Series Re-read #19: The Departure
She laughed bitterly. ≺You think we can make peace between human and Yeerk and Andalite? Don't be stupid.≻
≺No, I don't think we can make peace between all humans and all Yeerks and all Andalites. But you and I can have peace. One Yeerk, one human.≻
This is a huge book in terms of tonal shift for this series. I've always thought that this book is where the war loses a lot of its black and white "Andalites/Humans vs. Yeerks" and becomes more grey, more muddled, and more confusing. We learn that not all the Yeerks want to enslave humans, especially not children, but that they also feel trapped and caught up in this war.
I can't say that I really agreed with many of Cassie's decisions in this book, but I also don't think they came out of nowhere, or that she had bad reasons for her decisions. They were all reaching a breaking point, and it's no surprise to me that the Animorph who least liked violence is the first to say "enough."
I love what KA did with the caterpillar/butterfly "natural morph." It also makes me wonder what creatures on the Andalite home world have natural morphs, and if one of them was Escafil's original inspiration for the morphing cube? We'll never know, I suppose.
My only issue with this book is, if Aftran gave up making Karen a Controller and opted to just stay in the Yeerk pool, and Karen apparently wasn't re-infested (since I'd assume a new Yeerk would've ratted the Animorphs out ASAP), how did Karen get out of reporting stuff about her father? Did she have to pretend to be a Controller? That seems like the most logical thing to have happened, but it still puts her in danger. Anyone else have a theory?
Next time: #20 The Discovery--The first book in the David arc. It's Morphing Cube Time!
Mod Note: These next three books, I would like to do in quick succession, simply because they're one story arc, but I do still want to discuss the books individually. I'm thinking one book per week, with a fourth week devoted to the arc as a whole. Does that sound good?