1. Much more cunning, though not much less rash than Visser Three. If something critical was missing from this book, it's where their feud began. Applegate gave reasons for this book, but in series I think it serves to give her a defined place. I'd like to have seen much more, since they did this book with plenty of time left (see 10), and I would have thought that's what this book was doing, opening the door for more
2. See 10 for more, but this was a bit too much shrouded in shadow. We finally go above V1, but don't really go anywhere. There judgements were dumb. 40 Vissers at least, most of the forces on Earth, but you NEED these two? That was bad.
3. This I liked, but I like classification. For the Yeerks, it's a good system, if you're not a yeerk it's rather frightening. The events of Animorphs don't really convince me Earth should be class 5, lot of luck and outside influence there, but what V1 says does. Shear numbers that they-or at least she- seem to respect, and that to crop back would take us down to three. That's my thought, but maybe that's just Earth pride.
4. I think she had a really bad spectrum, at least of American life, from her hosts. Human variably is limited but nigh infinite, that she went from druggie Lines, to bright Kim, disposable Altman, and uncommonly resilient Eva, it's impossible to grasp what a take over of earth would be like. And I suppose that is, or should be, and underlying message throughout the books, but it makes for bad learning when you want to take over the world.
5. Again and again, the ability of Yeerks to separate themselves from host seems weak, so it's not too surprising. Only shock is that Edriss was one of them. I don't really consider them hers though. She's a surrogate in the most perverse terms. That she wants to protect them is sweet, very human, but that she thinks she can win her daughter by infestation is either twisted, or a Yeerk manifestation of love. Cannot rule out either.
6. This chills my bones. Maybe it's a line Jake says somewhere, "I don't want to be a part" but I do not like the idea of being part of a whole. What ever I do, I'd like to be pivotal, if something is big enough to be greater than me, than I can't make it better. Sounds like big fish, small pond, but that's not what I'm after either. I don't think being in a group has ever effected my individuality on it's own, I never feel like a part, though I suppose practically I am. I sympathize for the security in it, but in the end it cost too much.
7. A necessary and stupid risk all at once. This is where my sympathy goes out, that Marco has to walk away from his mother, but then, cheers to Eva. Brave woman. That the Visser could put them on call, and then expect them to walk off, was a bit heart-stopping, but they did a good job of keeping things on their terms. Cheers to the Animorphs. Brave kids.
8. Yes. Though I say it's not really her kid, she thinks it is, so she shouldn't, but she values herself above all. In her place, if it was, or I considered it my child, I'd like to say I wouldn't do it. I'm not all that noble, but at that point, her odds seemed so bad either way-it's seems a good sacrifice.
9.
10. Edriss is a fascinating character, but why we get her story here is baffling. While we get probably most of his story in other books, I'd still have preferred a Yeerk focused book to be about Visser Three, because he is our main bad guy. Oh, and because we'll never really see Visser One again. It felt, again, that this book would lead into something more, a new realm of the Aniverse, really get into the lives of the enemy. But nope. Story, then done.
