Scan barcode
jessthanthree's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault
ramiel's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This is, very much, my favorite of all the "introduction" books. Partially because Rachel is my favorite of the animorphs, and partially because I'm absolutely fascinated with the Chapman family despite them being background characters (Iniss, Hedrick's yeerk, is technically the antagonist we deal with when we deal with "Chapman", its only in Andalite Chronicles that Chapman himself is an antagonist - which is also part of what makes this book so fascinating to me, but that's an essay for another day).
Like all the characters, Rachel has a role she has to embody, and that's being the "brave, reckless one" (later twisted into "the violent one") - a role we see comes not exactly from being a "danger junkie" or "made for war" (as she's often described) but from a very deep protective instinct. Despite what we see and will see from the eyes of everyone else, Rachel's determination to fight is solidified not on a whim or due to a need for excitement but out of the righteous fury she feels when she sees the Chapman family's new dynamic.
Next time Marco asked why we were fighting the Yeerks, I knew I would have a whole new answer. Because they destroy the love of parents for their daughter. Because they made Melissa Chapman cry in her bed with no one to comfort her but a cat.
The way I see Rachel is less of a "warrior" and more of a "martyr" - she sees someone suffering, someone in pain, and jumps in front of them, fighting tooth and nail to protect them. We see this from Jake's point of view in book one, when Cassie and Tobias are scared she holds them both and has "strength enough to share" despite being "terrified with tears running down her face".
Rachel's starting point in the war, her base, the reason she wants to fight isn't because "she wants to fight", it's because she would rather bleed to death than let anyone suffer. Any moment in later books when she self-reflects upon herself in horror is almost always when she's caused an innocent any sort of harm, and she even states aloud that she "does the dirty work, so that her friends don't have to do it". In later books we see this get twisted as with all the other kids (as war does), but it still all comes from this baseline feeling of duty towards others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Torture
Sexual assault: only a mention in the first few pages of the book. Rachel is walking home alone and some men follow her, catcalling and jeering, with the threat of this implied.
More...