Group Re-Read: #47 The Resistance

[Terenia]

Summary
The Animorphs and Ax have to make the most important decision they've ever had to make: Do they continue to fight the Yeerks in secret, or is it time to let everyone know there is a resistance? That the Animorphs exist. And that Earth does stand a small chance against the invasion.

Jake knows that either choice is a major one. Not one that some kid should be responsible for. But he's getting tired of the pressure. So, even though he realizes that other Animorphs need him to be strong, he doesn't feel that way. In fact, he feels just the opposite. And Jake knows if he starts to lose it the Animorphs are done...

Questions

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?

7) Anything else?


Next time: The Ellimist Chronicles

[Gafrash]

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

When would it have been long enough?! It's hard to say.
The Hork-Bajir are sentient but not very smart, but I think it plausible with Toby's guidance they could have avoided an incedent like this for this long.

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

VERY GOOOD POINT! I actually hadn't thought of that when I first read it.
There is the odd chance that this is a brand new Hork-Bajir who didn't quite have all the information for the Yeerks to connect the dots. Kinda like in #23:The Pretender where the Hork-Bajir juvenile, Bek, somehow gets captured. The Anis didn't really know her, I don't think. So even if she was infested, the Hork-Bajir's rationale may not have been enough to give the Anis' secrets away.
And I can see Toby, the seer, having a contingency plan for this. She was intelligent enough to this a scenario like the one in this story happening and could have taken measures to cover the Anis in the case of infestation.
But this is speculation on my part.

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

I thought it made interesting comparisons, but it didn't exactly hint us readers to anything, really. I just think at the end there could have been something suggestive that if the two stories are happen similarly, than Jake's story could well end like Fitzhenry's. But, the ghostwriter didn't really play with that, me thinks.

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

I don't actually recall anything worth noting on the subject in this story. I recall Ax perfoming well and Jake may have made references to the previous story, but the two didn't act abnormal, from my memory.

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?

I didn't think the Yeerks would have been able to find it, even inspite the captured Hork-Bajir. Wasn't the whole valley done with a quality to slip bypassers' eyes. That moment where the enemy is arriving, and they were about to walk away, but heard some Hork-Bajir make a sound, was nicely done. I recall being like 'Ohhh nooooooooooooooo!'.

I thought it was interesting to have the Visser morph that Figure-8-hydra morph from #1:The Invasion. Was it just plain coincidence the Visser decides to morph a fire-breathing creature whilst the Anis had a water-based weapon? Or just plain lack of imagination to come up with something new on the writer's part?

7) Anything else?

This is also the book where Jake hints towards the Anis having learnt to morph decent clothing, if my memory serves. So, from skin-tight up, what do you think that means?

[Chad32]

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?


1) I find it unlikely that it's been so long since they successfully captured a Hork. Since book 23. I always figured if one of them was captured, the Hork would forget where the valley was. Apparently not, and it really has been that long since they caught a live Hork. We know it's very hard to capture a live Andalite, but those guys are heavily trained and intelligent warriors. Not former slaves with very low intelligence.

2) That captured Hork was young, so s/he may have just not known. Though it does raise the question why the anis were never bothered about showing themselves to the Horks who they knew went out on raids.

3) I didn't care to read the fitshenry sections. This time or last time.

4) I think it was ok. They had more important things to worry about than that, I think. Though I may be biased because I don't have problems with Ax's actions, and don't believe he really would have dropped a nuke anyway.

5) I'm not sure if morphing wolves or something to scare them off would have worked. What he did was probably best, given the short notice.

6) That was pretty awesome. A real full scale battle.

7) They start talking about moving the Horks, and Cassie asks if sending them off to "some distant planet" is the only option. Personally, I thought that was the preffered option. Many of us agree that Earth is getting quite crowded, and when the Yeerks take a planet they only get rid of what they feel is unneseccary. Meaning the Hork's home planet, the one they are literally designed to live on, is still habitable. I guess this is the book that indicates the Horks are planning to stay on Earth, contradictory to what we saw in an earlier book where they start a resistance force over there. I don't see why that wouldn't be the most preferred way to go. They get their own planet where they don't have to live as guests of someone else's planet.

By the way, I think V3 may have chosen fire because he was attacking people in a forest. Very much kindling to work with.

[KitsuneMarie]

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

I think it's reasonable. Except for the Blue Bands, there's nothing about Hork-Bajir Controllers that would distinguish them from the free Hork-Bajir, so I imagine the raiders could easily slip by unnoticed, even in a battle, granted it was large enough.

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

I think you've found a KASU. I mean, maybe this Hork-Bajir was like the anti-Toby: just really dumb.

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

I really like the comparison, but then again I'm a 19th Century Americanist when it comes to literature. One of the remarkable things about the Civil War is the sympathy and affinity that often existed between the two sides; not a few of the opposing soldiers were, after all, literally brothers. The Civil War is a war of ambiguity and confused loyalties, and I really can't think of a better comparison for Animorphs. The guilt-tinged tension is certainly a present force in both wars.

So I like that it was present, but it seemed gimmicky, the way it was executed. Honestly, a single paragraph of Jake's thoughts on the matter would have been sufficient to get the wheels turning. Jake loves ruminating on historical wars, so it wouldn't have been out of character.

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

They were very businesslike, which seemed understandable to me. Also, they kind of cleared things up at the end of the previous book; things were tense, but Jake understood the reasons behind Ax's actions.

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

I really don't think this was their only option. Honestly, they could have morphed some kind of giant scary animals and forced them to someplace where they would have been tied up and kept out of trouble until the battle was over. Why did nothing else ever come of these folks? Where were they in the rest of the series?

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?

I like how everything was going believably badly for the Animorphs until the secret water weapon. Was anyone else reminded of the Ents' march on Saruman?

I may have more to add later, but that's all for tonight! It's late! Thanks for posting this, Jessi! I'm looking forward to the next one!

[Chad32]

I don't think trying to scare them would be a good idea. Don't campers usually bring guns and pepper spray for wild animal attack?

[KitsuneMarie]

Chad - usually folks are prepared for bear attacks in areas of the country where bears live... but a tiger? Unlike a bear, which I believe I'm as equipped to face as any other experienced backpacker (although it wouldn't stop me from peeing my pants), I'm pretty sure I would not pepper spray a tiger, nor would I have any idea what to do if one charged me.

It's true: my idea probably isn't the best, but revealing themselves just seems like a terrible idea, even before we knew about the campers' preexisting belief in aliens.

[Chad32]

I think pepper spray would do as well against a tiger as anything. And bullets can definitely effect tigers. Sure they might aim for the ground at first, but once an Ani gets too close to someone, that bullet's going to hit something vital. Yes I'm sure it would surprise them to see a tiger, and the roar could stun someone nearby, but Jake would want them to run. Not fall down in shock into the fetal position.

So what about my comments regarding Cassie's statement?

[RYTX]

1) I always picture the raiders as very small parties, 5-8 tops, and really doing more hazing than any real damage. I expect  there's more than a couple casualities, and that being the case I can kinda see how it took so long to get one alive
2) Why does has that not gone off like a siren in my head every time I think of this book? Makes me feel kinda Hork-Bajir-y for not thinking about that
3) Hated it. Hate hate hate hate hated it. I dislike split books in general, but this was throwing in a one shot character for a comparison I at least could have lived without.  I did not read these books for throw backs to random characters. Bad. No. Boo.
5) You think they'd be better liars by now: "I'm the rangers son, there's a fire two far away to see, but it's spreading..." something better than caving so quick. I don't fault Jake for opening up to them, but the only thing I hate more than the Civil War parts of this book are the way the stupid people reacted. They believed and still thought that the danger would be fake? No. unacceptable.
6)

I like how everything was going believably badly for the Animorphs until the secret water weapon. Was anyone else reminded of the Ents' march on Saruman?

Ha! no, but I like it.
The fight was actually okay.
7)

Don't campers usually bring guns and pepper spray for wild animal attack?

Not always. When I was a Scout we went on a trip through Yosemite, and most of the time we were "bear adjacent" so to speak. And really, none of the people we encountered, nor us (be prepared my foot) really were preped should a bear by pass sniffing equipment stored across camp. I doubt trekkies on holiday would be ready

This is also the book where Jake hints towards the Anis having learnt to morph decent clothing, if my memory serves. So, from skin-tight up, what do you think that means?

they could have done this twenty books ago with seriously hurting any plots. ridiculous.

Okay. good review for 12 minutes of work

[Chad32]

I don't think I mentioned the part where jake says he doesn't have a brother anymore. I would think marco saving his mom two books ago would boost Jake's hopes of saving Tom, but I guess it didn't. Anyone have any ideas why?

[Gafrash]

That's interesting. Considering Jake hadn't even lost his parents at this point, why didn't he feel a bit of more optimism after Eva's rescue? Her chances were as good as nil, and yet, Marco got his mum back!
It is suggestive of depression, but he doesn't sound as depressed as he does in MM#4. I'm gonna go with melancholia. This story was possibly the most melacholic Jake narrative of the series, possibly because of Fitzhenry. I think we are led to believe that Jake himself was finding parallel comparisons in his relative's records and the results weren't very gratifying. So he kept projecting something similar to his own war story.


What of the beaver morphs? Never mind if it is plausible or not, anyone else feel like the 6 Anis building a damn in beaver morphs was a cool gimmick?

[KitsuneMarie]

I personally think Jake hadn't believed he could ever save Tom for quite a while at this point. In just the previous Jake-narrated book, he said, "Did he buy it? Did he believe the lies I'd grown so used to telling? The fake-nice routine I put on for a brother who's not a brother at all anymore, but the enemy?" The truth is, Jake has to put on the fake-nice routine for both Tom and his Yeerk; if Tom has an inkling then the Yeerk will, too. Jake has to consider both of them the enemy to effect any change (something that is most certainly apparent by #53).

Visser One was enveloped in layers of political infighting and was fending off those beneath her, where as Tom's Yeerk was simply attempting to climb the political ladder. Jake's situation isn't really comparable to Marco's. Plus, living in the same house as a Yeerk every day must have beaten Jake down in a way that Marco didn't have to contend with as he dreamed about one day freeing his mother in a sort of abstract way.

[Chad32]

Yeah there is a big difference between trying to rescue someone far away, and having to live with the enemy day after day, putting on a show and trying not to slip. He spent so long trying to keep that wall up that he genuinly became emotionally distant from his brother. It's really sad.

i think the main thing with Fits is because all the ani books (or most of them) deal with two issues at the same time. there's usually more than one thing going on, so instead of the anis havign two problems they decided to make the story of Fits.

[anijen21]

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

Honestly, no. It's kind of plot-forced idiocy. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole free Hork-Bajir plot, but I hate that it was never represented with the level of implicit peril that it should have been. idk, I feel like as the series went on, more and more people knew about the Animorphs and none of them were Yeerks. Unless they were Yeerks that were allies, IDK IDK.

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

ugh, RIGHT? Good point, I honestly didn't think about that until you mentioned it. Kind of along the same lines as like, "why did the Yeerks give up looking for Ax after #9?" There never seemed to be an active, running mission to weed out the Andalite bandits, it was always like "we have this awesome plan full of ridiculousess and it's going to be awesome and--OH MAN THE ANDALITE BANDITS RUINED IT AGAIN? HOW UNEXPECTED!"

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

I feel like I say this a lot, but this, hands down, nullifying any claim I've made before, is the most egregious filler in the series. Which is weird, because this is one of the most epic battle scenes in the series--but maybe that's just it. The entire story is really just one big battle scene. There's not really a plot. And even the most epic of battle scenes isn't going to last more than 50 pages. Even Tolkien couldn't stretch those out (actually now that I think about it, weren't most of his battles just referred to him hindsight? What a c*cktease.)

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

That was actually one detail I liked, that Ax was too ashamed to look Jake in the eye and Jake was both proud of and pissed at Ax. I wish that had come out a little more in their interaction, and wouldn't have been immediately and invisibly resolved after this book. But that's how I feel about most things in this series.

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

See, this is the kind of ****...a bunch of free Hork-Bajir are always wandering around, going on raids, with the potential to get caught and give up their secret...the Chee, at any instant, can get found out, Aftran might have second thoughts and turn back to the Yeerks, the Animorphs themselves are liable to crack at any moment, and YOU HAVE TO INTRODUCE US TO A BUNCH OF ONE-OFF TREKKIES TO ADD TENSION TO YOUR PLOT? What the hell man?

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?

Honestly, it was kind of a let-down. idk, there weren't a lot of...twists...or unexpected turns or anything, everything kind of went according to plan, which was just sort of boring. EAGLES DIDN'T FLY OUT OF NO WHERE AND SAVE THE DAY, which idk maybe it's more mature storytelling but the eagles at least made it exciting.

7) Anything else?

There's this page in this book, and as soon as I get home I will photograph it and post it here, that is one of the most...terrible, unedited messes in the entire series. Switching back between like, thought-speech and normal quotes, it was literally impossible to tell who was in morph and who wasn't. omg it was just atrocious.

Next time: The Ellimist Chronicles

I CAN'T WAIT.

[RYTX]

One more thing about this book: I have to wonder how much time passed b/w this and Marco's supposed death. Really, this is that last time you see Jake at home, and his family seems as "normal" to him as ever, but idk, it seems like again, there should have been some sort of tie into "Hey son, you okay, what with your life long best friend only being dead for a month?"
I just don't think that should be back to normal so quickly 

[KitsuneMarie]

Rob, I wonder if that is an instance of ghostwriters not really reading the previous books? You're right, this is something that isn't dealt with at all. Really, we get so little information about Jake's parents and their reaction to their sons' involvement in the war, both before and after they knew the full extent--way less information than we get about any of the other Animorphs' parents (except Ax's, understandably).

[Chad32]

yeah I think maybe if the ghostwriters read the entire series, they would have done a better job. I can't imagine them writing like this if they had read all the previous books.

[AniDragon]

One more thing about this book: I have to wonder how much time passed b/w this and Marco's supposed death. Really, this is that last time you see Jake at home, and his family seems as "normal" to him as ever, but idk, it seems like again, there should have been some sort of tie into "Hey son, you okay, what with your life long best friend only being dead for a month?"
I just don't think that should be back to normal so quickly 

Agreed! It's not even touched upon! I mean, I doubt my parents would make me clean the basement if my best friend had died recently, especially so suddenly and mysteriously. I would have loved to see Jake need to pretend to grieve and wonder about what happened and etc.

[Chad32]

At least he could use that as an excuse for why he's possibly acting strange when it's really due to the stress of the war coming to a head. I do think that should have been touched upon, but we get nothing.

[Aluminator (Kit)]

1) The premise of this book is that a free Hork-Bajir is caught by the Yeerks and takes a small army to invade the valley. We all know that the free HB have been conducting raids and whatnot for some time now. Is it reasonable to assume that it took this long for one to be captured and reinfested?

I dunno... are the Yeerks always as unprepared as they seem to be when the Animorphs show up? How willing are the Hork-Bajir to kill one of their own/commit hara-kiri if one of them is captured? With Toby in charge, I think it's definitely plausible, but probably not likely.

2) On a similar note, don't all/most of the Hork-Bajir know the Animorphs secret? Shouldn't this have blown their cover?

Y'know, I actually thought about this as I read the book, but then shrugged it off. Again, I guess it's plausible that this particular Hork-Bajir had no idea of the Animorphs' true identities, if unlikely. Toby must have known that he didn't know the Animorphs were human, or she'd be freaking out about it. And the Animorphs must have avoided asking about it because they trust Toby absolutely and completely, and know she could never be infested and leading them into a trap, because, come on, she's freakin' Toby 

3) Half of this book was not told from Jake's point-of-view, but from the POV of his distant relative, Civil War hero Fitzhenry. What did you think about this section of the book and the parallels it draws between the present Yeerk war and the Civil War?

I actually enjoyed this. I mean, I would have preferred more Animorphs, but as long as they were going to add this, I liked how it was done. Not sure there's anything I can add that hasn't already been said... like Marie was saying, though, the Civil War makes a good parallel to the Yeerk War for the ambiguity and blurred lines between the sides.

4) What do you think about the interactions between Jake and Ax, expecially in light of his oh-so-recent betrayal?

I don't remember much in the way of their interaction, so the book must not have delved too deeply into it. Jake and Ax had a bit of a "businesslike" relationship, but then, Ax really seems to have given up on being close "friends" with any of the Animorphs at this point in the series anyway, so it didn't seem at all unusual to me. Besides, don't the plots for like all of Ax's books involve his betrayal/near betrayal? He's basically the "Data" of Animorphs in that regard. Jake might just be used to it at this point
Still, I agree with Jen on this one. It'd be nice if they hadn't just forgotten about this particular thread in later books.

5) This is the first time that other free humans are directly involved in the fight, and the result is two kids lose their dad. Jake makes the decision to come out and tell humans what is going on. Was this stupid? Their only option?

It was an okay move, but I think Jake caved way too quickly. There definitely would have been better ways to get them out of there. Marco: "A tiger escaped from a private zoo in the area, and we're asking that everyone vacate until we can locate it" ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR! "Oh crap! Run!"
They spend half the intro of each book on the whole "you'll think I'm crazy because this is unbelievable" bit, and, like Rob was saying, they really ought to be better liars at this point in the war. It's not like they don't have practice. Jake especially. And Marco's supposed to be good at this kind of thing.

6) This is really the first time it has been an entire Yeerk army versus an entire free army going head to head. How do you think it went?

I actually liked the way this went down. Careful planning pays off, and they kick Yeerk butt. I don't really understand Toby's insistence on fighting, though. All they did was lose some free Hork-Bajir, and signal to the Yeerks the strength of the resistance. They still had to flee the valley after the battle, so my thinking is, why couldn't they have just run beforehand and saved themselves a lot of time and pain and death?

7) Anything else?

7) They start talking about moving the Horks, and Cassie asks if sending them off to "some distant planet" is the only option. Personally, I thought that was the preffered option. Many of us agree that Earth is getting quite crowded, and when the Yeerks take a planet they only get rid of what they feel is unneseccary. Meaning the Hork's home planet, the one they are literally designed to live on, is still habitable. I guess this is the book that indicates the Horks are planning to stay on Earth, contradictory to what we saw in an earlier book where they start a resistance force over there. I don't see why that wouldn't be the most preferred way to go. They get their own planet where they don't have to live as guests of someone else's planet.

That's a good point, actually. It's kind of sad how many plot threads were forgotten or left dangling towards the end of the series. I agree that it seems like a better solution to let the aliens live on their own planet than to try to fit them in on Earth.

I don't think I mentioned the part where jake says he doesn't have a brother anymore. I would think marco saving his mom two books ago would boost Jake's hopes of saving Tom, but I guess it didn't. Anyone have any ideas why?

*shrug* like everyone's saying, Jake's had to distance himself from his brother for a long time. Eva being freed may have given him some hope, but not enough to offset several years' worth of disconnect.

Rob, I wonder if that is an instance of ghostwriters not really reading the previous books? You're right, this is something that isn't dealt with at all. Really, we get so little information about Jake's parents and their reaction to their sons' involvement in the war, both before and after they knew the full extent--way less information than we get about any of the other Animorphs' parents (except Ax's, understandably).

It well could be. From Kat and Mike's comments, and the procession of ghostwriters (the final arc alternates between two GW's for like six books, starting right after this one), I kind of get the impression that there were two books in writing at any given time, if not more, and I don't get the impression the ghostwriters communicated with each other extensively. One of the questions Katherine and Michael answered suggested that the ghostwriters were given more and more control over plot details as time went on, so it's not surprising to me that there seems to be a fair amount of disconnect, and a fair amount left out, as the series progressed.

One more thing about this book: I have to wonder how much time passed b/w this and Marco's supposed death. Really, this is that last time you see Jake at home, and his family seems as "normal" to him as ever, but idk, it seems like again, there should have been some sort of tie into "Hey son, you okay, what with your life long best friend only being dead for a month?"
I just don't think that should be back to normal so quickly 

Agreed! It's not even touched upon! I mean, I doubt my parents would make me clean the basement if my best friend had died recently, especially so suddenly and mysteriously. I would have loved to see Jake need to pretend to grieve and wonder about what happened and etc.

Definitely. It's a shame they missed this opportunity.

Next time: The Ellimist Chronicles

I CAN'T WAIT.

Hehehe... I second this

[dolphin4077]

1. I wish this plot did happen earlier because it seems to me that this book and the next book made the final arc lose momentum. 
2. I always wondered about why no one worried about their cover being blown
3. I love history, but I was kinda annoyed with the Civil War part.  It's a nice analogy, but it was too much of an intrusion.
4. I liked the too brief reference, and at least there was a reference, unlike so many other things.
5. Apparently this book is about how Jake can't convince anyone to do anything he wants.  Maybe they should've tried scaring them, but the results might have been too unpredictable. 
6. I think by the time I get to the finale battle, I'm too annoyed with the book to really appreciate it. 
7.  The HBC makes it pretty clear that Dak doesn't have any supernatural powers.  However, Toby seems to be clairvoyant.  Is this a GWSU, or is Toby an anomaly in the same way Cassie is?