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A review by ifthebook
The Beginning by K.A. Applegate
5.0
I’ve read Animorphs #54: The Beginning several times now, and I think I finally feel ready to write up a rational reaction. The first time I read it, my brother had already given me a brief synopsis, so I knew about the ending and the One. (Although his description was more than a bit confusing.) I read it mainly to bring closure to the Animorphs era of my life, and hated it. But, obviously, the Animorphs era of my life didn’t end there. A year or two later, I read it again, and cried through most of it. Rachel’s death was awful, but even worse was what happened to Jake and Tobias, neither of whom could really come back from the war.
Over the next few readings, I slowly came to terms with the book. I hated Ronnie at first, but now I think it’s beautiful the way Cassie’s life went. In reading the book this time through, what really struck me was how he calls Cassie “Cass.” Cassie has moved on with her life. She herself says that she’s not Cassie the Animorph anymore. I would go further to say that she’s now Cass, doing the work she always wanted to do, saving the world through plants and animals. I think Cassie’s ending is beautiful. It shows the resilience of humans—Cassie hated the war more than any of the other Animorphs, and she managed to flourish once she came out of it, maybe because of that hate.
Marco is the other Animorph who really prospered after the war. I’m sure no one would expect anything less of him. He led the life of a star that he’d always talked about and, of course, it was empty. But could it really have gone any other way for Marco? I don’t think so. He’s been headed in this direction from the moment he likened them to superheroes.
Ax, in his own way, does well after the war too, which also only makes sense. Ax was trained to be an Andalite warrior, and after the war, that’s exactly what he gets to do. We don’t see a lot of Ax after the war, but what we do see makes me so proud of him (which is a weird feeling, I know). Ax, explaining to the officers on his ship why he makes certain decisions just shows how much he’s grown. He doesn’t need to posture and play-act at being a prince, he is a prince.
Which brings us to Jake, Ax’s prince. Jake’s story after the war is possibly the most depressing for me. He can’t come back; he can’t move on. He doesn’t even graduate from high school. It makes me mad that he didn’t wake up one day and think, Rachel would have hated this, but I understand why he didn’t. Jake took on so much responsibility for so long that he couldn’t get rid of it, even when he had the chance.
The next thing to be discussed, of course, is the flushing of the Yeerks. I’ve waffled back and forth and tried not to come down on either side, because ultimately I want to trust Jake’s judgment. But now I don’t think it was necessary. That was a huge loss of life, and I’m not sure if the diversion it caused was really helpful at all. I’m not sure if it matters, though, what the right answer is, especially because there really isn’t one. Instead, I’m glad that KA lets the Animorphs, and particularly Jake, deal with it themselves, instead of passing judgment.
And then there’s Tobias. His story after the war is one that I have the most trouble with. I can understand him being angry about Rachel’s death. I can understand him losing his one very strong connection to humans and withdrawing into himself and the hawk. But I can’t understand him withdrawing completely and only talking to Toby and Cassie, and then only rarely. This is because he didn’t lose all of his connections to humanity. His mother is a very big link back, one he risked a lot to gain at all. Yes, it’s true that she can’t remember him, but I also have a lot of trouble with Tobias just leaving her. I’m sure he made sure she was taken care of (at least I assume he did), but it still seems very strange to me.
On that note, the glaring lack of any of the parents gets on my nerves a bit. On one hand, this story is about the Animorphs, and not their parents, but on the other hand, in the past few books, the parents started to play a big part, even if it was just to tell Jake everything he did was wrong. I really wish we knew about Eva, though. Ever since Visser nearly changed my life, she’s been fascinating to me.
Finally, Rachel. Some people are pretty angry that Rachel died, but I think it’s appropriate. Horrible, but appropriate. The conclusion would not have been the same if they had made it through the war with no casualties. (There were the auxiliary Animorphs, whose absence is also troubling. One assumes they all died as well, which is unfortunate. I’d have liked to see what happened to James.) Rachel’s death still really gets to me, though. Maybe the Ellimist’s cameo was supposed to make things better, but the way her narrations cuts off in mid-sentence is so painful…
But I digress. It’s time to discuss the final problem people have with the book—the whole plot concerning the Blade ship, the Kelbrids, and the One. I’m of two minds about the whole thing. I understand the Animorphs going down fighting. I love how creepy Ax’s final moments on the abandoned ship are. I can see him holding up a few polar bear hairs, and it gives me the shivers. I guess what I don’t like is that it’s not a conclusion—there are no answers. Is Ax really dead? Is he now a Borg? What do the Kelbrids have anything to do with this? I can accept this as an end, but not as a conclusion. Every time I read this book, I try to find clues about what really happened. But no, I don’t have any answers. I suppose that’s the point, but that’s also what makes people so unhappy.
But, ultimately, I like the book. I like seeing how all the Animorphs moved on (or didn’t). I like how real that feels. And I like that the moral ambiguity of their actions doesn’t go away—that’s something they each have to deal with, and something that we, as readers, have to deal with as well.
Over the next few readings, I slowly came to terms with the book. I hated Ronnie at first, but now I think it’s beautiful the way Cassie’s life went. In reading the book this time through, what really struck me was how he calls Cassie “Cass.” Cassie has moved on with her life. She herself says that she’s not Cassie the Animorph anymore. I would go further to say that she’s now Cass, doing the work she always wanted to do, saving the world through plants and animals. I think Cassie’s ending is beautiful. It shows the resilience of humans—Cassie hated the war more than any of the other Animorphs, and she managed to flourish once she came out of it, maybe because of that hate.
Marco is the other Animorph who really prospered after the war. I’m sure no one would expect anything less of him. He led the life of a star that he’d always talked about and, of course, it was empty. But could it really have gone any other way for Marco? I don’t think so. He’s been headed in this direction from the moment he likened them to superheroes.
Ax, in his own way, does well after the war too, which also only makes sense. Ax was trained to be an Andalite warrior, and after the war, that’s exactly what he gets to do. We don’t see a lot of Ax after the war, but what we do see makes me so proud of him (which is a weird feeling, I know). Ax, explaining to the officers on his ship why he makes certain decisions just shows how much he’s grown. He doesn’t need to posture and play-act at being a prince, he is a prince.
Which brings us to Jake, Ax’s prince. Jake’s story after the war is possibly the most depressing for me. He can’t come back; he can’t move on. He doesn’t even graduate from high school. It makes me mad that he didn’t wake up one day and think, Rachel would have hated this, but I understand why he didn’t. Jake took on so much responsibility for so long that he couldn’t get rid of it, even when he had the chance.
The next thing to be discussed, of course, is the flushing of the Yeerks. I’ve waffled back and forth and tried not to come down on either side, because ultimately I want to trust Jake’s judgment. But now I don’t think it was necessary. That was a huge loss of life, and I’m not sure if the diversion it caused was really helpful at all. I’m not sure if it matters, though, what the right answer is, especially because there really isn’t one. Instead, I’m glad that KA lets the Animorphs, and particularly Jake, deal with it themselves, instead of passing judgment.
And then there’s Tobias. His story after the war is one that I have the most trouble with. I can understand him being angry about Rachel’s death. I can understand him losing his one very strong connection to humans and withdrawing into himself and the hawk. But I can’t understand him withdrawing completely and only talking to Toby and Cassie, and then only rarely. This is because he didn’t lose all of his connections to humanity. His mother is a very big link back, one he risked a lot to gain at all. Yes, it’s true that she can’t remember him, but I also have a lot of trouble with Tobias just leaving her. I’m sure he made sure she was taken care of (at least I assume he did), but it still seems very strange to me.
On that note, the glaring lack of any of the parents gets on my nerves a bit. On one hand, this story is about the Animorphs, and not their parents, but on the other hand, in the past few books, the parents started to play a big part, even if it was just to tell Jake everything he did was wrong. I really wish we knew about Eva, though. Ever since Visser nearly changed my life, she’s been fascinating to me.
Finally, Rachel. Some people are pretty angry that Rachel died, but I think it’s appropriate. Horrible, but appropriate. The conclusion would not have been the same if they had made it through the war with no casualties. (There were the auxiliary Animorphs, whose absence is also troubling. One assumes they all died as well, which is unfortunate. I’d have liked to see what happened to James.) Rachel’s death still really gets to me, though. Maybe the Ellimist’s cameo was supposed to make things better, but the way her narrations cuts off in mid-sentence is so painful…
But I digress. It’s time to discuss the final problem people have with the book—the whole plot concerning the Blade ship, the Kelbrids, and the One. I’m of two minds about the whole thing. I understand the Animorphs going down fighting. I love how creepy Ax’s final moments on the abandoned ship are. I can see him holding up a few polar bear hairs, and it gives me the shivers. I guess what I don’t like is that it’s not a conclusion—there are no answers. Is Ax really dead? Is he now a Borg? What do the Kelbrids have anything to do with this? I can accept this as an end, but not as a conclusion. Every time I read this book, I try to find clues about what really happened. But no, I don’t have any answers. I suppose that’s the point, but that’s also what makes people so unhappy.
But, ultimately, I like the book. I like seeing how all the Animorphs moved on (or didn’t). I like how real that feels. And I like that the moral ambiguity of their actions doesn’t go away—that’s something they each have to deal with, and something that we, as readers, have to deal with as well.