Woohoo! I've finally caught up in my personal reread enough to follow Teach's reread! It might sound crazy, but it actually helps to know something about what you're discussing before attempting to discuss it...
And yes, I know I jumped back a couple of books. Sue me. I was excited.
1) Do you think it was a good move to have a "Taylor returns" book? Do you think the issue was handled well? Do you think Tobias' mental state of being post-torture is realistic?
The books between the first Taylor book and this one seem to have been (halfheartedly) trying to set up a Taylor sequel, but truth be told, I would have been just fine without it. It wasn't handled too poorly, in my opinion, but it's not anything I found to be remarkably memorable, which, if you have to bring Taylor back, it really should be. As for Tobias' state of mind... I actually have no personal experience being tortured (surprisingly), so I'm not entirely sure how it affects the mind, but based on Tobias' personality, I'd say they got it about half right. I can totally see him becoming quieter and more withdrawn and a little more depressed after the torture episode, but I'm not sure I see him dwelling on it as much as he does.
2) It is exceedingly rare that an Animorph sits out a mission, but this is one case where Cassie draws the line. What do you think about her decision? Logical or necessary plot point? In character? Out of character? Discuss.
... These kinds of Cassie dilemmas always bug the heck out of me. Cassie decided early on (book 9?) that she was willing to do what she had to to drive the Yeerks off the planet, but it's like she forgot that in later books. Anyway, her sitting out does feel fairly in character... but a little contrived. It feels kinda like half the plot of the books is set up just for her to save the day. At least she sat out for something major and way out of Animorphs norm, rather than just another mission that rubbed her the wrong way.
3) This is the second time we have experienced someone morphing Taxxon, the first time being in The Andalite Chronicles. What do you think about the portrayal of the morph in general?
I totally agree with jen on this one- I felt they were portrayed a lot more believably in The Andalite Chronicles. This portrayal feels so... I dunno... off. I'm not sure it's sufficient to explain behavior of the Taxxons we've seen.
4) Kind of piggy-backing on the previous question, I have always wondered about the level of sentience with Taxxons? Are they truly sentient beings, or is such a status impossible given their ravenous hunger?
In all honesty, I think it would have been really cool to get a bit more background on the Taxxons over the course of the series. We basically have nothing to go by, and we have never met a real Taxxon as a character. I'll believe they're sentient, because that seems to be Yeerk preference (they hated infesting horses), but they seem to be too ADD about their meat to do anything with that intelligence.
5) When Cassie pleads with Jake not to go through with trying to blow up the Yeerk Pool, she makes the argument that Tom might be in the pool, to which he responds that it was a necessary loss. Do you think he really meant that? If he's willing to sacrifice Tom, what does that say about his continued motivations in this war?
Yeah... Jake's a hardened soldier by this point in the series. I'm sure he still wants to save Tom, but in these later books especially, he seems to be losing hope, and I'm sure he realizes that, if it comes down to his having to eliminate Tom, he'll have an easier time of it if he's mentally prepared beforehand.
6) Anything else?
Nah... I didn't hate this book, but it didn't feel particularly necessary on any level.
The more I think about it now, the more I think this idea, the more it seems messed up. Can a living organism really digest innorganics such as concrete?!
Technically, table salt is inorganic, and we digest that just fine. Thought I should point that out.
And I heard a story on television some time ago -- Animal Miracles, I think it was -- where some pig (and I mean that literally, an actual pig) chewed something like concrete into nothing.
I pretty sure there are other examples of animals eating inorganic things like concrete, I cannot think of any right now, but I don't think it's unreasonable to see an alien creature capable of eating through concrete.
Actually, the Taxxons ingesting dirt thing just made me think "earthworm." Earthworms eat the organic material in soil, but frequently ingest dirt and inorganic stuff, which then has to be excreted. That sounds almost exactly like what the Taxxons were doing. The main difference is that I don't think many earthworms have the teeth for chewing through concrete.
