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A review by radradradish
The Conspiracy by K.A. Applegate
5.0
Of note: yes, I know that I don't have the right mark for indicating thought-speak, I just needed a quick replacement because Goodreads does... not seem to react well to what the normal mark is. I'll try to see if I can fix the issue, though.
Huh.
Not gonna lie, I'm genuinely surprised that this is one of the books that's gonna get five stars. Back when I started considering doing reviews for the series, I was under the impression that the only (non-Chronicles) books that'd get five stars were among the ones I had already read. This is mostly because the books already in my collection were from the first half (and where the story shines most) and that as I went into the middle stages from the series — and encountered way more of the filler books — the story would take a dip until the ending and wouldn't really reach the same heights as the first half (and last five books) would.
Apparently, I was wrong!
To sum up the plot: essentially, Jake's great-grandpa has died. Because of this, Jake's parents — primarily his father — have made the decision to stay at his private cabin for a time period of four days. Tom — due to his Yeerk's need for Kandrona rays every three days or so — is not happy about this, and after peaceful attempts to get out of having to go to the funeral fail Tom turns to desperate measures, attempting to infest Jake's father and — when this doesn't work — attempting to flat-out kill him multiple times. It's a book that explores the stresses of conflict, and the things people on both sides of that conflict will end up doing when put under those stressful conditions — Tom goes to further and further desperate measures to get out of having to go to the trip the closer the deadline approaches, and Jake finds that he is compromising himself further and further in his attempts to keep his father safe. It's compelling. Some of the best stuff Animorphs has to offer.
Because one of the best parts of the middle era of Animorphs — as we move from books written by Applegate to books written by ghostwriters — is that each of the five initial members gets a book to themselves that serves to directly challenge both their character and their role within the team. For Rachel, this book is the Solution; for Marco, this is the Reunion. Tobias gets The Illusion, and Cassie gets The Sickness.
For Jake, this book is The Conspiracy.
Jake's arc throughout the series is about how being the leader in the war starts wearing him down, and by the end turns him into a shell of who he used to be. This book I feel is where the slow change of his character is most evident — where the stress of being leader starts eating at both him and his life. Throughout the book, Jake has to make constant, in-the-moment calls on what to do, and the stress of having to do so (and the increasing amount of urgency in the need to save his father) results in him making several decisions that compromise his morality and result in him and others publically doubting his ability to act as a capable and responsible leader.
This is the book where Jake's growing self-doubt as a leader (and others doubts in him) becomes most evident. This is the book where his personal relationships with the other Animorphs begin to fade away as the war gets more serious. This is the book where he seriously considers the possibility that Tom will have to die — and in the end, actively attempts to do the deed himself. Others tend to criticize this book for having an idiot plot — one that only really happens because the characters make the worst possible decisions at every opportunity — but I feel as if this is meant to be the point. One of the book's main aims is to illustrate how stress can lead people to make unideal tactical decisions, and the book executes this theme pretty brilliantly. It goes out to show this theme, and it goes out to directly progress Jake's character arc by showing his growing lack of capability to properly lead the war effort, and it succeeds with flying colours in doing so.
It's not perfect, however. There are a couple points in the book in which I can agree that yeah, the thing I just saw was pretty uncharacteristic and/or weird. The decision to have Chapman of all people attempt a drive-by shooting on Jake's dad thinking about it comes off as bizarre, and seems to me to just be an easy/convenient way to bring Chapman into the story earlier in order to not make the 'kidnap Chapman' phase of the plot but given that Chapman appears in the book before that point, I don't see how it was even really needed. The random dropping of the fact that the medical helicopter is full of Chee, in addition, doesn't really make a lot of sense — if they were there why didn't they just let the Yeerk starve right there? Why did they choose to put Tom into a hospital and let him get re-infested? Does the Chee pre-disposition against violence mean that they can't let violence happen through inaction? It's… something that doesn't make a ton of sense and something that ultimately could've just been altered/changed and just made a normal helicopter.
But overall… yeah. This book was surprisingly really good. There are a couple nitpicks, but in the end those can basically be ignored in favour of the rich character development and theming that's put on show here. 4.5/5, round up to 5.
Blog: https://vagueartistics.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yugibones
Huh.
Not gonna lie, I'm genuinely surprised that this is one of the books that's gonna get five stars. Back when I started considering doing reviews for the series, I was under the impression that the only (non-Chronicles) books that'd get five stars were among the ones I had already read. This is mostly because the books already in my collection were from the first half (and where the story shines most) and that as I went into the middle stages from the series — and encountered way more of the filler books — the story would take a dip until the ending and wouldn't really reach the same heights as the first half (and last five books) would.
Apparently, I was wrong!
To sum up the plot: essentially, Jake's great-grandpa has died. Because of this, Jake's parents — primarily his father — have made the decision to stay at his private cabin for a time period of four days. Tom — due to his Yeerk's need for Kandrona rays every three days or so — is not happy about this, and after peaceful attempts to get out of having to go to the funeral fail Tom turns to desperate measures, attempting to infest Jake's father and — when this doesn't work — attempting to flat-out kill him multiple times. It's a book that explores the stresses of conflict, and the things people on both sides of that conflict will end up doing when put under those stressful conditions — Tom goes to further and further desperate measures to get out of having to go to the trip the closer the deadline approaches, and Jake finds that he is compromising himself further and further in his attempts to keep his father safe. It's compelling. Some of the best stuff Animorphs has to offer.
Because one of the best parts of the middle era of Animorphs — as we move from books written by Applegate to books written by ghostwriters — is that each of the five initial members gets a book to themselves that serves to directly challenge both their character and their role within the team. For Rachel, this book is the Solution; for Marco, this is the Reunion. Tobias gets The Illusion, and Cassie gets The Sickness.
For Jake, this book is The Conspiracy.
Jake's arc throughout the series is about how being the leader in the war starts wearing him down, and by the end turns him into a shell of who he used to be. This book I feel is where the slow change of his character is most evident — where the stress of being leader starts eating at both him and his life. Throughout the book, Jake has to make constant, in-the-moment calls on what to do, and the stress of having to do so (and the increasing amount of urgency in the need to save his father) results in him making several decisions that compromise his morality and result in him and others publically doubting his ability to act as a capable and responsible leader.
{And he will return to his people a hero,} Ax said. {This will become an oft-repeated and much celebrated chapter in Yeerk history. My name will become legend, synonymous with ineptitude. A brutal fool of an Andalite.}
{Ax, I wouldn't have asked you to do it if it wasn't so important.}
Ax looked at me, fierce hawk eyes glittering. {Important to you, Jake, or to the war effort?}
I didn't answer him.
I wanted to believe it was important to both, but my weary brain couldn't even form the words to convince myself, much less him.
– The Conspiracy, pg. 105.
You know what Marco and I used to talk about? Whether Batman could beat Spiderman. Whether Sega was better than Nintendo. Whether some girl would rather go out with him or me.
And now...
"What are we, anymore, Marco? What has happened to us?"
He didn't answer. I didn't expect him to. We both knew what had happened.
– The Conspiracy, pg. 134-135.
This is the book where Jake's growing self-doubt as a leader (and others doubts in him) becomes most evident. This is the book where his personal relationships with the other Animorphs begin to fade away as the war gets more serious. This is the book where he seriously considers the possibility that Tom will have to die — and in the end, actively attempts to do the deed himself. Others tend to criticize this book for having an idiot plot — one that only really happens because the characters make the worst possible decisions at every opportunity — but I feel as if this is meant to be the point. One of the book's main aims is to illustrate how stress can lead people to make unideal tactical decisions, and the book executes this theme pretty brilliantly. It goes out to show this theme, and it goes out to directly progress Jake's character arc by showing his growing lack of capability to properly lead the war effort, and it succeeds with flying colours in doing so.
It's not perfect, however. There are a couple points in the book in which I can agree that yeah, the thing I just saw was pretty uncharacteristic and/or weird. The decision to have Chapman of all people attempt a drive-by shooting on Jake's dad thinking about it comes off as bizarre, and seems to me to just be an easy/convenient way to bring Chapman into the story earlier in order to not make the 'kidnap Chapman' phase of the plot but given that Chapman appears in the book before that point, I don't see how it was even really needed. The random dropping of the fact that the medical helicopter is full of Chee, in addition, doesn't really make a lot of sense — if they were there why didn't they just let the Yeerk starve right there? Why did they choose to put Tom into a hospital and let him get re-infested? Does the Chee pre-disposition against violence mean that they can't let violence happen through inaction? It's… something that doesn't make a ton of sense and something that ultimately could've just been altered/changed and just made a normal helicopter.
But overall… yeah. This book was surprisingly really good. There are a couple nitpicks, but in the end those can basically be ignored in favour of the rich character development and theming that's put on show here. 4.5/5, round up to 5.
Blog: https://vagueartistics.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yugibones