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A review by muffmacguff
The Departure by K.A. Applegate
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
I read a lot of this series as it was being released (I fell off at some point and I’m excited to find where). That means I was in early middle school when this one came out.
My parents bonded over a love of Proust - my father recommended his work to my mother, who then read it in French. I mention this because they used to give me a hard time for reading Animorphs; they thought I should be reading more challenging and sophisticated work. I tried to explain to them that while Animorphs books were short and the protagonists were children, these were as challenging and sophisticated as anything else I’d read. They didn’t believe it, so finally I gave them this book - I remembered these twenty-plus years that it was book #19 - and asked them to please read this beautiful story.
This is, to me, the Animorphs at their very best. Some action but mainly a big complicated problem involving interspecies warfare, and the Animorphs all feeling differently about how to solve it. But beyond that, the Cassie books are just different. The Animorphs all suffer from their trauma in their own ways, but Cassie is the only one who is tormented by an insecurity about whether fighting is right at all. While Rachel has discovered that she is her best self when fighting (and that’s a hard thing for her to deal with), Cassie never gets more comfortable with killing aliens. Through her eyes, we see the toll this war takes on someone who reveres life. And in this book she splits with the Animorphs to try to make the world a little bit better without fighting.
My mom agreed the book was pretty good but also insisted I should read thicker books. My dad didn’t get around to reading it (and still feels bad about it - I forgive you!).
I don’t know which of the Animorphs I’d be most like in their shoes, but I agree so completely with Jake - you can’t build a better world after the fighting without people like Cassie.
Sobbed through this entire book.
My parents bonded over a love of Proust - my father recommended his work to my mother, who then read it in French. I mention this because they used to give me a hard time for reading Animorphs; they thought I should be reading more challenging and sophisticated work. I tried to explain to them that while Animorphs books were short and the protagonists were children, these were as challenging and sophisticated as anything else I’d read. They didn’t believe it, so finally I gave them this book - I remembered these twenty-plus years that it was book #19 - and asked them to please read this beautiful story.
This is, to me, the Animorphs at their very best. Some action but mainly a big complicated problem involving interspecies warfare, and the Animorphs all feeling differently about how to solve it. But beyond that, the Cassie books are just different. The Animorphs all suffer from their trauma in their own ways, but Cassie is the only one who is tormented by an insecurity about whether fighting is right at all. While Rachel has discovered that she is her best self when fighting (and that’s a hard thing for her to deal with), Cassie never gets more comfortable with killing aliens. Through her eyes, we see the toll this war takes on someone who reveres life. And in this book she splits with the Animorphs to try to make the world a little bit better without fighting.
My mom agreed the book was pretty good but also insisted I should read thicker books. My dad didn’t get around to reading it (and still feels bad about it - I forgive you!).
I don’t know which of the Animorphs I’d be most like in their shoes, but I agree so completely with Jake - you can’t build a better world after the fighting without people like Cassie.
Sobbed through this entire book.