Group Re-Read: Week 1, #1 The Invasion

[Terenia]

Summary
Sometimes weird things happen to people. Ask Jake. He may tell you about the night he and his friends saw the strange light in the sky. He may even tell you about what happened when they realized the "light" was only a plane - from another planet. Here's where Jakes story gets a little weird. It's where they're told that the human race is under attack - and given the chance to fight back.

Now Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias and Marco have the power to morph into any animal they choose. And they must use that power to outsmart an evil that is greater than anything the world has ever seen...


Questions

1) When Elfangor and Visser Three interact their conversation is very impersonal. How much of their history do you think that KA had figured out at this point?

2) Elfangor's fighter is equipped with two oddities: a family picture and an Escafil Device. Why do you think Elfangor would have these items on a fighter? Especially the Escafil Device - as a fighter pilot, it seems odd that Elfangor would have the added responsibility of guarding a piece of Andalite technology as he rides into battle.

3) The infamous KASU of book #1: Do you think that KA should have kept thought-speak the way it was in the first book, so that they could thought-speak even in human form? Or does it make more sense the way it ended up? If I remember correctly some of the ghostwriters have Ax and Tobias capable of thought-speaking in human morph later on in the series. What do you think about that?

4) How much of an 'accident' do you think Tobias getting stuck in morph was?

5) What do you think of the way KA portrays each of their personalities in this book? This is when we're introduced to the characters, and they're all still incredibly naive. What do you think about how they start out?

6) Cassie is, surprisingly, the first person to agree to receive the morphing power and fight. What do you think about that?

Feel free to answer these questions or not, add your own, etc. Next weeks book will be #2: The Visitor.

[wolfev]

This is what really confuses me. The portrait is of too adults and two children. However, Elfangor is much older than Ax so this picture seems impossible. Furthermore Ax never says Elfangor had a family of his own.

[Terenia]

That's a good point about the picture. The age gap between Elfangor and Ax was pretty large. Maybe Andalites reach adolescence quicker than humans?

Do you know when Ax says that Elfangor has a family of his own? I don't remember that. I had always assumed he spent all of his time away at war and never settled down.

[wolfev]

The Andaite's have w kids in the picture and Ax didn't meet Elfangor for a while.

[esplin]

do the characters seem flat to anyone in the first few pages?

[Qwerty the Charliecorn]

Yeah, they kind of do. I noticed that they all kind of behaved and talked the same way, like they were all the same character. They started to develope their own personality traits later on, though.

[Terenia]

That could be because they're a bunch of normal 13 year old kids at the mall, though. They don't have anything very 'heavy' in their lives to make their distinct personalities stand out in casual conversation. Not like later on when people very quickly get the idea that Rachel is dangerous, for example.

Or maybe KA just wasn't comfortable writing them yet.

[morfowt]

I don't think KA had a very definite personality for them. I mean she planned some things like, rachel was going to be the ultimate warrior or whatever, but I don't think she planned about her becoming ruthless like later in the series. I think KA even said it herself that she just chooses like a main personality and later develops it.

[Yorick Brown]

I know thatTobias had a crappy life, but I highly doubt that he hated it so much he'd  become a hawk to escape his troubled home life.

[Qwerty the Charliecorn]

I don't think he intended to become a nothlit at first. I also don't think it was an accident. I think he made the decision to stay past the two hour limit at the last minute.

[Terenia]

I agree that it wasn't entirely accidental. There's too much building up to it. He does stupid stuff, stays in morph too long, constantly uses his hawk morph, daydreams about flying, etc.

It's like he's already trapped in morph before he even makes that last transition into hawk. I think that maybe it wasn't purposeful, but he wasn't that upset by the way things turned out. At least not initially. He probably thought of it as the perfect escape from his crappy life.

[morfowt]

I think it was more of a sub-conscious thing. He feels he doesn't want to, but deep down he does. It's very hard to explain it...

[wolfev]

Hes a hawk trapped in a boys body. Is Tobias human? As the series progresses he gets more strangers genetically. He's a boy who is hawk and half andalite who can later morph.

[Terenia]

Yeah, I think Tobias wins in the freak department, lol. I have this strange vision of Marco birdwatching with a stranger.

"Oh, look at the red-tailed hawk!" - Birdwatcher.

Marco - "Actually that's not a red-tailed hawk at all. It might look like one, but don't be deceived. Flashy feathers and chicken legs aren't everything, you know.

Birdwatcher - "No, I'm pretty sure that's a red-tail. I am a birdwatcher, after all."

Marco - "Yes, but that isn't even really a bird."

Birdwatcher - "Are you on drugs? Hey, why are you even here anyways? I don't know you."

Marco - "I'm a figment of your imagination."

Birdwatcher - "Huh. Maybe I'm on drugs..."

Marco - "Now you're getting it!"

Birdwatcher - "So if that's not a bird...what is it?"

Marco - "Well it is a bird."

Birdwatcher - "Huh?" Scratches head.

Marco - "It's a boy trapped in a bird body."

Birdwatcher - "That is...insane."

Marco - "And that's my line you just stole." Frowns. "Don't make me mad, or I'll call him over here. He's a precision pooper, you know."

Birdwatcher - "Oooookay. So he's a boy stuck in a birds body."

Marco - "Kind of."

Birdwatcher - "Kind of?"

Marco - "Yeah. He's also the time-altered son of an alien warrior who fell in love with a human. In fact, it was his father that gave him the ability to turn into a bird."

Birdwatcher - "Um....I've got to go."

Marco - "Go? Go where?"

Birdwatcher - "To find a new hobby..."



Ugh...sorry for that long completely irrelevant conversation that popped into my head. It made me giggle. You can shoot me now if you so wish.

[esplin]

i lulzed dont worry