Offline Ember Nickel

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 174
  • Karma: 4
    • Lipogram! Scorecard!
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2012, 01:05:09 PM »
Hahaha, love question 2. Gonna say Japan.

Lots of interesting/possibly foreshadowy parts here.

It opens with a dream. (as per 48?)

But Jake was down. Not that that meant I was the leader. (37?)

Wasn't it true? Wasn't I just the person to call if you needed to kill an Animorph?

 Silently I swooped low across rooftops, swerved around trees, swooshed down the shadowed setbacks between homes <- sooo much alliteration

He'd been tied up and locked in his closet. It took him the rest of the night to get loose. <- you can morph, Marco...

"He can do to you like he did to my parents. And he can get his blue box from you." <- David to Jake

<Charge!>
<I bet he's always wanted to say that.> Marco on Jake

I took one look at him and thought, Okay, I believe in mercy killing. <- Rachel on Saddler (cf 48)

I think you're the only one of us who would be disappointed if all this ended tomorrow. Cassie hates all this, Marco has personal reasons for being in this war, Ax just wants to go home and fight Yeerks with his own people, Tobias . . . who knows what Tobias wants anymore? <- Jake doesn't mention himself.

Offline Alan Fangor

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 59
  • Karma: 8
  • Gender: Male
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2012, 08:12:50 AM »
Just for fun : I think he was the leader of Russia.

I like this book like the entire trilogy. David's fate is horrible, but it was unavoidable. Better than a killing. His behaviour was wicked, ungrateful, foolishly aggressive and dangerous for the Animorphs and, in essence, for all mankind. They couldn't let him go, it would have been too risky.

The portrayal of Rachel in this book is interesting, but it seems a little out of line. A girl who attacks a guy with a fork...mmm...in this case she looks a bit psychopatic. David's psychology is weird, too. A guy so smart and vicious...he's a perfect villain, at the end.

What I don't like about it are the unknowns the book leaves. What about the real Saddler? And David's parents?

I noticed a KASU in this book and a zoological mistake. When Cassie morphs in a sperm whale to save his fellows from David as a killer whale...how did she acquire that shape? [spoiler]Five books later, in #27 The Exposed, Cassie itself declares that there are not sperm whales in captivity, so they cannot acquire one. And the Drode provides without their knowledge. Why? If Cassie already had a sperm whale morph (in any manner she might have acquired it), why do they need another sperm whale to chase a giant squid?[/spoiler]

Besides, Rachel says that the sperm whale is almost powerless against David-orca, also because it has no teeth. That's not true. On the contrary, the sperm whale is the largest toothed animal in the world. And it's definitely stronger than a killer whale, especially a male. In fact, orcas sometimes attack the cubs or even the females, but only if they are in large flocks.

Offline RYTX

  • Shadow and Flame
  • Xtreme Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 4877
  • Karma: 140
  • Gender: Male
  • Pretend I said something clever
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2012, 10:43:47 AM »
check again mate, Cassie uses the Humpback Whale she acquired back in MM1, not a sperm whale
Something, something, oh crap I pissed everyone off again....

Offline Alan Fangor

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 59
  • Karma: 8
  • Gender: Male
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2012, 06:16:27 PM »
check again mate, Cassie uses the Humpback Whale she acquired back in MM1, not a sperm whale

ReallY? Then it is a translation error. In italian book it is clearly stated that Cassie is a sperm whale.
Mmmm. I'm noticing there are too many mistakes in translation. But this is a gross error. As if a whale is equal to another  :o

Offline RYTX

  • Shadow and Flame
  • Xtreme Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 4877
  • Karma: 140
  • Gender: Male
  • Pretend I said something clever
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2013, 02:24:32 PM »
   1. Great plan, job well done. Totally tactless, but effective, and while being able to tell the leaders may have felt more like a win, I still doubt it's practicality, so mission accomplished.

   2. Russia. Don't know why, but this is why I think Russia may have been the controller, because I'd like to think the human HOS would not get drunk before a meeting of world powers.

   3. I found his plan disgusting. It's a horrible, horrible lie, and while under the darkest circumstances I may be willing to lead someone else's life, I'd never want someone to take possession of my life. As foul as the murder attempts to me.

   4. I don't think of David as being able to influence or lead. Left to his own he'd be surrounded by incompetents or traitors. The Animorphs can't risk him out there with the Yeerks, but if not for that I doubt they'd be okay creating a law breaker and letting him carry out his own agendas. Excellent moral fiber those kids.

   5. I always think Jake, as the leader, should have had a personal foe. Him and the Visser, even him and Tom were never mutually personal enemies. However David and Rachel make good opponents. Brazen, ambitious, but not without sense. But why, I don't know. David never seemed upset enough about his parents, or hell bent on getting them back, so I while I'd like to say it was Rachel's shots at them that did it, it doesn't seem enough. Same puzzlement over how he went from: I hate Marco, to I hate Jake, to I hate Rachel. Too quick of a progression imo.

   6. One of the greatest aspects of the trilogy, is Rachel having to face herself publicly, acknowledging that growing darkness, and her affects on others. I like the addict description for her. A little, a little more, and then it just becomes so hard to break the habit of something you come to love, and eventually it changes you. This book for a moment seems to say this is where she'll level off, but either by GW or KA that fails by 27, or at latest 32. 

   7. I really like these two in this book. Rachel's resentment, the way they speak of each other, their reconciliation is all very dramatic. Particularly like Rachel's statement about V3 wanting Jake's head on a stick. They seem to have the most complete views of what the other is capable of better than any of the others. I'll touch on them again in MM3 at least, but they don't strike me as close in a family sense. However, their ambition, their drive makes for a strong unity when they reconcile, and a bit of danger when they don't. It does somewhat surprise that Rachel accepts Jake as leader throughout, but then, it may be due to some of the many parts of her personality never really addressed in the books.

   8. I've seen some brazen as rats, even in the face of danger they aren't all pure panic. They really hit the threshold between small and sizable animals, which is a bad place to be in my eyes, because you're at high risk from both ends of the spectrum, though better positioned to exploit both. And that about sums up most of what I have to say about the rat, every bad has good, every good has bad. Not a magnificent life I'd want to lead, but I could think of many worse things.

   9. Never quite as striking as it should be, but then, Cassie's a very striking person.

   10. No. They did it for their morals, not their security. They should have killed him, but weren't ready to take that step yet. As a kid, I doubt I'd have been willing to make that call either. As an adult I wouldn't look forward to it, but I'd accept that it would be the smartest off a list of ghastly choices.

   11. Yes I would, and here's how. As a rat. 23 hrs a day of sleeping, eating, running for my life. 1 hour of considering the world. Not myself, not my life as a human, but to fall back into the habit of day dreaming for hours on end, things that never were and could never be. Lose the human self, be a rat, and in those fleeting moments where I can, just wonder if.

   12. ....In this book Jake says no one would care if "Saddler's" favorite foods suddenly change or whatever, but I wonder if they would. Saddler's tongue, Saddler's brain, I wonder where it is Saddler's palette is stored.
Something, something, oh crap I pissed everyone off again....

Offline Tim Bruening

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 964
  • Karma: -38
  • Gender: Male
Re: Group Re-read 2.0 #22 The Solution
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2015, 12:51:58 PM »
Did Tom realize that David had taken Saddler's place?  If so, this should prompt him to investigate a possible connection between the "Andalite Bandits" and his own family.  After all, David would not have chosen a cousin of Jake's family to morph if he had no connection with anyone in Jake's family.