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She says Mars had a dying atmosphere, not necessarily life. And obviously the dominant species were the dinosaurs. I was just kidding. In regards to the Nesk, I don't think they actually were destroyed. They just became modern ants.
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# ? Sep 8, 2022 22:02 |
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# ? May 27, 2024 21:42 |
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Epiloguequote:I told the dying human, “Now you know who I am. What I am.” I'm sad now. Tomorrow, It's book 48, The Return, a Rachel book. It's written by Kimberly Morris, who had also written The Arrival.
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# ? Sep 9, 2022 01:44 |
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Epicurius posted:“Okay, then answer this, Ellimist: Did I … did I make a difference? My life, and my … my death … was I worth it? Did my life really matter?” This exchange tears me into pieces every single time. Goddamn. It hits even harder once you know who it is.
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# ? Sep 9, 2022 01:48 |
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Oof, I still feel that ending. “I did not cause you to be one of the six. You are … you were … a happy accident. An unwitting contribution from the human race to its own survival.” Also based on what we know about the Ellimist and Crayak's machinations this hugely foreshadows out who our dead Animorph is. Jake was picked by Crayak and the Ellimist maneuvered Cassie, Marco and Tobias into the group for different reasons. And its clearly not Ax based on the whole 'a contribution from the human race' thing.
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# ? Sep 9, 2022 04:23 |
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Yeah, that's the line I always see quoted on fangroups online. I didn't know it was from this book, though.
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# ? Sep 9, 2022 09:17 |
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Vandar posted:This exchange tears me into pieces every single time. Goddamn. When I was a kid I assumed it was Tobias because he's the loner hawk boy who could have died without it really disrupting the double life/superhero basis of the series. Not sure why I thought that since even though I wasn't reading the final arc, I was aware that it was breaking the conventions and beginning to expose the Animorphs. (And also lol, they "killed" Marco without it seeming to affect Jake's life at all.) But anyway yeah that is a really good moment in an excellent book.
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 01:32 |
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Book 48-The Return Chapter 1 quote:“On your right is the door to the Oval Office. The office of the President of the United States, perhaps the most powerful person in the world.” Bad idea to kill the Secret Service. Also, what do you think is going on here? Chapter 2 quote:Fortunately for him, I hadn’t morphed claws yet. Or teeth. Or much in the way of size. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror across the hall. I didn’t look like a grizzly. But I didn’t look like Rachel, either. So we're starting this book off with a bang. Epicurius fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Sep 10, 2022 |
# ? Sep 10, 2022 02:59 |
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Yikes, Rachel's really going off the deep end, huh?
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 05:07 |
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I think you might have the wrong name for this one, book 48 is 'The Return'. Book 53 is 'The Answer'
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 06:19 |
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Oh... this one.
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 06:57 |
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I never got deep enough into animorphs as a kid so I never read any of the endgame stuff. Frankly though, I'm loving where this book is going already.
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 07:53 |
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freebooter posted:Oh... this one. I thought you stopped reading at the Aussieland book?
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 11:16 |
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Zore posted:I think you might have the wrong name for this one, book 48 is 'The Return'. Book 53 is 'The Answer' You're right. Fixed.
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 12:54 |
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freebooter posted:Oh... this one. Yeah... wild to follow the best book in the series with uh.. this one. Also: quote:Not the people at Nickelodeon or the people at DreamWorks, either. lol
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 16:57 |
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Jim the Nickel posted:Yeah... wild to follow the best book in the series with uh.. this one. For context, the Animorphs TV show was either circling the drain at Nickelodeon or had already been cancelled by that point, and both Applegate and Grant hosed HATED every aspect of the show, so they started slipping in covert and overt burns on it and the people who made it into the books. This one was the most blisteringly obvious.
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# ? Sep 10, 2022 19:15 |
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Chapter 3quote:The President was the prize in a serious game of tug-of-war. It was all just a dream! But, really, we know Rachel has been getting more aggressive and more reckless, and and that all the Animorphs have been having bad dreams. Chapter 4 quote:“Where’s Cassie?” I'll say two things about this. First, I don't know if Rachel is right here....that the good guys aren't supposed to like fighting. She is, however, right about Ax. Ax seems goofy because he doesn't fully understand American culture or humans, but he's not stupid, and he's not foolish. One of the things they did when they first introduced Ax is to make him comical, with the playing with sounds and his tendency to eat everything and so on. In a way, fair enough. The problem with that, though, is that it made him seen as just comic relief, and while he can be comic relief, he's not just that.
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# ? Sep 11, 2022 03:27 |
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I'll be honest? I'm digging this so far. Ax being perceptive about Rachel's emotional state feels right, as does Rachel being self aware enough to know she's making a scene while everyone else is quietly saying "Don't provoke the crazy person."Epicurius posted:First, I don't know if Rachel is right here....that the good guys aren't supposed to like fighting. I'd say there's a difference between "I like fighting, by which I mean boxing or martial arts, where the competition where I can show my skill against another trained professional gives me a rush" versus "I like fighting, by which I mean risking my life in a deathly struggle and standing victorious over my dying foe who is spilling their lifeblood into the dirt gives me a rush" Rachel's way closer to the right most end of that scale than anyone, including Rachel, wants to admit. Especially Rachel. Capfalcon fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Sep 11, 2022 |
# ? Sep 11, 2022 04:23 |
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Fuschia tude posted:I thought you stopped reading at the Aussieland book? As a kid, yeah, but then I went back and re-read the whole series, including the final arc this time, when I was about 19 or 20. I actually remember very little of what occurs in this book except the premise, which is dumb and should've been done prior to the final arc if they really wanted to do it; that and the White House "just a dream" fakeout was annoying.
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# ? Sep 11, 2022 05:00 |
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freebooter posted:As a kid, yeah, but then I went back and re-read the whole series, including the final arc this time, when I was about 19 or 20. I actually find the premise of this book to be pretty strong, and it's one of those books that really only can be done later on, as the characters are trying to cope with the war and how it's affected them.
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# ? Sep 11, 2022 05:30 |
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No chapters tonight. We'll pick up tomorrow.
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# ? Sep 12, 2022 03:56 |
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I believe this is the final Rachel book in the series. She has a couple chapters in some later books, but this is the last one that's totally hers.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 01:18 |
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Kazzah posted:I believe this is the final Rachel book in the series. She has a couple chapters in some later books, but this is the last one that's totally hers. It is indeed her last book as main narrator, and wow, what a lousy one to go out on.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 01:53 |
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disaster pastor posted:It is indeed her last book as main narrator, and wow, what a lousy one to go out on. Huh. What was the last really good Rachel book? The Exposed, with the Giant Squids and the Pemalite Ship?
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 02:49 |
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Chapter 5quote:I wheeled in a circle. Examined the ground for signs of Yeerk activity. I’d gotten over feeling embarrassed and now I was peeved. Which is a polite way to say I was ticked off. So we're seeing again the idea of the other Animorphs being creeped out by Rachel's aggression, when, of course, Tobias the rat murderer everyone is ok with. Chapter 6 quote:“Rachel! Get up. Breakfast in five minutes.” Wild rats live for about 2 years. So, does Rachel have a point here? Not about usurping Jake....we've seen Rachel as leader and it didn't go well, but more generally about how the Animorphs look down on her for her aggression, but when something needs to be done that they're too squeamish to do, they get her?
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 03:41 |
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Epicurius posted:So, does Rachel have a point here? Not about usurping Jake....we've seen Rachel as leader and it didn't go well, but more generally about how the Animorphs look down on her for her aggression, but when something needs to be done that they're too squeamish to do, they get her? Honestly, I'm willing to cut Rachel a lot of slack in her dreams. They're dreams after all, so until she starts trying to go Alpha Wolf on Jake IRL, I think she's overthinking dreams at the moment. We'll... likely see that isn't the case in the upcoming chapters, but I'm willing to hold out hope. Anyway, it's objectively true that Jake used Rachel as the blunt instrument to try and keep David in line for a while. Using her as bait for the David trap was more about taking advantage of David's weaknesses, though. Jake would have probably volunteered anyone (except maybe Cassie, who would have gone and done it anyway) for that duty if it was the right choice.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 04:16 |
I don't care how bad the rest of it is, the radio tower and the serious questions she's asking herself are a good opening.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 04:27 |
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Yeah, this book seems pretty solid so far? It's going to have to get really bad really quickly, or else have an unusually awful second-last chapter, to earn a poor rating. (Looking forward to seeing which one it is!!)
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 05:20 |
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I also really like how Rachel has essentially gone through an inverse of Tobias' arc. Rachel, as the series has progressed, has gone from being the most self-assured and confident to the one who has the most doubts about herself. And she's even bringing up her own parallel to Tobias' previous shame about hunting and eating like a hawk and deliberately shuts down and refuses to reach out to him about it. Its an interesting way that you can see the war clearly breaking and changing them.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 06:01 |
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I guess the books have never really sold me on Rachel's bloodlust. I don't think they convey the burning hatred and / or cruel streak that they would need for it to work. Instead it usually ends up being more like machismo, 'oh you want to come after me buddy well how's about doing it with NO ARMS' etc. Resentment about being sent to do the dirty work is a much better hook than challenging Jake for leadership. I dunno I feel like Rachel is still my favourite but is best seen though other characters' eyes?
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 07:47 |
I don't know that I believe it to be bloodlust per se, it always felt more like a wild adrenaline junkie. It's not a massive distinction, but I had the impression she was addicted to the high of it, not strictly the killing itself.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 07:50 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:I don't know that I believe it to be bloodlust per se, it always felt more like a wild adrenaline junkie. It's not a massive distinction, but I had the impression she was addicted to the high of it, not strictly the killing itself. Agreed, though I'd argue it is actually a significant distinction. There's a difference between enjoying killing/violence and enjoying winning in a hot-blooded fight. On another note, the quotidian scenes of basic domestic life with her mum and sisters have an added sort of sadness to them knowing that this is pretty much their last week or so of normal life.
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# ? Sep 13, 2022 09:57 |
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Chapter 7quote:School was the same old, same old. " doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"-Poe, The Tell Tale Heart Chapter 8 quote:I killed most of the rest of the day in the mall. A couple of hours of shopping and I felt almost normal again. "“Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles. Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats.”"-Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin I'm in a literature mood today. And Rachel's in trouble.
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# ? Sep 14, 2022 03:10 |
So, Rachel's having a breakdown.
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# ? Sep 14, 2022 04:28 |
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quote:Maybe it wasn’t so bad to be a rat if there were no people around to make you feel like a rat. Maybe it wasn’t so bad if you lived in a place where everybody was a rat. Not sure why but
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# ? Sep 14, 2022 07:35 |
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Chapter 9quote:Footsteps. David's back! Chapter 10 quote:<Would you by any chance want to know how I got here?> David asked abruptly. He scurried along the outside wall of the cube. Nose quivering. Malevolent, beady rat eyes shining. So I'm in the wrong business. I should become a rat investor.
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 04:15 |
Rachel, you really should have morphed the killer of rats:
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 04:40 |
I remembered David coming back. I did not remember RAT LEGION.
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 06:29 |
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Yeah, I remembered the human minions and completely forgot David managed to wrangle up an army of rats.
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 07:16 |
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Jesus how insufferable can this dude get Does he really believe he's gonna take over the world with rats? Somehow he's actually going to make a working military of a billion rats? While an active invasion is happening, no less?
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 09:13 |
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# ? May 27, 2024 21:42 |
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Arzaac posted:Jesus how insufferable can this dude get But think of all the humans he can hire with 200 thousand dollars!
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 14:37 |