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

[CounterInstinct]

Okay, I think is a very important piece of writing (of course), that needs to be read by everyone. I dunno, I just felt like posting it here. And if possible, Please sticky this.... for future references... 

this is from hirac delest, the animorphs archive:

     Hi, everyone. I remember when the last Animorphs book first came out how there were some people who really hated it. Their negative posts really brought me down, because I loved the last book, and I was compelled to respond to all of the posts.

    Apparently, K.A. felt the same way.

    So, here it is for you, a letter from her to the fans explaining exactly why she ended it the way that she did, a response that will undoubtedly annoy some people. Be warned, the following does contain spoilers, don't read if you haven't read the last book!

    - Jeff Sampson

    -------------------------------------------

    Dear Animorphs Readers:

    Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

    So I thought I'd respond.

    Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

    That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

    Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

    I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

    So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

    If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

    K.A. Applegate

[RYTX]

You tell em K! Sock it to em


Also; ten irony points sense this was posted by the guy with that as his sig

[EscafilDevice]

I don't care, I still think the ending is beneath her.

[morfowt]

why?

[Chad32]

I don't think I have anything to say that I haven't already said.

I could read the first ten, twenty books or so again and again and never see an "ending" like that coming.

It took a more serious note once the ghostwriters took over, but I'm not sure why.

Realistic war endings are seldom fair, and should not be sought after if anyone can help it.

[morfowt]

I could read the first ten, twenty books or so again and again and never see an "ending" like that coming.

well, K.A. usually does that. she always tries to make the story end way different than how the reader at first thought it would. so, naturally, reading just the first 20, you will not be able to guess the ending.

Realistic war endings are seldom fair, and should not be sought after if anyone can help it.

well in animorphs case, I think it would make sense to use unfair endings. I wonder why I think that though.

[EscafilDevice]

why?

Except for the fact that she was disorganized at times, the author created one of my favorite book series of all time. It was a science fiction series that was easy to relate to and was simple and complicated at the same time - I don't think someone has to like science fiction to like Animorphs. The books were written on two different levels - I enjoy them just as much now as I did when I first read them. The characters were diverse, well-developed, realistic, and evoked feelings from the reader. It was funny.

Although I am a lot like Rachel - I'd even say that I'm a shorter version of her - I can see myself in each of the characters. I liked every single book but the last one - there was no book that I couldn't or refused to finish.

I read that book seven years ago when I was ten years old. I haven't re-read it since, but it's burned into my brain. I hated how rushed it felt, how one-dimensional Rachel became, how none of the Animorphs but Marco got the future they deserved, and how she introduced a brand new character in the last few pages of the series. Unbelievable.

[morfowt]

strangely, I do not feel any of that. what I do feel: animorphs was great. the tv show not so muh. and the ending was left open enough for me to imagine what happened after.

so ramming the blade ship was the future marco deserved...

[EscafilDevice]

strangely, I do not feel any of that. what I do feel: animorphs was great. the tv show not so muh. and the ending was left open enough for me to imagine what happened after.

so ramming the blade ship was the future marco deserved...

It was left too open.

Marco had a playboy lifestyle - I figured that would be what he would get. He was lonely and his life was rather shallow, but it wasn't like he was dead, depressed, or dating some random new character. It wasn't exactly good, but it wasn't horrible to the point of me hating it either. The other characters should've gotten the balanced outcome that Marco did - the rest of them were all one-dimensional at the end.

[morfowt]

too open and open enough are the same to me.

[CounterInstinct]

You tell em K! Sock it to em


Also; ten irony points sense this was posted by the guy with that as his sig

I liked the ending, but, I found the part with the One funny... .hehehehe...

It was left too open.

Marco had a playboy lifestyle - I figured that would be what he would get. He was lonely and his life was rather shallow, but it wasn't like he was dead, depressed, or dating some random new character. It wasn't exactly good, but it wasn't horrible to the point of me hating it either. The other characters should've gotten the balanced outcome that Marco did - the rest of them were all one-dimensional at the end.

That is Marco. Marco isn't the time to be depressed. Remember his motto? That life can either be miserable or funny? That's just how the way it is. He is allergic to pity and sadness, that's why he doesn't get too emotional himself.

Except for the fact that she was disorganized at times, the author created one of my favorite book series of all time. It was a science fiction series that was easy to relate to and was simple and complicated at the same time - I don't think someone has to like science fiction to like Animorphs. The books were written on two different levels - I enjoy them just as much now as I did when I first read them. The characters were diverse, well-developed, realistic, and evoked feelings from the reader. It was funny.

Although I am a lot like Rachel - I'd even say that I'm a shorter version of her - I can see myself in each of the characters. I liked every single book but the last one - there was no book that I couldn't or refused to finish.

I read that book seven years ago when I was ten years old. I haven't re-read it since, but it's burned into my brain. I hated how rushed it felt, how one-dimensional Rachel became, how none of the Animorphs but Marco got the future they deserved, and how she introduced a brand new character in the last few pages of the series. Unbelievable.

I understand, the animorphs really did not get what they deserve, but who really gets what they deserve nowadays? Rich people become richer, the poor poorer.

This isn't some video game story. Personally, I admire K.A for going true to the story, instead of making it end happily ever after. It must have been hard for her to make it turn out this way, but if it ended like some fairy tale, I would hate the last book. Thank goodness K.A made it end this way.

I agree with your last statement though, the introducing of a brand new char in the last few pages kinda stinks.... 

[SuperBlue]

I can't believe im bout to say this but....I totally disagree with the creator of the best book series ever written. There are so many different things she could've done to the ending tht would've made it good

1. I personally wouldn't have minded a "wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt". They did tht with HAryr Potter and tht turned out pretty good.

2. I don't mind Rachel dying but WTF is up with Tom's death? if it weren't for Jake's desire to save Tom, then the Animorps probably wouldn't even exist tht was like a big punch in the face for Jake.

3. I never even thought about this book being like a war until the last 5 books. The words war never even came into my mind when I read an animorphs book.

4. I really thought/hoped tht it would end with everybody(Not just Cassie) being happy, Jake and Tom being able to talk about everything tht had happened in the las 3 yrs, Tobias not exactly getting over Rachel but still not going into a deep depression and turn into the bird equilivent of an emo, a showdown between Ax and Visser Three, a big battle in the middle or end of the book, and maybe even have Jake and Cassie together instead of Cassie falling for sum random guy.  after all the Animorphs have been through, don't they desereve to have a good ending not just having all of them killed off by ramming a f[beep]ing Blade Ship.

[morfowt]

I can't believe im bout to say this but....I totally disagree with the creator of the best book series ever written. There are so many different things she could've done to the ending tht would've made it good

1. I personally wouldn't have minded a "wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt". They did tht with HAryr Potter and tht turned out pretty good.

2. I don't mind Rachel dying but WTF is up with Tom's death? if it weren't for Jake's desire to save Tom, then the Animorps probably wouldn't even exist tht was like a big punch in the face for Jake.

3. I never even thought about this book being like a war until the last 5 books. The words war never even came into my mind when I read an animorphs book.

4. I really thought/hoped tht it would end with everybody(Not just Cassie) being happy, Jake and Tom being able to talk about everything tht had happened in the las 3 yrs, Tobias not exactly getting over Rachel but still not going into a deep depression and turn into the bird equilivent of an emo, a showdown between Ax and Visser Three, a big battle in the middle or end of the book, and maybe even have Jake and Cassie together instead of Cassie falling for sum random guy.  after all the Animorphs have been through, don't they desereve to have a good ending not just having all of them killed off by ramming a f[beep]ing Blade Ship.

1. harry potter lost my interest at book 4. apparently not that great a series.

3. really? they mentioned the word war in like every single book. and not just in any random sentence. they said "we're in a war"

[SuperBlue]

I can't believe im bout to say this but....I totally disagree with the creator of the best book series ever written. There are so many different things she could've done to the ending tht would've made it good

1. I personally wouldn't have minded a "wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt". They did tht with HAryr Potter and tht turned out pretty good.

2. I don't mind Rachel dying but WTF is up with Tom's death? if it weren't for Jake's desire to save Tom, then the Animorps probably wouldn't even exist tht was like a big punch in the face for Jake.

3. I never even thought about this book being like a war until the last 5 books. The words war never even came into my mind when I read an animorphs book.

4. I really thought/hoped tht it would end with everybody(Not just Cassie) being happy, Jake and Tom being able to talk about everything tht had happened in the las 3 yrs, Tobias not exactly getting over Rachel but still not going into a deep depression and turn into the bird equilivent of an emo, a showdown between Ax and Visser Three, a big battle in the middle or end of the book, and maybe even have Jake and Cassie together instead of Cassie falling for sum random guy.  after all the Animorphs have been through, don't they desereve to have a good ending not just having all of them killed off by ramming a f[beep]ing Blade Ship.

1. harry potter lost my interest at book 4. apparently not that great a series.

3. really? they mentioned the word war in like every single book. and not just in any random sentence. they said "we're in a war"

I know but it still didn't seem like a war to me, whenever I read the books the first things to pop into my head are superheros, spies, science fiction, but nothing about war just like how avatar is about a war but at the same time the show doesn't really feel like a war

[morfowt]

yeah...avatar is not that realistic...startin g with the fact that they can bend elements.