Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Group Re-Reads => Animorphs Forum Classic => Past Re-Reads => Topic started by: Terenia on June 21, 2009, 07:13:32 PM
-
Summary
Tobias, the other Animorphs, and Ax already have a few problems: saving the world, keeping their identities secret, finishing their homework. Now they have one more thing to add to the list. The Yeerks have discovered a way to cause a person to demorph. And with this new device Visser Three plans on capturing "the Andalite bandits." Now what? The Animorphs and Ax realize they have to get rid of the device -- or be captured by the Yeerks. And the risk of getting caught is very high. That's when Tobias comes up with the only possible plan. Someone has to acquire Ax...
Questions
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
2. What do you think about the Animorphs plan to find, disprove and destroy the AMR? What does this plan say about the development of the characters throughout the series thus far (especially Tobias and Jake)?
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions? What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
6. Anything else?
Next week: #34 The Prophecy
-
There was a poster on the wall that mentioned hawks having a low lifespan. That must have really bothered Rachel, and she felt it was for his own good. She wanted to play like it was an accident, which is pretty deceitful. Bad marks for her.
I don't think they are really winning at any point until the final battle. They hurt the Yeerks sometimes, but it takes big stuff like blowing up the pool for geurilla warfare to work. I might be wrong, though.
I don't really quite understand why Taylor and the Yeerk start confusing themselves for one person. Or why she's compared to Rachel. The tail blade thing was a bit weird too.
-
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
I thought he was being paranoid tbh. Poor Rachel just wanted a nice, normal date with her boyfriend who spent the whole night freaking out about how much time he had left in morph. I was kind of on her side during this.
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
I think it's honest. I mean, the Animorphs have dealt their fair share of successful blows against the Yeerks, but they're just six kids without ships, weapons, or resources. In all honesty, they're a fun distraction against the Yeerks, with Pool Ships and Blade Ships and enough resources to try stupid frivolous villain-plans like sentient sharks and free-will poison or w/e. And besides, it keeps that hopeless flavor of the tone which I really ate up.
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
I love a well-written psycho, but Taylor just seemed implausible to me. She's 2nd in command in what I think is still considered one of the most important planets on the Yeerk's menu, and she can't even distinguish herself from her host anymore? I thought this was a really interesting Yeerk-dilemma, but why doesn't it happen to anyone else? I mean V3 is a psycho, and maybe that's the only reason he keeps her around, I guess insanity loves company, but if the Yeerk Empire were efficiently run at all, I mean, all this multiple-personality fusion or w/e you want to call it would cast some serious doubt on her as a leader.
And her speaking in thought-speech right at the climax of the book totally threw me out of the narrative.
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions? What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
ngl, affectively, it worked wonders. Elfangor-character development is just my favorite in the entire series, and I was so glad we got to see a little more, and even MORE glad that Tobias got to see a little bit of it. I think the first time I read this book, when I was like 13 or w/e, I was still too turned off by the torture (and Tobias "fouling" himself...for some reason that phrase stuck with me throughout the entire book) to really let this part work, but THIS TIME I LOVED IT. I might have even shed a little tear :')
PLOT-WISE...IT DOESN'T REALLY WORK AT ALL. Ax explains the narrative Andalite voodoo-magic (lol) later and says that it's some Andalite birthright passed down from the Father's DNA to the son's. TOBIAS HAS NO ANDALITE DNA, besides Ax's because he acquired the morph, yeah yeah yeah, but in that case, shouldn't Ax's father have visited him instead of Elfangor?
But it's one of those things, I guess, push hard enough to find a pulse, but don't push hard enough to stop circulation. If that makes any sense. My suspension of disbelief has really come a lot closer to earth, the older I get.
6. Anything else?
At least there weren't any Helmacrons
-
Well, the Sub-Visser was already in a powerful position before she became Taylor's Yeerk. She was slated to get Taylor's mother, but was too enraptured by her current host to switch. That was when the line began to get fuzzy, I suppose. Still, most of her little multiple-personality temper-tantrums seem to occur out of view of important Yeerks. She acts spoiled and temperamental around Chapman, but not deranged. And she has a healthy dose of fear when speaking with Visser Three. I think that the line has been growing fuzzy in her head, but not so much in her exterior life. Not until the torture session, when she is angry and desperate.
-
What do you think would happen if she had actually noticed when Tobias said he'd talk? How much might he have said by the time Rachel and the others got there?
-
He had already said too much. The only option would have been for Rachel and the others to go through with killing her. If the Hork-Bajir standing guard had heard as well....they might well have been done for.
-
Well, the Sub-Visser was already in a powerful position before she became Taylor's Yeerk. She was slated to get Taylor's mother, but was too enraptured by her current host to switch. That was when the line began to get fuzzy, I suppose. Still, most of her little multiple-personality temper-tantrums seem to occur out of view of important Yeerks. She acts spoiled and temperamental around Chapman, but not deranged. And she has a healthy dose of fear when speaking with Visser Three. I think that the line has been growing fuzzy in her head, but not so much in her exterior life. Not until the torture session, when she is angry and desperate.
yeah, you're right. I guess I just didn't buy that such a high-ranking Yeerk would buy into a human's concerns that I found so trite and boring. But I guess we are just the *bestest little most captivating species* in all the galaxy, right?
/cynicism
-
Of course we are! We have the best homeworld - even the Ellimist says so! You can't mess with that!
And its easy to get sucked into trite things when you live with it every day, I suppose. Not really behavior suiting to her rank, but easily hidden.
-
6. the summary on the back is seriously misleading... why does it say "someone has to accquire ax"? I mean, yeah tobias DOES have to, but the main plan was tobias has to be the one, not someone has to accquire ax. accquiring ax is just part of the plan, if you get what i mean...
-
Yeah. Not even a big part. I mean, seriously he spends like....five pages in Andalite morph?
-
I find this book really hard to re-read because the scenes with Taylor are kinda disturbing.
Is it me or should the after-effects of the torture been dealt with better in future books? I don't think it was brought up enough myself.
-
I think it's mentioned in passing that he gets more withdrawn, sarcastic, and philisophical. Or something.
-
I think Taylor's problem might be because she's voluntary. My theory is that since she's voluntary, they collaborate with each other, their personalities meshed.
-
Yeah. Not even a big part. I mean, seriously he spends like....five pages in Andalite morph?
tbh I think that's what threw me off the most. Right when this book came out, I was stoked, from the "DON'T MISS" teaser chapter in #32 to the summary and w/e. I was so excited about this book, that we were going to *finally* find out what the deep differences were between humans and Andalites, that we were going to see Andalite instinct and personality and w/e, and I thought it was going to be 150 pages of frolicking around the woods and practice tail-fighting and learning solemn rituals and taking blood oaths and stuff, and then there was like, crazy ass torture and Tobias snapping and almost dying...
this book was definitely not what I expected
-
Yeah, it was rather misleading. I would have enjoyed some Tobias/Ax bonding and learning about Andalites more than Tobias getting tortured by some crazy Yeerk.
Also, until this book came out I thought Iniss was second in command. You know, Chapman's Yeerk.
-
I did enjoy the Tobias/Ax scene. Very moving :-[
-
This is quite possibly my favourite book in the series. Granted, I'm the type of person who loves to see my favourite characters suffer, and, well... I got a nice big dose of that. What can I say? I have a sadistic streak, I guess...
So, yeah, absolutely loved this book, and have re-read it SO many times by now...
Also, Tobias and Rachel's kiss at the end of this one was way more romantic than the one in MM#3. But then again, that's not very hard to pull off. (Really didn't like their kiss in MM#3... It wasn't even in either of their POVs!)
Also, this book was the start of the number 33 meaning "my favourite character will suffer". In nearly every fandom I've been in, my favourite character has either suffered or died in either book 33, chapter 33, episode 33, etc. It's a bit creepy, actually.
-
I actually don't remember Tobias and rachel ever kissing. Maybe it wasn't played up as much as Jake and Cassie. Or maybe I just forgot.
-
I actually don't remember Tobias and rachel ever kissing. Maybe it wasn't played up as much as Jake and Cassie. Or maybe I just forgot.
or maybe both. tobias and rachel kiss at the very end (and I mean THE VERY END) of the book, right before they go flying. It wasn't made that big of a deal (at least not as much as cassie/jake in #26). they kissed, then flying. nothing big.
-
It wasn't a big deal, but I think that's what I liked about it. It was just cute.
-
lol it was literally "and then she kissed me" wasn't it?
-
why are the romances such a small deal in Animorphs? What's wrong with a little romance in children's fiction? Fairy tales have them all the time.
-
it's not always such a small deal. jake/cassie was VERY important in #26, and the last book made quite a deal with both couples...
-
lol it was literally "and then she kissed me" wasn't it?
Pretty much yeah. lol. But, I liked the timing of it. 'Cause their whole conversation, I was going "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!", and then Rachel was all "Hey, there are some great thermals", and I thought "Awww, man!", but then they kissed right after that. So it was like "Hope... hope... hope... disappointment-- Oh, yay!"
Or maybe I'm just weird.
-
I like tobias, which is why I really was annoyed with this book. I wasn't all that big on the torture, and the reaction espcielly that damn tail-blade memory thing, really sets me off.
Half the book such seems to be an invisible cheer section shouting at tobias "Your life sucks, your life sucks" which I had gathered before that. I didn't need 100+ pages showing heres how it sucked. We'd like to point out some here, and a good spot right there and etc etc. And we cap it off with ghost dad. It agitates me.
But this
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
You know, I read that and it reminds me of Austin Powers, the way that Dr. Evils group made a billion dollar business. It shows that the Animorphs haven't stopped everything the Yeerks do, but it also shows some insight on the Yeerks part, an understanding of society, and the sense not to wage everything on the battlefeild
-
Summary
Tobias, the other Animorphs, and Ax already have a few problems: saving the world, keeping their identities secret, finishing their homework. Now they have one more thing to add to the list. The Yeerks have discovered a way to cause a person to demorph. And with this new device Visser Three plans on capturing "the Andalite bandits." Now what? The Animorphs and Ax realize they have to get rid of the device -- or be captured by the Yeerks. And the risk of getting caught is very high. That's when Tobias comes up with the only possible plan. Someone has to acquire Ax...
Questions
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
2. What do you think about the Animorphs plan to find, disprove and destroy the AMR? What does this plan say about the development of the characters throughout the series thus far (especially Tobias and Jake)?
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions? What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
6. Anything else?
Next week: #34 The Prophecy
Haven't been here for a long time (and wasn't around that much when I was here) but as 33 is one of my fave books I thought I'd reply to this one :) So here are my answers to the questions.
1) I'm not sure whether Rachel tried to keep Tobias at the dance too long or not. It seems very OOC for our favourite Xena to try and prevent Tobias continuing to participate in the war for selfish reasons. On the other hand, I believe she mentions something to him about the hawk lifespan- I can understand how something like that could be frightening, and also how frustrating it must be to never be able to spend more than two hours (or an hour and a half, really, once you take into account morphing and demorphing) with your boyfriend in human form.. it means they can't really go to the cinema or a gig or a restaurant or do any normal things that your average couple do- at least not without a lot of stress and pressure. But I can't see Rachel letting these feelings get in the way of the war, and in the way of what Tobias wants. It doesn't seem like her to try and trick him into getting trapped as a human.
2. It's a pretty clever plan, and of course very brave of Tobias. It's one of the many moments in the series when you see Jake fighting with on one hand what's right for a successful mission, and on the other trying to keep his friends safe. It def. bothers Jake that it's only Tobias he can put in the firing line, so to speak. Jake's not one of the leaders who plans in safety behind the lines, he's always fighting with the Animorphs, and I think he feels guilty when, of necessity, he is in less danger than one of them on a mission.
3. Obviously the large community centre means the sharing is going fairly well and the Yeerks have plenty of money. But this doesn't mean the Anis are being unsuccessful. If the Anis weren't there, you'd see a much bigger community centre!!
4. I love Taylor's character: although strictly in the sense of a great read, obv. not as a good moral example or the kind of person I would want to make friends with! It's clear that Yeerk and host have meshed together so much that it's hard to tell them apart, and it's clearly an unusual host-Yeerk dynamic. We don't see anything this extreme in the rest of the series. Edriss-Allison comes closest, in terms of the Yeerk being very much affected by the human's life and human's emotions, but they're still clear on which of them is which!!
There's a bit in 33, I don't have the book on me so can't remember the exact quote, where Tobias suggests that if Taylor fails, V3 might feed her to the Taxxons like he did the scientists who tested the AMR, she responds: "He won't, he needs me, I'm his expert on humans", or words to that effect. Tobias then points out that there are lots of Human-Controllers, and Taylor responds: "Not like me: I'm a voluntary" etc. Of course, there is nothing particularly special about this either: there are lots of voluntary human hosts too. The reason Taylor is unique is that there's such a close attachment between Yeerk and host. It's interesting to speculate what could have prompted this: perhaps because Taylor is pretty insecure to start with, and also she may not have had many close 'friendships' before- we see that all her friends are more admirers. Perhaps having another person (if you can call a Yeerk that) knowing absolutely everything about you including all your weaknesses and being with them 24/7 is so intense an experience for Taylor in particular that she ends up getting confused. As for SV 51s side, we've seen that humans can be particularly problematic in terms of the host-Yeerk dynamic for Yeerks: as Visser One said, "They were impossible to dismiss as sub-Yeerk, once you knew them". Perhaps the intensity of being in a human host, esp. a voluntary, helped lead to the "I- we- she" thing we see in 33? You could endlessly speculate on the reasons for them getting so closely interlinked, but that's all I'll say here, as this is an essay already!
5. The idea of directly manipulating the centres of the brain that control pain, pleasure etc. seems very much IC for Yeerks- they must know their way around brains very well, lol. Tobias' torture sessions were truly horrible- KAA certainly didn't shy away from including very adult things in books intended for an 8-12 audience, although I guess the fact that it was just direct pain/pleasure made it more abstract than more primitive rack/thumbscrew methods would have been. It was particularly evil when Taylor operates both the pain and pleasure circles at the same time... that really would drive you mad...
I think the thing with Elfangor is probably Tobias' way of coping with the torture: he did very well not to reveal anything, and I think this helped him. Also, as we haven't had a Tobias book since he found out Elfangor was his father in 23, I guess this was KA's way of nodding her head to that- along with Tobias acquiring Ax.
On a final note: 33 is one of my favourite Animorph books- Taylor is the main reason, although I also like the interaction between Tobias and Ax when T. tries out his Andalite morph, and Ax going crazy with food (think it was chocolate fondue and candyfloss?) at the community centre opening... that's always good fun :P
-
I remember when Cassie was in fly morph, and she landed on Jake's head. Visser Three wanted to swat her, and Jake grabbed his arm with a look that said "No way in Hell!"
-
Yeah, I remember that too, lol. And then Jake had to explain it away...
-
Hehe. "I don't scare easy," is what I believe he said. XD
-
Questions
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
I reckon it was unintentional. As much as part of Rachel could wish for Tobias to be properly human again, she is no longer naïve enough at this stage of the series to jeopardize the war.
2. What do you think about the Animorphs plan to find, disprove and destroy the AMR? What does this plan say about the development of the characters throughout the series thus far (especially Tobias and Jake)?
The AMR was a technology to risky to let it be perfected. It had to be stopped. Period.
The Animorphs’ plan was sound. No more risky than the previous ones.
But I think, in this book in particular, we get multiple sense of; Jake’s leadership (from the moment he and Erek related the AMR news, he had already formulated a plan); Ax and Tobias’ bond (sharing Ax’s Andalite DNA and rituals) (that training scene in which they get tangled up really works!), Rachel’s protective caring (from the moment of the party
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
Giving the Anis all the credit they deserve, I think the opening of this somewhat extravagant Yeerk front was quite realistic for this stage of the series. The Animorphs have done so much and not succumbed to evil ways in the process, but the Yeerks are by no means stopped.
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
Obviously an extreme example of Yeerk-human-bonding.
Taylor willingly sold her humanity for a superficial value. Most people get remorse with time to pay for that. She got a Yeerk sub-Visser in her head. Truly sad.
The Yeerks fixed her up (artificial arm that can be used as a weapon and metallic cranium?!?!?!?! WTH???!!!). But she would have limited life control there on out.
...I love a well-written psycho, but Taylor just seemed implausible to me. She's 2nd in command in what I think is still considered one of the most important planets on the Yeerk's menu, and she can't even distinguish herself from her host anymore? I thought this was a really interesting Yeerk-dilemma, but why doesn't it happen to anyone else? I mean V3 is a psycho, and maybe that's the only reason he keeps her around, I guess insanity loves company, but if the Yeerk Empire were efficiently run at all, I mean, all this multiple-personality fusion or w/e you want to call it would cast some serious doubt on her as a leader...
Imagine what that says about their race! It's safe to say that a majority of the Yeerks are downright ruthless and evil, yes. But the Taylor-Controller was simply put plain crazy. HOW can a messed up Yeerk reach the Sub-visser rank?! Even important-high-ranking Controllers such as Chapman feared her?!?!?!?!
...Is it me or should the after-effects of the torture been dealt with better in future books? I don't think it was brought up enough myself.
I agree with this, too.
It kind of grinds me how Tobias made comparisons between Rachel and Taylor. AGAIN, the writer was trying to evoke that sense of Rachel being this psychopath, emphasizing physical resemblances to Tobias’ torturer.
This is a bad move, in my opinion. One thing is to paint the ‘Rachel’ character as a warrior-who-enjoys-the-fight, it’s a whole other meaning if you compare her to a sick-twisted-psychopath. Didn’t like it at all.
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions?
Quite possibly one of the most traumatic sequences in the whole series for me.
I am not big on torture either, but I this made the whole war concept thing in the series more realistic for me. Fact is these things happen in war, and if a war story didn't have an individual who underwent that kind of ordeal, it just wouldn't be realistic to me.
Having said that, it was pretty true to Animorphs philosophy. KA used the alien technology (the cube chamber activated by the blue, red and black buttons) instead of what we expected in terms of metallic sharp or stretching devices, those would have been a lot more visually unsuitable to the series.
I liked the concept of the boy hiding behind the hawk, in order to deal with the situation of pain. It’s very much what Tobias has been doing all throughout the series.
The rescue battle at the end was SUCH a breathtaking relief.
Memmorable quote is Marco saying <Sorry man, but there’s a time for delicacy and this isn’t it!>. Simply GOLD!
...What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
The ‘dream’ referential to Elfangor, was a good uplifting tone to the story. Tobias was broken, beyond pain, it was comforting to have his father figure give him that message in strength at the end.
6. Anything else?
I, too, think not enough was explored about giving us a human perspective on morphing an Andalite. But the 'optimism' nature in the untamed Andalite was an interesting revelation.
I try to imagine what kind of speeches Visser Three would make. I always pictured him as a Hitler-type-tyrant, impossible to see him doing the whole let’s-be-a-part-of-something-bigger-Sharing speech. Nevertheless, he seemed to be an important celebrity at this Community center event.
I liked the playground-entrance idea. It was ingenius. It’s a lot more feasible for all the kid-Controllers to disappear in a playground than, say, a car wash.
How exactly Tobias got encased in that box from the entrance itself? I recall that scene being a bit fragmented to me.
I remember when Cassie was in fly morph, and she landed on Jake's head. Visser Three wanted to swat her, and Jake grabbed his arm with a look that said "No way in Hell!"
Dude, in this scene I was like, WTH?!?!?! It was pushing it a bit far having Jake exchange valiant looks with the Visser, while grabbing his wrist in front of family, Tom and everyone alike. What was that scene about?! SURELY this was a dead give away to the Yeerk inside Tom’s head…
-
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
I think she did indeed, which surprises me. You would think she'd be pleased to have him by her side in a fight, then again she's looking for normalcy, being able to say she has a boyfriend who is human twenty four seven and not at all a hawk would qualify as that.
Also if Tobias' human morph wasn't aging the age difference might have been starting to catch up to them ;)
2. What do you think about the Animorphs plan to find, disprove and destroy the AMR? What does this plan say about the development of the characters throughout the series thus far (especially Tobias and Jake)?
A necessary plan I guess, I can't imagine a better way to foil the plan but it seems like an unnecessary risk, and the odds of it not paying off were major, the odds of losing Tobias were major, it sucks to be both Jake and Tobias in this, neither had an easy decision.
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
We're led to believe that they're very successful but I don't understand how. I mean the Sharing clearly has funding, it's clearly still recruiting voluntary hosts and taking in involuntary hosts, it gets media attention and so on, rankly if the front organization isn't suffering at all the war can't be won, as long as the enemy continues to get a steady flow of reinforcements the Animorphs can be outlasted since they themselves didn't get reinforcements for the majority of the series whereas the Sharing was constantly pulling in new hosts.
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
It was very interesting to see a Yeerk who was so in love with their host's world that they would shut themselves off in it, even around other Yeerks. It kind of reminds me of Visser actually and Visser One gradually falling for being a human. I like Taylor to a degree because she's the second best kind of villain, a cruel evil psycho villain who actually looks sweet and pleasant.
But where Visser One had to hide her human obsession Taylor kind of flaunts it . . .
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions? What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
I have relatively mixed feelings about the torture session, I mean it helps you hate the Yeerks, or at least Taylor, and it's interesting that Tobias didn't just stand there saying "thank you sir, may I have another?" like pretty much every other hero who gets tortured, still not really a great scene to reread.
-
1. In the opening chapters of this book Rachel and Tobias are at a dance and Tobias almost passes the two hour threshold, getting stuck as a human. He wonders later if Rachel intentionally tried to keep him at the dance longer than necessary. What do you think?
It's possible but unlikely. Even if so, I don't think it would be due to selfishness. She's naturally worried about him. Overall, though, I'd hope that she could wait until after the war to try to enjoy a "normal" life (#54 notwithstanding, I don't think she expected to die at the end)
2. What do you think about the Animorphs plan to find, disprove and destroy the AMR? What does this plan say about the development of the characters throughout the series thus far (especially Tobias and Jake)?
They are growing to understand war. At first they might have hoped to get through the war without any real sacrifices. However, I think they are starting to realize that, in war, one life is meaningless compared to the many lives that could be saved by defeating the enemy. Even though Jake knows Tobias could die in this mission, he is somewhat comfortable with sending him off. I also liked Tobias "getting in touch" with his Andalite heritage, through his training with Ax and the Elfangor vision at the end.
3. The Yeerks are opening a massive community center, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool, playground and Yeerk Pool entrance. The center itself is huge. What do you think that this says about the success that the Animorphs have had so far in their fight against the Yeerks? In the large scale picture, how successful do you think the Ani's have been overall?
They've had numerous small victories, but the empire still stands, stronger than ever. I think, for five kids and an alien waging war against a galactic power, that's the most they could have hoped for by this time.
4. Taylor/Sub-Visser is obviously a rather demented character (and one of my personal favorites!). What do you think about her portrayal, her history and her inability to distinguish clearly between Yeerk and host?
She's an interesting villain, that's for sure. I think Taylor illustrates one of the more disturbing facts about this war: on some levels, Yeerks and humans are not so different. Taylor the human had the same general mindset as the sub-visser in her head - she enjoyed the power she held in her school's student body and was truly distraught when she lost that power. They are so alike that they easily bond with each other.
5. What do you think about Tobias' torture sessions? What about the image of Elfangor at the end?
I liked the torture, myself. I liked the fact that the torture was in fact effective but that the sub-visser was too deranged to even notice - quite a twist. The vision of Elfangor was reassuring, as even though Tobias might have no traditional "family" he carries his Andalite heritage.
It kind of grinds me how Tobias made comparisons between Rachel and Taylor. AGAIN, the writer was trying to evoke that sense of Rachel being this psychopath, emphasizing physical resemblances to Tobias’ torturer.
This is a bad move, in my opinion. One thing is to paint the ‘Rachel’ character as a warrior-who-enjoys-the-fight, it’s a whole other meaning if you compare her to a sick-twisted-psychopath. Didn’t like it at all.
If I recall correctly the comparison was only skin-deep. Something like "She's pretty, Rachel's pretty, but aside from that they aren't alike at all."
Edit: One other thing I noticed. In this book, human-Controllers are referred to with their human names. Taylor refers to herself and Chapman as such and later, when Visser Three calls in the scientists, he refers to them with their human names as well. I suppose Taylor's doing it is justified, but it seemed out of character for the Visser.