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A review by meemzter
The Predator by K.A. Applegate
5.0
"It’s scary. It’s so scary that sometimes you wish you could just go ahead and die because it’s easier than dealing with the terror"
THIS IS ONLY BOOK 5 AND WE'RE ALREADY AT THIS LEVEL OF WOE
This review contains spoilers
The first Marco book just delivers, okay? I think this is the best book yet. It is JAM-PACKED with content. The inaugural Ax-goes-to-the-mall scene. Lobster morphs. We are back at Chapman's! Ant morphs, which go down in history as a peak horrific moment in this series. Oh and btw these actual children are going to try and steal a bug fighter! Oops, they got captured by Visser Three and all is lost. WAIT MARCO'S MOM IS VISSER ONE. There is no more satisfying plot twist in history and you can quote me on that. Plus them being freed because of political infighting? Obsessed.
But this book also presents the JOY of being in Marco's POV. The other books have already mentioned that Marco is a shrewd, strategic thinker, but this book we actually get to see the inner-workings. We see that Marco's humor is an intentional and fully aware way of dealing with fear and sadness. We see Marco feel guilty for being too harsh but also being like "I said what I said." We see him feeling vulnerable and trying to hide it. Basically: Marco is just the best and this book is the indisputable evidence.
Marco's decision to leave the Animorphs has been heavily foreshadowed in every single book - he has been the most reluctant of the Animorphs from day 1 and very clear about his reasons why. But it still hits like a gut punch when he actually plans to leave. Obviously meeting Visser One changes that outcome, but I like to think that Marco wouldn't have been able to stay away even if he hadn't learned that his mom was alive.
Hidden gem scene: Rachel lashing out at Jessica in the cafeteria and Marco stepping in to break up the fight. I love their whole secret agent thing at school and love even more when they end up in each other's business because, well, they are all responsible for each other. Rachel/Marco are one of my favorite dynamics in the group anyway - they bicker constantly and are the loudest/most opinionated in the group but ultimately balance each other out.
Highlights: tobias riding around on marco's shoulder, visser one's hork-bajir speaking perfect english, cassie nuzzling jake rip, ax and tobias debating who has better bird vision, jake / marco being the most beautiful bffs
THIS IS ONLY BOOK 5 AND WE'RE ALREADY AT THIS LEVEL OF WOE
This review contains spoilers
The first Marco book just delivers, okay? I think this is the best book yet. It is JAM-PACKED with content. The inaugural Ax-goes-to-the-mall scene. Lobster morphs. We are back at Chapman's! Ant morphs, which go down in history as a peak horrific moment in this series. Oh and btw these actual children are going to try and steal a bug fighter! Oops, they got captured by Visser Three and all is lost. WAIT MARCO'S MOM IS VISSER ONE. There is no more satisfying plot twist in history and you can quote me on that. Plus them being freed because of political infighting? Obsessed.
But this book also presents the JOY of being in Marco's POV. The other books have already mentioned that Marco is a shrewd, strategic thinker, but this book we actually get to see the inner-workings. We see that Marco's humor is an intentional and fully aware way of dealing with fear and sadness. We see Marco feel guilty for being too harsh but also being like "I said what I said." We see him feeling vulnerable and trying to hide it. Basically: Marco is just the best and this book is the indisputable evidence.
Marco's decision to leave the Animorphs has been heavily foreshadowed in every single book - he has been the most reluctant of the Animorphs from day 1 and very clear about his reasons why. But it still hits like a gut punch when he actually plans to leave. Obviously meeting Visser One changes that outcome, but I like to think that Marco wouldn't have been able to stay away even if he hadn't learned that his mom was alive.
Hidden gem scene: Rachel lashing out at Jessica in the cafeteria and Marco stepping in to break up the fight. I love their whole secret agent thing at school and love even more when they end up in each other's business because, well, they are all responsible for each other. Rachel/Marco are one of my favorite dynamics in the group anyway - they bicker constantly and are the loudest/most opinionated in the group but ultimately balance each other out.
Highlights: tobias riding around on marco's shoulder, visser one's hork-bajir speaking perfect english, cassie nuzzling jake rip, ax and tobias debating who has better bird vision, jake / marco being the most beautiful bffs