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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
October 12, 2022 audiobook read:
Full review here.
Will Tobias’ books ever stop stabbing me through the heart? Not when I read them to myself, and now, apparently, not when Michael Crouch reads them to me either. Unrelatedly, I like how he did Jara Hamee and Ket Halpek’s voices.
These two quotes especially struck me, in not just their meaning this time, but also in Michael Crouch’s delivery:
Every human – Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, all humans – kind of lives on that edge between savage and saint. And the thing is that sometimes when you get pushed you do have to push back. And other times, you have to turn the other cheek. […] I guess the trick is to figure out when to do which thing. When to fight, when to let up. A balancing act. And even if I went back to being human, that balancing act wouldn’t go away.
Maybe realizing that should have made me feel bad. But it didn’t. Just made me feel human. – page 119-120
See, I had a duty, too. And who is there to remind you that what you want for yourself is less important than doing what is necessary and right? – page 150-151
Full review here.
Will Tobias’ books ever stop stabbing me through the heart? Not when I read them to myself, and now, apparently, not when Michael Crouch reads them to me either. Unrelatedly, I like how he did Jara Hamee and Ket Halpek’s voices.
These two quotes especially struck me, in not just their meaning this time, but also in Michael Crouch’s delivery:
Every human – Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, all humans – kind of lives on that edge between savage and saint. And the thing is that sometimes when you get pushed you do have to push back. And other times, you have to turn the other cheek. […] I guess the trick is to figure out when to do which thing. When to fight, when to let up. A balancing act. And even if I went back to being human, that balancing act wouldn’t go away.
Maybe realizing that should have made me feel bad. But it didn’t. Just made me feel human. – page 119-120
See, I had a duty, too. And who is there to remind you that what you want for yourself is less important than doing what is necessary and right? – page 150-151
October 12, 2022 audiobook review here.
May 27, 2021 reread:
Tobias is having a harder time of things than usual. And given how tough his life can be as a hawk, that’s saying something. First, there’s a drought, so less prey, another hawk is nudging in on Tobias’ meadow stealing what little food is available, not to mention whenever Tobias tries to hunt he flashes to being the prey and misses the meal. Then, there’s a young Hork-Bajir who has gotten lost, and they need to find him before humans or Yeerks find him and then find the free Hork-Bajir colony. The icing on the cake? Tobias gets word that his real father, not the man he thought was his father, has left him a will to be read on his next birthday, and a woman named Aria appears claiming to be his cousin and wanting to take him in and give him a family again.
I don’t know what’s up between 2015 and 2021 me, but this time reading through The Pretender, I felt it a lot more. Sure, there are some awfully convenient coincidences – when is there not at least one in an Animorphs book? – and some things seem like they should be a stretch, but then right there on the page, we’re essentially gifted the thought process that makes it not so much a stretch. At the very least, it gives us a semi-plausible explanation – which reminds us that despite all they’ve been through, the Animorphs are still kids, kids in an incredible and terrible situation, and who have had to really adapt and think outside of the box, especially as anyone is a potential Controller and therefore threat.
Basically, I underestimated the power of this book going into it. I remembered the key reveal which happened in it (I don’t think I’ll ever forget it), though nearly all the details surrounding it had gone away in the five years since I last reread this book. There’s a lot going on, pulling Tobias and thus the reader in several directions, yet it does manage to come together and stick the ending. After all, life isn’t easy; it is a balancing act. It’s how you handle what comes at you that makes a difference in how things will go. Just like how Tobias is still learning to balance his hawk instinct and his human empathy, and realizes that the two are not really all that different after all. So I’m bumping this up to 4 stars, from the original 3.
Favorite quotes:
Sometimes all the communicating that people do just seems irrelevant. Action is what counts. – page 75
[Toby said,] “A fool is strong so that others will see. A wise person is strong for himself.” – page 116
Every human – Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, all humans – kind of lives on that edge between savage and saint. And the thing is that sometimes when you get pushed you do have to push back. And other times, you have to turn the other cheek. […] I guess the trick is to figure out when to do which thing. When to fight, when to let up. A balancing act. And even if I went back to being human, that balancing act wouldn’t go away.
Maybe realizing that should have made me feel bad. But it didn’t. Just made me feel human. – page 119-120
See, I had a duty, too. And who is there to remind you that what you want for yourself is less important than doing what is necessary and right? – page 150-151
Inconsistency/typo:
[I saw] a harrier I knew as Cassie. – page 34 – Except, Cassie has an osprey morph. Ax has the harrier.
…T-rex feetfirst, on one of the men. – page 88 – “feetfirst” should be “feet first”
August 11, 2015 review – 3 stars:
After the grim darkness and very solid-feeling plot of the David trilogy, this Tobias book actually was a bit of a letdown. It lacked some of the oomph that we had just gotten, though it did try, and in the second half it did make up some of it. But not all or enough. I wanted to love it, I really did. I mean, it is the book which includes a Big Reveal about Tobias’ past. And there were aspects that lived up to expectation, but they were not as numerous as I would have liked.
In this book, we have the juxtaposition of Tobias learning about a long-lost will from his “real” father coupled with the appearance of a long-lost cousin who can offer him a home, and the capture of a young free Hork-Bajir by the Yeerks. The two plots manage to intertwine in a way that makes sense, though it feels a little forced, and a little too convenient.
The biggest highlight for me was the reading of the will, and what it revealed. I had been waiting and waiting for this reveal to happen since I picked the series back up again after 15 years.
But that’s what worried me most. Temptation.
[Rachel] had left the window open, as she often did. Sometimes I’d come by and do her homework for her. I don’t know why. Some weird desire to stay in touch with my old life, I guess. – page 13
“[…] I guess she contacted this lawyer of your dad’s. She told him and Chapman she wanted to take you in.” [Rachel told me]
< Take me in? >
“Give you a home, Tobias. A home.” – page 16 – Magic words, right there. “A home.” Something Tobias has never really had, not as a human, not as a hawk.
Mostly I was just nervous. What was I going to discover? What was I going to learn? What temptations would I have to face?
Strange word, temptations. Strange concept. But that’s what worried me most. Temptation. – page 19 – Temptation is a powerful thing. Tobias is wise to be worried about temptation; it can blind you to what is right in front of your face.
I relaxed a little. But I was baffled. Water? Coffee? Soda? What was the right answer?
“Um… um…”
Good grief. You’d think it was Final Jeopardy and the category was Obscure Modern Poets. I was so out of practice being human.
“I’d like a Coke!” I practically yelled.
DeGroot pressed his intercom. “Ingrid, our young friend here would like – ”
“—a Coke. Yes, I heard him. All the way out here.” – page 25 – Haha! I like the dichotomy of Tobias is confused by the question of which drink he wants, but he can go ahead and liken it to Jeopardy. Also, this scene gives us a little more information about where this series might be taking place – an area of the US that uses both “soda” and “Coke”. Based on the usages of sode/pop/Coke, the range of red-tailed hawks, the range of humpback whales, the proximity to the ocean and also mountains and rivers that comprise the Animorphs locale, my guess is that they probably live along the south-eastern seabord of the US. Second guess would be southern California, except they have expressed that the weather can get quite chilly, which I perceive as chillier than what is typical for southern California. Then when also coupled with places that K. A. Applegate has lived, I think my narrowest guess would be that they live in North or South Carolina. Plus there is a Marriott resort on the ocean, and a Hyatt property in the city, and some smaller islands off the coast.
“[…] Rachel, you’re with Tobias. Figure out if DeGroot and this Aria woman are Controllers. Follow them. Watch them. How long do we have till your birthday, Tobias?”
< Um… three days? > I asked.
“Today’s the twenty-third. When’s your birthday?”
< The twenty-fifth. I think. Twenty-sixth? >
Marco laughed, then I guess he realized I wasn’t kidding.
< I don’t… I don’t exactly remember. Not for sure. But I think it’s in three days. > I forced a laugh. < Just don’t ask me how old I am in bird years. > -- page 49 – Even though he’s only been a hawk for a number of months – can we safely estimate about 8-10 months? It’s so hard to even try to keep track of time in this series what with hardly any markers of passage of time – he has already forgotten so much about being human, right down to his own birthday. And as a kid, birthdays are a big thing. My guess is that the will was to be read to him on his 13th or 14th birthday. It is definitely not his 16th or 18th birthday, for sure. Not to mention how he had almost forgotten his last name. It’s like since becoming an Animorph and getting trapped in morph, his comprehension of his existence is down to the basics. The bare necessities, nothing superfluous like birthdays or last names. (So his birthday, I think I figured last night, is actually the 26th. I think.)
[Rachel is morphing to bald eagle.]
She grew smaller. But she was becoming one of the largest birds in existence.
Was she more beautiful to me because she was a bird now? No, of course not. For one thing, eagles and hawks don’t mate. For another, her eagle morph is male.
But sometimes it seemed to me that this body suited her better than her own. Her own body misled people with superficial resemblances to the glossy images of magazine models. This body was Rachel: fast, strong, smart, intense, and dangerous. – page 51
< […] I morphed to human and called the hotel [to find which room she’s in]. >
< How did you get a quarter for the phone? > [Rachel asked.]
< With these eyes? Coins shine in the sunlight. You fly around outside coin-op Laundromats or the drive-through lane at McDonald’s, you’ll find a dropped quarter sooner or later. >
Rachel laughed like that was the funniest thing in the world. < You are the world champion of coping with weird situations, > she said. – page 53 – He kind of has to be, I mean, his entire life has become one huge weird situation in more ways than one.
< I can’t see clearly. > [Tobias said.]
< Probably a good thing. She’s changing. > [Rachel replied.]
< Ah. You mean she’s changing clothes, right? Not morphing. >
< She’s morphing from a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt into a dress. The dress is, oh, about three, four years out of date. >
[…]
< The glare is shifting. Is it safe to look? >
< Are you always this nice about being a Peeping Tom? >
< I am never a Peeping Tom, > I said sharply. Then I softened my tone. < I cannot use my superpowers for evil. >
Rachel laughed. < Okay to look now. > -- page 56-57 -- A cute little exchange, and it also dissipates any suspicion Rachel might have ever had about Tobias peeping in on her before/after visiting her.
I wanted to ask why a Controller would care about the conditions of the animals in that hideous zoo. But I didn’t. I guess I’ve gotten so I say less and less. Sometimes all the communicating that people do just seems irrelevant. Action is what counts. – page 75 – Oh Tobias, if you could only see today’s technology-driven world! As for the Controller part of the question: Even Controllers have to act like they care about some things when around other people/non-Controllers – it’s called keeping up a cover. Just like Tom does. Just like Chapman does.
< Come with me, Bek, > I said to the terrified Hork-Bajir baby.
< Ket Halpak? >
< Um…yes. Come. > -- page 88 – Typos! Tobias would/should not be using thought-speak with Bek. And Bek definitely would not be using thought-speak.
I’d been assuming this was all a trap. I’d been assuming Aria was a Controller.
But she wasn’t. She was what she said she was. A human woman looking for her long-lost cousin Tobias.
My last excuse for remaining a hawk, for refusing to become human again, was lost. Now I could have a home. Now I could have a family.
True. All of it true.
I could have a home. Like a human being. A home!
I would not kill my breakfast. I would not eat roadkill. I would sleep in a bed. And Rachel would look at me without having to hide the pity in her eyes. – page 104 – Despite everything, and how well Tobias seemed to have adapted to his life as Bird-boy, he had never really given up one of his most basic hopes: to have a home. Not a house, not a place to live, but a home with family who actually cared about him.
“[…]Jake figures they’ll take Bek there. As bait.”
< Or at least that’s what Jake wants to believe, > I said resentfully. < Jara and Ket and Toby trusted me with that information. Maybe Jake’s just looking for an excuse to squeeze the Hork-Bajir to reveal this place to us. >
Rachel looked at me like she was going to argue. Then she kind of laughed. “Maybe. Jake has gotten more subtle.” – page 106 – Finally, an action of Rachel’s that does seem continuous with her growth in the last book. While I enjoyed the whole riding on cop cars and Tobias pulling off the impossible stunt to hold on to a helicopter, I was wondering what was going through Rachel’s head. Then again, maybe there was no hesitation from her for the very reason that none of it was a battle. Yeah, we’ll go with that.
“I don’t care that you ate roadkill! Stop being an idiot! I care about you. And when I see you doing that, I know things are going wrong for you. But you’re off in your own little hawk world and no one is allowed to help you. You’d rather starve than ask for help. You can’t ever admit that your life may suck because then you’ll feel weak.”
< I’m a hawk, > I snapped. < A bird of prey. When we’re weak, we die. That’s the law for us. I’m not a human being. Not anymore. No one helps a hawk. A hawk lives by his eyes and wings and talons. >
“You’re a hawk?” Rachel sneered. “You talk, Tobias. You read. You have emotions. Those are human things, not hawk things.”
< I know! I know! Don’t you think I know? That’s why I’m going hungry. Because I’m not hawk enough. That’s why I let Bek get away, because I was human enough to care more about my pain and fear than I cared about doing what I had to do. > -- page 108 – A tough conversation for both Tobias and Rachel, but one that needed to be said, one where points about Tobias/his life had to be said out loud and made “real”.
“[…]Or… or you can be a human again. All human. You can live with this Aria and eat at the table and sleep in a bed” [Rachel said.]
< And never fly, > I said. < Never fly again. Never see with hawk’s eyes. Never morph again. I know you guys would all be nice to me, but I’d lose all of you. I’d lose being an Animorph. >
“You wouldn’t lose me,” Rachel said.
For a long while neither of us spoke. Then Rachel, in a whisper, said, “What am I supposed to do, Tobias? I’m a girl. You’re a bird. This is way past Romeo and Juliet, Montagues and Capulets. This isn’t Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio coming from different social groups or whatever. It’s not like you’re black and I’m white like Cassie and Jake. No one but a moron cares about that. We are…we can’t hold hands, Tobias. We can’t dance. We can’t go to a movie together.”
< I…God, Rachel, don’t you think I know all that? Don’t you think I want to have all that? But I can’t keep changing. I can’t keep becoming something different. >
“One more change, Tobias. Back to human. You’d be free of this stupid war and free of all the danger of living as a hawk. I wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore.” – page 109 – Rachel learned a lot in the David trilogy about voicing her feelings, and she’s finally voicing them to the one who needs to hear them most: Tobias. I like how she off-handedly dismisses the whole “Should blacks and whites be in relationships?” ‘issue’ as something that should not be an issue. But she’s also forgetting that Tobias can become human for up to two hours at a time – he could go to a school dance with her. They could walk down the street and hold hands together. It wouldn’t be the same as if he were human all the time, sure, but at least it would be something. Plus, “I’d lose being an Animorph” – this is a big thing for Tobias. He didn’t really have any friends before becoming an Animorph, and now he has both friends and family in the Animorphs.
“[…]But the Hork-Bajir will respect themselves. A fool is strong so that others will see. A wise person is strong for himself. The Hork-Bajir will be strong for the Hork-Bajir. That way, when the Yeerks are all gone, we will still be strong.” [Toby said.] – page 116 – Such wise words out of such a young Hork-Bajir, even a seer. I wonder about the maturity rate and lifespan of Hork-Bajir even more now. I mean, they’ve only been free for a few months, right? And while I think Ket was already carrying Toby when her and Jara were freed, Toby would still be very young by any standards. Wise beyond her years due to being a seer and her interactions with Tobias, but still young.
I wondered about the image of Hork-Bajir and humans living side by side if the Yeerks were defeated. Humans didn’t have a great record of getting along with people different from themselves. Humans killed one another over skin color or eye shape or because they prayed differently to the same god. Hard to imagine humans welcoming seven-foot-tall goblins into the local Boy Scout troop when they couldn’t even manage to tolerate some gay kid. – page 118 – Wow, should we even unpack this? And sadly, all of these things are just as true today as they were when the Animorphs series was written. We’re still fighting for equality and for understanding between “different peoples”.
May 27, 2021 reread:
Tobias is having a harder time of things than usual. And given how tough his life can be as a hawk, that’s saying something. First, there’s a drought, so less prey, another hawk is nudging in on Tobias’ meadow stealing what little food is available, not to mention whenever Tobias tries to hunt he flashes to being the prey and misses the meal. Then, there’s a young Hork-Bajir who has gotten lost, and they need to find him before humans or Yeerks find him and then find the free Hork-Bajir colony. The icing on the cake? Tobias gets word that his real father, not the man he thought was his father, has left him a will to be read on his next birthday, and a woman named Aria appears claiming to be his cousin and wanting to take him in and give him a family again.
I don’t know what’s up between 2015 and 2021 me, but this time reading through The Pretender, I felt it a lot more. Sure, there are some awfully convenient coincidences – when is there not at least one in an Animorphs book? – and some things seem like they should be a stretch, but then right there on the page, we’re essentially gifted the thought process that makes it not so much a stretch. At the very least, it gives us a semi-plausible explanation – which reminds us that despite all they’ve been through, the Animorphs are still kids, kids in an incredible and terrible situation, and who have had to really adapt and think outside of the box, especially as anyone is a potential Controller and therefore threat.
Basically, I underestimated the power of this book going into it. I remembered the key reveal which happened in it (I don’t think I’ll ever forget it), though nearly all the details surrounding it had gone away in the five years since I last reread this book. There’s a lot going on, pulling Tobias and thus the reader in several directions, yet it does manage to come together and stick the ending. After all, life isn’t easy; it is a balancing act. It’s how you handle what comes at you that makes a difference in how things will go. Just like how Tobias is still learning to balance his hawk instinct and his human empathy, and realizes that the two are not really all that different after all. So I’m bumping this up to 4 stars, from the original 3.
Favorite quotes:
Sometimes all the communicating that people do just seems irrelevant. Action is what counts. – page 75
[Toby said,] “A fool is strong so that others will see. A wise person is strong for himself.” – page 116
Every human – Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, all humans – kind of lives on that edge between savage and saint. And the thing is that sometimes when you get pushed you do have to push back. And other times, you have to turn the other cheek. […] I guess the trick is to figure out when to do which thing. When to fight, when to let up. A balancing act. And even if I went back to being human, that balancing act wouldn’t go away.
Maybe realizing that should have made me feel bad. But it didn’t. Just made me feel human. – page 119-120
See, I had a duty, too. And who is there to remind you that what you want for yourself is less important than doing what is necessary and right? – page 150-151
Inconsistency/typo:
[I saw] a harrier I knew as Cassie. – page 34 – Except, Cassie has an osprey morph. Ax has the harrier.
…T-rex feetfirst, on one of the men. – page 88 – “feetfirst” should be “feet first”
August 11, 2015 review – 3 stars:
After the grim darkness and very solid-feeling plot of the David trilogy, this Tobias book actually was a bit of a letdown. It lacked some of the oomph that we had just gotten, though it did try, and in the second half it did make up some of it. But not all or enough. I wanted to love it, I really did. I mean, it is the book which includes a Big Reveal about Tobias’ past. And there were aspects that lived up to expectation, but they were not as numerous as I would have liked.
In this book, we have the juxtaposition of Tobias learning about a long-lost will from his “real” father coupled with the appearance of a long-lost cousin who can offer him a home, and the capture of a young free Hork-Bajir by the Yeerks. The two plots manage to intertwine in a way that makes sense, though it feels a little forced, and a little too convenient.
The biggest highlight for me was the reading of the will, and what it revealed. I had been waiting and waiting for this reveal to happen since I picked the series back up again after 15 years.
But that’s what worried me most. Temptation.
[Rachel] had left the window open, as she often did. Sometimes I’d come by and do her homework for her. I don’t know why. Some weird desire to stay in touch with my old life, I guess. – page 13
“[…] I guess she contacted this lawyer of your dad’s. She told him and Chapman she wanted to take you in.” [Rachel told me]
< Take me in? >
“Give you a home, Tobias. A home.” – page 16 – Magic words, right there. “A home.” Something Tobias has never really had, not as a human, not as a hawk.
Mostly I was just nervous. What was I going to discover? What was I going to learn? What temptations would I have to face?
Strange word, temptations. Strange concept. But that’s what worried me most. Temptation. – page 19 – Temptation is a powerful thing. Tobias is wise to be worried about temptation; it can blind you to what is right in front of your face.
I relaxed a little. But I was baffled. Water? Coffee? Soda? What was the right answer?
“Um… um…”
Good grief. You’d think it was Final Jeopardy and the category was Obscure Modern Poets. I was so out of practice being human.
“I’d like a Coke!” I practically yelled.
DeGroot pressed his intercom. “Ingrid, our young friend here would like – ”
“—a Coke. Yes, I heard him. All the way out here.” – page 25 – Haha! I like the dichotomy of Tobias is confused by the question of which drink he wants, but he can go ahead and liken it to Jeopardy. Also, this scene gives us a little more information about where this series might be taking place – an area of the US that uses both “soda” and “Coke”. Based on the usages of sode/pop/Coke, the range of red-tailed hawks, the range of humpback whales, the proximity to the ocean and also mountains and rivers that comprise the Animorphs locale, my guess is that they probably live along the south-eastern seabord of the US. Second guess would be southern California, except they have expressed that the weather can get quite chilly, which I perceive as chillier than what is typical for southern California. Then when also coupled with places that K. A. Applegate has lived, I think my narrowest guess would be that they live in North or South Carolina. Plus there is a Marriott resort on the ocean, and a Hyatt property in the city, and some smaller islands off the coast.
“[…] Rachel, you’re with Tobias. Figure out if DeGroot and this Aria woman are Controllers. Follow them. Watch them. How long do we have till your birthday, Tobias?”
< Um… three days? > I asked.
“Today’s the twenty-third. When’s your birthday?”
< The twenty-fifth. I think. Twenty-sixth? >
Marco laughed, then I guess he realized I wasn’t kidding.
< I don’t… I don’t exactly remember. Not for sure. But I think it’s in three days. > I forced a laugh. < Just don’t ask me how old I am in bird years. > -- page 49 – Even though he’s only been a hawk for a number of months – can we safely estimate about 8-10 months? It’s so hard to even try to keep track of time in this series what with hardly any markers of passage of time – he has already forgotten so much about being human, right down to his own birthday. And as a kid, birthdays are a big thing. My guess is that the will was to be read to him on his 13th or 14th birthday. It is definitely not his 16th or 18th birthday, for sure. Not to mention how he had almost forgotten his last name. It’s like since becoming an Animorph and getting trapped in morph, his comprehension of his existence is down to the basics. The bare necessities, nothing superfluous like birthdays or last names. (So his birthday, I think I figured last night, is actually the 26th. I think.)
[Rachel is morphing to bald eagle.]
She grew smaller. But she was becoming one of the largest birds in existence.
Was she more beautiful to me because she was a bird now? No, of course not. For one thing, eagles and hawks don’t mate. For another, her eagle morph is male.
But sometimes it seemed to me that this body suited her better than her own. Her own body misled people with superficial resemblances to the glossy images of magazine models. This body was Rachel: fast, strong, smart, intense, and dangerous. – page 51
< […] I morphed to human and called the hotel [to find which room she’s in]. >
< How did you get a quarter for the phone? > [Rachel asked.]
< With these eyes? Coins shine in the sunlight. You fly around outside coin-op Laundromats or the drive-through lane at McDonald’s, you’ll find a dropped quarter sooner or later. >
Rachel laughed like that was the funniest thing in the world. < You are the world champion of coping with weird situations, > she said. – page 53 – He kind of has to be, I mean, his entire life has become one huge weird situation in more ways than one.
< I can’t see clearly. > [Tobias said.]
< Probably a good thing. She’s changing. > [Rachel replied.]
< Ah. You mean she’s changing clothes, right? Not morphing. >
< She’s morphing from a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt into a dress. The dress is, oh, about three, four years out of date. >
[…]
< The glare is shifting. Is it safe to look? >
< Are you always this nice about being a Peeping Tom? >
< I am never a Peeping Tom, > I said sharply. Then I softened my tone. < I cannot use my superpowers for evil. >
Rachel laughed. < Okay to look now. > -- page 56-57 -- A cute little exchange, and it also dissipates any suspicion Rachel might have ever had about Tobias peeping in on her before/after visiting her.
I wanted to ask why a Controller would care about the conditions of the animals in that hideous zoo. But I didn’t. I guess I’ve gotten so I say less and less. Sometimes all the communicating that people do just seems irrelevant. Action is what counts. – page 75 – Oh Tobias, if you could only see today’s technology-driven world! As for the Controller part of the question: Even Controllers have to act like they care about some things when around other people/non-Controllers – it’s called keeping up a cover. Just like Tom does. Just like Chapman does.
< Come with me, Bek, > I said to the terrified Hork-Bajir baby.
< Ket Halpak? >
< Um…yes. Come. > -- page 88 – Typos! Tobias would/should not be using thought-speak with Bek. And Bek definitely would not be using thought-speak.
I’d been assuming this was all a trap. I’d been assuming Aria was a Controller.
But she wasn’t. She was what she said she was. A human woman looking for her long-lost cousin Tobias.
My last excuse for remaining a hawk, for refusing to become human again, was lost. Now I could have a home. Now I could have a family.
True. All of it true.
I could have a home. Like a human being. A home!
I would not kill my breakfast. I would not eat roadkill. I would sleep in a bed. And Rachel would look at me without having to hide the pity in her eyes. – page 104 – Despite everything, and how well Tobias seemed to have adapted to his life as Bird-boy, he had never really given up one of his most basic hopes: to have a home. Not a house, not a place to live, but a home with family who actually cared about him.
“[…]Jake figures they’ll take Bek there. As bait.”
< Or at least that’s what Jake wants to believe, > I said resentfully. < Jara and Ket and Toby trusted me with that information. Maybe Jake’s just looking for an excuse to squeeze the Hork-Bajir to reveal this place to us. >
Rachel looked at me like she was going to argue. Then she kind of laughed. “Maybe. Jake has gotten more subtle.” – page 106 – Finally, an action of Rachel’s that does seem continuous with her growth in the last book. While I enjoyed the whole riding on cop cars and Tobias pulling off the impossible stunt to hold on to a helicopter, I was wondering what was going through Rachel’s head. Then again, maybe there was no hesitation from her for the very reason that none of it was a battle. Yeah, we’ll go with that.
“I don’t care that you ate roadkill! Stop being an idiot! I care about you. And when I see you doing that, I know things are going wrong for you. But you’re off in your own little hawk world and no one is allowed to help you. You’d rather starve than ask for help. You can’t ever admit that your life may suck because then you’ll feel weak.”
< I’m a hawk, > I snapped. < A bird of prey. When we’re weak, we die. That’s the law for us. I’m not a human being. Not anymore. No one helps a hawk. A hawk lives by his eyes and wings and talons. >
“You’re a hawk?” Rachel sneered. “You talk, Tobias. You read. You have emotions. Those are human things, not hawk things.”
< I know! I know! Don’t you think I know? That’s why I’m going hungry. Because I’m not hawk enough. That’s why I let Bek get away, because I was human enough to care more about my pain and fear than I cared about doing what I had to do. > -- page 108 – A tough conversation for both Tobias and Rachel, but one that needed to be said, one where points about Tobias/his life had to be said out loud and made “real”.
“[…]Or… or you can be a human again. All human. You can live with this Aria and eat at the table and sleep in a bed” [Rachel said.]
< And never fly, > I said. < Never fly again. Never see with hawk’s eyes. Never morph again. I know you guys would all be nice to me, but I’d lose all of you. I’d lose being an Animorph. >
“You wouldn’t lose me,” Rachel said.
For a long while neither of us spoke. Then Rachel, in a whisper, said, “What am I supposed to do, Tobias? I’m a girl. You’re a bird. This is way past Romeo and Juliet, Montagues and Capulets. This isn’t Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio coming from different social groups or whatever. It’s not like you’re black and I’m white like Cassie and Jake. No one but a moron cares about that. We are…we can’t hold hands, Tobias. We can’t dance. We can’t go to a movie together.”
< I…God, Rachel, don’t you think I know all that? Don’t you think I want to have all that? But I can’t keep changing. I can’t keep becoming something different. >
“One more change, Tobias. Back to human. You’d be free of this stupid war and free of all the danger of living as a hawk. I wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore.” – page 109 – Rachel learned a lot in the David trilogy about voicing her feelings, and she’s finally voicing them to the one who needs to hear them most: Tobias. I like how she off-handedly dismisses the whole “Should blacks and whites be in relationships?” ‘issue’ as something that should not be an issue. But she’s also forgetting that Tobias can become human for up to two hours at a time – he could go to a school dance with her. They could walk down the street and hold hands together. It wouldn’t be the same as if he were human all the time, sure, but at least it would be something. Plus, “I’d lose being an Animorph” – this is a big thing for Tobias. He didn’t really have any friends before becoming an Animorph, and now he has both friends and family in the Animorphs.
“[…]But the Hork-Bajir will respect themselves. A fool is strong so that others will see. A wise person is strong for himself. The Hork-Bajir will be strong for the Hork-Bajir. That way, when the Yeerks are all gone, we will still be strong.” [Toby said.] – page 116 – Such wise words out of such a young Hork-Bajir, even a seer. I wonder about the maturity rate and lifespan of Hork-Bajir even more now. I mean, they’ve only been free for a few months, right? And while I think Ket was already carrying Toby when her and Jara were freed, Toby would still be very young by any standards. Wise beyond her years due to being a seer and her interactions with Tobias, but still young.
I wondered about the image of Hork-Bajir and humans living side by side if the Yeerks were defeated. Humans didn’t have a great record of getting along with people different from themselves. Humans killed one another over skin color or eye shape or because they prayed differently to the same god. Hard to imagine humans welcoming seven-foot-tall goblins into the local Boy Scout troop when they couldn’t even manage to tolerate some gay kid. – page 118 – Wow, should we even unpack this? And sadly, all of these things are just as true today as they were when the Animorphs series was written. We’re still fighting for equality and for understanding between “different peoples”.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
can't stop laughing at tobias waxing poetic about how hot rachel is including while in her bald eagle morph but then walking it back with a "no homo" bc her eagle morph is male. he really went "i can excuse being attracted to birds but i draw the line at homosexuality"
all jokes aside, this paragraph on page 118 really struck me with how frank it is, given that this is a children's scholastic book published in 1998:
"I wondered about the image of Hork-Bajir and humans living side by side if the Yeerks were defeated. Humans don't have a great track record of getting along with people different from themselves. Humans killed one another over skin color or eye shape or because they prayed differently to the same god. Hard to imagine humans welcoming seven-foot-tall goblins into the local Boy Scout troop when they couldn't even manage to tolerate some gay kid."
man, i loved this book. it was so thoughtful and introspective and full of DELICIOUS tobias angst, and so much of it was spent with just him & rachel hanging out :) a sorely needed respite after the nonstop action and trauma of the d*vid trilogy. and i have such a soft spot for bunnies/rabbits as a horror trope >:}
an unexpected favorite!!!
all jokes aside, this paragraph on page 118 really struck me with how frank it is, given that this is a children's scholastic book published in 1998:
"I wondered about the image of Hork-Bajir and humans living side by side if the Yeerks were defeated. Humans don't have a great track record of getting along with people different from themselves. Humans killed one another over skin color or eye shape or because they prayed differently to the same god. Hard to imagine humans welcoming seven-foot-tall goblins into the local Boy Scout troop when they couldn't even manage to tolerate some gay kid."
man, i loved this book. it was so thoughtful and introspective and full of DELICIOUS tobias angst, and so much of it was spent with just him & rachel hanging out :) a sorely needed respite after the nonstop action and trauma of the d*vid trilogy. and i have such a soft spot for bunnies/rabbits as a horror trope >:}
an unexpected favorite!!!
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A convoluted melodrama that stretches itself to bizarre extremes solely for the purpose of solving one of the author’s core dilemmas: how do we let Tobias know who his father is? Considering the central conceit of the A-plot is given away in the book’s title, it’s hard not to think that the novel’s finale could’ve been delivered as an impactful plot point in another, more consequential book. The resolutions for this novels other storylines feel half-hearted which only deepens the reader’s frustration at so much of this book being dedicated to the saving of a young alien or the turf war with another hawk in lieu of the story that Applegate clearly wanted to focus on. The story only succeeds over others in the series on the back of some brilliantly detailed and intimate growth for Tobias’s relationship with Rachel which seemingly treads new ground regarding Tobias’s sacrifice in refusing to remain human. Were it not for the relatable angst of the POV character, this whole novel would threaten to be a large misstep.
adventurous
medium-paced
I actually enjoyed this one. I always enjoyed Tobias books more than the others. He's broken, alone, but insightful, reflective. His struggles are interesting. I always cared about Tobias, and we never got enough books in his POV.
I'm unsure if we achieved the goal of the "subplot" of the lost Hork-Bajir kid. That part, as usual, just was glossed over and ended quickly.
4 out of 5 stars.
I'm unsure if we achieved the goal of the "subplot" of the lost Hork-Bajir kid. That part, as usual, just was glossed over and ended quickly.
4 out of 5 stars.