OH! This book was a read I enjoyed. The biggest moments to me were when Arbron is revealed as forever trapped as a Taxxon; when we put two and two together and discover that Tobias is Elfangor’s son; and (of course) Elfangor's driving scene has become a classic now!
Just a little disappointed on the side that we don’t really see much of what Elfangor actually did to become the feared rival of the Yeerk Empire during the war. Also how the promotion from Visser 32 to Visser 3 occurred. I mean, did Esplin-9466 get the promotion merely for acquiring an Andalite host? Why would Visser 3 act as if he was acquitting with Elfangor in his death, if he already had met him previously as Visser 32.
There’s also a few things I don’t understand because of the whole ‘timeline repair’. The whole memory inconsistencies bothers me. Like HOW Elfangor KNEW Tobias would be there at the Construction Site. HOW he knew and subsequently ACCEPTED The Abomination he had helped create would take his life. Wasn’t it meant to ‘natural’, inspite all the Ellimist meddling.
And do the Animorphs themselves actually learn all the Hirac Delest thing or is it just assumed they do. I remember Elfangor storing all his memories to the computer in his ship via thought, but then the ship is destroyed!!!!!!!
The Escafil Device survives (fluke). NO Hirac Delest, though.
The side characters were great, too. From the Ellimist (yeah, for someone who doesn’t get involved, he sure can’t help himself), to Arbron, to the humans Loren (I actually don’t remember much from her here) and Chapman (Chapman is portrayed as a real scum of the Earth). It left up to our imaginations what happen to the life for all of the above, for they show up later on in the series. I cannot even begin to speculate Arbron’s.
Somewhere along the lines he would have been captured from the Taxxon Hive/Resistance and all his knowledge would have gone to his Yeerk. I don’t think the Yeerks would have then made use of him as an important-Controller, for they treated him like any other Taxxon.
...7) Yes and I don't like it. From seeing him as a father who sacrificed everything to save his kid in one book, basic just being a puppet for the rest of the series, here we see that no only is he as evil as any yeerk, they're whole invasion is HIS DAMN FAULT! Okay, maybe having a kid softened him up, but I'm amazed a guy like that would have settled for a live in the 'burbs. The kid in this book was like a precurser to David. blech, they could have don so much more with him...
Yeah, I agree with this portrayal of the character. It's an odd choice to present him as a (bad) voluntary-Controller that sold out his race, to (good) preserve his daughter, to (bad) a spoiled little Judas brat, to (bad), as you say, a background puppet that only had plot participation to confirm Yeerk involvement.
...5. Here's my theory: The Yeerks were targeting Earth. Since Earth had no resistance at the moment, humanity would be lost. The biggest consequence of this would be that the Yeerks would finally have the numbers they needed and most likely defeat the Andalites and the rest of the universe. (It has been mentioned a few times during the series that sheer numbers can be a compensation for lack of sophisticated technology.) The Ellimist couldn't let that happen, so he interferred...
...7. Chapman changed, and I like to think that it was because he grew up and had a kid, but maybe it was because there were side effects to the memory wipe. After TAC I felt less sorry for him, so I didn't mind it so much when things like buffa-human happened. I think what frustrates me the most about the Chapman situation and much of the events of TAC is that the Animorphs never find out...
...Out of curiousity, do you think the Pemalites and the Chee had anything to do with the Time Matrix? It would explain why the Time Matrix was on Earth in the first place. Also, didn't the Skirt Na find it underneath a pyramid, and the Animorphs always reference Erek helping to build the pyramids...
And you have some interesting theories here,
dolphin4077.
My question is, why did the Time Mattrix exist in the first place?! Since the Ellimist is capable of doing it all without it.
PS: I remember liking the idea of those living asteroids. Wonder whatever happened to them.