K.A's response to the final book criticsm.

[Early]

So Rachel died.  It made total sense to me.  KA had that plot point outgunned, surrounded and low on resources.  Rachel had to die?  Okay, she died doing something vital to the mission and when it comes to one-(wo)man berzerker attacks on an entire blade ship, she's your Rambo.

That's not what I didn't like about the ending at all.  It's just... Is it possible for the person who imagined the characters to write them... out of character?  Everything after Visser Three's trial seemed ghost-written. 

I was expecting the Drode to pop up like:  "Jake no longer has leadership ability, Cassie sympathizes with none of her former teammates, Marco is cashing in on everyone's misery and... where the heck is Ax- well at least one thing is the same.  Yes, Animorphs, beg Crayak to give you your spines back, just say please..."

And I know it's childish to say this: Endings are supposed to end the story.  "The End."  Otherwise it implies that she intends to continue the story.  There is more.  She is the storyteller.  Ok, so what happens next?  OH we're supposed to imagine what happens next?  That's okay.  I can do that.

But really... You're gonna tell us what happens next right?  Oh, go read Remnants.

[Aleron]

My problem wasn't with the downturn aftermath.  It was with the cliffhanger, but I'll leave it at that.

[KOFSoldier]

So Rachel died.  It made total sense to me.  KA had that plot point outgunned, surrounded and low on resources.  Rachel had to die?  Okay, she died doing something vital to the mission and when it comes to one-(wo)man berzerker attacks on an entire blade ship, she's your Rambo.

That's not what I didn't like about the ending at all.  It's just... Is it possible for the person who imagined the characters to write them... out of character?  Everything after Visser Three's trial seemed ghost-written. 

I was expecting the Drode to pop up like:  "Jake no longer has leadership ability, Cassie sympathizes with none of her former teammates, Marco is cashing in on everyone's misery and... where the heck is Ax- well at least one thing is the same.  Yes, Animorphs, beg Crayak to give you your spines back, just say please..."

And I know it's childish to say this: Endings are supposed to end the story.  "The End."  Otherwise it implies that she intends to continue the story.  There is more.  She is the storyteller.  Ok, so what happens next?  OH we're supposed to imagine what happens next?  That's okay.  I can do that.

But really... You're gonna tell us what happens next right?  Oh, go read Remnants.

Exactly!

The cliffhanger left a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like it's not finished, and since it was the last book, that makes the series feel unfinished. At this point, was "The One" really necessary if you were ready to be done with it forever?

[Hylian Dan]

and a super cosmic being ensures there's always a way out for them.

Unless an opposing super cosmic being who is about to lose everything else (in the context of this conflict) claims one of the Ellimist's heroes as a conciliatory prize. Crayak had tried this move before in MM3, making a deal that would result in a despised Animorph's death, but the Ellimist squirmed out of the corner and made sure there was a way out for Jake. Now, the stakes are much higher. The war is about to be decided, so the terms of the game have shifted. And Crayak says, "Okay, I'll concede the war, but I'm holding on to Rachel. She doesn't escape." This time Crayak makes sure there's no way out for the Ellimist.

At this point, was "The One" really necessary if you were ready to be done with it forever?

The One appeared right at the end to emphasize one of the major messages of the story: Your freedom and identity matter. Individuals matter. That's why K.A. made it such a big deal for the Animorphs to not morph sentient beings. That's why every book starts with "My name is..." That's why the Animorphs described the experience of morphing ants as being so horrifying, because ants have no identities. That's why the villains are known by numbers instead of names. That's why Jake always forced Ax and everyone else to vote on group decisions. That's why it was a big deal for the Animorphs to erase Visser Four's host in MM3. That's probably why we never learn the name of the Yeerk who steals Tom and becomes the primary villain at the end. That's why voluntary Controllers were described in book 1 as scum. That's why Rachel's last question was "Did I make a difference? Did my life matter?"

The whole series the Animorphs were fighting a force that was erasing people's individuality and identity, making them part of something greater, controlling their brains. That's why Marco describes The One as representing every evil, every corruption, and as causing people's brains to shut down. The One absorbs individuals, erases any control or significance they have, and makes them part of a greater being. The One itself has no name, it is simply The One.

Ending the series with the Animorphs encountering The One, who tells them to surrender their selves, and deciding to "Ram the Blade ship" reminds readers at the end of the story what the story was about. It's also completely badass, and the Animorphs (and Rachel in particular) had always been totally badass.

[Chad32]

I never really believed that all voluntaries were scum, or that morphing sentients was wrong. I never really understood why ants would be so horrifying.

But I can see that's a message KA wanted to push. I still hated the cliffhanger, though.

[Hylian Dan]

I never really believed that all voluntaries were scum, or that morphing sentients was wrong. I never really understood why ants would be so horrifying.

But I can see that's a message KA wanted to push. I still hated the cliffhanger, though.

Fair enough. But that's the reason the series ended that way. There was a purpose to it, it wasn't lazy writing. As to how well-executed it was, your mileage may vary.

[Aleron]

Gotta love the borg.

Unless an opposing super cosmic being who is about to lose everything else (in the context of this conflict) claims one of the Ellimist's heroes as a conciliatory prize. Crayak had tried this move before in MM3, making a deal that would result in a despised Animorph's death, but the Ellimist squirmed out of the corner and made sure there was a way out for Jake. Now, the stakes are much higher. The war is about to be decided, so the terms of the game have shifted. And Crayak says, "Okay, I'll concede the war, but I'm holding on to Rachel. She doesn't escape." This time Crayak makes sure there's no way out for the Ellimist.

The One appeared right at the end to emphasize one of the major messages of the story: Your freedom and identity matter. Individuals matter. That's why K.A. made it such a big deal for the Animorphs to not morph sentient beings. That's why every book starts with "My name is..." That's why the Animorphs described the experience of morphing ants as being so horrifying, because ants have no identities. That's why the villains are known by numbers instead of names. That's why Jake always forced Ax and everyone else to vote on group decisions. That's why it was a big deal for the Animorphs to erase Visser Four's host in MM3. That's probably why we never learn the name of the Yeerk who steals Tom and becomes the primary villain at the end. That's why voluntary Controllers were described in book 1 as scum. That's why Rachel's last question was "Did I make a difference? Did my life matter?"

The whole series the Animorphs were fighting a force that was erasing people's individuality and identity, making them part of something greater, controlling their brains. That's why Marco describes The One as representing every evil, every corruption, and as causing people's brains to shut down. The One absorbs individuals, erases any control or significance they have, and makes them part of a greater being. The One itself has no name, it is simply The One.

Ending the series with the Animorphs encountering The One, who tells them to surrender their selves, and deciding to "Ram the Blade ship" reminds readers at the end of the story what the story was about. It's also completely badass, and the Animorphs (and Rachel in particular) had always been totally badass.

Your well-thought makes 54 sound great.  Makes me think you've given more thought to 54 than she did.  Still have the aftertaste, tho. 

I note, just because something is well-thought out in theory and makes perfect sense in your mind doesn't mean it works out in practice.  I'm sure Sam Raimi will defend Spiderman 3 until the day he dies, but you don't see everybody going "well at least he stuck to his guns when everybody said sandman was a bad idea".  Then again, you also don't see him jabbing an evil finger at the fans for wanting escapism in their young adult book series.

EDIT: God, I'm bitter.  Sorry guys, I try to hide it when I can.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

It wasn't even really a cliffhanger.  We all know there's like a 99.999999999% chance they all suffocated and died.  Which is a pretty fitting ending, too, for those three.  Jake and Tobias especially, but even Marco's said to be bored out of his brain with the Hollywood life.  Cassie's basically the only one with anything to live for, and that's how it ended.  So what?  Makes perfect sense.

[Aleron]

Half of life is finding something or someone to live for.  And tho I can't remember the last few books, doesn't Jake still have parents?  Marco still have his dad?  That's more than enough to live for.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

That's not what I meant.  Jake found purpose in doing what no one else could do.  Jake's basically the archetype of the most capable human in existence, regarding the inter-species conflict.  He was the only one with any experience in it, and he felt empty without doing his part post-war.

Tobias was in it for Ax, so there was no way he was going to stay back.

Marco decided to go along because he's not a total deadbeat.

The Animorphs came in fighting, they had their respite after the war, and realized this new thing with Ax was what they needed to be doing, where they needed to be.

There's really nowhere else to take the characters, after all that progression. 

[Hylian Dan]

I'd argue that there's a very strong chance the characters lived after 54, or that K.A. intended for them to live. There are enough variables in the Animorphs universe (The Ellimist, Elfangor surviving ramming the Blade ship, all the previous stunts that should have killed the Animorphs) that the Animorphs don't need to be dead.

As further evidence, during summer 2007 K.A. told fans at Livejournal that she'd be willing to write books 55-60 if Scholastic offered her the contract. If she's open to the idea of writing more, I'd have to imagine she intended for her characters to live. (I'll try to dig up the exact quote and source soon, but I don't have the time tonight.)

[Liz]

http://community.livejournal.com/animorphs/333855.html

We'd love to do book #55. Or #55 through #60, even. But that's not our
decision to make. The publisher would have to make that call.

[rossabo]

It wasn't even really a cliffhanger.  We all know there's like a 99.999999999% chance they all suffocated and died.  Which is a pretty fitting ending, too, for those three.  Jake and Tobias especially, but even Marco's said to be bored out of his brain with the Hollywood life.  Cassie's basically the only one with anything to live for, and that's how it ended.  So what?  Makes perfect sense.

But then what? Would the One just keep absorbing all life? Who would combat The One? Would Cassie have any part in it? Would she just keep living her life as normal if all of her best friends just died?

I just think that ending with a cliffhanger, and an entirely new, unexplained being and situation is absurd. It just pains me that it seems like KA doesn't understand this. But on the contrary, even if she did realize how much she screwed her fans over by leaving us with a cliffhanger, there isn't much she can do about it. She can't write any additional story to resolve the situation due to legal complications, and blatantly admitting to ending the series poorly would damage her reputation as a writer. That's why I feel guilty about feeling upset towards her, especially since she probably had good intentions about it all, and even took the time to respond to us fans, even if it was intended to criticize us on our criticism. At least she listened to us.

[Starsword]

Rachel dieing was unrealistic in the context of the series, where all the main characters always live, and a super cosmic being ensures there's always a way out for them.

Going out on a limb here to help out one/two of my fav childhood authors.
Being that the Ellimist was a gamer, and knowing how miniscule things could help overall and see the broad picture like no other, one could make a case for the fact that he picked people that had the exact qualities to keep them alive. Rachel was serendipity, and thus could not be accounted for initially when the Ellimist preset the battlefield.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

Did The One really sound like an entity that needed to be defeated in-canon, or just a cool device to end the series with that whole concept of "going out just like they came in?"  Think about it.

Crayak and Ellimist didn't need the Animorphs anymore, Crayak had taken his trophy, Ellimist had won his battle.  The war between them continues, but Jake/Marco/Cassie/Tobias don't seem to any longer be a part of it.  The One assimilates the Ax-Man, and Jake takes his crew down fighting.  At the very least stopping the Blade Ship's rampage, maybe destroying/hurting The One, we don't know.

But it's pretty clear it's just a way to end the books.  The One doesn't need any more characterization, he's just a crazy zero-space nth-dimensional wacko like Ellimist/Crayak who likes to eat people.