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Animorphs #32
The Separation
Rachel is falling apart. Literally. Her newest morph has the ability to regenerate its limbs, but when Rachel demorphs there's a lot more Rachel than when she started out. One more Rachel, to be exact. Rachel is an okay person to have around. But two could be considered overkill. Especially two Rachels with completely opposite personalities: one is pathetically weak; one is super strong and super nasty.
Now the Animorphs have to figure out a way to put Rachel back together again. Because if it's up to the "twins," Rachel the weak will surrender to Visser Three. Rachel the super bold will try to single-handedly take him down. And twice the trouble may be twice as much as the other Animorphs and Ax can handle. . . .
Now the Animorphs have to figure out a way to put Rachel back together again. Because if it's up to the "twins," Rachel the weak will surrender to Visser Three. Rachel the super bold will try to single-handedly take him down. And twice the trouble may be twice as much as the other Animorphs and Ax can handle. . . .
158 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1999
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K.A. Applegate
251 books486 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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August 5, 2016
I’d like to gush over this one and give it five stars because it’s Rachel and my bias for her awesome/tragic character arc knows no bounds. Except. Except. The Separation is just not a very good novel. It has a cool (albeit unoriginal) idea that is squandered on a dull threat-du-jour.
Have you seen Superman III? What about the TOS episode “The Enemy Within”? The Voyager episode “Faces” (even more so than the TOS episode I feel like this one very accurately corresponds to this novel)? The Buffy episode “The Zeppo” (which is amazing, btw)? Farscape’s “My Three Crichtons”? Charmed’s “Which Prue Is It Anyway?” Half a dozen episodes of Smallville because apparently all of Krypton ended up in pieces on Earth and the writers can’t leave well enough alone?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then you’ll immediately get the premise of The Separation. If you answered “yes” to all of the above, then congratulations: you’re automatically awesome. (If you answered “no” to all of the above, go watch “The Enemy Within”, like, right now.)
Rachel gets split into two personalities: Nice Rachel and Mean Rachel. Nice Rachel is a scaredy-cat airhead who nevertheless retains the ability to think long-term; Mean Rachel is a psychopathic and aggressive force of nature who only has short-term reasoning. Neither can survive without the other. But before the Animorphs can find a way to put them back together, they have to deal with the threat of an anti-morphing ray the Yeerks are about to start testing.
One of the disappointments of this novel is simply that the Yeerk plot turns into a bit of a red herring. Despite Erek talking the anti-morphing ray up as a huge game-changer, there is no resolution after the Animorphs fail to apprehend the device in transit. I know it’s the main focus of the next book, but I don’t feel like that excuses how it is portrayed and then just dropped in this book. I think the whole thing would have been more successful if the book just focused on the Rachels and their difficulties interacting with the rest of the world and the Animorphs.
Because there is so much potential here—that is, after all, why this storytelling device has been used so often. And Rachel is certainly the correct Animorph upon whom to inflict this divisive form of torture. She has long been the standard bearer for Applegate’s ambivalence about the nature of aggression. While all the Animorphs are changed, forced to “grow up” too fast because of their roles as child soldiers, Rachel’s situation is unique in that she proves markedly good at being a warrior. Notably, Applegate takes care throughout this series to emphasize that Rachel’s fighting skills are not something to be ashamed of, most obviously in Marco’s frequent but nonetheless accurate comparisons to Xena. Of all the Animorphs, Rachel is the one who seems to be most at home when they are on missions. Yet in past books she has questioned the propriety of her enthusiasm for fighting.
The Separation attempts to do a few interesting things with the Mean/Nice Rachels. There are some funny moments with Rachel’s sister and father. It’s played for laughs very early in the novel. And the resolution requiring the two Rachels to work together is nice as well—I really like how Jake leaves it up to the Rachels to figure out that they need each other; it’s a nice show of faith on the leader’s part. Yet there could have been so much more!
Alas, what we get instead is an uneven story that shoehorns two plots together so that neither one gets the treatment it deserves. While The Illusion remedies that for the Yeerk plot, Mean/Nice Rachel must be content with their appearances in The Separation.
But next time, yes, we do find out what happens with the anti-morphing ray and we get more Rachel/Tobias drama! It should be good.
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #31: The Conspiracy
Have you seen Superman III? What about the TOS episode “The Enemy Within”? The Voyager episode “Faces” (even more so than the TOS episode I feel like this one very accurately corresponds to this novel)? The Buffy episode “The Zeppo” (which is amazing, btw)? Farscape’s “My Three Crichtons”? Charmed’s “Which Prue Is It Anyway?” Half a dozen episodes of Smallville because apparently all of Krypton ended up in pieces on Earth and the writers can’t leave well enough alone?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then you’ll immediately get the premise of The Separation. If you answered “yes” to all of the above, then congratulations: you’re automatically awesome. (If you answered “no” to all of the above, go watch “The Enemy Within”, like, right now.)
Rachel gets split into two personalities: Nice Rachel and Mean Rachel. Nice Rachel is a scaredy-cat airhead who nevertheless retains the ability to think long-term; Mean Rachel is a psychopathic and aggressive force of nature who only has short-term reasoning. Neither can survive without the other. But before the Animorphs can find a way to put them back together, they have to deal with the threat of an anti-morphing ray the Yeerks are about to start testing.
One of the disappointments of this novel is simply that the Yeerk plot turns into a bit of a red herring. Despite Erek talking the anti-morphing ray up as a huge game-changer, there is no resolution after the Animorphs fail to apprehend the device in transit. I know it’s the main focus of the next book, but I don’t feel like that excuses how it is portrayed and then just dropped in this book. I think the whole thing would have been more successful if the book just focused on the Rachels and their difficulties interacting with the rest of the world and the Animorphs.
Because there is so much potential here—that is, after all, why this storytelling device has been used so often. And Rachel is certainly the correct Animorph upon whom to inflict this divisive form of torture. She has long been the standard bearer for Applegate’s ambivalence about the nature of aggression. While all the Animorphs are changed, forced to “grow up” too fast because of their roles as child soldiers, Rachel’s situation is unique in that she proves markedly good at being a warrior. Notably, Applegate takes care throughout this series to emphasize that Rachel’s fighting skills are not something to be ashamed of, most obviously in Marco’s frequent but nonetheless accurate comparisons to Xena. Of all the Animorphs, Rachel is the one who seems to be most at home when they are on missions. Yet in past books she has questioned the propriety of her enthusiasm for fighting.
The Separation attempts to do a few interesting things with the Mean/Nice Rachels. There are some funny moments with Rachel’s sister and father. It’s played for laughs very early in the novel. And the resolution requiring the two Rachels to work together is nice as well—I really like how Jake leaves it up to the Rachels to figure out that they need each other; it’s a nice show of faith on the leader’s part. Yet there could have been so much more!
Alas, what we get instead is an uneven story that shoehorns two plots together so that neither one gets the treatment it deserves. While The Illusion remedies that for the Yeerk plot, Mean/Nice Rachel must be content with their appearances in The Separation.
But next time, yes, we do find out what happens with the anti-morphing ray and we get more Rachel/Tobias drama! It should be good.
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #31: The Conspiracy
July 25, 2022
Rachel is accidentally cut in half while she’s morphed into a starfish. When she morphs back to human, there are two Rachels. Mean Rachel and nice Rachel. It’s just a very silly concept. This does take a closer look at Rachel’s character by splitting her in two, with each a different side of her personality. But both versions of her don’t always feel true to her character. The anti-morphing ray is also introduced here.
May 17, 2015
Ahhhh, the starfish book. In which Rachel is accidentally cut in half as a starfish, and when she demorphs to human, ends up with two versions of herself with a severe personality split.
KAA returns for this one, which feels like a bit of a shame considering her last one was The Attack. I can see what she was aiming for: this one is a relatively thought-provoking and interesting exploration of Rachel's characterisation -- her dualities of psychopathy and cowardice, bloodlust and duty, strategic long-term thinking vs. short-term action, a split in her personality like Tobias' own identity struggles, even one half of her liking Tobias and the other one liking Marco (MY COULD-HAVE-BEEN SHIP LIVES). But it's handled with a sledgehammer fist rather than subtlety. Mean Rachel is megalomaniacal and absurd; Nice Rachel is weepy and absurd; neither of them are particularly likeable as narrators, so the whole book is a bit of a strain. It would almost seem to be a comedic book, for its ridiculousness, except that the events are serious.
My favourite parts are towards the end, when they actually work a mission with both Rachels and the girls start finding a way to cooperate with each other. Plus the Tobias/Rachel punch to the heart at the end is so touching and wonderful.
This one stuck in my memory due to its wacky premise, but it's not especially good, nor essential thematic exploration IMO -- the final message is mainly about accepting each part of yourself and straddling the line between saint/savage, which Tobias books have been exploring for ages. Mainly, the book left me missing the voice of real Rachel.
KAA returns for this one, which feels like a bit of a shame considering her last one was The Attack. I can see what she was aiming for: this one is a relatively thought-provoking and interesting exploration of Rachel's characterisation -- her dualities of psychopathy and cowardice, bloodlust and duty, strategic long-term thinking vs. short-term action, a split in her personality like Tobias' own identity struggles, even one half of her liking Tobias and the other one liking Marco (MY COULD-HAVE-BEEN SHIP LIVES). But it's handled with a sledgehammer fist rather than subtlety. Mean Rachel is megalomaniacal and absurd; Nice Rachel is weepy and absurd; neither of them are particularly likeable as narrators, so the whole book is a bit of a strain. It would almost seem to be a comedic book, for its ridiculousness, except that the events are serious.
My favourite parts are towards the end, when they actually work a mission with both Rachels and the girls start finding a way to cooperate with each other. Plus the Tobias/Rachel punch to the heart at the end is so touching and wonderful.
This one stuck in my memory due to its wacky premise, but it's not especially good, nor essential thematic exploration IMO -- the final message is mainly about accepting each part of yourself and straddling the line between saint/savage, which Tobias books have been exploring for ages. Mainly, the book left me missing the voice of real Rachel.
June 25, 2018
(Full review here at the thelibraryladies.com.)
Plot:
Rachel is out on a field trip when she drops a piece of jewelry into the ocean. Of course, this means she must morph the starfish she spots. On her way back out, some rude little kid cuts her in half with a shovel (that kid needs to be hunted down, just like Mean!Rachel thought, but mostly it’s due to the fact that he’s the reason we had to be exposed to this book). From there the chapters alternate between Mean!Rachel and Nice!Rachel. Mean!Rachel meets up with Tobias to go flying, as she had planned. Tobias immediately thinks something is up when she hunts and eats some prey on their trip. Cassie, too, notices that something is up with Nice!Rachel on their trip to the mall. For one, she admits to having skipped out on Tobias, and for two, after getting into a bit of a spat with another customer, she flees the mall crying.
Back in the barn, Cassie lets the group know that something is up and Rachel isn’t acting normal. This is confirmed when Mean!Rachel strides in the door wanting to kick Yeerk butt. Both Rachels are horrified by the other, but through their pieced together story, the group realizes that happens. The starfish DNA somehow allowed Rachel to demorph into two separate people, splitting her personality between them. Before they can figure out what to do next, Erek shows up and announces that the Yeerks are testing a new Anti-Morphing Ray gun. Jake tells the two Rachels to go home and sit this one out.
At home, Mean!Rachel is having none of this and immediately sets off after the Animorphs. Once she finds them, she barrels into the situation with a truck, ramming through walls and getting in fights with Hork Bajir. In the madness, the group manages to escape, but the plan to get destroy the gun is ruined. Back home, Wimpy!Rachel doesn’t know what to do with herself, so she decides to call her dad for comfort. After a very confusing conversation, she arranges to meet with him at the airport the next day and confess everything to him. Mean!Rachel shows back up rather put-out by how “unappreciative” the team had been to her escapades and promptly kicks Wimpy!Rachel onto the floor to sleep.
The next day, Wimpy!Rachel goes to school where both Marco and Cassie test her to see if they can figure out more about what aspects of the original Rachel is in each half of her. Mean!Rachel, of course, doesn’t go to school, but does decide to morph fly and spy on the group when they meet up in the barn at the end of the day. Ax says that he may have a plan to put her together again, but that it could also kill her. Cassie is vehemently against this. But Marco points out that the current situation won’t work either, that Mean!Rachel is too psychotic to left running around. Mean!Rachel flies into a rage, demorphs, grabs Tobias and threatens to strangle him if the team doesn’t agree that she should now be the leader. Jake sidles up and punches her in the face followed by a quick smack from Ax’s tail blade that knocks her out. Wimpy!Rachel shows up in the midst of this and flies into crying hysterics.
After Mean!Rachel wakes up, she heads home. But she’s begun to realize strangeness in her own ability to think, that she can’t figure out what to do next or plan. In her room, she sees the note that Wimpy!Rachel left to remind herself to meet her dad at the airport. With a new mission, Mean!Rachel takes off after her. At the airport restaurant, Wimpy!Rachel tries to suss out whether her father is a Controller, but before she can tell him the whole truth, Mean!Rachel shows up and forces her to leave. Mean!Rachel takes her place and is quite rude the her dad and the staff. She starts a food fight to prevent Wimpy!Rachel from showing up to ruin things and her dad finally has to leave for his next flight.
Back in the barn, the team meets up once again. They still need to deal with the Anti-Morphing Ray. The Yeerks are now up on the game that the Animorphs know of their plans (what with Mean!Rachel’s display the other day), so they have arranged for three trucks to transport the ray which means the team needs to split up. Cassie tells Wimpy!Rachel that they need her to come. Mean!Rachel demorphs and insists on coming along. During these exchanges, it’s made clear that the team doesn’t trust either of them and had been following them when they went to the airport. Ax once again knocks out Mean!Rachel to stop her from coming. And Jake invokes Wimpy!Rachel’s sense of duty to get her to come along, pairing her with himself so he can keep an eye on her.
During the mission, Jake has to continuously threaten and bride Wimpy!Rachel through every morph she has to make since she’s too scared to do most anything. After an “exciting” car chase, Jake and Rachel morph roaches as the truck they’re riding enters a building. They are quickly gassed, however, and knocked out. It turns out that Mean!Rachel woke quite quickly and morphed owl. She then followed the group, specifically her twin and Jake, and ends up in the same building.
Wimpy!Rachel and Jake end up captured. While Jake tries valiantly to keep Wimpy!Rachel calm, she ends up breaking and calling out to the Yeerks that she’ll do anything to be let go. In the mean time, Mean!Rachel had morphed Hork Bajir and casually marched into the room where Jake and her twin were being held. She attacks the Hork Bajir around her, but as she takes them down, the wall slides open and she sees even more Hork Bajir outside the room and Visser Three among them. After the remaining Controllers retreat, Visser Three orders the door to slam and turns on a machine that begins moving the walls and ceiling slowly down, taunting them that they must give themselves up or be crushed.
The boxes that Wimpy!Rachel and Jake had been in were crushed during the madness, so once free, she quickly demorphs. She doesn’t see Jake and Mean!Rachel casually comments that she may have stepped on him during the fight. Wimpy!Rachel can see a plan for escape, but she needs Mean!Rachel to carry it out with her bravery.
Wimpy!Rachel morphs Hork Bajir and calls out to Visser Three, threatening to cut her own throat rather than be infested. The door quickly opens and fly!Mean!Rachel swoops towards Visser Three. From within his ear, fly!Mean!Rachel calls out to Visser Three saying that he must give them their freedom or she will begin to demorph in his head, killing them both. Visser Three flies into a rage but quickly agrees and walks them both out. He leaves in a huff, saying that next time he’ll just kill them.
Jake demorphs next to them. It turns out he had been stepped on, but had been able to crawl his way to Wimpy!Rachel and hide out on her for the journey out. He says that this experience was necessary for both Rachels to realize that they need each other. That Wimpy!Rachel has the ability to think ahead and plan, but Mean!Rachel has the bravery to act. Back in the barn they go forward with the process to merge the two back together. Standing with the hands on each others shoulders, they begin acquiring each other and then morphing one another while Erek jolts them with electricity. It works and the newly reformed but shaken Rachel looks to Tobias to move forward with the knowledge that she is made up of two extremes.
Xena, Warrior Princess: I hate almost everything about this book. The entire plot is ridiculous, but my main frustration comes down to the way that this book mangles Rachel’s character. What always made her one of my favorites was the complexity of her character. In her we have a beautiful blonde who both loves gymnastics and shopping but is also the strongest and most fierce of this entire team. And she is never shamed for her “girly” pursuits. Those aspects of herself are never portrayed as silly or worth nothing when held up against her more heroic aspects. She’s an excellent example of how to write a strong, female character without feeling the need to throw traditionally female aspects out the window.
But here, both parts of Rachel are portrayed in truly despicable ways. For Mean!Rachel, this side should have had her bravery, her recklessness, and yes, her ruthlessness, all tempered with a high sense of practicality. She is willing to make the tough calls when the tough calls are also the most practical call. She’ll set aside emotional moralizing for this, yes. But here, she’s simply violent and there is no direction to her violence. She is just as likely to want to kill her friends as the Yeerks. As we’ve seen in book after book, Rachel is the character who is the first one to jump to the aid of her friends at risk to herself. She would never, NEVER want to kill her friends, not matter how ruthless she becomes. And for all of this, the reasons she wants to kill her friends are for stupid, petty reasons. Again, two more traits that we never see driving the real Rachel.
And then Wimpy!Rachel. For some reason, throughout this entire cluster of a book, we have to listen to Wimpy!Rachel insert the word “like” into every sentence. Real Rachel never spoke like this, so what aspect of herself is this, other than just a poor attempt to make this version of Rachel sound stupid? Her love of shopping and the mall are also reduced to the most basic stereotypes. In past books, we’ve seen Rachel approach shopping as a challenge to be accepted and conquered. Here, there’s none of that, just silliness. Further, her boy-craziness is based in nothing more than even more horrible stereotypes about “girly girls.” Real Rachel never gave even the slightest hint at having boy craziness in any part of her.
Both versions of Rachel are terrible and neither reflects most of the parts of the real Rachel that makes her such an excellent, complicated character. This book does a terrible disservice to all of the character building that has gone into Rachel for the last 30 books and basically it can die in fire for that.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake is clearly at his wits end with both Rachels by the end of the book. He pretty much says they have to agree to try to join back together or he’ll turn them over to Visser Three (a pretty empty threat, however, given their knowledge of the group). He also implies that part of the final mission was to convince both Rachels that they needed the other to help them to agree to the process. I’m not so sure about this, as it seemed pretty hap-hazard that they ended up in a situation that conveniently forced them to rely on each others’ skill sets. It’s not like Jake really engineered that situation. Sure, it worked out well, but I’m sure it wasn’t part of the plan since, in the end, dealing with the Anti-Morphing Ray was a bigger priority, and they failed at that.
A Hawk’s Life: Poor Tobias. In the very beginning, Wimpy!Rachel just ditches him for shopping and then Mean!Rachel hunts and kill some animal in front of him. And then tries to strangle him later in the book! But it was interesting to see that Mean!Rachel continually referenced having respect for Tobias because he was also a predator. To analyze that more than it probably deserves, it’s an interesting clue into part of the reason these two are drawn to each other. They each recognize the need for violence and have to reconcile it with their more peaceful other halves. And, unlike Cassie or even Jake sometimes, both are a bit more at peace with this balance overall. It’s also nice that in the end, once Rachel is back to being herself, she immediately looks to Tobias for support and he immediately picks up on the reason: that he too is made up of two very distinct selves.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie has some good stuff in this book. She’s one of the first ones to notice that something is up with the version of Rachel she’s hanging out with. And then she’s the one to correctly analyze what portions of original!Rachel is in each version, giving Jake the hint that Wimpy!Rachel could be manipulated using her sense of duty. In the end of the book, she immediately asks Rachel is she’s ok and whether she wants to talk about her experience, another example of the solid friendship that these two have.
The Comic Relief: Marco is the other one who is sent to test Wimpy!Rachel to see what’s what. I think he was a bit more subtle about it than Cassie and was able to get some useful information out of Wimpy!Rachel regarding her inability to think quickly in the moment or have much short term memory. He also has quite a few good lines in this book.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Poor Ax has very, very little in this. I hardly remember if he even spoke. He was the one to come up with the plan for getting the two Rachels back into one, but, again, Erek was the one who really pulled it off, leaving not much for Ax to do. Was he even in this book??
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: I mean, the whole concept of the book really? Being split in half and morphing two of herself? It does bring up some interesting ideas about just how much of one’s body can be lobbed off before demoprhing is a problem. So far, it seems that as long as you’re living, the demorphing process naturally regenerates any lost limbs/body parts. So I’m not sure how the starfish part lines up with this. Best not to think about it too much.
Couples Watch!: This is like adding insult to injury. I always love the Rachel or Tobias books because of the two couples, they often have the most in their books and I prefer their romance to the wishy-washy version that Jake and Cassie have. But what do I get here?!?! Mean!Rachel literally trying to strangle Tobias to death! Great. Just what I want to see. It was interesting to see that Mean!Rachel was much more into Tobias than Wimpy!Rachel.
Adding fuel to my secondary ship, Wimpy!Rachel admitted to Cassie that she could be into Marco. Marco, of course, took full advantage of this, saying at one point that Mean!Rachel could go with Tobias, leaving Wimpy!Rachel to give it a go with him.
But then she has to go too far…
Jake was there. He’s my cousin. He’s cute. Kind of big. I mean, if we weren’t cousins. . ..
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: You’d think by now Visser Three would have finally, FINALLY, learned his lesson about trying to trap the Animorphs rather than just killing them when he gets a chance. But no, still too egotistical for all that, wanting to bring in more valuable hosts. I’ve said it before though, this plan also makes no sense for a Yeerk who revels in being the only one with a morph-capable body. He is selfish and self-centered enough to want to keep a distinction like that for himself. So why he’s still hesitating to take them out when he has the chance is beyond me. He makes a comment towards the end about next time just killing them. But sure, Visser Three, whatever you say. Empty words and all of that.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Again, another book during which I wept to remember the good books that came before and how far we have fallen to reach this point. There might have been some good stuff in there about Rachel’s seeming estrangement from her mother and need for her father, but there was too much other stupidness going on to even focus on that.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Their last plan to go forward with tracking down the Anti-Morphing Machine in the midst of the Rachel crisis was just a bad idea. Not only did they leave Mean!Rachel behind, knowing full well that she’d simply follow them and they’d have no idea what type of damage she could do (I mean, at this point she was out-right threatening the lives of several of the group, so it’s not out of the realms of imagination to think she could have taken a few of them out, especially when they were all split up covering different trucks). But beyond this, manipulating Wimpy!Rachel to do what was necessary was also a risky choice. We saw several times that Jake barely managed to get her to do what was needed as they went along and he was spending by far more time watching out for her than on the mission itself. All told, they were way too vulnerable and weakened to be attempting a mission like this, and in the end, they failed anyways. And it was STILL probably the most lucky outcome they could have hoped for.
Favorite Quote:
Rachel loses yet another arm in her grizzly morph:
“So you know what I do? I reach down, pick it up, and use it like a club to beat him over the head.” [Mean!Rachel said]
As they’re holding shoulders to start the merge process, finally a moment that sounds like the real Rachel either way:
“Do you, Dr. Jekyll, take Ms. Hyde, to have and to hold -”
“Shut up, Marco, you’re already on my list!” Mean Rachel snapped.
Scorecard: Yeerks 8, Animorphs 12
I’m going to give this one to the Yeerks. In all the Rachel craziness, the Animorphs failed to destroy the Anti-Morphing Machine, so that’s a pretty big hit. Plus, I feel bitter about this book and will unfairly take it out on my scoring.
Rating: The lowest of all ratings. Not only does nothing in this plot make sense with regards to how the starfish thing worked, or, worse, how getting put back together worked, but the character assassination that is done to Rachel is unforgivable. I always look forward to Rachel’s books, and in my mind, this doesn’t even count as a one since neither version of her that we’re given is even remotely familiar to the character we’ve spent 30+ books getting to know. I really have nothing good to say about this book. I had a very clear memory of hating it the first go around and reading it a second time has not changed things.
Plot:
Rachel is out on a field trip when she drops a piece of jewelry into the ocean. Of course, this means she must morph the starfish she spots. On her way back out, some rude little kid cuts her in half with a shovel (that kid needs to be hunted down, just like Mean!Rachel thought, but mostly it’s due to the fact that he’s the reason we had to be exposed to this book). From there the chapters alternate between Mean!Rachel and Nice!Rachel. Mean!Rachel meets up with Tobias to go flying, as she had planned. Tobias immediately thinks something is up when she hunts and eats some prey on their trip. Cassie, too, notices that something is up with Nice!Rachel on their trip to the mall. For one, she admits to having skipped out on Tobias, and for two, after getting into a bit of a spat with another customer, she flees the mall crying.
Back in the barn, Cassie lets the group know that something is up and Rachel isn’t acting normal. This is confirmed when Mean!Rachel strides in the door wanting to kick Yeerk butt. Both Rachels are horrified by the other, but through their pieced together story, the group realizes that happens. The starfish DNA somehow allowed Rachel to demorph into two separate people, splitting her personality between them. Before they can figure out what to do next, Erek shows up and announces that the Yeerks are testing a new Anti-Morphing Ray gun. Jake tells the two Rachels to go home and sit this one out.
At home, Mean!Rachel is having none of this and immediately sets off after the Animorphs. Once she finds them, she barrels into the situation with a truck, ramming through walls and getting in fights with Hork Bajir. In the madness, the group manages to escape, but the plan to get destroy the gun is ruined. Back home, Wimpy!Rachel doesn’t know what to do with herself, so she decides to call her dad for comfort. After a very confusing conversation, she arranges to meet with him at the airport the next day and confess everything to him. Mean!Rachel shows back up rather put-out by how “unappreciative” the team had been to her escapades and promptly kicks Wimpy!Rachel onto the floor to sleep.
The next day, Wimpy!Rachel goes to school where both Marco and Cassie test her to see if they can figure out more about what aspects of the original Rachel is in each half of her. Mean!Rachel, of course, doesn’t go to school, but does decide to morph fly and spy on the group when they meet up in the barn at the end of the day. Ax says that he may have a plan to put her together again, but that it could also kill her. Cassie is vehemently against this. But Marco points out that the current situation won’t work either, that Mean!Rachel is too psychotic to left running around. Mean!Rachel flies into a rage, demorphs, grabs Tobias and threatens to strangle him if the team doesn’t agree that she should now be the leader. Jake sidles up and punches her in the face followed by a quick smack from Ax’s tail blade that knocks her out. Wimpy!Rachel shows up in the midst of this and flies into crying hysterics.
After Mean!Rachel wakes up, she heads home. But she’s begun to realize strangeness in her own ability to think, that she can’t figure out what to do next or plan. In her room, she sees the note that Wimpy!Rachel left to remind herself to meet her dad at the airport. With a new mission, Mean!Rachel takes off after her. At the airport restaurant, Wimpy!Rachel tries to suss out whether her father is a Controller, but before she can tell him the whole truth, Mean!Rachel shows up and forces her to leave. Mean!Rachel takes her place and is quite rude the her dad and the staff. She starts a food fight to prevent Wimpy!Rachel from showing up to ruin things and her dad finally has to leave for his next flight.
Back in the barn, the team meets up once again. They still need to deal with the Anti-Morphing Ray. The Yeerks are now up on the game that the Animorphs know of their plans (what with Mean!Rachel’s display the other day), so they have arranged for three trucks to transport the ray which means the team needs to split up. Cassie tells Wimpy!Rachel that they need her to come. Mean!Rachel demorphs and insists on coming along. During these exchanges, it’s made clear that the team doesn’t trust either of them and had been following them when they went to the airport. Ax once again knocks out Mean!Rachel to stop her from coming. And Jake invokes Wimpy!Rachel’s sense of duty to get her to come along, pairing her with himself so he can keep an eye on her.
During the mission, Jake has to continuously threaten and bride Wimpy!Rachel through every morph she has to make since she’s too scared to do most anything. After an “exciting” car chase, Jake and Rachel morph roaches as the truck they’re riding enters a building. They are quickly gassed, however, and knocked out. It turns out that Mean!Rachel woke quite quickly and morphed owl. She then followed the group, specifically her twin and Jake, and ends up in the same building.
Wimpy!Rachel and Jake end up captured. While Jake tries valiantly to keep Wimpy!Rachel calm, she ends up breaking and calling out to the Yeerks that she’ll do anything to be let go. In the mean time, Mean!Rachel had morphed Hork Bajir and casually marched into the room where Jake and her twin were being held. She attacks the Hork Bajir around her, but as she takes them down, the wall slides open and she sees even more Hork Bajir outside the room and Visser Three among them. After the remaining Controllers retreat, Visser Three orders the door to slam and turns on a machine that begins moving the walls and ceiling slowly down, taunting them that they must give themselves up or be crushed.
The boxes that Wimpy!Rachel and Jake had been in were crushed during the madness, so once free, she quickly demorphs. She doesn’t see Jake and Mean!Rachel casually comments that she may have stepped on him during the fight. Wimpy!Rachel can see a plan for escape, but she needs Mean!Rachel to carry it out with her bravery.
Wimpy!Rachel morphs Hork Bajir and calls out to Visser Three, threatening to cut her own throat rather than be infested. The door quickly opens and fly!Mean!Rachel swoops towards Visser Three. From within his ear, fly!Mean!Rachel calls out to Visser Three saying that he must give them their freedom or she will begin to demorph in his head, killing them both. Visser Three flies into a rage but quickly agrees and walks them both out. He leaves in a huff, saying that next time he’ll just kill them.
Jake demorphs next to them. It turns out he had been stepped on, but had been able to crawl his way to Wimpy!Rachel and hide out on her for the journey out. He says that this experience was necessary for both Rachels to realize that they need each other. That Wimpy!Rachel has the ability to think ahead and plan, but Mean!Rachel has the bravery to act. Back in the barn they go forward with the process to merge the two back together. Standing with the hands on each others shoulders, they begin acquiring each other and then morphing one another while Erek jolts them with electricity. It works and the newly reformed but shaken Rachel looks to Tobias to move forward with the knowledge that she is made up of two extremes.
Xena, Warrior Princess: I hate almost everything about this book. The entire plot is ridiculous, but my main frustration comes down to the way that this book mangles Rachel’s character. What always made her one of my favorites was the complexity of her character. In her we have a beautiful blonde who both loves gymnastics and shopping but is also the strongest and most fierce of this entire team. And she is never shamed for her “girly” pursuits. Those aspects of herself are never portrayed as silly or worth nothing when held up against her more heroic aspects. She’s an excellent example of how to write a strong, female character without feeling the need to throw traditionally female aspects out the window.
But here, both parts of Rachel are portrayed in truly despicable ways. For Mean!Rachel, this side should have had her bravery, her recklessness, and yes, her ruthlessness, all tempered with a high sense of practicality. She is willing to make the tough calls when the tough calls are also the most practical call. She’ll set aside emotional moralizing for this, yes. But here, she’s simply violent and there is no direction to her violence. She is just as likely to want to kill her friends as the Yeerks. As we’ve seen in book after book, Rachel is the character who is the first one to jump to the aid of her friends at risk to herself. She would never, NEVER want to kill her friends, not matter how ruthless she becomes. And for all of this, the reasons she wants to kill her friends are for stupid, petty reasons. Again, two more traits that we never see driving the real Rachel.
And then Wimpy!Rachel. For some reason, throughout this entire cluster of a book, we have to listen to Wimpy!Rachel insert the word “like” into every sentence. Real Rachel never spoke like this, so what aspect of herself is this, other than just a poor attempt to make this version of Rachel sound stupid? Her love of shopping and the mall are also reduced to the most basic stereotypes. In past books, we’ve seen Rachel approach shopping as a challenge to be accepted and conquered. Here, there’s none of that, just silliness. Further, her boy-craziness is based in nothing more than even more horrible stereotypes about “girly girls.” Real Rachel never gave even the slightest hint at having boy craziness in any part of her.
Both versions of Rachel are terrible and neither reflects most of the parts of the real Rachel that makes her such an excellent, complicated character. This book does a terrible disservice to all of the character building that has gone into Rachel for the last 30 books and basically it can die in fire for that.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake is clearly at his wits end with both Rachels by the end of the book. He pretty much says they have to agree to try to join back together or he’ll turn them over to Visser Three (a pretty empty threat, however, given their knowledge of the group). He also implies that part of the final mission was to convince both Rachels that they needed the other to help them to agree to the process. I’m not so sure about this, as it seemed pretty hap-hazard that they ended up in a situation that conveniently forced them to rely on each others’ skill sets. It’s not like Jake really engineered that situation. Sure, it worked out well, but I’m sure it wasn’t part of the plan since, in the end, dealing with the Anti-Morphing Ray was a bigger priority, and they failed at that.
A Hawk’s Life: Poor Tobias. In the very beginning, Wimpy!Rachel just ditches him for shopping and then Mean!Rachel hunts and kill some animal in front of him. And then tries to strangle him later in the book! But it was interesting to see that Mean!Rachel continually referenced having respect for Tobias because he was also a predator. To analyze that more than it probably deserves, it’s an interesting clue into part of the reason these two are drawn to each other. They each recognize the need for violence and have to reconcile it with their more peaceful other halves. And, unlike Cassie or even Jake sometimes, both are a bit more at peace with this balance overall. It’s also nice that in the end, once Rachel is back to being herself, she immediately looks to Tobias for support and he immediately picks up on the reason: that he too is made up of two very distinct selves.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie has some good stuff in this book. She’s one of the first ones to notice that something is up with the version of Rachel she’s hanging out with. And then she’s the one to correctly analyze what portions of original!Rachel is in each version, giving Jake the hint that Wimpy!Rachel could be manipulated using her sense of duty. In the end of the book, she immediately asks Rachel is she’s ok and whether she wants to talk about her experience, another example of the solid friendship that these two have.
The Comic Relief: Marco is the other one who is sent to test Wimpy!Rachel to see what’s what. I think he was a bit more subtle about it than Cassie and was able to get some useful information out of Wimpy!Rachel regarding her inability to think quickly in the moment or have much short term memory. He also has quite a few good lines in this book.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Poor Ax has very, very little in this. I hardly remember if he even spoke. He was the one to come up with the plan for getting the two Rachels back into one, but, again, Erek was the one who really pulled it off, leaving not much for Ax to do. Was he even in this book??
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: I mean, the whole concept of the book really? Being split in half and morphing two of herself? It does bring up some interesting ideas about just how much of one’s body can be lobbed off before demoprhing is a problem. So far, it seems that as long as you’re living, the demorphing process naturally regenerates any lost limbs/body parts. So I’m not sure how the starfish part lines up with this. Best not to think about it too much.
Couples Watch!: This is like adding insult to injury. I always love the Rachel or Tobias books because of the two couples, they often have the most in their books and I prefer their romance to the wishy-washy version that Jake and Cassie have. But what do I get here?!?! Mean!Rachel literally trying to strangle Tobias to death! Great. Just what I want to see. It was interesting to see that Mean!Rachel was much more into Tobias than Wimpy!Rachel.
Adding fuel to my secondary ship, Wimpy!Rachel admitted to Cassie that she could be into Marco. Marco, of course, took full advantage of this, saying at one point that Mean!Rachel could go with Tobias, leaving Wimpy!Rachel to give it a go with him.
But then she has to go too far…
Jake was there. He’s my cousin. He’s cute. Kind of big. I mean, if we weren’t cousins. . ..
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: You’d think by now Visser Three would have finally, FINALLY, learned his lesson about trying to trap the Animorphs rather than just killing them when he gets a chance. But no, still too egotistical for all that, wanting to bring in more valuable hosts. I’ve said it before though, this plan also makes no sense for a Yeerk who revels in being the only one with a morph-capable body. He is selfish and self-centered enough to want to keep a distinction like that for himself. So why he’s still hesitating to take them out when he has the chance is beyond me. He makes a comment towards the end about next time just killing them. But sure, Visser Three, whatever you say. Empty words and all of that.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Again, another book during which I wept to remember the good books that came before and how far we have fallen to reach this point. There might have been some good stuff in there about Rachel’s seeming estrangement from her mother and need for her father, but there was too much other stupidness going on to even focus on that.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Their last plan to go forward with tracking down the Anti-Morphing Machine in the midst of the Rachel crisis was just a bad idea. Not only did they leave Mean!Rachel behind, knowing full well that she’d simply follow them and they’d have no idea what type of damage she could do (I mean, at this point she was out-right threatening the lives of several of the group, so it’s not out of the realms of imagination to think she could have taken a few of them out, especially when they were all split up covering different trucks). But beyond this, manipulating Wimpy!Rachel to do what was necessary was also a risky choice. We saw several times that Jake barely managed to get her to do what was needed as they went along and he was spending by far more time watching out for her than on the mission itself. All told, they were way too vulnerable and weakened to be attempting a mission like this, and in the end, they failed anyways. And it was STILL probably the most lucky outcome they could have hoped for.
Favorite Quote:
Rachel loses yet another arm in her grizzly morph:
“So you know what I do? I reach down, pick it up, and use it like a club to beat him over the head.” [Mean!Rachel said]
As they’re holding shoulders to start the merge process, finally a moment that sounds like the real Rachel either way:
“Do you, Dr. Jekyll, take Ms. Hyde, to have and to hold -”
“Shut up, Marco, you’re already on my list!” Mean Rachel snapped.
Scorecard: Yeerks 8, Animorphs 12
I’m going to give this one to the Yeerks. In all the Rachel craziness, the Animorphs failed to destroy the Anti-Morphing Machine, so that’s a pretty big hit. Plus, I feel bitter about this book and will unfairly take it out on my scoring.
Rating: The lowest of all ratings. Not only does nothing in this plot make sense with regards to how the starfish thing worked, or, worse, how getting put back together worked, but the character assassination that is done to Rachel is unforgivable. I always look forward to Rachel’s books, and in my mind, this doesn’t even count as a one since neither version of her that we’re given is even remotely familiar to the character we’ve spent 30+ books getting to know. I really have nothing good to say about this book. I had a very clear memory of hating it the first go around and reading it a second time has not changed things.
January 22, 2022
Come check out my 4 hour 35 minute deep dive into reading every single Animorphs book for the first time on YouTube. I recap and review all of the books from the main series: https://youtu.be/H8kUM2q3CIU
April 13, 2024
Glad we can publicly acknowledge that Rachel and Tobias both had dual personalities
January 1, 2023
This one is such a wild ride.
May 25, 2025
In this book, Rachel’s personality gets split in half. As does she -- literally. She morphs a starfish, gets cut in half, and when she demorphs, there are two of her: the two opposite sides of her personality. It’s a strange way to go about continuing to explore the inner dilemmas that she has been going through recently (especially given just how extreme the two halves are in voice and personality), but it ends up being pretty effective in its own way. When she’s whole, we see her acknowledge the parts of her that are scared, or dark, or bloodthirsty, but she shies away from getting too analytical about it. Now that she’s split in two, each half has the opportunity to come straight out and analyze what it is about the other half which is scary or scared, courageous or dutiful, mean or nice. Kind of shoving the proof in the reader's face...but sometimes that has to be done so that hurdle can be overcome, and the next big character development can take place.
On top of that, she has to “keep it together” if she wants to help with a mission to destroy the Yeerk’s latest invention, the Anti-Morphing Ray – or risk jeopardizing the mission and all of the Animorphs. As if having an opposite duplicate was not enough trouble.
Most of my chosen quotes below are humorous – I mean, with Rachel split in two, Marco has double the opportunity to crack a joke… if Ax is willing to protect him from Mean Rachel, that is.
Without my other half, what was I?
Fortunately, we are not powerless. The Yeerks aren’t the only aliens with an interest in Earth. There are Andalites as well. Night and day. Evil and not evil.
The Andalites may not all be saints, but one of them, a warrior named Elfangor, gave us the Andalite technology that allows us to morph. – page 3 – I wonder if Rachel is thinking of the Andalite betrayer on planet Leera? Or, remembering what Jake made Ax do in the last book?
I do plenty of leaping. Usually there’s screaming and bleeding involved. And there’s hurting: yourself and others. And afterward there are the nightmares. – page 4 – A frank synopsis of what they deal with each day, and night.
I was an eagle being an eagle. Pure raptor! Pure rapture! – page 20 – I just like the sound of it, like Mean Rachel did :)
[After “Nice Rachel” runs away crying from a bully at the mall]
I just like, sat there, all collapsed, trying to get hold of myself.
Cassie came running up. She’s my best friend. So I knew she’d talk to me and be nice and make me feel better.
I looked up at her through blurry tears.
She stood with hands on hips and a shocked expression on her face and looked down at me.
“Okay,” she said, “what have you done with Rachel?” – page 25 – I’m glad Cassie caught on quick, but I’m also still kind of surprised that it seems to have taken as long as it did…
[Nice Rachel]
Jake was there. He’s my cousin. He’s cute. Kind of big. I mean, if we weren’t cousins…
And Marco was there, too. He’s cute, too, in a different way. I would probably go out with him if he asked me.
And Tobias, of course. He was up in the rafters fluffing up his wings. He’s cute when he’s human. – page 32 – Rachel and Marco do have quite a bit in common and banter very well together. But Tobias and Rachel are just perfect together, in my honest opinion.
[Marco said,] “No. No. The sun does not rise in the west, the Chicago Cubs don’t win the World Series, Scully never, ever believes Mulder, and Rachel does not cry. These are the things I know.” – page 33
[Mean Rachel] rapped my skull with her knuckles. “Hey! Hey! You awake in there? I asked you a question. Who are you? And what are you doing with my body?”
Marco fidgeted. “Um, I have a body joke here, but I can’t tell it unless Ax promises to protect me.” – page 38
“To the Yeerk pool!” Mean Rachel crowed. “Let’s get some flamethrowers!”
“I gotta stop hanging around with you people,” Erek said. “You people are just plain strange.” – page 40 – I like how Erek is often the voice of “reason” around the Animorphs. He’s the one that calls it like it is, in a way.
[Cassie finished,] “the starfish’s regenerative powers created the possibility of two separate Rachels. One in each half.”
/But, somehow the two halves were unequal, subtly different,/ Ax said. /This is a very interesting phenomenon./ -- page 46 – Ax, I hate to break it to you, but there is nothing “subtle” about their differences. Though definitely unequal!
“Are you… are you talking to yourself in there?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” Mean Rachel yelled.
“No,” came the muffled response. “I just like to keep track of your level of insanity.” – page 48 – Ah, sisterly love.
[Nice Rachel]
I was trapped in a nightmare. […]
Secrets! Nothing but secrets!
Nightmares and horrors!
And the worst horror of all was seeing what had grown inside of me like some kind of cancerous tumor. Mean Rachel was getting stronger with each passing month of my life as an Animorph. Pretty soon she would have become all of me and there’d have been nothing left of me!
It had to end! I didn’t care if the strong survived and the weak perished, I wanted to survive anyway! – page 50-51
[Mean Rachel] It was a scene of perfect beauty. Blood slicked the concrete. Taxxon guts lay in steaming piles. There were bellows and cries of pain.
Battle! Desperate and deadly!
I almost cried at the sheer loveliness of it.
Then I plowed in. – page 70 – Possibly one of the clearest examples illustrating that very part of herself that Rachel fears the most. The one that loves the battle for the battle itself, the fighting for the bloodiness of it.
[Mean Rachel spying] “I have to go,” Erek said.
“Erek” – it was Cassie – “is something bothering you?”
The android hesitated. “No.” Then, “Yeah, I guess so. It’s stupid, really, but it’s like I’m jealous.”
“Of who?” Cassie pressed.
“Of Rachel. The nice one. She’s done it, hasn’t she? She’s found the way to fight a war and suffer none of the pain. She takes all the evil insider her and sends it off on its own to do… to do what has to be done. I guess there are times I wish… well, forget it.” – page 84 – I think Erek is very relatable here. There are times when we wish we could do something without feeling the repercussions/consequences of it.
[Nice Rachel] I was crying. Face in my hands, crying.
She’s not me! She’s not me!” I wailed. “She was never in me!”
But I knew the truth. My memories were all intact. I knew that this Rachel, this tortured, wild, vicious thing had been a part of me.
She had made me brave. She had made me strong.
Poor, sick, twisted thing, she had made me… me. – page 92 – Message to kids/readers: it is every aspect of ourselves, good and bad, brave and fearful, which make us, us. Without one part, we are not the whole person we should or could be.
[After it has been decided that the Chee will cover for the Animorphs for this mission]
Marco groaned. “I hate it when we do that. The Chee who plays me always cleans my room. I can never find anything!” – page 112 – That answers that question, haha!
On top of that, she has to “keep it together” if she wants to help with a mission to destroy the Yeerk’s latest invention, the Anti-Morphing Ray – or risk jeopardizing the mission and all of the Animorphs. As if having an opposite duplicate was not enough trouble.
Most of my chosen quotes below are humorous – I mean, with Rachel split in two, Marco has double the opportunity to crack a joke… if Ax is willing to protect him from Mean Rachel, that is.
Without my other half, what was I?
Fortunately, we are not powerless. The Yeerks aren’t the only aliens with an interest in Earth. There are Andalites as well. Night and day. Evil and not evil.
The Andalites may not all be saints, but one of them, a warrior named Elfangor, gave us the Andalite technology that allows us to morph. – page 3 – I wonder if Rachel is thinking of the Andalite betrayer on planet Leera? Or, remembering what Jake made Ax do in the last book?
I do plenty of leaping. Usually there’s screaming and bleeding involved. And there’s hurting: yourself and others. And afterward there are the nightmares. – page 4 – A frank synopsis of what they deal with each day, and night.
I was an eagle being an eagle. Pure raptor! Pure rapture! – page 20 – I just like the sound of it, like Mean Rachel did :)
[After “Nice Rachel” runs away crying from a bully at the mall]
I just like, sat there, all collapsed, trying to get hold of myself.
Cassie came running up. She’s my best friend. So I knew she’d talk to me and be nice and make me feel better.
I looked up at her through blurry tears.
She stood with hands on hips and a shocked expression on her face and looked down at me.
“Okay,” she said, “what have you done with Rachel?” – page 25 – I’m glad Cassie caught on quick, but I’m also still kind of surprised that it seems to have taken as long as it did…
[Nice Rachel]
Jake was there. He’s my cousin. He’s cute. Kind of big. I mean, if we weren’t cousins…
And Marco was there, too. He’s cute, too, in a different way. I would probably go out with him if he asked me.
And Tobias, of course. He was up in the rafters fluffing up his wings. He’s cute when he’s human. – page 32 – Rachel and Marco do have quite a bit in common and banter very well together. But Tobias and Rachel are just perfect together, in my honest opinion.
[Marco said,] “No. No. The sun does not rise in the west, the Chicago Cubs don’t win the World Series, Scully never, ever believes Mulder, and Rachel does not cry. These are the things I know.” – page 33
[Mean Rachel] rapped my skull with her knuckles. “Hey! Hey! You awake in there? I asked you a question. Who are you? And what are you doing with my body?”
Marco fidgeted. “Um, I have a body joke here, but I can’t tell it unless Ax promises to protect me.” – page 38
“To the Yeerk pool!” Mean Rachel crowed. “Let’s get some flamethrowers!”
“I gotta stop hanging around with you people,” Erek said. “You people are just plain strange.” – page 40 – I like how Erek is often the voice of “reason” around the Animorphs. He’s the one that calls it like it is, in a way.
[Cassie finished,] “the starfish’s regenerative powers created the possibility of two separate Rachels. One in each half.”
/But, somehow the two halves were unequal, subtly different,/ Ax said. /This is a very interesting phenomenon./ -- page 46 – Ax, I hate to break it to you, but there is nothing “subtle” about their differences. Though definitely unequal!
“Are you… are you talking to yourself in there?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” Mean Rachel yelled.
“No,” came the muffled response. “I just like to keep track of your level of insanity.” – page 48 – Ah, sisterly love.
[Nice Rachel]
I was trapped in a nightmare. […]
Secrets! Nothing but secrets!
Nightmares and horrors!
And the worst horror of all was seeing what had grown inside of me like some kind of cancerous tumor. Mean Rachel was getting stronger with each passing month of my life as an Animorph. Pretty soon she would have become all of me and there’d have been nothing left of me!
It had to end! I didn’t care if the strong survived and the weak perished, I wanted to survive anyway! – page 50-51
[Mean Rachel] It was a scene of perfect beauty. Blood slicked the concrete. Taxxon guts lay in steaming piles. There were bellows and cries of pain.
Battle! Desperate and deadly!
I almost cried at the sheer loveliness of it.
Then I plowed in. – page 70 – Possibly one of the clearest examples illustrating that very part of herself that Rachel fears the most. The one that loves the battle for the battle itself, the fighting for the bloodiness of it.
[Mean Rachel spying] “I have to go,” Erek said.
“Erek” – it was Cassie – “is something bothering you?”
The android hesitated. “No.” Then, “Yeah, I guess so. It’s stupid, really, but it’s like I’m jealous.”
“Of who?” Cassie pressed.
“Of Rachel. The nice one. She’s done it, hasn’t she? She’s found the way to fight a war and suffer none of the pain. She takes all the evil insider her and sends it off on its own to do… to do what has to be done. I guess there are times I wish… well, forget it.” – page 84 – I think Erek is very relatable here. There are times when we wish we could do something without feeling the repercussions/consequences of it.
[Nice Rachel] I was crying. Face in my hands, crying.
She’s not me! She’s not me!” I wailed. “She was never in me!”
But I knew the truth. My memories were all intact. I knew that this Rachel, this tortured, wild, vicious thing had been a part of me.
She had made me brave. She had made me strong.
Poor, sick, twisted thing, she had made me… me. – page 92 – Message to kids/readers: it is every aspect of ourselves, good and bad, brave and fearful, which make us, us. Without one part, we are not the whole person we should or could be.
[After it has been decided that the Chee will cover for the Animorphs for this mission]
Marco groaned. “I hate it when we do that. The Chee who plays me always cleans my room. I can never find anything!” – page 112 – That answers that question, haha!
May 14, 2022
Oh Rachel. Violent, rampaging Rachel.
Well…Rachels, I guess.
In this disorienting installment, Rachel is quite literally split into two versions of herself—“Nice Rachel” and “Mean Rachel”— after accidentally being torn in half as a starfish and rushing to morph back into her original body.
In this genuinely horrifying adventure of two Rachels, Rachel’s intense self-hatred is pushed to the forefront. She’s simultaneously terrified of the violent and “Mean Rachel” side of her killing off “Nice Rachel”, especially because she knows “Mean Rachel” would follow through without hesitation if “Nice Rachel” proves to be too annoying or inconvenient. With Rachel’s two extremes made separate, we see her desires for normalcy and being a people-pleaser clash with the joy violence, murder, and battle bring her. We see the reliability in her commitment to winning this war but by any means necessary and with excessive cruelty. We see the sweetness in her desire for love and the mundane but at the cost of being cowardly to the point of completely shutting down when presented with simple tasks like being in the dark.
It’s a disturbing struggle for balance between two truths that can’t healthily coexist but have been for over 30 books.
“She's not me! She's not me!" I wailed. "She was never in me!"
But I knew the truth. My memories were all intact. I knew that this Rachel, this tortured, wild, vicious thing had been a part of me.
She had made me brave. She had made me strong.
Poor, sick, twisted thing, she had made me . . . me.”
CW: war, slavery, violence, murder, death, brief use of ableist language
Well…Rachels, I guess.
In this disorienting installment, Rachel is quite literally split into two versions of herself—“Nice Rachel” and “Mean Rachel”— after accidentally being torn in half as a starfish and rushing to morph back into her original body.
In this genuinely horrifying adventure of two Rachels, Rachel’s intense self-hatred is pushed to the forefront. She’s simultaneously terrified of the violent and “Mean Rachel” side of her killing off “Nice Rachel”, especially because she knows “Mean Rachel” would follow through without hesitation if “Nice Rachel” proves to be too annoying or inconvenient. With Rachel’s two extremes made separate, we see her desires for normalcy and being a people-pleaser clash with the joy violence, murder, and battle bring her. We see the reliability in her commitment to winning this war but by any means necessary and with excessive cruelty. We see the sweetness in her desire for love and the mundane but at the cost of being cowardly to the point of completely shutting down when presented with simple tasks like being in the dark.
It’s a disturbing struggle for balance between two truths that can’t healthily coexist but have been for over 30 books.
“She's not me! She's not me!" I wailed. "She was never in me!"
But I knew the truth. My memories were all intact. I knew that this Rachel, this tortured, wild, vicious thing had been a part of me.
She had made me brave. She had made me strong.
Poor, sick, twisted thing, she had made me . . . me.”
CW: war, slavery, violence, murder, death, brief use of ableist language
August 24, 2024
*** 2.79 ***
Two vapid Rachels..
Two vapid Rachels..
July 25, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
Rachel morphs a sea star and gets cut in half. In the resulting demorph she ends up as two different Rachels: identical, but as far apart in personality as you can get. One is a reckless psychopath with no competency for long-term thinking: the other is a gentle wuss terrified by morphing but with a strong sense of duty.
The problem is, Psycopath Rachel can’t be trusted. She’s a loose cannon. Wuss Rachel is terrified of morphing. She also can’t be trusted. The Animorphs need to figure out a way to get their old Rachel back, the Rachel that has both of them, the mean Rachel and the nice Rachel inside of her, and knows how to use both of them.
To add in on all of this the Animorphs have a major mission coming up: finding a way to stop the Anti-Morphing Ray. Yeah, that’s a thing. It means is the Animorphs were ever captured, the Yeerks would find out they are human, and bye-bye Animorphs families, hello world domination.
Applegate came back to her long-running series specifically to write this book. She wouldn’t let the ghost writers touch it. It’s evident why: the story of twin Rachels needs someone who knows Rachel inside out to write it. The book is told from both points of view and it’s really scary being in both of their heads. Wuss Rachel is a ditz who thinks about boys and shopping and narrates in Valleyspeak, whereas Psychopath Rachel is constantly contemplating murder and all sorts of gore.
Yes, there are some funny moments – particularly when Marco makes a joke about now there’s two Rachels, Tobias can have and he can have the other. It’s not smart to make jokes around the mean one, though. Mostly the book is a fantastic character study into Rachel, the parts that make her up. The warrior goddess and the mallrat. It’s beautiful watching them come to realise that they need each other.
If you like Rachel, you’ll want to read this next step in her journey. This book also sets up the main plot in the next book, which is one of the best in the series. It also ends with the best ever quote:
"Thanks, Cassie," I whispered. "But... Tobias?"
[Yeah. Let's go, Rachel,] he said. [The two of you and the two of me. Let's go.]
December 7, 2024
For some reason I forgot that I've read this many years ago. Just because it passed my timeline - I think one of my friends recently read it - I was intrigued (again) and decided to reread. Since everand only has audiobooks version of Animorphs, I tried to listen to this one. The narrator did a good job with both Rachels though the story is a bit meh. Still, glad to be back in this world. Strange that I am currently reading three series with alien invasion as a theme. The other two are a bit dreary so I need something lighter.
May 4, 2025
this one was published the month I was born!
May 15, 2023
I'm, like, really struggling to finish this book! It's so hard! There's, like, way too many "likes". And super short, like, sentences! And exclamation points! Everywhere! For no reason!
Honestly, this one is so incredibly badly written that I'll just skim it for the plot. I'm not sure why Rachel is written like this, I don't think it's ever implied she's an airhead (in fact we're repeatedly told through the series that she's not). If this had been the first one I'd read, I never would have picked up the series at all. Booooooo.
Honestly, this one is so incredibly badly written that I'll just skim it for the plot. I'm not sure why Rachel is written like this, I don't think it's ever implied she's an airhead (in fact we're repeatedly told through the series that she's not). If this had been the first one I'd read, I never would have picked up the series at all. Booooooo.
March 15, 2023
A very interesting but overall not as enjoyable read as the last few books. Whilst Rachel is one of my favourite characters she definitely has the least interesting character development and this book basically doesn't add much new to her character. However, the concept was pretty cool and it will be interesting to see how the other characters treat her after this. Also the incest is back and better than ever and Rachel makes some very creepy comments about all the boys in the group so watch out.
November 18, 2021
"I had like, goose bumps?"
"I used to read those books"
This week we're back to Rachael and to Applegate...sort of. Remember back in The Reunion, where it was stated Applegate had to replace a ghostwriter who botched that one? Same deal, only this time she just did it herself. Thus, this is her last time in the main series until the very end. It's funny how that worked out, this one of all books is one she felt the need to re-write herself. It's interesting as the writing ends up feeling different due to the...unique gimmick. And it has a lot of the vocab stuff that Laura Weiss usually brings. Yep, had to turn to google a few times here.
Our plot this time is that Rachael works starfish to get to an earring she lost, and she gets split in half. Upon re-morphing, her human self gets split between Mean Rachael (her rough side that never thinks and is ultra violent) and Nice Rachael (her soft side that can think but is a big wimp). This is bad as currently they heard the Yeerks have made a thing that they wanna find more about, Hilarity ensues.
This book is nuts...and I kinda like it. It's in the same camp as other wild filler books like The Reaction where yes, it is weird and pointless, but the unique situation gives it an edge. I liked this a bit more than some of those just for how much it went there. I tend to enjoy these kinda plots so I was more likely to get into it anyway.
The plot is mainly junk, the entire concept is kinda dumb and the resolution is wonky too. It's as good of a way out as any but it is rushed and the ending is super abrupt, with no time to process what the hell just happend. The Yeerk plot actually does factor into the next book, but here we just know it's a thing and that's it. While it would be better to not bring it up until the next book, it was neat to set it up here. That and the plot is junky enough without a junky Yeerk plot to go with it, may as well may it simple and setup for it being bigger next time.
Anyway, the highlight is Mean Rachael. She's so over the top with how she wants to kill anything and anyone. It's kind of amazing, I was really enjoying all that. Nice Rachel is more annoying due to doing that thing where like, says, like, all the like, time. That does become less of an issue later on, as we get to have more fun with her wimpy-ness and such.
We get a lot of wild lines and moments, some of which I shared over on Twitter. It's so off the rails that it becomes pretty fun for me. There are some intense moments near the end with both Rachels getting involved in the climax. Although some of the action can be a bit too chaotic.
There actually is some mild character stuff here, just in a basic way. Erik gets one interesting moment regarding his nature and of course Rachel learns a lesson in how she needs both sides of herself. Nice Rachel is needed for planning while Mean Rachel is needed for courage, having too much of either can be messy. A basic lesson but it's there. I just wish it had more of a set up. We don't have, say Rachel thinking of her sides and how she wants more or less of one of them. We had her thinking about her nature a few times, it would fit.
As it is, this one is bulk wild. It's not exactly liked, like most of the type of entries tend to be, but I enjoyed it. It's kinda junky but it has some value with some attempt at a lesson but really I just enjoy how off the wall it is. It has some annoying moments but the concept is mostly fun and wild. It's pretty unhinged but I mostly enjoyed it for that.
And yep. that quote up there is real. Besides being amazing, Goosebumps existing in the Animorphs opens up questions, as that means Scholastic exists. This could mean my theory of the Gooseverse and the ....Aniverse? coexisting is wrong but hey, recursive canon is a thing.
Anyway, next time is another Tobias book. I know it's an important one so hopefully it's less off the wall than this was. See ya then.
"I used to read those books"
This week we're back to Rachael and to Applegate...sort of. Remember back in The Reunion, where it was stated Applegate had to replace a ghostwriter who botched that one? Same deal, only this time she just did it herself. Thus, this is her last time in the main series until the very end. It's funny how that worked out, this one of all books is one she felt the need to re-write herself. It's interesting as the writing ends up feeling different due to the...unique gimmick. And it has a lot of the vocab stuff that Laura Weiss usually brings. Yep, had to turn to google a few times here.
Our plot this time is that Rachael works starfish to get to an earring she lost, and she gets split in half. Upon re-morphing, her human self gets split between Mean Rachael (her rough side that never thinks and is ultra violent) and Nice Rachael (her soft side that can think but is a big wimp). This is bad as currently they heard the Yeerks have made a thing that they wanna find more about, Hilarity ensues.
This book is nuts...and I kinda like it. It's in the same camp as other wild filler books like The Reaction where yes, it is weird and pointless, but the unique situation gives it an edge. I liked this a bit more than some of those just for how much it went there. I tend to enjoy these kinda plots so I was more likely to get into it anyway.
The plot is mainly junk, the entire concept is kinda dumb and the resolution is wonky too. It's as good of a way out as any but it is rushed and the ending is super abrupt, with no time to process what the hell just happend. The Yeerk plot actually does factor into the next book, but here we just know it's a thing and that's it. While it would be better to not bring it up until the next book, it was neat to set it up here. That and the plot is junky enough without a junky Yeerk plot to go with it, may as well may it simple and setup for it being bigger next time.
Anyway, the highlight is Mean Rachael. She's so over the top with how she wants to kill anything and anyone. It's kind of amazing, I was really enjoying all that. Nice Rachel is more annoying due to doing that thing where like, says, like, all the like, time. That does become less of an issue later on, as we get to have more fun with her wimpy-ness and such.
We get a lot of wild lines and moments, some of which I shared over on Twitter. It's so off the rails that it becomes pretty fun for me. There are some intense moments near the end with both Rachels getting involved in the climax. Although some of the action can be a bit too chaotic.
There actually is some mild character stuff here, just in a basic way. Erik gets one interesting moment regarding his nature and of course Rachel learns a lesson in how she needs both sides of herself. Nice Rachel is needed for planning while Mean Rachel is needed for courage, having too much of either can be messy. A basic lesson but it's there. I just wish it had more of a set up. We don't have, say Rachel thinking of her sides and how she wants more or less of one of them. We had her thinking about her nature a few times, it would fit.
As it is, this one is bulk wild. It's not exactly liked, like most of the type of entries tend to be, but I enjoyed it. It's kinda junky but it has some value with some attempt at a lesson but really I just enjoy how off the wall it is. It has some annoying moments but the concept is mostly fun and wild. It's pretty unhinged but I mostly enjoyed it for that.
And yep. that quote up there is real. Besides being amazing, Goosebumps existing in the Animorphs opens up questions, as that means Scholastic exists. This could mean my theory of the Gooseverse and the ....Aniverse? coexisting is wrong but hey, recursive canon is a thing.
Anyway, next time is another Tobias book. I know it's an important one so hopefully it's less off the wall than this was. See ya then.
March 10, 2019
Again it was time for a humorous book, and again I don't like it. This is as tiresome as possible and as predictable as the premise suggests. Both Rachels make for awful PoV characters, and "Nice" Rachel is particularly poor commentary on her personality; feminine/hesitant/emotional/uptalk/long term planning/duty isn't a logical set of characteristics, as "Nice" or really as Rachel--up until now, her fears have revolved around herself, not her situation, and while I'd like to investigate lost pretty/popular persona this does a shallow job of it. There's potential in the premise, but most of it is alluded to in the quote below and isn't present in this book.
I used to look forward to it. The fighting. The missions.
And yet, when I thought back on it now, it wasn't all Mean Rachel. I was there, too. I'd been scared. It wasn't that I wasn't scared. It was just that Mean Rachel had gotten us past it. She'd made us brave, with a mixture of courage and recklessness and desperation and insecurity.
And there had been insanity, too. Something down deep inside that was dark and hard and cruel.
I wondered about the others, my friends. If they had been split like this, what would they have become? Did Jake have a Mean Jake inside him? Oh, yes. Definitely. And Ax. Neither of them might be as wild or out of control, but they had that same core of darkness.
Cassie? No. Or at least a split-screen Cassie would be this huge portion of nice and this tiny bit of rotten.
As for Tobias? He flew, still his own hawk self, a little above, and a little apart from all of us.
If you split Tobias into halves you'd have what you already had: a hawk, and a boy.
February 15, 2012
This book was ridiculous ... even compared to, you know, the rest of the series.
May 27, 2016
The story is good, as usual, but the constant perspective shifting made things awkward. Not what I'm used to from this series.
August 6, 2020
this was horrible. not sure what applegate was thinking about. it didnt fit much in the overall narrative of the series and nice vs mean rachel set feminism back decades
June 8, 2025
I was really disappointed with the way the dual personality concept was handled in The Separation. The idea of Rachel being split into NiceRachel and MeanRachel had potential, but it fell flat. The MeanRachel persona came across as a thrill-seeking sociopath, willing to kill family and friends, which didn't align with my understanding of Rachel's character. I felt like this was a huge departure from the Rachel I've come to know throughout the series - the Xena-like warrior princess who's fiercely loyal and protective of her friends.
The plot twist where NiceRachel reveals her identity as an Animorph to her dad was particularly jarring. It didn't feel like something Rachel would do, even in her most vulnerable moments even if SHE was pushed to that limit! I strongly refuse to believe for ONE MOMENT that 30 books of character building of Rachel, Mean or Nice, or whatever, she would actively allow her friends die, or be the ones to harm them, yes she's acts before thinking - sure, but at the end of the day she's protective, loyal, other characters have asked RACHEL to do things that others wouldn't consider for being too crazy, want her to throw herself onto a sword for you? she will! If it meant, the Yeerk's destruction and saving her friends.
She would know that the risk of killing her friends would OUTWEIGH the benefits to telling her dad about the Yeerks for crying out loud!! Yeah the author was trying to point out, as a way to entice NiceRachel's sense of duty that overrode her fear of death, as a device to merge both Rachels back.
BUT the whole point of being a thrill seeking warrior princess that she is, Rachel doesn't fear death until that moment she would and looking back, not once does Rachel reflect on about morality and death in battle, its the opposite, she revels in, as she gleefully exclaims of how many Yeerks she would take down with her.
One notable aspect of MeanRachel's character was her sudden interest in boys, which, I suppose, is somewhat characteristic of a YA series. Specifically, MeanRachel admitted to being attracted to Marco and her cousin Jake, although she acknowledged the familial boundaries with Jake. Interestingly, she also developed an interest in Tobias, whom she respects and admires for his ability to navigate the blurred lines between humanity and bestiality. This dynamic between MeanRachel and Tobias is intriguing, especially given Tobias's own struggles with his dual nature.
What's striking is that the most significant character growth in this storyline comes from Tobias, as Rachel seeks comfort and support from him afterwards. This development highlights the complexities of their relationships and adds much-needed depth as both Rachel and Tobias have found peace with these sides of themselves.
The only redeeming quality was Marco's character development, particularly his subtle testing of Rachel and his witty remarks and flirtation with both NiceRachel and MeanRachel.
Visser Three's hesitation to kill the Animorphs was also frustrating, and his boasts about destroying them next time felt hollow, especially with 25 books left in the series.
Spoiler below!!!
Overall, I felt like this book was a misstep, and Rachel's character wasn't handled well. Despite my love for the series, this book was a disappointment
The plot twist where NiceRachel reveals her identity as an Animorph to her dad was particularly jarring. It didn't feel like something Rachel would do, even in her most vulnerable moments even if SHE was pushed to that limit! I strongly refuse to believe for ONE MOMENT that 30 books of character building of Rachel, Mean or Nice, or whatever, she would actively allow her friends die, or be the ones to harm them, yes she's acts before thinking - sure, but at the end of the day she's protective, loyal, other characters have asked RACHEL to do things that others wouldn't consider for being too crazy, want her to throw herself onto a sword for you? she will! If it meant, the Yeerk's destruction and saving her friends.
She would know that the risk of killing her friends would OUTWEIGH the benefits to telling her dad about the Yeerks for crying out loud!! Yeah the author was trying to point out, as a way to entice NiceRachel's sense of duty that overrode her fear of death, as a device to merge both Rachels back.
BUT the whole point of being a thrill seeking warrior princess that she is, Rachel doesn't fear death until that moment she would and looking back, not once does Rachel reflect on about morality and death in battle, its the opposite, she revels in, as she gleefully exclaims of how many Yeerks she would take down with her.
One notable aspect of MeanRachel's character was her sudden interest in boys, which, I suppose, is somewhat characteristic of a YA series. Specifically, MeanRachel admitted to being attracted to Marco and her cousin Jake, although she acknowledged the familial boundaries with Jake. Interestingly, she also developed an interest in Tobias, whom she respects and admires for his ability to navigate the blurred lines between humanity and bestiality. This dynamic between MeanRachel and Tobias is intriguing, especially given Tobias's own struggles with his dual nature.
What's striking is that the most significant character growth in this storyline comes from Tobias, as Rachel seeks comfort and support from him afterwards. This development highlights the complexities of their relationships and adds much-needed depth as both Rachel and Tobias have found peace with these sides of themselves.
The only redeeming quality was Marco's character development, particularly his subtle testing of Rachel and his witty remarks and flirtation with both NiceRachel and MeanRachel.
Visser Three's hesitation to kill the Animorphs was also frustrating, and his boasts about destroying them next time felt hollow, especially with 25 books left in the series.
Spoiler below!!!
Overall, I felt like this book was a misstep, and Rachel's character wasn't handled well. Despite my love for the series, this book was a disappointment
February 28, 2023
Honestly, I was upset to learn that this volume *wasn't* ghostwritten. I understand the idea that complex people are made of simpler parts, but the execution was inappropriate considering the development we have seen from Rachel over time. To have this story land itself almost 2/3 of the way through the series was completely unnecessary. The Rachel we know by this point is so much more than just a mix of a ditzy wimp and a bloodthirsty psychopath, and given the fact that complex emotions and characters have been communicated well in every other book, there is no reason this story couldn't have had more depth.
August 25, 2024
I unironically love the hell outta this book lol, truly baffled that it's widely considered one of the worst Animorph books. This is the one where Rachel gets chopped in half while in starfish morph, and demorphs with her personality split between twin versions of herself. One, the mall obsessed, ditzy cheerleader girl, and the other with her sadistic and bloodthirsty warrior half.
While it may not be the most original plot as far as the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hydeing a character in a long running series goes, the starfish split was a clever way to get there, and it seems like an obvious "what if?" scenario to explore with the morphing powers. We have the time, why not? Rachel's the perfect character for it too, at a perfect point in her character arc, conflicted between her enjoyment of the war and also wanting to just be a normal girl.
Rachel always sets me off cackling when she comes unglued about something, and she's among her most hilarious and legendary with Mean Rachel in this book. Love it or hate it, EVERYONE remembers this book—it's iconic, campy, and SO 90's, it feels like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe it's because Rachel's my favorite character, but this is a solid 5/5 for me lol
While it may not be the most original plot as far as the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hydeing a character in a long running series goes, the starfish split was a clever way to get there, and it seems like an obvious "what if?" scenario to explore with the morphing powers. We have the time, why not? Rachel's the perfect character for it too, at a perfect point in her character arc, conflicted between her enjoyment of the war and also wanting to just be a normal girl.
Rachel always sets me off cackling when she comes unglued about something, and she's among her most hilarious and legendary with Mean Rachel in this book. Love it or hate it, EVERYONE remembers this book—it's iconic, campy, and SO 90's, it feels like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe it's because Rachel's my favorite character, but this is a solid 5/5 for me lol
August 13, 2023
the one where rachel morphs a starfish. don't need a fun one sentence summary bc unfortunately i'll never forget this. i appreciate the sentiment and the conclusions that were drawn about how rachel feels out of place and at war with herself, but the way the story got to that was just too goofy for me.
January 1, 2023
Starting 2023 on a high note
September 6, 2023
What a great book in this series, and oh so funny! For a few chapters basically every line made me laugh. A bit of a cliche perhaps, but oh so well executed!
October 17, 2024
This last stretch of books has been great. The series has hit its stride.
The writing here shows so much character in new ways— along with some brutal action sequences. A bear driving a cadillac.
The writing here shows so much character in new ways— along with some brutal action sequences. A bear driving a cadillac.
June 10, 2020
Original Review at Jaunts & Haunts
3.5/5
I gave this book three and a half stars, which is strange considering my usual rating of Rachel POV's.
In a nutshell, Rachel is on a field trip near the beach when she loses an earring in the water. To get the earring back, she acquires and morphs a starfish, only to be injured by some dumb kid with a steel shovel.
When she demorphs at warp speed to heal herself, everything seems okay, except for the fact that Rachel feels different. She's emotional, fearful, easy to break into a cry. And when the other Animorphs realize there's another version of her out there it jeopardizes their current mission.
Can they figure out this dilemma, or will they have to deal with two incomplete Rachels for the foreseeable future?
I was slightly disappointed with this one, and I'd like to blame it on that dumb kid with the steel shovel! *shakes fist* You ruined everything, kid!
The concept of this book really hooked me into this read. I mean, two Rachels causing havoc? Sign me up! She's my favorite of the Animorph team. Unfortunately, there's too much that could've been done better that affected my opinion negatively.
Let's start with Rachel. She's a complex character that we've come to love through the books so far. I feel that her personality split left a bit to be desired. She's split into two Rachels. The first basically lunges around looking to murder, murder, MURDER! This version of Rachel actually made sense to me. This is the side that all the violence, rage, and dark stuff she's been exposed has been created. It lacked the emotional depth of her character but proved its point.
The other Rachel was more of her softer side. The side that actually shows fear, sadness, and other emotions, only amped up to a ten all the time. In theory, this side of Rachel made sense, but the execution of her character kind of annoyed me. How many times can you say 'like'? Ugh. I just feel like this side of Rachel was created from a stereotype and it didn't quite fit.
I will say that the other Animorphs attitude towards Rachel made complete sense, so that really worked well.
The plot was alright, but I just ended up wanting more from the experience. The side mission fell a bit to the wayside until the end, and I would've preferred it be more prevalent throughout. Also, we never really get an explanation of what actually happened to Rachel and why there were two of her.
I'm not saying I expected a very well thought out sciency explanation, but we hardly got anything.
Ultimately, this was a fun read, but was lacking a bit in plot and characterization. Still, I'm looking forward to the next read. Here's hoping it's a good one!
3.5/5
I gave this book three and a half stars, which is strange considering my usual rating of Rachel POV's.
In a nutshell, Rachel is on a field trip near the beach when she loses an earring in the water. To get the earring back, she acquires and morphs a starfish, only to be injured by some dumb kid with a steel shovel.
When she demorphs at warp speed to heal herself, everything seems okay, except for the fact that Rachel feels different. She's emotional, fearful, easy to break into a cry. And when the other Animorphs realize there's another version of her out there it jeopardizes their current mission.
Can they figure out this dilemma, or will they have to deal with two incomplete Rachels for the foreseeable future?
I was slightly disappointed with this one, and I'd like to blame it on that dumb kid with the steel shovel! *shakes fist* You ruined everything, kid!
The concept of this book really hooked me into this read. I mean, two Rachels causing havoc? Sign me up! She's my favorite of the Animorph team. Unfortunately, there's too much that could've been done better that affected my opinion negatively.
Let's start with Rachel. She's a complex character that we've come to love through the books so far. I feel that her personality split left a bit to be desired. She's split into two Rachels. The first basically lunges around looking to murder, murder, MURDER! This version of Rachel actually made sense to me. This is the side that all the violence, rage, and dark stuff she's been exposed has been created. It lacked the emotional depth of her character but proved its point.
The other Rachel was more of her softer side. The side that actually shows fear, sadness, and other emotions, only amped up to a ten all the time. In theory, this side of Rachel made sense, but the execution of her character kind of annoyed me. How many times can you say 'like'? Ugh. I just feel like this side of Rachel was created from a stereotype and it didn't quite fit.
I will say that the other Animorphs attitude towards Rachel made complete sense, so that really worked well.
The plot was alright, but I just ended up wanting more from the experience. The side mission fell a bit to the wayside until the end, and I would've preferred it be more prevalent throughout. Also, we never really get an explanation of what actually happened to Rachel and why there were two of her.
I'm not saying I expected a very well thought out sciency explanation, but we hardly got anything.
Ultimately, this was a fun read, but was lacking a bit in plot and characterization. Still, I'm looking forward to the next read. Here's hoping it's a good one!
August 6, 2014
Poor Rachel turned into a starfish, got chopped in half, morphed back, and there ended up being two of her! AGH! The idea--a "good" Rachel and a "bad" Rachel--was kind of goofy, but I really loved how it was handled. It's cool how they really get all the aspects of a weird situation like this on the table in a thin little book like this.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
Rachel makes it clear in this excerpt that she can morph while wearing earrings, just like she can with skintight clothes. This suggests that jewelry can be incorporated.
Ax knocks Mean Rachel out temporarily with a blow to the head. Knocking someone out with a blow to the head is not safe and it is not likely to cause loss of consciousness without being followed by deliriousness or possibly lasting harm. In other words, "just knock her out" is a very unsafe thing to do to temporarily disable her.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
Rachel makes it clear in this excerpt that she can morph while wearing earrings, just like she can with skintight clothes. This suggests that jewelry can be incorporated.
Ax knocks Mean Rachel out temporarily with a blow to the head. Knocking someone out with a blow to the head is not safe and it is not likely to cause loss of consciousness without being followed by deliriousness or possibly lasting harm. In other words, "just knock her out" is a very unsafe thing to do to temporarily disable her.
February 5, 2011
I'm not sure what Applegate was thinking on this one. The idea of splitting Rachel into two beings, a la Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is so misguided that I'm surprised her editor didn't stop her. People are not composed of welded dual natures -- there is no black and white, only grey. This story does not fit into the Animorphs universe, a place where the subtleties of morality are explored and where nothing should be taken at face-value. The story unfolds almost comically, and does a real disservice to Rachel's complex character. I would like to see this book stricken out of the canon.
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