Group Re-read 2.0 #23 The Pretender

[Terenia]

Yup, this is belated and Rob is gonna kill me. >_> Sorry guys.  Life happened.

Synopsis
Tobias is about to uncover the secrets of his past....
Someone is looking for Tobias. Supposedly a long-lost cousin who wants to take him in. Give him a home. The Animorphs are suspicious-this could all be a Yeerk trap. But there's something else. A last statement from a father Tobias never knew he had. It seems like Tobias has two options: a chance for a real family, or a new reason to stay in the fight....

Questions
   1. What do you think of the problem Tobias is having with hunting in this book? Why now? What do you think of the rabbit he morphs? Are his visualizations of the rabbits live a match to the experience of it in the morph? Do you think these are realistic depictions of the life of this prey creature?

   2. What are your thoughts on the contents of the message Elfangor leaves for his son, as well as the Ellimist enabling him to leave such a note?

   3. What about Tobias's reaction to this fact?

   4. Knowing what we do about the Visser's and Elfangor's pasts, what do you think of Visser Three's interest in Elfangor and his son at this point? In a rare acknowledgement of any humans, the Visser says Elfangor's son should be a worthy foe. How is the story affected by the fact that he is, and that the truth is concealed from the Visser for so long?

   5. What would have happened had Aria's identity not been revealed, or had she been genuine? Would Tobias finally have resumed a human life? What would you have done if confronted by a mysterious family member who wanted to change your life?

   6. The entirety of the war spans but 3 years, and the time between her birth and place here is a fraction of that time, yet Toby has already shown to be sharp, insightful, and a leader amongst her people. What did you think about Toby, and her rapid, seemingly independent advances? How does she compare to the only other seer we encounter, her Great-grandfather Dak, who did not truly come into his own until receiving Aldrea's mentoring?

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

   8. Anything else?

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

Next week: #24 The Suspicion

[Ember Nickel]

Riven <- nice allusion.

She's beautiful in that way you know will last her whole life. She'll be a beautiful woman. <- :/

Hard to imagine humans welcoming seven-foot-tall goblins into the local Boy Scout troop when they couldn't even manage to tolerate some gay kid. <- first mention of homosexuality?

[RYTX]

   1. If I'm reading the dedication page right, this is the first GW book, and that's why he's having these problems . A pointless and not thought out attempt to explore the conflict of the compassionate killer. I used to have rabbits. They vary, but by the time the last one was grown, the cats were afraid of him-well ours were, not the one that killed him. Anyway, bunnies can put up a fight, and that's something that was missing heavily in the POVs. The actual rabbit though put that off quite well.

   2. Again I can't help but think if his dying words were ever found.  It was fairly nice, responsible as you could be in the situation, by both Elfangor and the Ellimist. What really hits me is "I cannot say that I love you, my son, because I do not know you. But know that I wanted to love you." It fits very well with my sensibilities of what relations should be, however, love never seems to follow that concept.

   3. My familial thoughts are near an all time low at the present, so I'm a bit cynical about what it meant to him. Beyond my personal hangups, I'm still a bit cynical, but more curious as to where he goes from here. It doesn't seem to renew his fighting spirit, it does that weird thing in 33, but all and all it felt like should have been more influential on his character. I'm personally glad it wasn't, but it felt like it should have been.

   4. It's an epic *** up by V3. Knowing in 4 books that they have criminal controllers, all the more inexcusable. If nothing else, what would be more insulting to the memory of Elfangor than taking his "shameful" son and enslaving him. Shame. Again, I felt this should have been played  up more, and in this case I wish it had. Even Ax's vendetta seems to fall off, and that the Visser doesn't have a personal enemy on the good guy side anymore, it takes away from his evil.

   5. I really don't see Tobias's case changing, he'd check her out and then leave her: same with his mother after the war. Family's not really my thing, I certainly wouldn't have changed things for her, and would be unlikely to if I came across any long lost relations in real life.

   6. Really, no one else was bothered by this? I find it incredible that she already has tactical insights on par with the Animorphs, legitimate soldiers at this point. In my mind she blows Dak out of the water, but how doesn't make sense if all she has is the colony to learn off. Very impressive, though yet another Animorphs Unexplained Mystery to me.