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
