1) What do you think about Visser One's decision to redeem herself by discrediting Visser Three? Plausible or a stupid move?
It lives up to the concept that the Vissers are political leaders as well as military heads. Discrediting the other is exactly was politicians and their parties seem to spend half their time trying to do.
2) Marco is known for seeing "the line" from A to B, and consequences be damned. Does this make him ruthless? Is his plan to take out both Visser's ruthless?
3) Do you think that it was a good thing that Jake took the final decision away from Marco? What do you think would have happened if he hadn't?
Taking out both Visser's was very ambitious in Marco's part. Not only that but, the way he did it felt impulsive, too.
Does it make him ruthless? I have to say 'no'.
Jake did well. In taking off the act of 'bumping off his mother', he took off the final component that would have made Marco ruthless. Jake virtually saved Marco's sanity.
4) Why do you think that Visser One is so much quicker to discover the Animorphs "secret" than Visser Three?
Yeah, I think Visser Three deserves more credit for this than we like to give Visser One.
The Abomination was obsessed with Andalites, and upon becoming the leader of the Earth invasion, all he had was a human morph and thousands of human subbordinates. In fact, these very same subbordinates had already shown suspicions early in the series. But Visser 3 in his Andalite host, could not conceive the idea of an Andalite warrior somehow breaking the Law of Seerow's Kindness. He was virtually oblivious to the possibility, inspite of all the signs and facts that were probably given to him.
In comes Visser One, with a human host, and she reads the signs with the human perspective, hears the reports and sees the facts for what they are. Add a little rivalry in the mix, and it's not hard to see how she got to deducing the truth.
...When Visser One figured out they were human by stating something about statistics (i think it was that there were hardly any human casualities as opposed to the high casualties of hork-bajir and taxxon) and Jake was like "let it go! let it go!" I was yellin at the book...
:oOh my GEE, man, SO WAS I!!!
I froze, too, and didn't know what they could have said. But I was, like, give her SOMETHING... silence would only feed her theory!!!
Seriously. There was a simple solution. They could've easily said "well the humans haven't been entirely enslaved yet like the Hork-Bajir and Taxxon. There's still a chance to save them so we won't harm them." I dont knw, something like that....
See, that's a good call. But try thinking of
that on the spot without Ax there to fill in.
But when I think about it now, Visser One was really only trying to screw around and call the 'Andalite bandits' on their little 'play'. She knew there was at least one Andalite in the team, so there's no reason why the hypothetical Andalite Bandits may want the Yeerks to think that there are humans among them. The tactic would indicate intention to confuse the enemy, which would be beneficial to the Andalite's cause.
She could not have possibly guessed the Andalite animal morphing tech could have been transferred to (a.) a human; (b.) a human juvenile; (c.) a human juvenile that happens to be her very own host's son!!!
5) Anything else? Favorite scenes/quotes? Things you didn't like so much?
I always wondered if Marco would have really survived a ram by a mountain goat.
And, at this stage of the series, when the car with the roaches got draconned, you just
knew Jake and Cassie had survived!!
I am trying to figure out HOW the Visser came about being issued the
gashad.
Supposedly, she was hiding on Earth and in disguise in order to get back at Visser Three. But when we next hear from her, after this book, she's standing trial with Visser Three, for treason and what have you...
