Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: nK0de on August 06, 2012, 12:48:52 AM
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It would be #19 The Departure for me. I don't really like reading Cassie's books with her lame-ass morals and ethics. She's my least favorite Animorph. But I was practically boiling with anger while reading #19! She make some unspeakably stupid things in that one.
Anyway what about you guys? What is the book that you don't dig? If there's any.
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But I was practically boiling with anger while reading #19! She make some unspeakably stupid things in that one.
Would you care to elaborate? What did you view as stupid and why?
As to your question, my least favorite book is a Cassie book but it's The Unknown. And the main reason I don't like that one is because it drags in parts. I don't mind a false ending to a story, lots of my favorite shows do it. But I just felt like this was one of the books that KA got finished with and then said, "Oh crap, I have another twenty pages to fill but I need to take the kid to Six Flags. Uh... Mike, you drive, I'm going to try to hammer this last chapter out on the way."
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What I hated the most about Cassie on that particular book was she practically becoming a voluntary host for the Yeerk. She took a huge risk. SHe put her closest friends and most importantly the fate of human race in grave danger. All for what? A stupid pact with just one Yeerk! Now that is pretty stupid if you ask me.
Maybe I look at things through the point of view of Rachel when I'm reading any Animorphs book. The ruthless, everything-is-fair-in-war kind of attitude. I'm not tryna sound like a badass but if I was in that situation, I would have killed that Yeerk without taking a millisecond to hesitate. There's no place for peace in a war. Especially when it involves brain-infesting slugs from outer space. :)
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While I agree that Cassie does some stupid stuff, and letting a Yeerk in her head is pretty high on the list, a war that doesn't seek a peaceful resolution is..... Apocalypse? genocide? massacre? something along those lines.
While there are several books I dislike, or contain parts that I strongly dislike, forced to pick one I'd say 37.
Rachel's arrogance and desire for destruction in that book brings me to the verge of physical illness.
Grossest collapse of her character, for 130 pages. Riles me
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31 is it for me. The one where Tom's Yeerk has to be away from the pool, and we find out apparently the Yeerks don't have any contengincy plan for Yeerks needing to travel. What shouldn't be a big deal winds up driving a whole plot because Tom's Yeerk acts like an idiot. Also Jake didn't attempt to rescue him. Granted this isn't handing his brother over on a silver platter, but you have a situation where Tom's Yeerk leaves, and none of his people expect him back alive. So end the Yeerk, fake Tom's death because what Yeerk would be suspicious of an involuntary controller committing suicide, and Jake's main goal in the war is complete.
I don't like Reverand Cassie either, but I'd rather read about BuffaChapman again than 31. I might put 54 as my worst too, but part of the problem with 54 has to do with the final arc in general, so I single out 31 as the plot that just should not have happened.
I agree 37 didn't do Rachel's character justice, but the opinion the authors have with rachel in general doesn't seem to mesh with what I gather from most of her narrated books anyway.
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The Departure is a top ten book to me. Cassie got the short end of the stick as far as books go, but her moral questions pmade the series more interesting.
I couldn't get into the exposed.
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I would not like Animorphs today if it were not for Cassie. I'm serious. If Cassie didn't exist, and book 19 didn't exist, I would hold the entire series in far, far lower regard. I would actually recommend the entire Animorphs series to another person based solely on the strength of book 19.
All the Cassie-hate I read and hear stirs my contrarian spirit. So I'm going to go and pick on a Marco book now. #40, The Other, The One With The Disabled Andalite. Pointless filler, and its depiction of Marco's "sensitive side" doesn't even make sense. The Andalite characters we meet in this book are never heard from or referenced again.
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It would definitely be a far different series without Cassie, even if they still had access to a barn full of animals and such. I wouldn't say she didn't have a place in the group. I don't think I really hate her. she's just my least favorite character. Not like she's the only one with screw ups or good moments.
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I personally really like #19. Yes, she was a slight bit stupid (or very stupid) but overall, the book was great.
I did not like #31. I've read it over at least 3 times, and didn't get to much other than Tom's Yeerk doesn't want to go on vacation because there's no Kandrona. Like, yeah, it is the main idea, but other than that, I got so lost in the book.
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One of the Animorphs doing something stupid doesn't necessarily mean the book is bad. In fact I like #19 The Departure quite a bit. Poparena's guide on this one is very right, I think. I think it may be the best Cassie book.
Ass for book I don't like, 36 The Mutation was pretty weird and bad (aka the Atlantis one). There were other ones too....like 28 , the cow one, the double Rachael one , and maybe even Megamorphs 2.
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Could you link me to that guide? I'd be interested in watching it. I don't think I really disliked 19, especially since it painted Yeerks as not being Always Chaotic Evil, and I like to see shades of gray. Still, aside from convincing Aftran to be a better person, it wasn't one of Cassie's better moments.
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I really like #19... it's probably my favourite Cassie book (though I also really like #29 The Sickness, and whichever the one with Aldrea was.)
My least favourite books... the Helmacron books. Anything with the Helmacrons, full stop. This covers three books, one of them being the Buffahuman book.
Also I seriously dislike #14. Just... stupidity. It was one of my preferred books as a kid, but that just speaks to how immature I was; I preferred clear-cut battles with no real risk where the whole thing comes out to a punch line. (My favourite Star Wars movie at the time was A New Hope, which should give you an idea of how little risk, consequence or seriousness I preferred in my media.)
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@Chad30: Opinionated Animorphs Book Guide - #19 The Departure (1/3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDF0YS1sZiQ#) and continue from there.
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that was interesting to listen to. I think I've watched a few other videos in this series before. I googled to see if he'd done 31, but it didn't show up. I'd like to see his opinion on that. I read a post saying Jake and Marco actually get some good characterization moments in the book, but I just can't get past the main plot.
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that was interesting to listen to. I think I've watched a few other videos in this series before. I googled to see if he'd done 31,
He's up to The Sickness right now. He's also reviewed the TV Series. Just type in Pop Arena's Opinionated Guide and you'll find both threads here in the forums.
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There is a big difference between disliking the book and disliking the characters in the book. Even though I don't like Cassie, I liked 19. I hated Cassie even more in her last book but it was still a good book.
But I think Buffa-human was probably the worst. That or the second Helmacron book. When I read then I'm just like "...why?"
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I only realized the trouble with The Hidden as time went on...I have more problems with it now. The Unexpected was too isolated, and whoever wrote it failed geography. Going to Sydney from the west coast of the US would not land you in the Outback. I don't like 54 either, the ending. I enjoyed The Other, but they should have brought the other Andalites back later.
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What keeps you from getting to Australia from the West Coast? There's a lot more land between the East Coast to Austrailia than the West Coast. Not that it was officially stated they lived in California in the first place at that point.
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I think she meant that syndney is east of the outback, so going to there from CA, you wouldn't pass over the Outback.
course she was getting that from a bag, maybe they connected to it from the Aussie west coast. Unlikey, but anything to explain errors, right?
Just to jump on, while I did like 19, I also hated most the books that never continued on things, 40, YPM, the twin, much, much lots
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The Outback is only part of Australia? I thought it was the whole thing. I guess I don't know enough either.
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I freaking love the Buffahuman idea. The actual book was meh, but the idea was great. And the image of the Bull with the Chapman head freaked me the **** out.
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The idea of an animal morphing a sentient being and gaining sentience itsself is interesting, but the way it was done flies in the face of how we believed the device to work, and it was quite the weird book. It was also the book where Cassie said letting the Yeerks get the box would be the worst thing ever, then not too long afterwards she defends letting the Yeerks get the box.
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I actually really liked the Buffahuman book, because the whole atmosphere of it was "wow we accidentally stumbled on a huge ethical and philosophical conundrum, let's think about this OH WAIT WE ARE BEING CHASED BY YEERKS RIGHT NOW NO TIME FOR THIS JUST KILL IT AND RUN." That's the way real Serious Questions pop up a lot of the time - when you are in the middle of something else and have no time to deal with them, so you just try to get out of the problem and then it just sits in the back of your head.
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Buffahuman was bad bad bad bad. Australia book almost made me quit reading the series. I read the summary and thought "why am I still reading these books? they're so stupid!" and though I kept buying the books, I actually stopped reading them for about 3 or 4 months because I really didn't want to read the Australia book. Of course, joke was on me, because the book immediately after it is one of my favourites, go figure. But yeah, that was definitely the lowest point of the series, and is ironically right before **** gets real.
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I'm pretty sure you can skip the Australia book and not miss a thing. That's probably its biggest saving grace. It likely counts for other bad books.
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Let's face it. We go to war not only to win it, but to achieve justice and peace.
That being said, most countries treat it like a massacre.
Book #19, The Departure, shows another side to Yeerks, proving that they're not all evil. Yes, Cassie wanted to make a pact with a little girl named Karen and her Yeerk, Aftran. Cassie wanted to make peace. But Cassie is just ... being stupid.
For one, she is an Animorph. Sure, in that book she quit the Animorphs, but trapping herself in caterpillar morph was pointless. That little girl named Karen became a Controller so the Yeerks could get closer to her dad, who owned a huge bank. The Sharing needs to get their funds from somewhere, you know.
And by agreeing to become a caterpillar nothlit if Aftran left Karen, she should have been smart enough to know that Karen would just get reinfested. The Yeerks needed Karen to use her daddy's piggy bank. News reports show that both Karen and Cassie are missing - three days later, both of them are well and alive, and what do you know, Karen doesn't go back to the Yeerk Pool. The Yeerks aren't that stupid. She's a little girl, and a re-infestation would not only give away Aftran's knowledge of Yeerks who hate their parasitic lifestyle but EXPOSE THE ANIMORPHS IDENTITIES as well. Thus, Cassie is stupid. Very stupid.
And sure, she has her morals and ethics, but in a war, they don't always work.
In book 50, the Ultimate, she stopped Jake from killing Tom. Honorable of her. I would have been glad had she done that if Tom DID NOT HAVE THE MORPHING CUBE and thus let the Yeerks acquire morphing power. Morphing was the one thing they had against the Yeerks and she delivered the weapon straight to them. The only "bright" side to her action was that Tom survived...only to be killed by Rachel later on Jake's orders.
Sorry for rambling, but as moral and ethical as Cassie is, she's not really cut out for the war.
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I really really hate #36 The Mutation. Several of the characters act out of character. The mutated Atlantis thing was weird and didn't mesh well with the established universe. I couldn't even finish it when I re-read the series about a year ago. I skimmed the last third of the book.
My classic unfavorite book was #14 The Unknown. Whenever I would read through the series as a kid, I would always just skim really quickly through this one. Now though, I just think its kind of stupid. Its just a dumb little adventure. I don't find it offensively bad or anything.
#19 is, BTW, a really great book.
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I'm pretty sure you can skip the Australia book and not miss a thing. That's probably its biggest saving grace. It likely counts for other bad books.
Oh, I know that now. I didn't know it at the time, though.
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that was interesting to listen to. I think I've watched a few other videos in this series before. I googled to see if he'd done 31, but it didn't show up. I'd like to see his opinion on that.
Well, in a world of buffahumans and Atlantis and mind-control beef, I'd hardly rank #31 among the worst of Animorphs, but you're right about the logistics, this opens up a lot of questions about how the Yeerks can function without any type of portable source of Kandrona, especially with them infesting people in high positions that require them to be constantly traveling for business.
Of course, anyone who knows me probably knows my choice for the worst Animorphs book: Megamorphs #2. Between a nuclear explosion happening right off the coast of the Animorphs' home town that has no impact and is completely forgotten, the general stupidity of the Animorphs' actions, the pathetic alien races introduced, Cassie hitting the breaks on narrative to cry over killing a triceratops, and, of course, Tobias committing genocide for no good reason, I think it's safe to say to that Megamorphs #2 is a ****ing mess.
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Well, I guess I can't say 31 is the only complete idiot plot. Trying to erase sentience from people, and explosions that send you back in time rank pretty high on breaking the willing suspension of disbelief.
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IMO the idea put forth in #19 was wonderful. It balanced the series with the moral dilemma of war, and also more clearly shows what we all probably know but sometimes forget - not everyone is the same, or will do/feel the same things, and not everyone is evil even if they are different from you. They're not ALL bad. Everyone has shades of grey. The execution could have been better, though. After all, Karen would be high on the radar as they would want to get to her father. They'd notice if she never went back to the pool... and that's only one reason.
The books with the most idiot plot? #14/Horseland. (maybe #44/Australia as well). Looked like horrible filler material. Thankfully, #15 redeemed it. I loved #15.
No one's mentioned #38 yet?
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I likes #38. Estrid is my favorite Andalite character, and the plot and idea was interesting to me.
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What do you have against 38?
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A lot of people despised book 38, and book 40 as well. Heck, they despised 39 too.
Book 38 -
The introduction of new Andalites! That's a good thing. Maybe the Animorphs will get allies?
Arbat, Alloran's brother. Sounds interesting, maybe he defeats his brother somehow?
And the other idiot captain? Maybe he interferes with Jake's leadership?
and a FEMALE ANDALITE NAMED ESTRID. Ax has a girlfriend! Oh man, these Andalites are probably going to stay on Earth for a while.
^ That was what I thought when I was a kid reading that book.
But as I kept reading, the whole biological warfare and quantum virus plot kept reminding me of the Hork-Bajir chronicles. Ax and Estrid didn't go too far, obviously, and Arbat and the other guy were disappointments.
That being said, most people didn't like #38 because these three Andalites never made an appearance again.
Same thing with book 40. You have Mertil, the allergic Andalite, and his caregiver Gafinilan. And they're also never mentioned after that.
And book 39... Buffahumans? A buffalo and an ant acquiring the power to morph? A buffalo acquiring Chapman and Alloran?
and the ending....a seagull saved the day.
Oh, and for those who haven't read it? It wasn't an Animorph in seagull morph. It was just a random gull.
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Actually, now that I'm beginning to re-read the series, 42 is pretty crap too. The actions by the characters don't make any sense at all.
Why not get Erek to come along with Marco and hold off the stupid dog? Erek's "dad" already held off Rachel in Grizzly mode. He wouldn't have to worry about being seen entering and escaping the apartment either.
Why morph SHARKS, of all animals, in BLOOD? We've seen how crazy sharks are around blood! They go into a feeding frenzy for heaven's sake. See #4 with the whale. Or #15 when Marco cut himself then morphed the shark, and that was a few DROPS of blood. We're talking an ENTIRE blood vessel of blood here.
Damnit, the stupid kid's already seen them, why not just go after him as animals OR humans and just snatch the camera away from him? You can't memory wipe him, the least you can do is take his proof away. Either way, he's seen what he's seen.
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Because blood is liquid, dolphins can't breathe liquid, and trout certainly wouldn't help. What else do they have?
I'm quite certain the authors didn't want to involve side groups any more than they had to. That's why we don't see a whole lot of the Chee, Free Horks, or YPM. There's no in universe reason why they weren't used as often as possible.
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Actually, does anyone get how mini-sharks can survive in blood? I've been really confused over this, since shouldn't the blood cells be at least visible? Maybe even half their size? How are they supposed to breath that?
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Who knows. It's not exactly the most realistically accurate book. willing suspension of disbelief needs to be stretched pretty thin.
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True. If we can have talking whales then sharks breathing in blood shouldn't much more of a stretch. I mean, if we're asking about those kinds of technicalities, how can sharks breath a completely different composition of water on the Leeran homeworld? How did the Anis survive eating whatever food the Arn had on board?
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Actually, does anyone get how mini-sharks can survive in blood? .... How are they supposed to breath that?
Beyond in KASU explanation thread, but my thought is-well first: Maro's blood cells would be comparitively larger, big as the shark lets say, so I don't think they'd be stripping oxygen from the cell.
What may have to happen is they get it from the plasma-which is remarkable akin to sea water, and as a similar oxygen solubility (see 1&2).
My thought on the whole shink ray is not that they resize atoms, rather they alter the space between them (3), I would figure reducing the EM fields or something: everything is closer, making the being small, but allowing them to still interact with external matter (this must be true in a sense, or tiny Anis could not use normal air, period)
How this could happen without destroying the atomic bonds in an organism, I don't know, but that's my base theory.
Need to learn to summon particle physicists
references (think they are right, but can't swear their validity)
1 http://www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/html/u10/u1003_01.htm (http://www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/html/u10/u1003_01.htm)
2 http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/oxygen-solubility-water-d_841.html (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/oxygen-solubility-water-d_841.html)
3 [spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kypne21A0R4[/spoiler]
how can sharks breath a completely different composition of water on the Leeran homeworld?
Since Aniverse seems to use Earth as a life template (e.g. DNA is DNA), it's fair to guess water is water, that water has dissolved oxygen in it-concentrations are open to speculation- but it's capable of sustaining other organic lifeforms: issue won't be breathing so much as salt balance-but that again could be comparable to Earth Marine (likely is give commonalities of life in the series) and even if not, it's feasible a shark could survive for some time in a different ionic environment. Though probably less than happy.
How did the Anis survive eating whatever food the Arn had on board?
Race of master biologists, I'm sure they could cook up some rations that would keep a generalist alive.