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Arzaac posted:Jesus how insufferable can this dude get Ah, but can Yeerks infest rats, though? Didn't think so!
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 16:51 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 14:13 |
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Hey, it worked* for the Arn *It didn't work
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 17:58 |
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Arzaac posted:Jesus how insufferable can this dude get This is also roughly around the time that Applegate and Grant were writing a sub plot in the Everworld books about a group of teenage Illinois Nazis trying to invade the fantasy/dream realm at the heart of the series. They're also painted as being similar insufferable and rear end-brained as David and his accumulated goons. It's a recurring trend throughout their works of thinking incredibly poorly about the types of people who willingly ally with or help other people with fascist intentions.
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 18:35 |
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:I remembered David coming back. Ok, this book REALLY has to bomb in the second half to not at least be "Pretty Good."
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# ? Sep 15, 2022 21:55 |
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:I remembered David coming back. I'm not sure I knew he came back. I probably saw hints of it browsing the wiki or something. This book was really dropping hints about it though.
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# ? Sep 16, 2022 01:35 |
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Fuschia tude posted:I'm not sure I knew he came back. I probably saw hints of it browsing the wiki or something. This book was really dropping hints about it though. Big spoilers for this book: It's dropping really blatant hints about something else too and I'm surprised that no one seems to have picked up on it yet.
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# ? Sep 16, 2022 02:02 |
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Chapter 11quote:“That’s not justice,” I snapped. “That’s revenge.” The thing is, David's not wrong in what he's saying, but Rachel isn't wrong either. But all this is also feeding into Rachel's doubts about herself and how she's been acting, and also how the group sees her. Is she just the hatchetwoman? Is that how they see her? And I think Rachel is scared of herself here, because she's always seen herself as a good person affected by circumstances. But she's not sure if that's true anymore, I don't think. Chapter 12 quote:<Oh! So it’s Jake’s fault after all?> I mean, she is sacrificing herself to save Cassie here.
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# ? Sep 16, 2022 02:26 |
I like the whole having to justify your worst actions theme. It's a quirky book but honestly I like it.
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# ? Sep 16, 2022 03:10 |
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I mean, I'm liking it so far, and after I started this book I went ahead and read the entire book, and in general, I liked it. I am curious as to what people think once we're done, but I'm not understanding the level of criticism some people have.
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# ? Sep 16, 2022 03:30 |
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Chapters tomorrow, ok?
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# ? Sep 17, 2022 03:32 |
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David is 100% doing the Calm Hitler technique.
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# ? Sep 17, 2022 10:19 |
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If you can get past the ludicrousness of Rat Legion - and honestly we've accepted worse - it's better than I recall. (Also the thumb is on the scale with a bunch of rats and teenage thugs somehow managing to render both of them unconscious and get them into those boxes, but whatever, that's pedantic.) I think going back to the well with David, something that was such a highlight of the series the first time, is a risky idea and a symptom of "maybe this series needs to start wrapping up," but we'll see how they land it. I honestly don't remember much of the rest of the book. I also wonder if, thematically, it would have been a better fit if it was Jake's life on the line rather than Cassie's. Vandar posted:Big spoilers for this book: This aspect I like a lot more than I remember the first time around, particularly coming fresh on the heels of the Ellimist Chronicles. Crayak has tried and failed to break Jake, so especially at this stage of the war it makes sense that he turns his machinations to another member of the group.
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 00:59 |
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Chapter 13quote:Two hours. I had two hours. So that's David's plan....biological warfare. David apparently doesn't know that bubonic plague is fairly easily treatable with antibiotics nowadays, but, you know, he's a rat. not a doctor. Chapter 14 [ quote:The voice. So now we know who's really behind this....Crayak and his servant the Drode (which is why in all the visions and dreams Rachel had, she saw a red light that she was attracted to....that's Crayak's symbol.. And, Freebooter, that's why the Rat Legion is so ludicrous....like Rachel realized, it's a lie of David's. Rats can't be talked to, or given orders, or made to attack on command. Also, for those who don't know, Le Cirque is a (now closed) famous French restaurant in New York City.
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 02:24 |
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Oh, yeah, this might be why I didn't like it. Either stick to your guns with Rat Legion under Psychopath King David, or don't do it in the first place. Definitely don't give us some kind of psychological dream/magic world which removes actual stakes. (This might also be why I don't remember it beyond vague vibes.)
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 12:53 |
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freebooter posted:Oh, yeah, this might be why I didn't like it. Either stick to your guns with Rat Legion under Psychopath King David, or don't do it in the first place. Definitely don't give us some kind of psychological dream/magic world which removes actual stakes. (This might also be why I don't remember it beyond vague vibes.) I mean, I guess I'd say the stakes aren't King David's Rat Legion. It's more Rachel's soul. The book is, and has been so far, about Rachel coming to terms with what the war is doing to her and her fear that she's been corrupted by it and is no longer a good or decent person. Part of the reason that David is there is because she was the one who actually carried out the David thing and stayed to watch him to make sure he stayed in morph until he was a nothlit, and that's the action she did during the war that she feels most guilty about.
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 16:07 |
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I'm a fan of the idea of Crayak trying to seduce Rachel to his side, but I think something a little more plausible or... thematically consistent? Would be better. Like maybe Crayak creates a dream scenario where David is restored his morphing power, mirroring Tobias, and has formed a not-rat-based organization, and Rachel figures it out because of less glaring holes in the story than "I can control rats".
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 19:14 |
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Zonko_T.M. posted:I'm a fan of the idea of Crayak trying to seduce Rachel to his side, but I think something a little more plausible or... thematically consistent? Would be better. Like maybe Crayak creates a dream scenario where David is restored his morphing power, mirroring Tobias, and has formed a not-rat-based organization, and Rachel figures it out because of less glaring holes in the story than "I can control rats". Oh, Crayak has not yet begun to seduce.
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 19:25 |
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Maybe stakes wasn't the right word, I meant more... consequences. To quote Roger Ebert:quote:I have a problem with almost all nightmare movies: They aren't as suspenseful as they should be because they don't have to follow any logic. Anything can happen, nothing needs to happen, nothing is as it seems and the rules keep changing.
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 21:26 |
freebooter posted:Maybe stakes wasn't the right word, I meant more... consequences. To quote Roger Ebert: What review was that?
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# ? Sep 18, 2022 21:34 |
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Chapter 15quote:The Drode laughed harder. Then … So, yea, like we were saying. The whole rat army thing is a lie. This was all set up by Crayak. Remember the rules of the game. Neither the Elimist or Crayak can interfere directly. They have to work through agents who are loyal to them out of their own free will, and Crayak wants Rachel. Chapter 16 quote:But it was too late. I kind of like the idea that Crayak mocks the idea of video games here, because the Elimist is a gamer. (of course, so is Crayak, in a different sense) And for the record, Rachel is obviously better than David. It is interesting that Crayak is willing to sacrifice the Drode for Rachel, if need be.
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# ? Sep 19, 2022 02:28 |
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Willing to sacrifice Drode, too. Well, at least pretend he is.
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# ? Sep 19, 2022 03:14 |
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True,
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# ? Sep 19, 2022 03:15 |
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quote:<Do you have any idea just how bad it was for me on that rock, Rachel... > lmao team Crayak reporting in
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# ? Sep 19, 2022 08:37 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:What review was that? Labyrinth Epicurius posted:And for the record, Rachel is obviously better than David. I think probably she is, though it's interesting to think how things might have played out if David had been part of the group initially and Rachel had been the new kid whose family got infested and was thrown into it after her life was destroyed.
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# ? Sep 19, 2022 10:47 |
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Chapter 17quote:I scratched at the walls. That's the choice, right? Chapter 18 quote:WHOOSH! I get the feeling that this is just Rachel being put into scenarios, but I don't think that's all there is to it. This is a real situation, as wonderous as it may seem. Rachel is in real danger here.
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# ? Sep 20, 2022 02:50 |
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I spent the past month binging the hell out of this thread and loving every minute. A lot of the stuff I remembered was near the beginning of the series, so reading a majority of the back half of this was mostly "holy poo poo this feels new to me" with some "wait I remember this," sprinkled in occasionally. Out of all the horrible things happening in this instant, I'm wondering if Esplin having seen Rachel's face is the worst part. Also, uh, did Drode use a friggin' pokeball to summon Esplin onto the field?
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# ? Sep 21, 2022 02:03 |
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Chapter 19quote:I stood. That at least answers the question about if there's a risk that Visser One will recognize Rachel. He is...appropriately, more freaked out than anything. Chapter 20 quote:Visser One began to circle. His wicked tail curled over his back, the blade ready to strike. I was focused. Careful not to be sloppy, underestimate the enemy. I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but Visser One is very well travelled when it comes to alien monsters.
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# ? Sep 21, 2022 02:34 |
Did V1 just go directly between morphs?
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# ? Sep 21, 2022 03:30 |
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Remalle posted:Did V1 just go directly between morphs? Looks like it, although I'm more likely to chalk this up to an error than it being intentional.
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# ? Sep 21, 2022 04:10 |
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Epicurius posted:Looks like it, although I'm more likely to chalk this up to an error than it being intentional. Or, Crayak might have hypersped up his morphing, just like Rachel's.
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# ? Sep 21, 2022 04:28 |
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Sadly, no chapters tonight.
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# ? Sep 22, 2022 02:15 |
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I think I liked book 19 with Cassie and Aftran the Yeerk. I like Cassie as a character. Fleshing out the Yeerk empire and adding more shades of gray to their existence is a noble idea. But I have a hard time with a narrative where the character makes every possible wrong choice and is proved correct over time because of multiple implausible things happening in sequence. The time travel to the dino age was easier for me.
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# ? Sep 23, 2022 00:31 |
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Chapter 21quote:I could hear them laughing. Well, I guess that's the series....Visser One is dead, the Yeerks defeated. Oh, there are still more chapters... Chapter 22 quote:“Yes,” Crayak said. “Execute him. Free the earth from tyranny. And then …” So really, a lot to talk about in the chapter, with Rachel realizing the truth about herself and what she'd become if she took Crayak's offer, but also, man, I feel sorry for David's goons. They can deal with a talking rat, and then this happens.
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# ? Sep 23, 2022 03:13 |
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Epicurius posted:Chapter 22 On the other hand, a magic rat tells you to kidnap some teenagers, and he'll give you some more money that he stole with his rat powers. They don't have any room to complain about the nonsense they're involved in now.
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# ? Sep 23, 2022 03:25 |
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Capfalcon posted:On the other hand, a magic rat tells you to kidnap some teenagers, and he'll give you some more money that he stole with his rat powers. They don't have any room to complain about the nonsense they're involved in now. You have a point. Once you agree to work for the magic rat, it's time to just strap in and enjoy the ride.. You may not have gone into this expecting to meet 20 foot tall Lady Wolverine, shapeshifting deer centaur, dinosaur man and cyborg Sauron, but, you know, it happens.
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# ? Sep 23, 2022 03:35 |
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Sorry about last night. I have a cold, and fell asleep around 8, and didn't wake up until around 8.
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# ? Sep 24, 2022 14:42 |
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Chapter 23quote:No help was coming. That much I knew. Nobody knew where I had gone. Not my family. Not Jake and the others. How could they? Leadership lesson, btw. If you treat your subordinates the way David treats his, especially if they're only in it for the money, don't expect loyalty. Chapter 24 quote:I opened my eyes. That's the thing. The other Animorphs really don't treat Rachel well. I mean, they think they do, but really they use her to do all the things they don't want to do so they can feel "pure".....and then when she does them, they use that as proof that she's gotten out of control.
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# ? Sep 25, 2022 03:10 |
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Contrasting Rachel and David like that really puts things into perspective on how the rest of the kids really set David up to fail by using his moral shortcomings as a heat shield for their own, a process which they repeat with Rachel in ways vast and minute diffused across the whole series. Again, it's good that we're officially past the point of no return for the series where things have hard continuity consequences at last. It'll be fascinating seeing people come back to these chapters after the end of the series and seeing how they reflect on Rachel's completed character arc.
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# ? Sep 25, 2022 07:32 |
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Honestly? This book has been really good. Way better than I was hoping. Super-Rachel is a silly name, but that's really my only complaint.nine-gear crow posted:Contrasting Rachel and David like that really puts things into perspective on how the rest of the kids really set David up to fail by using his moral shortcomings as a heat shield for their own, a process which they repeat with Rachel in ways vast and minute diffused across the whole series. I don't really remember them using his shortcomings in the way they use Rachel's, outside of when they need to take him down. But that's not helping the group; it's ending a threat. He's mostly a hassel that they have to grin and bear, not an asset of questionable morality.
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# ? Sep 25, 2022 14:54 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 14:13 |
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Capfalcon posted:Honestly? This book has been really good. Way better than I was hoping. Super-Rachel is a silly name, but that's really my only complaint. Yeah I remembered this having a bad reputation but I liked it a lot this time around. I think Rachel is my favourite character, which I'm sure helps, but I think it stood strong independent of that.
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# ? Sep 26, 2022 03:25 |