Series re-read Hork Bajir Chronicles

[buffyangellvr23]

I'm way tired tonight and won't have a lot of coherentness lol, but I know y'all will like being turned loose on this one.

As you know, it's the prequel story of Aldrea, daughter of Seerow, and Dak Hamee, Hork-Bajir seer. The future Visser 3 is there too.

Any thoughts on the connection between this book and The Prophecy?

Comments

[kleenexcow]

I love how this book is incredibly tied into continuty. It's such a cool piece of history. And all of the details are right--I remember the bit about the Sculp Niar pool and Esplin's twin and Seerow and stuff. And the origins of the tentacle monster from #11!! Good job, KA

[anijen21]

I have such a huge thing to bitch about with this book that I am so unprepared to do.

But I will organize my thoughts in a few minutes and...yeah idk lol

[anijen21]

All right since this is a Chronicles book I'm just going to do this in chunks so let me stumble belly-first into my most important point for this book:

Chunk the first: Does the war actually make any sense?Reading this series the first time, I always had the impression that the Yeerks were winning. Didn't you? I think we can blame this whole point, actually, on those irritating, redundant, and ultimately conflicting chapter-one recaps. The bane of any long-running book series, that horrible four or five pages that just screamed "SKIP ME," but you knew you couldn't, because there might be a paragraph or a line with new information and then you'd be missing out

[anijen21]

"I knew that they were building a new generation of spacecraft that would be called 'Dome Ships.' These Dome ships would actually have huge, artificial parks." 63

[anijen21]

Of course, it becomes a fair contest. Here, at the *true start of the war*, when everyone is in full gear and ready to go, are our stats:

"We suspect that they have built 14 fighter craft, based on a new design but similar in capabilities to your own Andalite fighters...The Yeerks are also constructing a new type of ship, quite large, very heavily armed...have taken to calling it a Blade ship." 158
159
It takes seven months for them to go from not having ANYTHING besides the aforementioned, to mining materials, designing ships, engineering them, and producing them. Maybe I am just way too cynical about industry, but this seems unrealistic at best. This seems like someone giving you a ton of unprocessed iron ore and you building a Ford truck out of it with nothing but an instruction manual. Not happening.

Onto the Andalites: 160
160

[roflmaozedong]

Hmm. Well, in defense of Alloran

[roflmaozedong]

I think Lirem is just afraid of losing a propaganda piece, and not necessarily reflecting fear of humans. also reflective of one reason why military folks who actually fight dislike POGs who are in charge of the political end of things. Especially if the army in question has a strong honor-based culture.

I think it's important to note that as Lirem is warning Ax to "not disobey the laws", Lirem is doing the exact same thing, or so I presume, since I can't really think of any army where falsifying the truth to your own people isn't against the rules (at least, on paper. I'm fully aware that this stuff happens anyway, the point is that when people try it, generally they have to be sneaky about it).

[anijen21]

All right time for a new chunk

Chunk the second: Who is the hero of the Hork-Bajir Chronicles?
Okay, to start this chunk, I kind of want to go back to what I was talking about with the whole David trilogy. How the Animorphs were *technically* the antagonists and David was *technically* the protagonist. To start, let me just post these rather unhelpful definitions again:

A protagonist (from the Greek πρωταγωνιστής protagonistes, "one who plays the first part, chief actor"[1]) is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy

[anijen21]

And it doesn't stop:

"I held out my arms and saw the blades there. It was as if I were seeing myself for the first time." 77
He is seeing himself that way because Aldrea was in danger, because she was fighting with the Yeerks, because he wanted to protect her.

"I am beginning to learn ruthlessness. I had a very good example to follow." 121
Again, Aldrea is responsible for his maturation as a leader, not himself.

"Be quiet, Aldrea...These are my people that will die today. Be quiet, Andalite. Be quiet." 132

[anijen21]

"I didn't know if he was angry at me, or angry at himself. Both, I guessed. Would he leave me? No. He cared for me. We had more in common than he could ever have with a Hork-Bajir. It was too late for Dak: He knew that the stars were not flowers." 95

[anijen21]

CHUNK THE THIRD: Why Alloran is innocent PART TWO

All right, so we've already established that Aldrea the character has the greatest amount of influence on the plot of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles. And the most compelling thing I realized on this reread was that her influence extends past this book.

I know I already kind of talked about this, but I want to elaborate just a little bit. First, let's go back to the Andalite Chronicles and hear what Alloran had to say about the whole Quantum Virus release:

p. 169

p. 174-175

Now, like I said back then, this is Monday-morning quarterbacking that I'm pretty sure was meant to be taken as sincere. I really think the series blamed Alloran for the release of the virus, but I seriously beg to differ:

183

"'The canister!'...'I forgot about it!'" 200

This was the dumbest fucking denouement I have ever read.

Aldrea didn't stop to ask Alloran what his intentions with the virus are. Like I said last time, this is the only testimony he's allowed to give:

" Aldrea cried.
Alloran said." p.

[sleepall_day]

I've already said I think Alloran intended to use the virus more as blackmail than as a viable threat.
I almost wish they made this more clear. I never even really thought about this possibility until I read HBC several times over and over again. But you know the book where Fenestre's house burned down? They were really keen to say "Maybe I did it, maybe I didn't. Maybe this person did. Maybe this other person did."

I almost feel like we were basically supposed to assume that his - and the other Andalites' - intention was to wipe out the Hork-Bajir so the Yeerks couldn't use those bodies. It would have fit in with the Andalites' character. I think I might have appreciated a little bit of saying right out, "What if Alloran was going to use this virus as blackmail? Maybe he would have shown this to the Yeerks and said 'Leave or die.' And if they didn't back down, would Alloran really have had the guts to actually release that virus? Maybe, maybe not? We will never know." Placing that ambiguity into the story would have been a nice

[anijen21]

oh, we totally were. There was no doubt...well, there was doubt until book 54 when he was all "I'VE LEARNED THE ERROR OF MY WAYS and now I won't commit genocide no more." I mean that's not what he said but whatever he said removed all ambiguity from his intentions. Aldrea and Dak were supposed to be the heroes, Alloran was supposed to be a dick, end of story.

I'm beginning to realize this series that was supposed to be so complex and gray is actually really painstakingly structured.

[sleepall_day]

True, true. "I won't commit genocide no more!" ehehehehe... anyway. I guess what I'm saying is that Aldrea and Dak didn't truly know, so if they had that bit of narration like Jake had, that would have been kind of cool.

I'm beginning to realize this series that was supposed to be so complex and gray is actually really painstakingly structured.
You're right! I think I'm a little okay with it though - it still does a hell of a job better than so many other stories. In fact, the reason why I'm commenting on this reread right NOW is becauuuusse I just absolutely HAD to read this book after seeing Avatar. HBC was basically Avatar with a more complicated war, at least some degree of sympathy for both sides fighting the war, moral dilemmas, real characters, faaaaaaaaaaaar better dialogue, and, ummm, better aliens. I actually enjoyed the movie but man, I just had to read this as kind of a refresher to enjoy some good dialogue.