I feel like I've been saying this after a certain point of the re-reads: This book did no deliver.
And I can only attribute it to Ghostwriters, I am sorry.
Rachel has been one of my favorite characters in the series, for her sense of bravery and action, distinctive from the other protagonists because of her truth-to-self honesty and openness about 'enjoying' doing the 'dirty job'. And it's sad to see a book with THIS much potential (ref. Rachel's psyche, David's return, Cryak's involvement with the 'big scheme') poorly explored. And it's her last proper narrative.
1) One of the biggest problems I, and presumably other fans, have with this book is the fact that a good chunk of the beginning is taken up by dream sequences. In fact, we don't even get to 'reality' until about five/six chapters in. So, with that in mind, what do you think was the purpose behind such lengthy dream sequences? Did they fulfill their purpose?
anijen21 brings up a good observation. I never looked at it as the WHOLE story being a dream per si, and maybe that's the problem. Perhaps the whole thing COULD have been a dream, given the plot we were given in #The Familiar, and the somewhat lack of creativity that was hitting this stage of the series, it wouldn't surprise me.
2) This is the last book narrated by Rachel. What do you think about her characterization here, as opposed to way back in book #2 when we first got inside her head? How do you think her character progressed throughout the series, and do you think it was a realistic portrayal?
Though I think she gets much worse, psychologically, in the later books, Rachel, here, seems less naive, less lively and less humorous and more determined, bold and headstrong at this stage of the war. What many of us missed though, is that found in a situation on her own (eventhough Cassie was there (Urrrgh! More on that later) she's strategizing here more which is consistent with the events found in #The Separation (ref. to the character being split in two halves, short-term and long-term mental capacities). She deduces some sort of higher intervention to David's deeds, to such a point where The Drode and Cryak HAVE to show themselves.
And her 'headstrong' can't be better depicted than the scene where she forces the morphing process on pure will alone.
Though we've seen something similar before (ref. #3), I always imagined morphing as a 2-3 minute process. Yet, under the stress here, Rachel did it under 10 secs or so. Even when the morphing energy seemed to cease, she got through it. There’s probably a KASU/ghostwriter hole in there somewhere, but I am willing to overlook it, for it shows Rachel’s willpower as the greatness that it is. Again we are shown how Rachel has tremendous will power, the will to win, to beat the enemy.
My Comments: Despite this book's (numerous) flaws, the last chapter of #48 is one of my favorites in the entire series, which is why I'm actually telling you my opinion for once. This book annihilated Rachel's character, reducing her to a two-sided coin that was being yanked around by rather comic book-like villains. However, the last chapter of this book really speaks to the struggle of the war, and how it has taken a toll on her. It shows that she does have regrets, and her own lonely struggle somewhat parallels David's. I find it incredibly touching and overwhelming, especially knowing what will happen only a few books down the road, that she is still determined to remain 'one of the good guys'.
TOTALLY agree with you here,
Terenia. Despite the low execution, the book does offer some sort of character resolution, and I am quite fine with this being Rachel's 'final' book too. Though I think the character was portrayed more 'two-sidedly' in #The Separation, I do see what you mean about it here, too. It is the final chapters in this story that carry this book for me also, successfully encapsulating all of Rachel at this stage in the series, at last.
3) This book came out just after The Ellimist Chronicles. How does the Crayak portrayed in this book compare to the Crayak portrayed in the Chronicles?
6) What do you think about Crayak's attempted deal with Rachel at this point in the series?
I didn't really get a sense of 'total evil' coming from the Cryak portrayed here. Not like the one portrayed in the Ellimist Chronicles. It just seemed like screwing with Rachel's mind to ultimately get to Jake wasn't THAT big in comparison to what the Ellimist's done to the bigger game the two of them have. In the end, I think, he ends up virtually looking like a 'wally' really, when Rachel rejects his offer. We could see what The Cryak was trying to do here. He wanted to make Jake pay the same price by turning one of his own against him?! But I think the story could have been much more effective overall done with just David and the Drode antagonising and Cryak's mysterious evil being preserved. With Cryak there, the 'rules' of intervention just seemed to be non-existent...
4) What do you think about the version of David that we see presented here? Do you think he is still sane?
David’s dream of taking the over the world with rats, may have been Cryak-fed, but it wasn’t all bogus. In a world where slugs can enter people’s brains and take over the world, I can see rats being led as weapons to take over the world through Cryak’s aid, faux shizzle.
What is not fully clear to me, is how David/rat survived the island ordeal. It is truly a mystery just HOW a small mammal like a rat can survive a jumble of rocks that passes for an island in the middle of the sea. The animal, coupled with the human mind, can be considered resourceful, but the morph itself is full of survivor-flee instincts. The rat is a survivor given the circumstances. For a kid like David to have survived, for almost two years, has got to be attributed to some sort of ‘high intervention’ (ref.Cryak).
There’s also the unaddressed issue of David’s parents. I find it funny how David didn’t mention any sort of a deal about Cryak having bargained with him to see his parents. I felt this side could have been explored.
Given what they’ve been through individually since
#The Solution, Rachel and David are very different now than before. I would have liked to have seen this different Rachel and different David clashing in a more interesting and surprising way. During
The David Trilogy, it wasn’t until #The Solution that this clash between the two occurred. David had it in for Rachel ever since she justifiably threatened him. It became a personal thing, and that was only played with briefly here. It’s another reason I don’t think this book delivers.
5) Bringing back a question from #22: was the decision that the Animorphs made to trap David the right decision? Who, if anyone, should David lay the blame on?
I don't think it's a question of merely picking one person to blame on, because in the end, they were a group and they were at war. To me, their decision was about doing the 'less worse'. Make no mistake, the Animorphs were at war, and David was a dangerous factor, a resourceful enemy, purely based on what he knew and was. Worse, he showed no signs of changing for better.
So, yes, it was Cassie's idea, but in the end it would have been unanimous that David needed to go.
Not bringing themselves to plain 'kill' him, they trap him and leave him out of harms way, neglected, to the mercy of Nature. Supposedly leaving David's final fate out of their hands.
David only focused on Rachel because she was the only one who openly rivaled him.
7) Do you think that Rachel killed David, in the end?
I like to think that she didn't. Rachel didn't give in to her bloodthirsty tendencies whilst Cryak had supplied her with the perfect conditions against the Visser, so I don't think we should totally scratch the possibility here.
It used to bug me that KA chose to leave this open, though. As if she wanted us to be having this precise discussion, precisely here.
If she did kill, I, too, think Rachel would have done entirely out of mercy. No questions, there. BOTH David and Rachel were at the end of their 'mental' rope, no question here either.
Post Merged: June 23, 2010, 09:27:38 PM
Now, I wanted to express my opinions on Cassie, in this story.
Much as I love character, this is the one book I could have decked her lights out. I am talking about the scene where Rachel’s giving her best in achieving victory BY HERSELF (against no-one-less-than-the-mighty-Cryak of all antagonists!!!), given Cryak’s playing her every string, a gargantuan job for Rachel really, but in the end she manages it, and, friggin, instead of supporting her ‘best friend’s decisions, Cassie tries to keep her hands clean with the David-loose-end situation, by saying “I don’t think it can be done a 2nd-time.”. This line really ticked me off. Jeez, WHAT WAS SHE TRYING TO DO THERE?! Certainly not support her ‘best-friend’ whom had just saved her, that’s for sure. The job needed to be done. If you’re not going to help, get out of the way!
Still, I liked the way Rachel replied. It showed a resolution in Rachel’s character to me. At that point she demonstrated that she truly realized her role in the Animorphs, for good or for worse, where she stood amongst her friends.
Observation: Tobias. No. Where. In. Sight.
PS: This was also the beginning of those ridiculously inserted bold highlighted texts into Rachel’s narration. Supposedly to convey how messed up her psyche was.
It was interesting at first, but then it felt like the ghostwriter was just bolding repetitive quotes for the sake of bolding them. Some he even forgot to bold, if I recall correctly.
Why do you guys think we saw this treatment in this book?
