Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Der Raub

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Der Raub by K.A. Applegate

2 reviews

magicalghoul's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I don't know why I was making jokes. I guess that's the way I am. When bad things happen, I tell jokes. But inside I felt sick. Like I had swallowed broken glass.

♢ 5/62 OF THE ANIMORPHS REREAD

⚠ tws for the entire series: war, death, child soldiers, child death, descriptions of gore, body horror, discussions of parental death, slugs, parasites, loss of free will, depictions of PTSD and trauma, ableism, imperialism.

With Marco we close the "introductory" books. Like his fellow Animorphs, Marco has a stereotypical role he fills (whiny comedy relief) which is how we and the other kids see him but that now that we get to access his inner world, is subverted; he's the most sceptic and cynic of the bunch, the contrarian who has more to lose than to gain if he does fight this war that he went into solely because of his loyalty to his best friend and an alien who died for him, and the humor? He learned it from his mom and it's his very deliberate main defense mechanism— much like fearlessness becomes Rachel's.

Around this time Marco's had way too many close calls (and will continue to have them if memory serves right) and despite how much he cares for his friends (which is to mean Jake), it is family (his depressed dad who's already coping very badly from the loss of Marco's mom) who must take precedence and whom Marco has to pick. He has to pull out.

So, how do you give this type of character a reason to stay and fight instead? And not only that, but with renewed strength? No spoilers, but you corner him and you make it personal.

Just like the rest of the introduction books, is a phenomenal foundation for what's in store for him.

Here we have motive and characterization and in no time we'll get to see how his archetype and the contradictions within him come together to form his contrasts as a character. He's outwardy clowny, sarcastic and aloof but he's also analytic (we see hints of it in his inner thought process during the plan they execute), manipulative (as we'll later see!) and self defines as ruthless.

Yet at the same time he puts all of that brutality he's capable of in service of his friends and family and that's something we already see in this book too. As mentioned before he's initially fighting for Jake and an alien he saw die for him (“And you're wrong, Rachel. That means plenty to me.” is his response when Rachel accuses him of not caring for the alien's sacrifice in book 4) and in fact we're introduced to him at a point in his life when he's being a caretaker to his own dad, a role he'll continue to fulfill one way or another because they sure as hell added "parentification" to his list of traumas.

(And put a pin on that because it's extremely relevant to understand the dubious choices he makes in later books.)

I also love that his contrarian nature contributes to the multiple philosophical debates these kids will have and that that same nature is depicted as an advantage to the group just like Cassie's kindness is:

It allows him to point out faults in the plans and err to caution even if that means he goes against the group, same as Cassie, but not punished for the individuality that shows— it helps that it reminds me of Eric from the Dungeons & Dragons tv series in that regard, so I'm going to assume that "not depicting dissident voices in a group as inherently wrong in children's media" was a conscious choice from the start when writing these books.

As for the audiobook: I'm deeply enjoying the audiobooks so far. Wish Marco's voice were higher in pitch but after listening to it a while I liked it.

The narration of Marco seeing Eva alive made me Cry with how emotional his voice got, so good job.

In conclusion, in this house we love Marco.

Highlights: The horror comedy that was the lobster morph, the straight up horror of the ant morph and Marco finding an ant still stuck to him afterwards, Rachel's first public outburst and Marco using his goofy persona for damage control, the Visser 1 reveal, and the confirmation that basically all these kids are having ptsd nightmares now.

Content Warnings

ramiel's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

As with my previous reviews, the most important thing about this book to me upon REreading is how well it sets up Marco as a character and is the perfect base from which to build his character arc. This book also has one of the most memorable (read: absolutely horrifying) morphs in the series - the ant morph.

(All cws listed also apply for this review.)

Marco is a character who, in the first four books, is the "funny" one, the one who cracks jokes at the worst moments. He's also known as the one who consistently states that the team shouldn't be doing this, that he doesn't want to do this, that he wants to leave because it's dangerous and he doesn't want to die. Of course this is explained: his mother died two years ago, and since then his father has sunk into a deep depression, forcing Marco to be not only his own caregiver, but also to be that of his father. He says aloud several times: if he were to disappear or die, his father wouldn't survive the grief.

To Marco, family and friends, the people he loves, take priority in his mind.

This book takes this and dives deeper into his thoughts, into his home life and his feelings towards his parents, his feelings towards his friends, towards morphing and their secret war and even his sense of humor.

You probably wouldn't think I was the kind of guy who would cry. Mostly I don't. Mostly I make jokes about things. It's better to laugh than to cry, don't you think? I do. Even when the world is scary and sad. Especially when the world is scary and sad. That's when you need to laugh.

Marco's infamous sense of humor is his biggest coping mechanism towards trauma. He says these things plainly: I'm terrified, so I told a joke. It's something that stays with him three, even six years later - to the end of the war and it's epilogue. It's something his friends don't completely understand - just like Jake and his issues with "leadership", Rachel and her relationship to "violence", Cassie and her internal struggles with "morality and ethics", or Tobias and his "duality". His friends narrative of his joking is far more simplistic than what we see when we get inside Marco's head, to them, yes, he's probably trying to lighten the mood before they rush into danger, but they seem to miss the way he uses it to deflect other emotions, the way he uses humor like an armor to protect him from harm. I don't think this would be a surprise to any reader, but still the comparison between his friends views of him vs his own (and again, each child's view of themself vs the others' views of them) is something that really invested me in these characters.

As in the other four books, Marco's self-introduction is also him solidifying his reason to fight. It's particularly brutal to him, he's nearly killed or lost in morph several times only days before the second anniversary of his mother's death. As I mentioned above, the ant morph is a particular is memorable purely because of how absolutely horrifying it is. The details of the ant war are shocking and claustrophobic, and the image of Marco attempting to become human again as an ant attempts to BITE HIM IN HALF AT THE WAIST is particularly haunting (to both Marco, who mentions this instance several times in later books, and the readers themselves). After days and days of balancing nearly-dying and watching as his father becomes more depressed as the anniversary of his mother's death grows nearer, Marco tells Jake the next mission will be his last - something Jake immediately accepts. Nowhere in this book is there anyone challenging Marco's decision here, it's presented as something understandable and something he, nor anyone, should be ashamed of.

And then, on this final mission, the team is captured, time ticking in their morphs, realizing they're helpless, they're going to die. And then, on this mission that was no longer his final one, Marco is introduced to Visser One: a yeerk controlling the body of his mother. His mother, who is not dead.

Another thing I've seen in each book is the introduction of each child's "hatred" and their reactions to it. Marco, upon seeing his mother, thinks back to when she was "alive", wondering when the relationship he and his mother shared became "pretend", when his mother became a slave and the person who cared for him was actually the parasite in her mind. How long had his mother been a slave, and how long was it that he and his father never realized and were cheerful in their ignorance?

It infuriates him.

His reaction to this reveals a new sort of passion, and he refuses to give up, lay down, and accept defeat. His mother is alive, and his father is still at home alone without either of them. He makes it out, returns home to his father, and does not quit being an "Animorph". Somehow, at the same time as Marco realized his mother was alive, his father also took a step forward. At his mother's empty grave his father apologizes to him and tells Marco that he's going to return to work and try harder from now on. This is a purely stand-alone ending I love, because in a way, in that moment, Marco feels like he's gotten both of his parents back. It's a hopeful note just like the others, and I love it.

Content Warnings

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