1. I never took this whole dystopian scenario as legit, because of the experimental nature of the whole thing. It always read more as a 'down the rabbit hole' kind of sequence than a 'this is the future' kind of story.
It was clearly a product drawn from Jake's consciousness/perceptions/fears about his feelings towards the imposing prospects of this war.
And the inconsistencies that slipped, stuff that was said, the morphing that conveniently didn't activate, the way he would go from scene to scene, were correctly spotted by Jake.
...Tobias going nothlit, again, pissed me off.
2. Although he wasn't exactly abducted, Jake was still the subject of some sort of experimentation. Upon pondering, that was always right up the Skrit Na's alley. The story ticks all of the species' motif and style boxes and it's not a stretch to picture them possessing the technology for it.
3. Absolutely! The Anis were a force to be reckoned with on Earth, for sure! The Yeerks had to factor in 'the Andalite Bandits' to their operations on Earth. They had some notable accomplishments, some already stated, but not least of which is surviving somewhat undetected for so long.
4. There is something that needs to be said about what others reflect about you. There's crap that we buy into quite sub-consciously since the day we are born. Messages we read between the lines throughout our existence, that we unwittingly take onboard, despite our better judgement. When you have multiple individuals 'repeating' the same message throughout different stages in your life, despite you not wishing to think so, at one point you will have to consider if there's any weight to what you are not seeing...
Moreover, you can do something with the best of intentions, but how others interpret it will complete the reality a good one or a bad one for you. So I agree with Jake's statement.
5. I certainly didn't envision my life as it is now, ten years ago. All I care about is being more stable, 10 years from now.
6 + 7. I, too, like to think that he chose Cassie over everything else. It is a drama, after all.
I would take into account that nothing is the same and choose the opposite. The love interest of my life was now a hardened voluntary Controller, therefore there could never be the degree of connection, trust and love that I once had. That was gone and I would not condemn Earth and humanity for that
.
7. The world, but not just because that makes sense. You can love a person and love them forever, but if they change, or you change, well, that's not who you're loving anymore. This Cassie was not his Cassie; that's saving someone you want to love, not someone you do.
exactly
8. I'm an advocate of Jake being some of the best humanity has to offer, but he's filled with self-punishment. I understand he uses this as a way to keep on the good path, but it does hinder all his potential. It is evident at this stage in the series that he hasn't let go of the self-whipping.
How can one possibly guess that not making a phone call would tip over so many cards?!?
9. ~10 years ago, for me.
I wouldn't mind seeing some more alien activity and futuristic tech on the re-print. For all the Yeerk's domination that world still felt very much 'Metropolis with aliens species/spacecrafts moving about on it'.
Also, some expansion on the children with the fancy meaningful names would be cool.
10. I thought the
Orff were an interesting insertion. Humanoid species with translucent skin displaying shiny organs, a bright eye and moving on 3 legs, used as police men of the Empire. Could they have been never-before seen hosts of the Empire or something the puppet masters conjured?
A couple of more good concepts on the Yeerk front in this stage piked my interest:
The idea of artificially-engineered hosts for Controllers. Too bad the Yeerks exterminated the Arn for entertainment, huh? Though I suspect we didn't get more elaboration on the concept due to the fact that it would have clashed with the key to the way the war ended on Earth.
Also, the idea of medication for troubled parasites was a good one, too
I didn't mind the way this book ended with them 2 x unknowns (ref. Jake's decision and the mysterious aliens). Somehow the device worked better here than in
The Revenge.