Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: anijen21 on July 26, 2009, 06:35:37 PM
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Stop me if this has been done before:
I was thinking about the names of the books. I think if you identify the regular series books by their names, you are in the minority. I know I identify the books by number, or, "you know that one where..."
So here is my proposition.
Let's rename the books in the series without adhering to the ridiculous and rigid rules that the publishers did. No "The Invasion," "The Deceased," "The Ridiculous," "The Redundant," whatever. Rename them however you want. For instance, I might rename #2 "The one-shot character that fans unexpectedly loved" or I might rename #3 "The Whiner."
lol idk. What do you think?
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Stop me if this has been done before:
I was thinking about the names of the book. I think if you identify the regular series books by their names, you are in the minority. I know I identify the books by number, or, "you know that one where..."
So here is my proposition.
Let's rename the books in the series without adhering to the ridiculous and rigid rules that the publishers did. No "The Invasion," "The Deceased," "The Ridiculous," "The Redundant," whatever. Rename them however you want. For instance, I might rename #2 "The one-shot character that fans unexpectedly loved" or I might rename #3 "The Whiner."
lol idk. What do you think?
Gr8 idea. ;D , so if Marco makes very bad jokes and hes the narrator, then you could call it, "the lame joker?" ROTFL
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as long as that's the book where his jokes are worst, I don't see why not.
I would name #33 "The misleading book that's actually about torture and near-death"
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1) To Hell and Back
2) The Ensemble Darkhorse
3) Trapped
4) Aqua Girl
5) Luke, I am your Mother!
6) The Body Snatcher
7) A wizard did it.
8) Cinnamon Bunza!!
9) Villain Decay/Grape Juice
10) Pet the dog
11) The bug fighter who's guns could compete with a Bladeship.
12) Burping DNA
13) Not trapped anymore.
14) The same kind of stuff you can find in Ax's meadow, except a lot more of it.
15) She's baaaaack.
16) Cannibalism/Telling little boys they can't trust controllers makes you a horrible person.
17) Oatmeal of doom! It's like the common cold in War of the Worlds.
18) Morphing could send you into Z-space.
19) Cassie says screw the world. fortunately for her, the plot is on her side.
20) The Sixth Column
21) Don't ignore the new guy.
22) Being a rat nothlit is better than death. For whom, we're not sure.
23) Luke, I am your father!
24) Attack of the midget napoleons.
25) I'm dreaming...of a white...Christmas.
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haha you really love tvtropes don't you?
BUT I LOLLED at "the stuff you can find in Ax's meadow, except a lot more of it!"
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ya know, i actually like the name u gave the first book... XD lol
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I'm an official Troper now. Yeah, I like that site. It's easy to get lost if you're not careful, though. Every page links to another page that links to another page, ect.
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I think I am too
if that just involves getting yourself a handle
and yeah ik I went through my binge phase, where I had 20 tabs open at a time and would slowly go through each, opening two or three new ones with each page before I finally, weeks later, started getting linked back to articles I'd already read.
I love that place. And I hate that place. I can't watch a movie or read a book now without going mentally filing every plot device under a trope.
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TV tropes can enrich and ruin your life at the same time. You'll never look at media the same way again.
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26) And I must Scream/guild wars.
27) why couldn't they just cut the middle man, and beach a squid?
28) Ax the couch potato
29) Maybe it's all in your head.
30) She's back 2: The sequel.
31) 4 days away from the pool. Seems like the perfect time to rescue Big Brother. Too bad it never crosses anyone's mind.
32) Split personality.
33) Kick the dog/ Is Tobias morphing Ax, or Ax morphing Tobias? You can't tell!
34) Give the Horkies some of that spotlight.
35) As if Marco didn't already have enough family drama.
36) They're like really big dolphins that EAT sharks. Sea mammal upgrade.
37) Give jake a break.
38) Luke, I am your father 2: The sequel./ship tease for Ax.
39) The twilight zone.
40) heterosexual life partners.
41) Back to the Future.
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How about titles in the style of Cowboy Bebop?
Session 1: Infernal Overture
Session 2: Waltzing Melissa
Session 3: Rhapsody in Blue
Session 4: Oceanic Ode
Session 5: Imperial March
Session 6: Close to You
Session 7: Toccata and Fugue in E Major
Session 8: Tech-Trance Telephone
Session 9: Punk Rock Putrescence
Session 10: Cool Jazz Catastrophe
Session 11: Dark Trance Dreamer
Session 12: Alligator Allegro
Session 13: Free Bird
etc.
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I'm just going to rename the entire series, "The incredibly strange kids who stopped being normal and suddenly fought off an entire alien invasion by themselves"
It has a nice ring to it.
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I like this thread!
Don't forget the cross-gender morphing in #43 and #51!
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42) Photo Op
43) She's baaaaack 2: The Sequel
44) Crickey!
45) Marco show's Jake how it's done.
46) World War III
47) (I forget this one.) Um...Leave it to Beaver
48) He's Baaaaack 3: The trilogy
49) Move when you should wait, and wait when you should move.
50) Cassie's Betrayal (You knew I was going to put that.)
52) Cassie's Excuse (This is where she says she did it on purpose, right?)
53) The convulted plan
54) Tonight Someone Dies! For reals this time!/It started with five. It ends with three.
MM1) Trash Can Hatred
MM2) Welcome to Jurassic Park
MM3) Tonight Someone Dies!
MM4) Rachel and Marco Ship Tease
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Awww, no 51, Chad?
I'll fill it in:
51) Why Haven't we Though About Ducks Before?
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OH YEAH!
I forgot 51 too. But yeah, the duck thing would fit well.
I guess I should probably reread 47 and 51 to refresh my memory. I could remember things about all the others.
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lol wasn't 47 "The random Civil War story that no one cares about"?
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Sure. That sounds better than Leave it to beaver
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Hehehe...TV Tropes is so damn addicting. Just had to get that off my chest ;D
How about renaming the title of the series? Instead of "Animorphs" it could be..."Idiot Kids With A Death Wish Tearing Throats From Aliens With Their Teeth"...yeah, that would've gone over well with the censors... ::)
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I liked the Free Bird one.
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renaming the series
"6 kids against thousands of aliens that can't aim?"
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"Trash Can Hatred" made me crack up so badly. That was always my favourite joke of the series. Thanks!
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renaming the series
"6 kids against thousands of aliens that can't aim?"
That's the truth though...
You'd think that sometime during the books, someone would have the skill to hit a large land mammal running straight towards them, or at the very least, get lucky sometime over the course of three years. They're worse than Stormtroopers (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy)!
I see why for the plot, and I see that they can demorph after the fight. Still, an Animorph that's severely wounded might only be capable of slow movement, or stand still. It can't be long before someone takes repeat shots to the head or vitals. True, they wanted them alive, but still. The controller's aim can't be that bad.
I agree though. It really depressed me to see Visser Three decay. In the beginning, his mere presence threatened death, and they basically ran no matter what. His voice was menacing on its own. Yet, he became an incompetent boob. If we really needed a comic relief villain, make a new one. Have Visser Five randomly appear, and be the lowly subordinate to V3.
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Ummm... the yeerks hit them all the time. What do you think all the demorphing to heal stuff was about?
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Yea but a headshot would have ended it then and there
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It depends on what exactly they hit. Jake was hit in the head when he was in rhino form, I seem to recall. But I acknowledge your point. Still, there's a big difference between 'can't hit the body at all' and 'can't hit the head of a probably fast moving target generally running at you with teeth the size of combat knives'
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even so, there are 1000s of them, with at least 20 per encounter and at least 54 encounters throughout the series, you would assume that one of them could even get lucky. also, if the andalite bandits were so annoying to visser 3, why didnt he just infest sharpshooter or a hunter, wouldnt be too hard
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One of the Auxiliary Animorphs got killed in battle...
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Yes.
ONE.
And I don't know about the rest of you, but starting around book nine or so, Visser Three's <thought speak> voice in my mental narratives started to sound suspiciously like Tim Curry.
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And then he magically goes back to being intelligent and crafty in the Chronicles.
"Oh, but he just evolved over time!"
Yeah, okay.
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Hahaha...Visser Three as Tim Curry...which character? Doctor Frankenfurter? XD
Trash Can Hatred also sounds like a song....it should go to the tune of "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner...x3
Trash...Can...Hatre d! That can's on its side / It's Trash...Can...Hatre d! .... (It just took one car!) / Trash...Can...Hatre d! That can's on its side / It's gonna fly, tonight!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlAe77E3gxY[/youtube]
::)
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And then he magically goes back to being intelligent and crafty in the Chronicles.
"Oh, but he just evolved over time!"
Yeah, okay.
Ghostwriters
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31: The trouble with tom is that he's a bit homicidal.
32: Doublemint comercial gone wrong
33: the insane spoiled brat
34: the exorcism of Cassie who-cant-tell-you-her-last-name
megamorphs 1: Get out on the highway
megamorphs 2: Since when could nuclear explosions send you back in time.
megamorphs 3: Elfangor's secret should have been barried much deeper.
megamorphs 4: Jake screws up...bad.
Visser: The enquirer would love to get ahold of this story.
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Megamorphs 1: Twister 2: Veleek
Megamorphs 2, 3, and 4: Uhmn... Time Travel Sucks For Everyone Involved.
#1: WOOHOO WE HAVE PLOT!!!
#2: ...Until the plot-bunnies start attacking...
#3: ...and then bird-boy screws us all over...
#4: ...which is totally okay, now, because we have an Andalite!
#5: Wow, Marco's life is obviously gonna' be downhill from here, right?
#6: This entire book is just development of the villain collective. Don't worry, nobody has to die; we just wanna' gross you out a little.
#7: Hello, Ellimist!
#8: Hello, Earth-Diary! Oooh, the refreshing beverage known as 'vinegar'....
#9: Ax pu$$ies out, and you can be sure Alloran isn't happy about it. I MEAN SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE, HOW UN-ANDALITE IS THAT?!?!
#10: Yo yo yo, The Chee are in the HOUSE!! WOOP!
#11: So begins the series-long fascination with illogical time-travel.
#12: Where we discover that a James Van Der Beek-esque media icon is evil, along with the rest of the media. Duhhhh.
#13: HEY, GUYS!! THE PLOT CAME BACK!!!
#14: Yeah, this entire book is just one big joke. At least the punchline is okay.
#15: Another reminder of how downhill Marco's life is going, riiight?
#16: Guess what, the internet is evil, too! Duhhhhhh.
#17: Two to three words: Gleet Bio-Filter. Oh, and oatmeal.
#18: Uhmn... is anybody else getting deja vu with the whole Leerans and badly located Andalites thing?
#19: Cassie pulls a stupid and gets rescued by plot bunnies.
#20: Babe the Blue Box
#21: Dawwww, what a pretty dog on the cover ohwaitthere'sastoryhere!!! *readreadreadread*
#22: Three plotfull books in a row? *gasp* Egad! I don't believe it!
#23: D@mmit. Spoke too soon, so now we've got a zoo and a Visser and a Vader and... whoa, did nobody else notice the odd similarities in those names? *total brain derailment*
#24: Honey, tiny aliens shrunk the kids.
#25: Hey, you'd think that one of these days we'd actually put in the effort to acquire survivable morphs BEFORE we find ourselves at death's door, y'know?
#26: The whole effing team gets rescued by plot bunnies, and jeeze, does NOBODY notice how similar this is to LOTR?
#27: K.A. and her ghosties have an odd fascination with underwaterness.
#28: Mooooo.
#29: Because Cassie is such a superb neurologist and surgeon. *eyeroll*
#30: Marco's third shot at fixing his life, and the first conclusive proof that you just can't have a Marco book without some invertebrate on the cover. :P
#31: Some really short-sighted thinking on everybody's part.
#32: When Rachel goes scizo... or at least moreso than usual.
#33: Torture and Taylor, who never quite makes it into the ranks of major villains, unfortunately. It's kinda' sad that, as unrealistically not-often as the team members get captured, the one time that anything comes of it, the capture was ALLOWED.
#34: Cassie Gets Possessed By An Andalite With Species Issues.
#35: Finally Marco has a vertebrate morph on the cover... and it's a pooodle?! Poor schmuck. :P
#36: Okay, I'm not even gonna' go there.
#37: Rachel, maaaan? *shakes head slowly*
#38: Hey! Get the Hell back here! I want s'more Garatrons!
#39: When Buffa-Humans Attack
#40: A whole book of plot-bunnies. And bees. Woop. Oh, wait... bees are invertebrates, too.... :P
I stop there, because I don't know how willing I am to take the last chunk of the series seriously enough to lampoon any parts of it. :P
Then again...
#54: SOMEBODY likes the Stones....
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*rolls around her bed laughing*
+1
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That was really nice, Este. I never noticed how many invertebrates Marco morphs on the covers. The poodle and gorilla are the only ones I can think of. And the polar bear.
I think you can tell I didn't really enjoy the last books of the series. I think I just read them once, and never went back to them, because from around the mid forties onwards, my memory gets a bit fuzzy. Even a bit before that.
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There was also the hammerhead shark, but sharks don't even technically have bones, just cartilage, so I count it among his animals-without-proper-backbones.
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But do they still have vertebrae?
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Sharks have vertebrae. Why did Marco get stuck with 4 arthropod morph covers?
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When Buffa-Humans Attack.
hahahahaha. +1 for that one, Este.
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1. Here's a pretty good weapon against the Yeerks. I have it here on my ship for no apparent reason other than to drive the plot and cause a huge security risk to my people. Or Pay no attention to that time machine under the construction site.
2. Rachel morphs a cat, which is kinda a useless morph, but its okay cause this is kinda a useless book.
3. Very misleading cover art
4. Cassies spends 100 plus pages talking about whales, dolphins, and animal stuff with about 10 devoted to actual plot.
5. Marco's life isn't comedic its ironic.
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#53: Because we couldn't stand to leave the cannibals hanging out to dry, even though in the next book we're gonna' slaughter every young reader's favourite heroine and make her loverbird cry on camera.
Alternative Title: The only '3' book that doesn't have Tobias on the cover.
#52: Ax gets a little pithy. FINALLY.
#51: YAY!!! A VERTEBRATE FOR MARCO!!! Oh, and now we know how to travel long-distance, but instead of using geese, which are acutally a MUCH better and better-camouflaged idea, we choose ducks. Heaven save us from our own idiocy, PLEASE.
#50:The book where we offend every disabled person in history and then eventually redeem ourselves to get them off our back, although later the only morpher to die will be one such person.
(later) I guess not everybody loves Ray[mond].
#49: Plot bunnies and another disabled person. Huh. Kinda' funny how right about now Tobias' family is getting rewired, Marco's is falling apart despite his awareness of how it could be fixed, and Rachel and Jakes' families are just about to be shot to Hell. HOW does Cassie escape this mayhem? SERIOUSLY. Are her parents just complete and unattentive morons, or do the Chee work her family overtime?
#48: Oh, Crayak, you big joker, making us read a totally unnecessary book of plotbunnies... er... rats. Plotrats. Seriously, Rachel, just kill the Visser. Ax already wimped out on us, and now we can't even rely on YOU?
Alternative title:
HONOUR. DOES. NOT. WIN. GENOCIDAL. WARS.
#47: Uhmn... Beavers don't work that fast. :o
#46: There was a rule in here someplace about not morphing sentients, right? Yeah, well... screw that. :)
Alternative Title:
The book that permanently solidified my love for the blue alien boy.
#45: Back to the invertebrates. Oh, phooey.
#44: I have the funny feeling that, if I lived in Australia, this book would rather offend me. Regardless, there is WAY TOO MUCH CASSIEEEEEE.
Alternative title:
Finally something bad happens to Cassie, for once, and she survives it like a pro. Seriously, wtf mate?!
#43: Welcome back, Taylor. One day at tortureland.
#42: The Answer... is Helmacrons? I'm sorry, but K.A.? Dear heart? This is an insult to the number. :P
Alternative title:
Another way aliens can enter your brain without your consent.
#41: Oooh it's time travel again, right? PSYCHE!
Visser: Something interesting, or a last cry to save a dying series? Only time will tell.
Ellimist Chronicles: Well, that was long.
Andalite Chronicles: Well, that was not long enough!
Hork-Bajir Chronicles: Uhmn... I lost count of main characters about when AAAHHHH THERE'S A MONSTER EATING MY LEG!!!
Alternamorphs #1: Hey, kid! Check out how much our lives suck!
Alternamorphs #2: Yeah... you think you're cool... but you're not. You're not one of us. Get out and go home, before we turn you into a rat.
Meet the Stars of Animorphs: Guh... waitaminuteThisIsn'tPlot!
Alternate Title: They don't even look like the cover pics. Blonde Jake? WHAT?!?!
There y'go, folks, because I'm just OCD like that. :)
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2 was not a useless book. It's the book that gives Rachel a solid reason to fight. That being to save families that are broken or torn by the Yeerks. That is her true reason to fight, though it seems they forgot this during the series.
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Character development doesn't further the plot.
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True, I guess. Maybe if book 2 was when they first found out Chapman was an important controller, it would be more plot significant. But the first books are all about giving the characters a sence of purpose byond fighting Yeerks just to fight Yeerks.
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Good point, there. For Jake, it's hey-we're-invaded-let's-fight, oh, and guess what... your brother is one of them. For Rachel, it's that people and family are being hurt. For Cassie, it's that the whole planet would suffer. For Tobias, he's screwed anyway, might as well fight. For Marco, his Mum is a big baddie, and Ax is an Andalite, so fighting is a given for him.
After #6, for Jake it's this-is-what-your-brother-is-STILL-experiencing. #7, it's hey-the-big-puppet-master-is-on-your-side-so-let's-win-already.
...Kinda' sad that it took seven books to solidify the point. :P
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In the Encounter they actually succeed in doing something though. They blow up the truck ship. Six is kinda a mind **** book that doesn't further the overall plot except for the beginning when Jake kills all the yeerks in the hot tub. Then he refuses to do it when given the opportunity again in 21. Then he does do it in 53.
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The books have been renamed a lot of times. Ask any non-english-speaking member ;)
This is the names of my books re-translated
1. The Invasion
2. The Visitor
3. The Action
4. The Shout, The Call or The Cry
5. The Shock
6. The Controller
7. The Ellimist
8. The Alien
9. The Headquarter
10. The Android
11. The Illusion
12. The Panic
13. The Choice
14. The Zone
15. The Sharks
16. The Discovery
MM1. The Andalite's gift
MM4. Crayak's temptation
OK now I'll try to rename some of them...
2. The Friend
5. Back from the dead
9. The Treehugger
10. A new friend, or a new enemy
11. Trapped in time
13. Free or dead
19. The Lucky
26. The Nightmare
Now I have to think...
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I like that MM4 is called Crayak's Temptation in your version. That's a very cool and spooky-type title.
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54: The most misleading book title ever.
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Yeah, The Beginning? Come on! The End is a famous and traditional way of ending a children's book, and the Ani series titles most books with the word The before some other word. The End Is the perfect title for the last book. The Beginning would fit best as the first book, though The Invasion isn't bad either.
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*groan*
Kiddies, if you're peevish about the title of the last book, then you have completely missed the meaning that Applegate is attempting to give to it.
Tell me, when a war is over, do you consider it the end of everything? Does the world end when one soldier dies?
When wars end, everybody else FINALLY has the chance to get on with their lives, begin again, rebuild what was broken, and recover as much as possible of what was lost. Reconstruction. The time after a war is known as a reconstruction. It's a beginning.
She's saying, effectively, that for the past near-sixty books, something in this world has been royally effed up, and now at last it is beginning to be right again, albeit not perfectly right.
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Ooo! This looks fun!
1: Aliens? Are we in Independence Day or something?
2: Great. I get to turn into a rodent to temp a cat to kill me. yay.
3: I'm a bird. I'm a boy. Watch me go crazy.
4: There's some poor creature underneath the sea that is calling to me! I have to rescue the poor thing!
I sorta did 2 3 and 4 out of the perspectives of the narrators. I don't remember many more.
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*groan*
Kiddies, if you're peevish about the title of the last book, then you have completely missed the meaning that Applegate is attempting to give to it.
Tell me, when a war is over, do you consider it the end of everything? Does the world end when one soldier dies?
When wars end, everybody else FINALLY has the chance to get on with their lives, begin again, rebuild what was broken, and recover as much as possible of what was lost. Reconstruction. The time after a war is known as a reconstruction. It's a beginning.
KA didn't have any say in what the books were named - the publishers named them. We usually lucked out with good book titles (personal favorites: The Stranger, The Solution, The Conspiracy, The Illusion, The Revelation). Some of them were kinda lame (The Other? Er...) and this one fell flat.
I think that Scholastic just named it The Beginning to be cheesy and to hint at the cliffhanger ending. But hey, you can make up some elaborate theory behind if you want.
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*groan*
Kiddies, if you're peevish about the title of the last book, then you have completely missed the meaning that Applegate is attempting to give to it.
Tell me, when a war is over, do you consider it the end of everything? Does the world end when one soldier dies?
When wars end, everybody else FINALLY has the chance to get on with their lives, begin again, rebuild what was broken, and recover as much as possible of what was lost. Reconstruction. The time after a war is known as a reconstruction. It's a beginning.
She's saying, effectively, that for the past near-sixty books, something in this world has been royally effed up, and now at last it is beginning to be right again, albeit not perfectly right.
Yeah, but it's still the end of the war. Which is what the series is about. It's just weird to call it The Beginning, when it's the end of the war.
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*sighing yet again*
I don't suppose it occurred to anybody that maybe Applegate was allowed to name a book here and there, or at least to choose the least of many evils? YES, publishers have massive power in this situation, but please don't act like they are the only people with any power. Sure, the author has to fill a contract, but there ARE provisions in any such contract that allow for a measure of license and veto-power for the author(s).
All that being said, I think Chad either has missed everything I said in last post, or he chooses to dismiss it entirely even as he quotes it.
Weird? Okay, maybe some of us think that putting sugar on tomatoes is weird, but my grandfather swears by it. I personally hate the taste of raw tomato, but hey, he's been around some 80 years now. I'm not gonna' say he's a nut.
When a war ends, other things begin. Yo. The title isn't "The Beginning of the war we just spent near-60 books describing, making this whole story a case of in medias res". It's just "The Beginning".
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I think there are a lot of things in that series that flew over my head while I read it.
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What about
31. The blockhead
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I like the shortsighted title for 31. Both Tom's Yeerk and Jake.
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*sighing yet again*
I don't suppose it occurred to anybody that maybe Applegate was allowed to name a book here and there, or at least to choose the least of many evils? YES, publishers have massive power in this situation, but please don't act like they are the only people with any power. Sure, the author has to fill a contract, but there ARE provisions in any such contract that allow for a measure of license and veto-power for the author(s).
You're making a lot of assumptions about KA's contract.
This hero-worship you have of her is rather tiresome. We all love Animorphs and we all owe her a lot for making this awesome series, but she isn't infallible. I think that questioning the author about the integrity of the series is much more loyal to Animorphs than blindly accepting whatever the author does.
KA might've lost interest, but I never did.
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This hero-worship you have of her is rather tiresome.
Escafil, if you have a problem with me, you are most welcome to take it up with me directly in PM. In the meantime, I would sincerely appreciate it if you would think before you post something like that, because it smacks of outright hostility. We are here to discuss the naming of the series, not to take out our personal problems on each other through arguments that don't even acknowledge the text we quote.
Please, with all respect due to a colleague, take a chill pill.
Now, if I'm making assumptions about her contract, then so are you. Neither of us has it in front of us that we can spell out every nuance of meaning in the restrictions placed on author and publisher.
I do not worship her; I do not consider her a hero. She's a writer. Have I stated or even implied anywhere here that she's infallible?
And begging your pardon, but the last story arc didn't seem terribly disinterested to me. She put real work into it, even if there was a serious lapse in focus in the middle of the series.
Last point: loyalty is subjective. There are parts of the world where it is considered an act of loving loyalty for a wife to commit suicide on her husband's funeral pyre. There are other parts of the world where it is considered loyal to live on as a grieving widow.
You be loyal to the Animorphs series in your own way, and let me enjoy my books as I will.
We need to get back on-topic. Yeah, The Conspiracy could have been better named.
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guys, play nice
i personally think the beginning was an amazing title for the last book, however i did like the last book unlike pretty much everybody else
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"And so, they lived happily ever after. The Beginning."
Back on topic. What if they named the first book of the final arc The Countdown?
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That would be cool. :)
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that actually would have been interesting, but i think it makes the last few books lose their effect, i also didnt like that they did the whole "5 books till the end" thing, i think it should have been a surprise that the last book was "the Beginning" like they should have said it in the second last book (whose name is escaping me)
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The Answer, as I recall. I may be wrong in that guess, though.
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I think it would have been better to just have that title be in a book, instead of saying the countdown has begun, and five books until the end. That way it gives you the impression that it will be over soon, but you don't know exactly when that will be.