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Animorphs #9
The Secret
There's something pretty weird going on in the woods behind Cassie's house. The place where Ax and Tobias call home. It seems the Yeerks have figured out one very important thing: Andalites cannot survive without a feeding ground. Visser Three knows the "Andalite bandits" don't feed where he does, so there can only be one other place.
Now Cassie, Marco, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, and Ax have to figure out a way to stop a bogus logging camp. Because if Visser Three finds Ax in the woods, nothing will stop him from finding the Animorphs...
Now Cassie, Marco, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, and Ax have to figure out a way to stop a bogus logging camp. Because if Visser Three finds Ax in the woods, nothing will stop him from finding the Animorphs...
158 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
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K.A. Applegate
251 books486 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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June 2, 2015
So we begin the Second Age—dare I say, the Silver Age?—of Animorphs with The Secret. Applegate combines one of the ongoing themes of environmentalism with a personal look at the tolls this secret war takes on Cassie, the most empathetic of the Animorphs.
See what I did there? These titles, simplistic though they might seem, are always multi-faceted. The eponymous secret could be so many things. It could be the Yeerk invasion. It could be the existence of the Animorphs. It could be the fact that the Animorphs are not, as Visser Three believes, Andalite bandits (and it isn’t interesting he calls them bandits now, rather than warriors?), but just ordinary humans—human children, even. For Cassie, the secret might be that she is exhausted by the morally dubious nature of morphing and the war they are fighting. She just wants to peace out and take care of some animals.
That can’t happen, though, if the Yeerks clear-cut the forest behind her farm. So Cassie finds herself forced to once again fight, even if she isn’t sure she is doing the right thing in order to do the right thing. Does that make sense? No? Good. The whole point is that war doesn’t make sense, that sometimes you get so caught up in trying to survive and win the latest battle you lose sight of what you’re fighting for. Case in point, Cassie does not mince words when she explains what the Animorphs are:
Boom. Applegate is not playing around here. The Animorphs are totally child soldiers, full stop. Worse still, they are fully aware of the stakes of this war and the odds stacked against them.
Trappings of the Second Age are all around us. For the first time, the Animorphs come up with a plan that actually doesn’t suck. They realize a full frontal assault is a bad idea. They perform reconnaissance, and then they find a way to help deny the Yeerk front company the permission it needs to cut the forest. Smart! Everything still goes pear-shaped, of course, but this time it isn’t because the Animorphs charged in, morphs blazing, hoping for the best.
We also see some more signs of conflicting opinions and ideologies. In particular, Cassie conveys a harsher side to Marco than we have really seen before. Sure, he still jokes and tries to be the clown … but he’s also a little nasty towards Cassie. I appreciate how Applegate uses her different narrators not just to highlight different aspects of the war against the Yeerks but also different aspects of each other’s personalities.
This is a nearly pitch-perfect story, in my opinion, until we hit the end. The subplot in which Cassie has to mother some temporarily orphaned skunks is adorable, even as Applegate uses it to explore the psychology of the war-traumatized Animorphs. The stakes in this book are appropriate, and I love the way the Animorphs make a plan and execute it. Once again they try a morph that goes disastrously wrong. Really, they just need to swear off insects in general.
Unfortunately … that ending. The Secret takes an abrupt turn towards farce. If the whole book had been like that, then I wouldn’t have a problem—the Visser’s predicament, and the way the Animorphs handle it, is genuinely funny. Yet it runs contrary to the sombre tone the rest of the book adopts. It’s a huge flaw in an otherwise perfect gem.
This week’s technological callback to the 1990s? Cassie looks up termites in one of her mom’s books. The Web was, of course, quite new-fangled back when this was published, and while some of the Animorphs might have access (Marco’s computer seems Internet-enabled), Google and Wikipedia and online sites about termites were not much in evidence. So the Animorphs still have to do book research. Do kids these days ever do that? I suspect that a young reader of this era would wonder why Cassie didn’t just pull out her phone.
Siri, what will happen if I morph a termite?
Next up, the Animorphs violate Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Siri, what could possibly go wrong? …Siri? Why are you looking at me like that?
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #8: The Alien | #10: The Android →
See what I did there? These titles, simplistic though they might seem, are always multi-faceted. The eponymous secret could be so many things. It could be the Yeerk invasion. It could be the existence of the Animorphs. It could be the fact that the Animorphs are not, as Visser Three believes, Andalite bandits (and it isn’t interesting he calls them bandits now, rather than warriors?), but just ordinary humans—human children, even. For Cassie, the secret might be that she is exhausted by the morally dubious nature of morphing and the war they are fighting. She just wants to peace out and take care of some animals.
That can’t happen, though, if the Yeerks clear-cut the forest behind her farm. So Cassie finds herself forced to once again fight, even if she isn’t sure she is doing the right thing in order to do the right thing. Does that make sense? No? Good. The whole point is that war doesn’t make sense, that sometimes you get so caught up in trying to survive and win the latest battle you lose sight of what you’re fighting for. Case in point, Cassie does not mince words when she explains what the Animorphs are:
We had been made into soldiers that night.
Soldiers in a terrible war we could not really hope to win.
Boom. Applegate is not playing around here. The Animorphs are totally child soldiers, full stop. Worse still, they are fully aware of the stakes of this war and the odds stacked against them.
Trappings of the Second Age are all around us. For the first time, the Animorphs come up with a plan that actually doesn’t suck. They realize a full frontal assault is a bad idea. They perform reconnaissance, and then they find a way to help deny the Yeerk front company the permission it needs to cut the forest. Smart! Everything still goes pear-shaped, of course, but this time it isn’t because the Animorphs charged in, morphs blazing, hoping for the best.
We also see some more signs of conflicting opinions and ideologies. In particular, Cassie conveys a harsher side to Marco than we have really seen before. Sure, he still jokes and tries to be the clown … but he’s also a little nasty towards Cassie. I appreciate how Applegate uses her different narrators not just to highlight different aspects of the war against the Yeerks but also different aspects of each other’s personalities.
This is a nearly pitch-perfect story, in my opinion, until we hit the end. The subplot in which Cassie has to mother some temporarily orphaned skunks is adorable, even as Applegate uses it to explore the psychology of the war-traumatized Animorphs. The stakes in this book are appropriate, and I love the way the Animorphs make a plan and execute it. Once again they try a morph that goes disastrously wrong. Really, they just need to swear off insects in general.
Unfortunately … that ending. The Secret takes an abrupt turn towards farce. If the whole book had been like that, then I wouldn’t have a problem—the Visser’s predicament, and the way the Animorphs handle it, is genuinely funny. Yet it runs contrary to the sombre tone the rest of the book adopts. It’s a huge flaw in an otherwise perfect gem.
This week’s technological callback to the 1990s? Cassie looks up termites in one of her mom’s books. The Web was, of course, quite new-fangled back when this was published, and while some of the Animorphs might have access (Marco’s computer seems Internet-enabled), Google and Wikipedia and online sites about termites were not much in evidence. So the Animorphs still have to do book research. Do kids these days ever do that? I suspect that a young reader of this era would wonder why Cassie didn’t just pull out her phone.
Siri, what will happen if I morph a termite?
Next up, the Animorphs violate Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Siri, what could possibly go wrong? …Siri? Why are you looking at me like that?
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #8: The Alien | #10: The Android →
March 2, 2020
FIRST REVIEW / MAR 13, 2015
The struggle of Cassie books for me: even just a few days later, I actually can't easily remember what this one was about. The termites and baby skunks and grape juice lodged best in my memory, while the actual "mission" fades into the background, because it seemed so low-stakes and bland (we barely even saw Visser Three in this book).
I never hated Cassie like fandom apparently did, but she's definitely my least favourite of the Animorphs, and books like this one remind me of why: she sometimes fixates on the small picture to an insane degree. I do think it's very important that the Animorphs has someone like her in the group; they need the objecting pacifist, the mediator, the one who settles them down and keeps them all together, the voice of empathy, the heart of the group, someone to argue for their souls while the others campaign for the ruthless bottom-line (this is also a major theme in The 100, my favourite television show, EVERYONE GO WATCH IT). And I loved her neuroses in her previous POV book, her fears of responsibility and endangering her friends. But it's when she does things like angst over killing a termite queen that the series distances me from her, that makes it hard for me to connect with her. I mean, I'm far from heartless -- I'm sometimes like a lightning rod of empathy and feeling others' pain way too much -- but even I think that in a war for your species' survival, you have to look at the bigger picture.
Still, the group's attitudes would probably have been too uniform without her, so I do think we need this perspective.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / FEB 17, 2020
When I read these books as a kid, Marco was my favourite character. On my first full-series reread, Jake suddenly pulled into the forefront and I started appreciating him far more. On this, my second full-series reread, I'm finally coming around on Cassie: her mistakes in this book are still aggravating, but this time I could focus more on the fact that she knows what a mistake it was and how bad it's going. She's self-aware, and she's wrestling with so much, and her panic attack and breakdown on the mission (and Rachel comforting her through it wahhhh) are so touching. She's falling apart and this weight is too much for any kid to bear, but they have no choice but to bear it:
There's also these first hints of Jake needing the other Animorphs to fall into line because he needs them to be good soldiers, more than just good friends. (Gosh, it was painful but I loved the moment when Jake lost it on Cassie and even Marco reined him in and was like "heyyy I think she gets the point".) There's also the sense of them having gotten into an efficient routine: their meeting schedule, the way they cleanly set up missions.
And yet, there's still a long way to go: later in the war, I think you'd never find them risking exposure and morphing for something so simple and banal as homework, or Rachel trying to protect the circus elephants earlier.
Another notable detail: Cassie going back for Marco to rescue him, after abandoning him in the Megamorphs book, and her ensuing guilt and thinking of herself as a coward. She's getting braver!!
Favourite quotes will be moved to Google Docs.
The struggle of Cassie books for me: even just a few days later, I actually can't easily remember what this one was about. The termites and baby skunks and grape juice lodged best in my memory, while the actual "mission" fades into the background, because it seemed so low-stakes and bland (we barely even saw Visser Three in this book).
I never hated Cassie like fandom apparently did, but she's definitely my least favourite of the Animorphs, and books like this one remind me of why: she sometimes fixates on the small picture to an insane degree. I do think it's very important that the Animorphs has someone like her in the group; they need the objecting pacifist, the mediator, the one who settles them down and keeps them all together, the voice of empathy, the heart of the group, someone to argue for their souls while the others campaign for the ruthless bottom-line (this is also a major theme in The 100, my favourite television show, EVERYONE GO WATCH IT). And I loved her neuroses in her previous POV book, her fears of responsibility and endangering her friends. But it's when she does things like angst over killing a termite queen that the series distances me from her, that makes it hard for me to connect with her. I mean, I'm far from heartless -- I'm sometimes like a lightning rod of empathy and feeling others' pain way too much -- but even I think that in a war for your species' survival, you have to look at the bigger picture.
Still, the group's attitudes would probably have been too uniform without her, so I do think we need this perspective.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / FEB 17, 2020
When I read these books as a kid, Marco was my favourite character. On my first full-series reread, Jake suddenly pulled into the forefront and I started appreciating him far more. On this, my second full-series reread, I'm finally coming around on Cassie: her mistakes in this book are still aggravating, but this time I could focus more on the fact that she knows what a mistake it was and how bad it's going. She's self-aware, and she's wrestling with so much, and her panic attack and breakdown on the mission (and Rachel comforting her through it wahhhh) are so touching. She's falling apart and this weight is too much for any kid to bear, but they have no choice but to bear it:
"I'm fine," I muttered.
"Just shut up and listen to me," [Jake] said. But the anger was gone now. "I care about you, Cassie. We all do. And we all need you."
"To win?" I said. "You need me to fight battles? What if I don't want to fight any more battles? What if I've had enough? I've done enough."
"You've done far more than enough. A hundred times more than enough. But the Yeerks are still here."
There's also these first hints of Jake needing the other Animorphs to fall into line because he needs them to be good soldiers, more than just good friends. (Gosh, it was painful but I loved the moment when Jake lost it on Cassie and even Marco reined him in and was like "heyyy I think she gets the point".) There's also the sense of them having gotten into an efficient routine: their meeting schedule, the way they cleanly set up missions.
And yet, there's still a long way to go: later in the war, I think you'd never find them risking exposure and morphing for something so simple and banal as homework, or Rachel trying to protect the circus elephants earlier.
Another notable detail: Cassie going back for Marco to rescue him, after abandoning him in the Megamorphs book, and her ensuing guilt and thinking of herself as a coward. She's getting braver!!
Favourite quotes will be moved to Google Docs.
March 3, 2024
*** 3.65 ***
Cassie is still my favorite human character of the series. A lot of growing pains for her this go around...
Cassie is still my favorite human character of the series. A lot of growing pains for her this go around...
May 4, 2021
I question some of Cassie's choices in this book. I seriously, seriously question them. I mean, if you're going to try morphing your lab rat because you can't figure out why she doesn't seem interested in your maze, fine, but is there any good reason for making Rachel morph along with you because you don't want to suffer alone? Wouldn't it make much more sense to have Rachel stay human and keep watch, which would've prevented exactly the thing that ended up happening when a couple of asshole teens with nothing better to do invited themselves into the lab and found three rats running around loose with no humans to protect them? Your team is strong because you're all capable of taking on different roles, just sayin'.
That doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the writing, though. The fact of the matter is, young teens are prone to making bad decisions, especially when they're under this kind of pressure. As if saving the world isn't enough by itself, you're still expected to get good grades, too? I do not envy these kids.
Moving away from nitpicks and on to the major theme of the story, one thing this book did do that I really appreciated was show a more nuanced and less romanticized view of nature, which is not something you tend to see in a lot of YA literature. While Cassie knows intellectually that nature isn't just cute fuzzy animals and pretty rainbows, that it's also full of brutal pain and death, it's clear that she hasn't quite internalized that darker side yet.
Because yeah, she is aware on some level how ridiculous it is that she's going out of her way to save a handful of skunk kits when countless other animals are dying brutally every day, a dissonance that Ax inadvertently points out when he asks, in all sincerity, whether she cares about this so much because skunks are sacred to humans. (Leave it to the alien to spot the human inconsistencies, I guess.) She also realizes how unfair it was of her to give Tobias the cold shoulder for inadvertently eating one of the kits, which addresses yet another issue I've always had with YA literature, from the days of the Big Bad Wolf all the way through to Redwall: the demonization of predators.
Now, I've always been very fond of predators as a rule, and it gets incredibly tiresome to see them constantly played up as the gloating, evil villains to the plucky underdog prey animals that we're supposed to be cheering for. Then, though, Tobias comes back with this:
Tobias isn't flying around killing adorable helpless little baby skunks just for shits 'n giggles. He's doing it because he needs to eat. And yeah, while Tobias actually is fairly privileged as far as hawks go, and he could just ask his human friends to bring him food if he really wanted... that would just mean going from killing his own food to eating something some human had killed first, and which had probably been born for the sole purpose of being killed to boot. This kind of morality is a human concept, and something that has no place in nature. Any given skunk kit's right to life does not trump Tobias's right to eat. Most animals don't care one whit for human concepts of morality; all they're trying to do is survive day to day as best they can.
As for the actual story, this is one of the few books in this series that takes your typical Teen Heroes storyline and plays it mostly straight. The Yeerks are at work on a new nefarious plan that carries serious risk of exposing both Tobias and Ax, the Animorphs move in to foil it, and they actually manage to achieve a straight victory with a comic humiliation for Visser Three and nobody dying on-page (even if Tobias does claw out some poor Controller's eye).
That doesn't mean it's free from horror, though, the absolute worst of which is the termite morph in which everyone has their entire identity subsumed to the will of the queen and Cassie has to resort to tricking the termite brain in order to break free. She's so traumatized that she starts demorphing while still partway inside of the wall, at which point Ax has to cut her out in order to prevent her from crushing herself into a misshapen lump of flesh, and then Rachel and Marco have to sit on her and cover her mouth to keep her from blowing their cover with her thrashing and screaming. We're moving from your typical YA body horror and into full-blown PTSD, here.
(I also found it interesting that, after Marco wanted to quit after a traumatic experience with morphing social insects back in #5, Jake's response was "Yeah man, I understand. I know you have your reasons and I will totally respect your decision." Yet here, when Cassie wants to quit after a traumatic experience with morphing social insects, Jake's response is to scream at her that this is war and she is a soldier and the six of them are the only thing standing between Earth and total annihilation and they can't afford to lose any more people. Is this a sign that Jake is already getting harder, and a foreshadowing of further ruthlessness to come? Is it because Jake, however subconsciously, has less respect for Cassie's agency than he does for Marco's, whether due to race or sex or to the nature of their own respective interpersonal relationships? Is it because Marco took the time to pull him aside and tell it to him straight, whereas Cassie was hysterically screaming it after the others caught her out taking reckless actions that were a danger to herself? There are too many mitigating factors to say anything for sure, but it's nevertheless an interesting look into Jake's psyche as well as Cassie's.)
That doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the writing, though. The fact of the matter is, young teens are prone to making bad decisions, especially when they're under this kind of pressure. As if saving the world isn't enough by itself, you're still expected to get good grades, too? I do not envy these kids.
Moving away from nitpicks and on to the major theme of the story, one thing this book did do that I really appreciated was show a more nuanced and less romanticized view of nature, which is not something you tend to see in a lot of YA literature. While Cassie knows intellectually that nature isn't just cute fuzzy animals and pretty rainbows, that it's also full of brutal pain and death, it's clear that she hasn't quite internalized that darker side yet.
Because yeah, she is aware on some level how ridiculous it is that she's going out of her way to save a handful of skunk kits when countless other animals are dying brutally every day, a dissonance that Ax inadvertently points out when he asks, in all sincerity, whether she cares about this so much because skunks are sacred to humans. (Leave it to the alien to spot the human inconsistencies, I guess.) She also realizes how unfair it was of her to give Tobias the cold shoulder for inadvertently eating one of the kits, which addresses yet another issue I've always had with YA literature, from the days of the Big Bad Wolf all the way through to Redwall: the demonization of predators.
Now, I've always been very fond of predators as a rule, and it gets incredibly tiresome to see them constantly played up as the gloating, evil villains to the plucky underdog prey animals that we're supposed to be cheering for. Then, though, Tobias comes back with this:
I don't know. I guess if I were running around killing animals I didn't intend to eat, that would be wrong. But hawks have a right to live, just as much as a mouse or a skunk.
Tobias isn't flying around killing adorable helpless little baby skunks just for shits 'n giggles. He's doing it because he needs to eat. And yeah, while Tobias actually is fairly privileged as far as hawks go, and he could just ask his human friends to bring him food if he really wanted... that would just mean going from killing his own food to eating something some human had killed first, and which had probably been born for the sole purpose of being killed to boot. This kind of morality is a human concept, and something that has no place in nature. Any given skunk kit's right to life does not trump Tobias's right to eat. Most animals don't care one whit for human concepts of morality; all they're trying to do is survive day to day as best they can.
As for the actual story, this is one of the few books in this series that takes your typical Teen Heroes storyline and plays it mostly straight. The Yeerks are at work on a new nefarious plan that carries serious risk of exposing both Tobias and Ax, the Animorphs move in to foil it, and they actually manage to achieve a straight victory with a comic humiliation for Visser Three and nobody dying on-page (even if Tobias does claw out some poor Controller's eye).
That doesn't mean it's free from horror, though, the absolute worst of which is the termite morph in which everyone has their entire identity subsumed to the will of the queen and Cassie has to resort to tricking the termite brain in order to break free. She's so traumatized that she starts demorphing while still partway inside of the wall, at which point Ax has to cut her out in order to prevent her from crushing herself into a misshapen lump of flesh, and then Rachel and Marco have to sit on her and cover her mouth to keep her from blowing their cover with her thrashing and screaming. We're moving from your typical YA body horror and into full-blown PTSD, here.
(I also found it interesting that, after Marco wanted to quit after a traumatic experience with morphing social insects back in #5, Jake's response was "Yeah man, I understand. I know you have your reasons and I will totally respect your decision." Yet here, when Cassie wants to quit after a traumatic experience with morphing social insects, Jake's response is to scream at her that this is war and she is a soldier and the six of them are the only thing standing between Earth and total annihilation and they can't afford to lose any more people. Is this a sign that Jake is already getting harder, and a foreshadowing of further ruthlessness to come? Is it because Jake, however subconsciously, has less respect for Cassie's agency than he does for Marco's, whether due to race or sex or to the nature of their own respective interpersonal relationships? Is it because Marco took the time to pull him aside and tell it to him straight, whereas Cassie was hysterically screaming it after the others caught her out taking reckless actions that were a danger to herself? There are too many mitigating factors to say anything for sure, but it's nevertheless an interesting look into Jake's psyche as well as Cassie's.)
July 21, 2022
The Yeerks are cutting down trees. The Animorphs stop them. There’s really not much in terms of plot that stands out here to be honest. There’s also a subplot that doesn’t really gel all that well with the main plot, though it does fit perfectly with the character of Cassie. It shows the effects this war is having on her and how she tries to stay true to herself.
October 17, 2016
So Cassie is the killjoy Animorph, apparently? I wasn't a part of the fandom back in the day, and I'm still not, so I really have zero idea what other Animorphs fans think of plots and characters. I just know what I think, and I always liked her when I was a kid, perhaps because I have a permanent streak of killjoy in me myself. I was always the first kid asleep at slumber parties by several hours (if I didn't call my mom to come pick me up first). I obeyed the rules because I liked them. I could never really turn off my brain enough to want to do stupid fun things.
Anyway, I never thought of her as a killjoy. I thought of her as the voice of reason, the empathetic and moral center. The others need that perspective. Even if being that sensitive of a person most of the time meant she didn't have an easy time of it. For instance in this book.
The Secret refers to the secret of where "the Andalite Bandits" have their feeding grounds. The Yeerks think the Animorphs are Andalites, and they've realized that like Visser Three's Andalite host, Alloran, the other "Andalites" must need feeding grounds, too, and there's only one other place nearby that could be. So what do the Yeerks do? They set up a logging company to establish a presence in those woods and try to smoke the Andalite Bandits out. Thing is, even though they're mostly wrong, Ax and Tobias do live in those woods, not to mention that Cassie's barn is nearby, and they've used the woods for any number of missions. Operation: Shut Down the Yeerk Logging Company, commence!
Each POV characters' second book has significantly upped the ante on dealing with the ongoing trauma of being in this fight, and Cassie's book is no exception. She's tired and frustrated and the constant violence and extra time spent with the Animorphs is starting to wear on the rest of her life. Her grades are in the toilet, she's lying to her parents constantly, and she's legit got some wicked PTSD.
I really liked all her meditations on right and wrong, nature, humanity, etc. I liked that there weren't any straight up conclusions at the end of it. And there's this adorable plot involving an injured skunk mother and her little skunk kits.
There were a couple of moments that didn't work for me because they didn't seem well thought out, either on the part of the Animorphs or the part of the author(s). The opening scene, for one. The only reason they have Cassie and Rachel both morph the rat, when just Cassie would have been fine, is so that the boys could find them, and Cassie and Rachel could attack them as rats, har har. If Rachel had remained human, like should have happened, she could have chased those boys off. Also, why didn't they just morph onto the table? If they weren't going to be smart about it, they could have at least acknowledged how dumb that move was. The scenes involving They worked more than the opening scene, but only by the thinnest of threads.
All in all, not the best book of the series, but pretty good all the same.
Next up, we've got Marco and the Chee, which I call for a band name.
[3.5 stars]
Anyway, I never thought of her as a killjoy. I thought of her as the voice of reason, the empathetic and moral center. The others need that perspective. Even if being that sensitive of a person most of the time meant she didn't have an easy time of it. For instance in this book.
The Secret refers to the secret of where "the Andalite Bandits" have their feeding grounds. The Yeerks think the Animorphs are Andalites, and they've realized that like Visser Three's Andalite host, Alloran, the other "Andalites" must need feeding grounds, too, and there's only one other place nearby that could be. So what do the Yeerks do? They set up a logging company to establish a presence in those woods and try to smoke the Andalite Bandits out. Thing is, even though they're mostly wrong, Ax and Tobias do live in those woods, not to mention that Cassie's barn is nearby, and they've used the woods for any number of missions. Operation: Shut Down the Yeerk Logging Company, commence!
Each POV characters' second book has significantly upped the ante on dealing with the ongoing trauma of being in this fight, and Cassie's book is no exception. She's tired and frustrated and the constant violence and extra time spent with the Animorphs is starting to wear on the rest of her life. Her grades are in the toilet, she's lying to her parents constantly, and she's legit got some wicked PTSD.
I really liked all her meditations on right and wrong, nature, humanity, etc. I liked that there weren't any straight up conclusions at the end of it. And there's this adorable plot involving an injured skunk mother and her little skunk kits.
There were a couple of moments that didn't work for me because they didn't seem well thought out, either on the part of the Animorphs or the part of the author(s). The opening scene, for one. The only reason they have Cassie and Rachel both morph the rat, when just Cassie would have been fine, is so that the boys could find them, and Cassie and Rachel could attack them as rats, har har. If Rachel had remained human, like should have happened, she could have chased those boys off. Also, why didn't they just morph onto the table? If they weren't going to be smart about it, they could have at least acknowledged how dumb that move was. The scenes involving They worked more than the opening scene, but only by the thinnest of threads.
All in all, not the best book of the series, but pretty good all the same.
Next up, we've got Marco and the Chee, which I call for a band name.
[3.5 stars]
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
February 21, 2017
I love Cassie, the earth mother. This was a very interesting volume. I love how the killing of a termite throws all this doubt into Cassie's mind, and then she sees all this internal darkness she has and it scares her. She is so tired of fighting, lying and hiding. As she asks, why does she have the right to decide the termites die? She did not belong in their world. I love how the skunks become so important to her.
"I don't think I'd lied to my parents before becoming an Animorph. Now it's like I'm lying all the time. It's a rotten feeling.".
"I was gong to face death, that very night. And the last thing I would have said to my father was a lie."
"Lies. More lies Because in my world, I, too, was prey."
She's also feeling the lack of trust.
"When you live in a world where you're surrounded by possible enemies, it's important not to do anything too unusual. You don't want to draw attention. Not even from your own family and school friends. You just never know who can be trusted and who can't."
She's starting to doubt everything
"The strong eat the weak... Maybe it's out turn to loose."
And Jake... he is becoming ruthless...
"We are an army. A small, week, pathetic, outnumbered army. We have exactly six members. Tobias has already been trapped in morph. But he was trapped fighting the Yeerks. I can't believe you would nearly get yourself trapped in morph over some skunks!"
"I care about you, Cassie. We all do. And we all need you."
"To win?... What if I don't want to fight anymore battles? What if I've had enough? I've done enough."
"This isn't about some race called humans. It's about people we know... My brother, Tom, is one of them. So why don't you go tell Tom it's ok that he's a slave of the Yeerks because it's out turn to get hammered."
Also, the ending was hilarious. Purple Visseer Three hahaha.
"I don't think I'd lied to my parents before becoming an Animorph. Now it's like I'm lying all the time. It's a rotten feeling.".
"I was gong to face death, that very night. And the last thing I would have said to my father was a lie."
"Lies. More lies Because in my world, I, too, was prey."
She's also feeling the lack of trust.
"When you live in a world where you're surrounded by possible enemies, it's important not to do anything too unusual. You don't want to draw attention. Not even from your own family and school friends. You just never know who can be trusted and who can't."
She's starting to doubt everything
"The strong eat the weak... Maybe it's out turn to loose."
And Jake... he is becoming ruthless...
"We are an army. A small, week, pathetic, outnumbered army. We have exactly six members. Tobias has already been trapped in morph. But he was trapped fighting the Yeerks. I can't believe you would nearly get yourself trapped in morph over some skunks!"
"I care about you, Cassie. We all do. And we all need you."
"To win?... What if I don't want to fight anymore battles? What if I've had enough? I've done enough."
"This isn't about some race called humans. It's about people we know... My brother, Tom, is one of them. So why don't you go tell Tom it's ok that he's a slave of the Yeerks because it's out turn to get hammered."
Also, the ending was hilarious. Purple Visseer Three hahaha.
February 16, 2024
Cassie can you stop being such a whiny bitch for two seconds and realize that Tobias is LITERALLY a hawk. Stop shitting on him for hunting
May 17, 2021
So now we have our second Cassie book, and, true to form, it contains another moral dilemma. Because Cassie has to kill a termite queen and disrupt a whole colony (which, by the way, was some great body horror and another chilling insect scene – the thought of being blind, miniscule, and enslaved by a queen that doesn’t even have a conscious idea of what it’s doing), she questions her place in the natural order of life and death. Do the Animorphs deserve to keep fighting for humanity’s freedom from the Yeerks, when nature itself seems careless to the suffering of animals at the hands of others? It’s a big jump from “animals need to kill or be killed” to “humans should just give up”, but in the mind of a traumatized preteen, it makes sense. So, too, does her insistence on saving those baby skunks: it’s one thing she can control, one way she can save the day by tenderness instead of violence. And her friends may not understand the urgent need to solve her moral quandary, but they do know that she needs them, and it’s touching how they volunteer to take shifts with the skunk kits so that she doesn’t have to keep her gentle vigil alone.
I keep seeing myself in Cassie’s fixation on morality and in her determined, almost frantic desire to solve the ethical question she’s posed. I think that’s why the Cassie books resonate so well with me. None of the Animorphs want to fight, but Cassie needs to know that she’s fighting for a good cause. Unlike Rachel, who starts to lean into her lust for battle; Marco and Jake, who have personal reasons to stay in the fight; Tobias, whose only connection to humanity is in fighting the Yeerks; or Ax, who is honor-bound to carry on his brother’s legacy; Cassie needs to be sure that she is doing the right thing – morality carries her more than anything else, and more than any other Animorph.
And yes, this is the one where they win the fight by spraying Visser Three with skunk stench. Not every action sequence will be a winner.
Stray observations:
- I love the visual of the Animorphs huddling close together right before they morph into termites. It sort of echoes the physical closeness and intimacy that Cassie experiences in the skunk den with the kits.
- Cassie finally comments on the fact that they straight-up kill a bunch of non-human Controllers. These kids have killed a lot of sentient beings by now.
I keep seeing myself in Cassie’s fixation on morality and in her determined, almost frantic desire to solve the ethical question she’s posed. I think that’s why the Cassie books resonate so well with me. None of the Animorphs want to fight, but Cassie needs to know that she’s fighting for a good cause. Unlike Rachel, who starts to lean into her lust for battle; Marco and Jake, who have personal reasons to stay in the fight; Tobias, whose only connection to humanity is in fighting the Yeerks; or Ax, who is honor-bound to carry on his brother’s legacy; Cassie needs to be sure that she is doing the right thing – morality carries her more than anything else, and more than any other Animorph.
And yes, this is the one where they win the fight by spraying Visser Three with skunk stench. Not every action sequence will be a winner.
Stray observations:
- I love the visual of the Animorphs huddling close together right before they morph into termites. It sort of echoes the physical closeness and intimacy that Cassie experiences in the skunk den with the kits.
- Cassie finally comments on the fact that they straight-up kill a bunch of non-human Controllers. These kids have killed a lot of sentient beings by now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2022
For a character that regularly gets overshadowed by her peers, Cassie has this really fascinating tendency to stand out in moments surrounding ethical dilemmas that always lead to an existential crisis or two later in the plot.
“Okay, just tell me this. Am I a part of nature, so I should just live by the laws of nature, kill to eat, kill or be killed? Or am I something different because I'm a human?”
But also
“I hadn't just destroyed her. I had destroyed the entire colony. I had done it to save myself and my friends.
I wanted to throw up. But I would have had to get out of bed to run to the bathroom. And I felt like I never wanted to leave that bed again.”
Watching these children develop trauma that will stick with them for the rest of their lives and also go in and out of introductions to depressive episodes is so ????
I AM SO SAD!!
I’m not even a quarter of the way into the books 😵💫
CW: war, violence, imprisonment, murder, death, depression
“Okay, just tell me this. Am I a part of nature, so I should just live by the laws of nature, kill to eat, kill or be killed? Or am I something different because I'm a human?”
But also
“I hadn't just destroyed her. I had destroyed the entire colony. I had done it to save myself and my friends.
I wanted to throw up. But I would have had to get out of bed to run to the bathroom. And I felt like I never wanted to leave that bed again.”
Watching these children develop trauma that will stick with them for the rest of their lives and also go in and out of introductions to depressive episodes is so ????
I AM SO SAD!!
I’m not even a quarter of the way into the books 😵💫
CW: war, violence, imprisonment, murder, death, depression
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2023
This one was a bit of a blur, but I did think it was interesting to see a bit more from this character's perspective. I found this one a little harder to connect to, I think because there were mentions of how some of these characters were getting closer (i.e. the MC and her love interest) but they acted like strangers in this--like there was barely any scenes of them talking or trusting each other. Or just, conversing beyond the confines of the group. It's weird to me because it felt like someone different wrote this one, especially because we notice these moments more from an outside perspective (that could also be it, tbh.)
Other than that, I found the adventure to be fun and the same high stakes as usual! I won't lie, I read this last month and save for the weird inconsistency between the characters and the adventure, I don't remember much.
Oh, but I do remember the beautiful exploration of the MC's complicated emotions when it comes to the fight she has to take part in, and how complex relationships are between animals and humans, and how there is more than black and white ways of dealing with emotions. I was surprised with how in depth and well-done this part was because it challenged her naive perspective. I think we will slowly be seeing these characters grow both emotionally and mentally.
Happy reading!
Other than that, I found the adventure to be fun and the same high stakes as usual! I won't lie, I read this last month and save for the weird inconsistency between the characters and the adventure, I don't remember much.
Oh, but I do remember the beautiful exploration of the MC's complicated emotions when it comes to the fight she has to take part in, and how complex relationships are between animals and humans, and how there is more than black and white ways of dealing with emotions. I was surprised with how in depth and well-done this part was because it challenged her naive perspective. I think we will slowly be seeing these characters grow both emotionally and mentally.
Happy reading!
March 1, 2024
This one was pretty lame. The Yeerks decide to start a logging company to tear down the entire forest because they think the Animorphs must live in the forest...their logic is that a group of 6 shape shifting aliens could ONLY live in a giant national forest, so they will just log the whole thing.
The Yeerks have to take over 2/3 of the people that will vote to allow the logging. They bring one of them out to their logging operation and the Animorphs stop them from taking him over.
They also take care of a skunk family for way too long, and ultimately to escape (because what is an Animorphs book without a capture and escape) Cassie as a skunk sprays Visser 3.
This is where the book fell apart. The Animorphs basically say let the prisoners go (Cassie and vote guy) and we'll tell you how to get the skunk smell off you. Visser 3, the head of the entire earth takeover, someone who has access to at least hundreds of human minds, decides to agree rather than just figuring it out himself. He lets his prisoners go, the logging vote fails, and the Animorphs tell him to bathe in grape juice.
We're supposed to believe this Visser 3 is the ultimate evil, yet he keeps letting the Animorphs escape and escape. This time he let them escape in exchange for common knowledge he could have got out of one of his hundreds of fellow Yeerks.
The Yeerks have to take over 2/3 of the people that will vote to allow the logging. They bring one of them out to their logging operation and the Animorphs stop them from taking him over.
They also take care of a skunk family for way too long, and ultimately to escape (because what is an Animorphs book without a capture and escape) Cassie as a skunk sprays Visser 3.
This is where the book fell apart. The Animorphs basically say let the prisoners go (Cassie and vote guy) and we'll tell you how to get the skunk smell off you. Visser 3, the head of the entire earth takeover, someone who has access to at least hundreds of human minds, decides to agree rather than just figuring it out himself. He lets his prisoners go, the logging vote fails, and the Animorphs tell him to bathe in grape juice.
We're supposed to believe this Visser 3 is the ultimate evil, yet he keeps letting the Animorphs escape and escape. This time he let them escape in exchange for common knowledge he could have got out of one of his hundreds of fellow Yeerks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2021
Animorphs was wasted on 10-year-old me. I just read it for the action and the morphing. Shits got some internal human conflict. It's way deeper than just battling aliens.
I didn't care much for Cassie's first book. Her second one is quite good though.
I didn't care much for Cassie's first book. Her second one is quite good though.
October 22, 2020
2.5
Here's the deal- Animorphs needs Cassie in order to be a complex, thoughtful series. While all of the characters reflect from time to time on the ramifications of what they're doing and the casualties of the humans, aliens, and occasionally animals they're leaving in their wake while they attempt to save humanity, Cassie is the living embodiment of this. Cassie is always very much considering what the moral ramifications are in the war against the Yeerks and worrying about whether she and her friends are making the right decisions.
This stuff is all interesting, but oy, it makes Cassie a drip sometimes. In this book alone, Cassie:
1. Agonizes about killing a termite queen. If she hadn't, her friends would have likely never been able to escape the termite queen's orders, but yet she can't stop stressing about her decision.
2. Agonizes that a skunk gets hurt in crossfire that was meant for the Animorphs. She then pushes her friends to morph that skunk so they can take 24/7 care of the baby skunks it left behind until the momma skunk is able to be put back into the wild.
3. Agonizes that Tobias, our human stuck in hawk morph Animorph, eats one of the skunk babies before he knows Cassie wants to save them. They have thoughtful conversations about how hawks have just as much a right to live as humans do (and this conversation is a highlight of the book).
3. Agonizes that she's just as bad as the Yeerks, who leave a path of destruction in their wake.
You get the point.
As an adult, I really appreciate that we have a character philosophizing about the moral issues of war, but do we really need to spend all this time stressing about a TERMITE QUEEN?
Nevertheless, this would have received a higher rating from me, because even though Cassie's worrying is a bit... grating, at times, I really appreciate the whole morality exploration Cassie takes on. But, BUT! There's a real slapstick humor ending that involves grape juice (GRAPE JUICE!) and Visser Three and it is just so dumb. It's clearly meant to add levity to the very serious tone of this book, but it made me close my eyes and say, "whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."
Here's the deal- Animorphs needs Cassie in order to be a complex, thoughtful series. While all of the characters reflect from time to time on the ramifications of what they're doing and the casualties of the humans, aliens, and occasionally animals they're leaving in their wake while they attempt to save humanity, Cassie is the living embodiment of this. Cassie is always very much considering what the moral ramifications are in the war against the Yeerks and worrying about whether she and her friends are making the right decisions.
This stuff is all interesting, but oy, it makes Cassie a drip sometimes. In this book alone, Cassie:
1. Agonizes about killing a termite queen. If she hadn't, her friends would have likely never been able to escape the termite queen's orders, but yet she can't stop stressing about her decision.
2. Agonizes that a skunk gets hurt in crossfire that was meant for the Animorphs. She then pushes her friends to morph that skunk so they can take 24/7 care of the baby skunks it left behind until the momma skunk is able to be put back into the wild.
3. Agonizes that Tobias, our human stuck in hawk morph Animorph, eats one of the skunk babies before he knows Cassie wants to save them. They have thoughtful conversations about how hawks have just as much a right to live as humans do (and this conversation is a highlight of the book).
3. Agonizes that she's just as bad as the Yeerks, who leave a path of destruction in their wake.
You get the point.
As an adult, I really appreciate that we have a character philosophizing about the moral issues of war, but do we really need to spend all this time stressing about a TERMITE QUEEN?
Nevertheless, this would have received a higher rating from me, because even though Cassie's worrying is a bit... grating, at times, I really appreciate the whole morality exploration Cassie takes on. But, BUT! There's a real slapstick humor ending that involves grape juice (GRAPE JUICE!) and Visser Three and it is just so dumb. It's clearly meant to add levity to the very serious tone of this book, but it made me close my eyes and say, "whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."
August 6, 2014
The Animorphs have to stop the Yeerks from finding Ax's feeding grounds. Don't think they'd be too safe anymore if the bad guys found the hideout of the only actual Andalite in the "Andalite Bandits." . . .
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
The kids who come in and randomly decide to try to kill Rachel and Cassie while they're in rat morph seem to lack real motivation. It seems possible that someone might try to kill a rat if it shows up unexpectedly and bothered them, but it seems very unlikely that these punks would go after rats and try to kill them with their own hands and feet. Rats are big. They aren't bugs. Squishing or smacking one would be really messy.
Sometimes it is not said when characters got their morphs, and in this case the great horned owl morph's acquisition is undetermined. It was clear from #6 that Cassie and either Marco or Rachel had this morph, and in subsequent books Rachel used the owl morph, but it wasn't said conclusively that Marco had it. Now in this book everyone morphs owls, including Ax (who didn't use an owl morph in #6 because he was pretending to be Jake). The most likely time for everyone but Jake to have acquired the owl was during #6, but since he has this morph too, at least some of the acquisition has to have been done behind the scenes.
Similarly, the termite acquisition appears to have been done mostly in the mall. It must be assumed that Ax either acquired it earlier or acquired it later offstage, because he cannot absorb animals' DNA when in his human morph.
The logging company is said to be called "Dapsen Lumber Company." According to Ax, the word "dapsen" is a rude word in the Yeerk language.
The commissioner who escaped being attacked and captured by the Yeerks wasn't mentioned again. He didn't exactly see any Yeerk secrets, but the Yeerks tend to either eliminate or infest anyone who might cause trouble for them. It seems strange that the Animorphs would have him delivered to a hospital and then never follow up on whether he was still unmolested, but it's true they can't protect everyone.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
The kids who come in and randomly decide to try to kill Rachel and Cassie while they're in rat morph seem to lack real motivation. It seems possible that someone might try to kill a rat if it shows up unexpectedly and bothered them, but it seems very unlikely that these punks would go after rats and try to kill them with their own hands and feet. Rats are big. They aren't bugs. Squishing or smacking one would be really messy.
Sometimes it is not said when characters got their morphs, and in this case the great horned owl morph's acquisition is undetermined. It was clear from #6 that Cassie and either Marco or Rachel had this morph, and in subsequent books Rachel used the owl morph, but it wasn't said conclusively that Marco had it. Now in this book everyone morphs owls, including Ax (who didn't use an owl morph in #6 because he was pretending to be Jake). The most likely time for everyone but Jake to have acquired the owl was during #6, but since he has this morph too, at least some of the acquisition has to have been done behind the scenes.
Similarly, the termite acquisition appears to have been done mostly in the mall. It must be assumed that Ax either acquired it earlier or acquired it later offstage, because he cannot absorb animals' DNA when in his human morph.
The logging company is said to be called "Dapsen Lumber Company." According to Ax, the word "dapsen" is a rude word in the Yeerk language.
The commissioner who escaped being attacked and captured by the Yeerks wasn't mentioned again. He didn't exactly see any Yeerk secrets, but the Yeerks tend to either eliminate or infest anyone who might cause trouble for them. It seems strange that the Animorphs would have him delivered to a hospital and then never follow up on whether he was still unmolested, but it's true they can't protect everyone.
July 15, 2019
4.5/5
Four and a half habitat-saving stars for this one!
In this book of the Animorphs series, we are once again graced with Cassie's POV. I have to say, I definitely think she is the most intelligent of all the Animorphs, and a part of me always connects with her more introverted side of things.
So this time around, the Animorphs have a troubling discovery. There's a logging company out in the forest behind Cassie's house, and it's extremely suspicious. There are guards present, armed, and there's a strange force field present, stopping them from investigating closer up.
This situation reeks of Yeerk, but what do they want? Why are they here specifically? And how can they get through the force field before they start deforesting the entire area? Can Cassie and the other Animorphs figure it out, or will this area's ecosystem be forever shattered?
This book was really great. I mean, are you surprised at this point? For starters, Cassie is extremely thoughtful, and she tends to give issues more thought than her other team members. She's not impulsive, and she has some serious morals, which I think earn her the best Animorph award, don't you think?
I'm just kidding, but this book really was quite entertaining. Unlike the other books, we didn't go to outer space, we didn't go aboard an enemy spaceship. No, we went right to the Animorphs' backyard, and in a way that was more terrifying than the usual plotlines we see.
If the Animorphs can't fix this issue, it could ruin everything for several reasons. This book was quite unpredictable, and it went in a direction that I couldn't foretell (or remember from my first time reading as a kid in the 90's) which is great! I love it when they keep me guessing.
Action, mystery, thrills, this book had it all, and is a great continuation of the series. Definitely pick this one up!
Four and a half habitat-saving stars for this one!
In this book of the Animorphs series, we are once again graced with Cassie's POV. I have to say, I definitely think she is the most intelligent of all the Animorphs, and a part of me always connects with her more introverted side of things.
So this time around, the Animorphs have a troubling discovery. There's a logging company out in the forest behind Cassie's house, and it's extremely suspicious. There are guards present, armed, and there's a strange force field present, stopping them from investigating closer up.
This situation reeks of Yeerk, but what do they want? Why are they here specifically? And how can they get through the force field before they start deforesting the entire area? Can Cassie and the other Animorphs figure it out, or will this area's ecosystem be forever shattered?
This book was really great. I mean, are you surprised at this point? For starters, Cassie is extremely thoughtful, and she tends to give issues more thought than her other team members. She's not impulsive, and she has some serious morals, which I think earn her the best Animorph award, don't you think?
I'm just kidding, but this book really was quite entertaining. Unlike the other books, we didn't go to outer space, we didn't go aboard an enemy spaceship. No, we went right to the Animorphs' backyard, and in a way that was more terrifying than the usual plotlines we see.
If the Animorphs can't fix this issue, it could ruin everything for several reasons. This book was quite unpredictable, and it went in a direction that I couldn't foretell (or remember from my first time reading as a kid in the 90's) which is great! I love it when they keep me guessing.
Action, mystery, thrills, this book had it all, and is a great continuation of the series. Definitely pick this one up!
June 7, 2023
"Look, the Yeerks believe we're a band of Andalites, right? They think only Andalites can morph. They've figured out that the forest is the only place a group of Andalites could be hiding. Let's face it — if we were Andalites, we wouldn't exactly be able to rent an apartment."
"So we'd be in the forest. Just like Ax is right now. They want to use the logging operation as a way to go Andalite-hunting."
―Marco and Jake
Ever since the revelation from the previous book The Alien on how Andalites consume food and water, it was only a matter of time before the Yeerks coordinate possible sites that fit the description of where "the Andalite bandits" would be hiding out and they're partially right, by logging camp is doing some serious damage to the woods... and it's near Cassie's barn, her home and where her parents work at the animal rehabilitation clinic.
So of course Animorphs come up with a plan to stop this.
🦝Overall - we know the cracks are there, the characters who are mature beyond their years because they have to be as they're living in a stressful environment that they can't run away nor switch off so to be "present" 24/7.
Not only that Cassie, Marco, Rachel and Jake face daily regular demands of a teenager i.e. school, friends, parents, and the list goes on and to be juggling all that drama plus saving the world ongoing, it's no wonder the author decided to explore the cracks Cassie's mental and emotional state in this book.
As each and every character struggles to keep their moral centre, and no parental guidance to rely on for advice, they're on THEIR OWN, they're gonna make mistakes, they are gonna get on each other's nerves and question each other's motives or reasoning at times but at least at the end of the day, they come together and get the job done, yes it's sad and depressing cuz these are kids who are dealing with real mature themes and issues that even the most trained adult struggle with.
December 20, 2016
Cassie's continual struggle about the morality of her actions as an Animorph is a solid counterpoint to the attitudes of Rachel or Jake or Marco, even Tobias. She doesn't have a personal stake in the fight, except for her love of the earth and animals, really, and when the fight against the Yeerks causes harm to other creatures, that's when we start seeing Cassie really question herself and her choices -- when she starts to really wonder if whether what she's doing is right or moral, or if she isn't just perpetuating the same attitudes that the Yeerks have, which justify their takeover of Earth and other races.
November 22, 2021
While Cassie isn't my favorite animorph, her perspective is super strong and unique with her struggles with navigating the morality of their lifestyle. This book really brought that out. Plus, the termite shifting was super creepy, it's really clear how that and the ant morph affected the characters.
November 14, 2022
This one poses a lot of ecological morality questions, as well as emphasizing the PTSD these characters all surely have even this early on, and the eerie dissociative nature of the insect morphs. Chilling.
March 2, 2015
Yet another interesting volume in the series.
December 27, 2018
I love Cassie and vibe so much with the gray area in this book. Nice.
February 2, 2020
STOP MORPHING COLONY INSECTS
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2020
The Animorphs reread continues! This is the one with the skunks! Huzzah! The morphing trauma and moral quandaries are strong with this one, but the skunks are the bestest. :-D
January 16, 2023
This is from Cassie's point of view, who we learned is a very animal-affine person. This one is pretty bleak actually.
This was so sad to read, honestly. And I'm very torn over my own opinion. In what way differ humans and animals, what animals are worth less than others. Is it as bad to kill a bug as it is a mammal. What are justifications to do so. Are human more immoral for killing to save their life than a hawk is. Are the humans justified to fight against the Yeerks, who also just want to survive. A lot of very hard questions are asked in this one. And watching Cassie struggling with all of that is hard. She completly freaks out after the termite incident and we start to get the premonition, that these kids are not going to be alright.
Favorite sentences: "A burned skunk by the side of a highway loves no one." And "There are four still alive."
Just. In context they're devastating.
This was so sad to read, honestly. And I'm very torn over my own opinion. In what way differ humans and animals, what animals are worth less than others. Is it as bad to kill a bug as it is a mammal. What are justifications to do so. Are human more immoral for killing to save their life than a hawk is. Are the humans justified to fight against the Yeerks, who also just want to survive. A lot of very hard questions are asked in this one. And watching Cassie struggling with all of that is hard. She completly freaks out after the termite incident and we start to get the premonition, that these kids are not going to be alright.
Favorite sentences: "A burned skunk by the side of a highway loves no one." And "There are four still alive."
Just. In context they're devastating.
June 29, 2023
Esta aventura tiene una vuelta nueva, muy reflexiva e interesante. La voz que la narra es la de Cassie, así que vamos a contar con esa cuota de ternura y sensibilidad que es propia de esta personaje. Aunque, no todo es color de rosa en los pensamientos de Cassie tampoco. Así como sus amigos, ella también tiene sus dudas y miedos. Particularmente, la inquietud que la moviliza este libro, es casi filosófica, y gira en torno a la naturaleza humana. Justamente, la duda de concebir si lo que hacen los humanos es Natural o si pertenece a otra dimensión. Y también, reflexionar sobre la idea de un estado natural ideal, donde todo es hermoso, brillante y amoroso. La Naturaleza, descubrirá Cassie, tiene sus lados oscuros, sus giros tenebrosos, sus luchas de vida o muerte. Y es necesario que la humanidad se entienda como uno de los engranajes que hacen que todo siga andando. Pero, entonces, si no somos más que piezas en un entramado inmenso, donde todos valen por igual y donde las leyes son superiores a nuestra especie ¿tienen la culpa los parásitos (entre los que se encuentran los yeerks) de llevar adelante los designios de sus propias naturalezas? Si algunos son depredadores y otros presas, ¿puede la gacela decir que el león actúa de forma malvada al cazarla? ¿Y si lo que están haciendo los yeerks con los humanos es parte de las complejas relaciones de la los seres vivos? Quiénes somos para decidir cuándo y cómo cambiar esas reglas naturales.
May 28, 2021
My least favorite so far, but still interesting for the questions it raises about animal rights.
Edit: Okay, I feel like I should add more to my reviews just so I can differentiate between the books I've read (there are just so many and I'm going to read them all, apparently)! Cassie is my least favorite character, which I think is true for a lot of people, but I don't hate her at all. I think that at least part of the hatred for her has to do with the stigmatization of sensitivity, sympathy, and other more "feminine" emotions. That being said... she is a little overly sensitive, right? I think she is a necessary part of the group as the pacifist, but there was also a part of me that was like — I also do like that they're now actually starting to discuss the consequences of killing Controllers like humans and that Cassie is questioning what the difference really is between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" in war.
Edit: Okay, I feel like I should add more to my reviews just so I can differentiate between the books I've read (there are just so many and I'm going to read them all, apparently)! Cassie is my least favorite character, which I think is true for a lot of people, but I don't hate her at all. I think that at least part of the hatred for her has to do with the stigmatization of sensitivity, sympathy, and other more "feminine" emotions. That being said... she is a little overly sensitive, right? I think she is a necessary part of the group as the pacifist, but there was also a part of me that was like — I also do like that they're now actually starting to discuss the consequences of killing Controllers like humans and that Cassie is questioning what the difference really is between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" in war.
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