Thoughts on the ending

[Starsword]

Agreed. Jakes big plan seemed like the time when he made the most random and arbitrary decisions of the war. Some pieces just didnt connect fully, because he kept a group of six alive for 3 years against an army.  All of a sudden he abandons morals and flushes yeerks. There are alot of ways to make a distraction without sacrificing every pawn you have.

[estrid]

ya i repeat, the ending was too sloppy

[KOFSoldier]

I still stand by that she was just done with the series.

She hadn't really wrote a couple of the books in a while and probably became disenchanted with the series, and was just ready to tie it up.

I'm STILL waiting on an announcement of a movie though...

[UEDfleet]

lol. You might be waiting for a long time unless its something fan-made.

[Aurora]

All of a sudden he abandons morals

Yeah, never happened.

[fiction]

A little butt-in here, but I have to say I absolutely loved the ending.

I feel like those that died did so because they had to- they were all affected permanently by war.  That is, assuming Jake, Marco, and Tobias are dead.  Cassie lived because she could get past everything.  But even Marco, who seemed unaffected, was changed by the war. 

The character development in these books was astonishing- and while the ghostwriters did ruin a bit with their dialogue, I still found the characters beautifully original in each of their books as well. 

Easily the best ending to a series that I've ever read. 

[Starsword]

I really doubt Cassie wasn't affected by the war just as much as anyone else. Tobias was done because Rachel was done. Marco wasn't changed insomuch as to affect his functionality, he was just wiser. I def concede Jake tho, but I think saying they were unrecoverable is a gross generalization.

[Chad32]

I find it impossible to believe that teenagers that have their whole lives ahead of them could be irreparably altered by war. Like saying rachel would never get past it if she lived. She would have had decades and decades to cope and move on. Same with Jake, who was made out like he could only be himself again when another adventure came his way. These are young people we're talking about here.

[estrid]

I find it impossible to believe that teenagers that have their whole lives ahead of them could be irreparably altered by war. Like saying rachel would never get past it if she lived. She would have had decades and decades to cope and move on. Same with Jake, who was made out like he could only be himself again when another adventure came his way. These are young people we're talking about here.

i agree. many soldiers are able to come back from war and continue their lives. staying alive wasnt a hinderence to them,

why do you think there were so many baby boomers after WWII? the soldiers that returned home alive were able to go forth with their lives., so there4 i don't believe a group of teens wouldn't be able to themselves

[fiction]

I find it impossible to believe that teenagers that have their whole lives ahead of them could be irreparably altered by war. Like saying rachel would never get past it if she lived. She would have had decades and decades to cope and move on. Same with Jake, who was made out like he could only be himself again when another adventure came his way. These are young people we're talking about here.

There are very young people that are forever affected by much less.  War changes people- KA clearly made that a theme of the books.  Cassie was able to live on because she found a way to nurture the change from the war.  Marco couldn't- he wasn't living a completely hopeless life, but he was (as he admits) living a tired a life- boring, easy.  For one who complained constantly during the war that he wanted everything to be normal, he sure does accept going back to war without much argument.

Tobias, of course, is gone when Rachel is gone.  I was a little disappointed to not see much of him in the last book, but it would mostly have been him moping around anyway.  

And Jake was gradual- much like Rachel.  

I like how Ax wasn't so much affected by the war, as he was by his exposure to humans.  His need to explain things to his inferiors, his human expressions, and his knowledge of humans.  All great.

If anything, I think the last book was brilliant, but far too short.  The entire series could do with some serious cropping- adding pieces where information is left out, and taking out things that aren't needed.  However, as a whole, I loved it.

Or so, that is how I interpreted everything.  You may disagree =]

[fiction]

I find it impossible to believe that teenagers that have their whole lives ahead of them could be irreparably altered by war. Like saying rachel would never get past it if she lived. She would have had decades and decades to cope and move on. Same with Jake, who was made out like he could only be himself again when another adventure came his way. These are young people we're talking about here.

i agree. many soldiers are able to come back from war and continue their lives. staying alive wasnt a hinderence to them,

why do you think there were so many baby boomers after WWII? the soldiers that returned home alive were able to go forth with their lives., so there4 i don't believe a group of teens wouldn't be able to themselves

And yet the soldiers who saw the worst of it?  I don't remember who says it- it might have been Jake- but he does point out that he has fought in more battles than any soldier in any war.

We have soldiers coming back from Iraq right now with PTSD- that is very real.  And what they are experiencing in Iraq is nothing close to what a three year long war with aliens would be.

[Starsword]

But not everyone is affected by it so drastically. Rachel was made out to be a fiend, which I refuse to accept after the fine character development in the first half of the series. She could be normal again. Marco may be bored, but he's not forever altered to the point where hes not functional. Jake I can't see being entirely functional, because he was the one ultimately deciding who lived and died. Tobias couldn't live with himself before the war and was always mechanical during the war, very I'll do this, and follow this and save them. He would have been better off after the war because at least people respected him. Cassie was just perfect at everything.

[fiction]

But not everyone is affected by it so drastically. Rachel was made out to be a fiend, which I refuse to accept after the fine character development in the first half of the series. She could be normal again. Marco may be bored, but he's not forever altered to the point where hes not functional. Jake I can't see being entirely functional, because he was the one ultimately deciding who lived and died. Tobias couldn't live with himself before the war and was always mechanical during the war, very I'll do this, and follow this and save them. He would have been better off after the war because at least people respected him. Cassie was just perfect at everything.

On the flipside, I would think it to be very easy to be affected so drastically by something as dramatic as an intergalactic war.  Rachel is made out to be a fiend at certain points, and admittedly jumped in and out of character when the ghostwriters were presenting her, but I have absolutely no problem seeing someone like her- vivacious and belligerent as she was from the beginning, transformed into someone more war-driven and ruthless by the end.  I believe it would be more out of frustration than anything else- I think Rachel was so caught up in fighting and winning this war because she had so much to protect (family, friends, humanity), that it changed her. 

So perhaps it isn't the circumstance that changes a person, but rather that person's reaction to the circumstance so that they in turn change themselves.  Reaction out of necessity- the need to adapt to survive.

It is pointed out numerous times that Jake has mentally aged considerably since the beginning of the war.  That is a drastic change, and one very obviously pointed out by the author.  Such a change would be so apparent in his character anyway that I can only assume she points this out so as to invite her readers to examine the changes in others.  That is character development, which KA presents beautifully. 

I think the point the author(s) were trying to across was that Rachel was war-driven, excited by the adventure, and so energetic, that the thought of living a normal life would become boring for her.  Or, the way I favor to look at it, she developed a slight twinge of insanity.  Easily an acceptable fate for her.  I do love that she died, as horrible as it is.  I do also think her death could have been more necessary, but KA killed off characters who would not or could not have progressed further with their lives beyond the war.  I trust her judgement on that- she knows her characters best, as she wrote them.

And I must argue that Cassie was not perfect at everything.  Cassie played the part of the introvert- and she played that part well.  Struggling with the same difficulties someone like her would go through.  There was a lot of mistrust directed at Cassie throughout the entire series, between her decision to help Aftran,  to her pointing out reasons why the Yeerks deserved a better life, up to when she allows Tom to take the morphing cube.  Cassie makes a lot of necessary mistakes (even though the last is arguably not so much a mistake as it is a flash of instinct, but I'll let that one slide) in order to win the war.  She was the one who refused to kill or get involved if she believe the mission was immoral- remaining the most peaceful and thus most unaffected member of the Animorphs.  Her ability to see that level of morality at such a young age makes her more immune to the effects of war than it would for the others.

As for Marco, while a bounce back would be possible for him, as I explained earlier, I would think he would be too bored without the fighting.  When you live with that level of purpose, going back to a "normal life" would be depressing. 

May I point out another popular book where the main characters remained mentally wounded after the war- as I do believe the is why Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandolf set sail to the Undying Lands at the end of LOTR?  And while Frodo and Bilbo could surely have only been affected by the ring, Gandolf travels with them as well, suggesting that it is not only the power of the ring, but as the power and affects of war that sets them apart from the others.

Most of it has to do with stable personalities as well, but I won't get in to all that.  I feel like I've gone on long enough to make my point. =]

[Starsword]

There are lots of people who face what the Animorphs have faced, life and death decisions, leading countries, militaries, fighting social injustice, but they didn't go absolutely crazy when they won.

[fiction]

There are lots of people who face what the Animorphs have faced, life and death decisions, leading countries, militaries, fighting social injustice, but they didn't go absolutely crazy when they won.

Exactly how many teenagers have had to fight the invasion of an entire alien race?  Secretly?  Without support of parents?  And then made decisions that resulted in the death of hundreds, and thousands, of sentient creatures?

Not many.