Series Re-Read #48 The Return

[buffyangellvr23]

David is back, with an ally: Crayak. He's captured Rachel, and she's experiencing strange and frightening things. Will she get out of it intact, or will she give into her killer instinct, so to speak

Comments

[staysleeping]

I am both so disappointed at how this is how they brought David back and that this was the last book where we got to really hear from Rachel. Not really the biggest fan of this book although it had a lot of good ideas I just wasn't sure how much I liked how they were executed and stuff. That aside I did really like the ending how David kind of gave in and was asking Rachel to do something so extreme yet not in an evil way. I like that it's never stated what Rachel did to him too (although I believe she "did the right thing" and killed him...)

[dither_spaz]

this was the last book where we got to really hear from Rachel

srsly :(

[embergryphon]

I think David should have been brought back much earlier, as a main villian, given the power to morph from his rat true body by Crayak as advance payment for killing Jake, as Tobias was given his ability back by Ellimist for saving Horkies. (Switching out #28 with this would be my personal ideal, since it's a good spot imo chronologically, and #28 is useless except for mild to moderate humor appeal.) He would appear sporadically, less commonly than Esplin but fairly routinely, until this book, where he would kidnap Cassie and Rachel, deliver Rachel to Crayak at his command, be berated for failing to kill Jake, lose his power to morph when Rachel did not bend to Crayak's Evil Scheme, and then return to your regularly scheduled program of begging Rachel to kill him

[anijen21]

I love this comment

I love replacing it with 28, but how would that would with narration? Like would you restructure the lineup so Ax/Tobias get the same number of books that much earlier, or do you mean replace 27? Because yeah, that book was mildly enjoyable but ultimately meaningless.

And I love your proof that Rachel killed David--I forgot about that part, but that really does seal this ambiguity off, doesn't it?

[embergryphon]

No, definitely replace #28. #27 isn't important, no, although it's redeemed by the "What would Character x be like if schism'd thought-train, but #28 is one of the books where I actually get annoyed at the pointlessness of it. The only thing they get out of it that is ever mentioned again is that chimp morph, and even that appeared, what, once more, in MM3?

I figure, even if David is more Rachel's villain, three people narrate his trilogy; Ax's point-of-view would be interesting. (Plus, then he can be all, "David is evil humans are nasty why am I saving them oh right I love humans I'm loyal to Prince Jake" and everything will follow The Pattern. =D)

[embergryphon]

So, basically, kill the books I hate. Because it's my fantasy re-write. xD

[anijen21]

ugh I've been so bad about the rereads lately

[sporadicfungiad]

i believe this whole book was a dream too

a terrible dream i had in which someone wrote really shitty massively OOC rachel angst fic and got it published as a book

[anijen21]

lol :(

[sporadicfungiad]

man i have not been here in forever and the day i choose to come back we are talking about what might be the book i hate most in the series. cassie in australia sucks harder, but that one just makes me want to tear my hair out in boredom, whereas i hate this one almost to the point of physical pain

[sporadicfungiad]

okay. this is not worth it, man. this book blows, rachel books after 22 suck and make basically no sense because she keeps learning the same lesson which like, is semi-realistic i guuuuess? but also boring to read about and it feels lazy and each rachel book manages to cheapen the one that came before it by once again giving her the lesson that she's becoming a psycho and should try and work on that maybe. also, annoying, because rachel goes from being a harsh but sympathetic character who is obviously a real person to this obnoxious shell with no sense of humor or redeeming characteristics (in her own books).

and to top it all off, that this was rachel's send off book is... just such a fucking bummer to me, i can't take it. she was such a great character, interesting and tragic and fucked up and brave and scared and incomprehensible and sympathetic and violent and caring and human, and her last book is the bullshittiest of like six bullshit books in a row, and she deserved way better than that.

[anijen21]

lol I love you

and honestly I feel like this whole pattern kind of happened to all of them, like they all had their *issues* outlined in early books and by the ends of those books, they'd either come to terms with it or figured out how to make it better, but then by the time their next narration came around, it was like "DUR WHAT ARE I HUMAN OR ARE I ANDALITE?" it's like, dude, come on, we've been over this...

but seriously welcome back :)

[sporadicfungiad]

haha ty ty, i am glad to be back despite the rage this book induces in me

[rena_librarian]

This was one of the books that came in the mail, consequently it was laying around for a few days while I read the books hanging up to it and every time I saw it I was like "WTF is up with Wolverine!Rachel??"

And then...huh. I was expecting THE RETURN OF DAVID to be more action-y, and it all more or less took place in one room. I wasn't so much bothered by the rehashing of Rachel's issues as I was that Rachel got this rather badass new form and had no opportunity to use it.

It wasn't the best of the series, but it certainly wasn't as annoying as the damn Helmacrons. But I do wish it would've happened earlier in the series, because it is a DAMN shame that this is the last Rachel book.

Then again, what embergryphon said above about how it's proved a few books later that she killed David and Jake knew it...that's pretty important plot development, and would NOT have worked much earlier. (I was torn on whether to think that she did or didn't until I read that comment.)