Series Re-Read #50 The Ultimate

[buffyangellvr23]

Jake is still struggling with the aftermath of the events of the last book, and the fate of his parents. He isn't sure of himself anymore. He reluctantly remains leader, and the group decides that they can't do it alone anymore. They decide to recruit more morphers, and to use disabled kids-the Yeerks won't want them, so they're unlikely to be

Comments

[cork118]

Deleted scene?

Also: Jake's "proposal" was the most adorably awkward and stupid thing in the world. I mean, ilu Jake, but the boy wouldn't know romance if it bit him in the ass.

[cork118]

Wait, just kidding, the proposal comes later in the series. The way this summary was written, I was thinking this was the anaconda book. Whoops!

[buffyangellvr23]

Sorry...I didn't think it was that confusing.

[cork118]

Nah, it's cool. Just tired and sick today, so my brain is all sorts of broke.

[ghosted]

The whole thing with Cassie and Tom and the morphing cube - I'm bothered that in this book, I think she claims she doesn't really know why she stopped Jake/she did it just to save Jake, but later she says she thought letting the Yeerks have the device might work out well. Unless we take it that she realised that later, there seems to be discrepancy between what she as narrator says her motives are, and what she tells the others.

I can see the logic in using kids, but I think it's probably one of the major "what the hell, hero?" points.

[natural_blue_26]

"she claims she doesn't really know why she stopped Jake/she did it just to save Jake, but later she says she thought letting the Yeerks have the device might work out well"

Yes! Exactly!

[anijen21]

that's my main problem with Cassie's whole arc in the final few books. This was a rash, impulse decision. Her claiming to just *feel the Taxxons would incite an uprising because they wanted to be able to morph* was nothing except posturing and overjustification. We all make decisions that we validate and justify later by imaging what impossible consequences might result, but that's only because we feel guilty or that we chose poorly. If it had been played that way, rather than it being some *mystical insight*, I might have been more okay with it.

[natural_blue_26]

See, this is one of the main plot twists that made me really, really become anti-Cassie-and-her-morality-know-everything back in the day.

Yeah, Cassie was oviously *trying* to do the right thing in a very bad situation (and a lot of the end of the series is based on what's set up here), but just... No. Giving your main advantage over your enemy TO your enemy? Not so smart. Morality =/= logical actions here, and her childhood best friend dies (in part) trying to correct this whole situation when Tom STILL needs to be dealt with later.

If Tom had died in this book, the whole series would have ended differently, and Jake just might have been not so f*d up post war, either.

It's been too long since I read this one (never bothered to reread), but did anyone else get a semi parallel between the handicapped kids being able to morph and Cassie wanting the Yeerks or experience the same thing? (Or just me? Always possible.)

[cork118]

You know what would have been cool?

If Cassie had killed Tom.

Like, she prevented Jake from fighting him to save his soul or whatever... what if instead of letting him get away with the box, she instead had incapacitated Jake somehow and done the killing herself? That would have been such a hardcore, cool way for her Morality Police storyline to play out.

[natural_blue_26]

THIS would have been so much better as a solution to the Tom issue/dealing with Cassie's character/plot twist.

[almighty_patsy]

And actually, TBH, I think this would have been much truer to her character. I essentially see a Cassie who's willing to interfere only rarely (she'll voice dissenting concerns freely, yeah, but I can only remember the second Taylor book with her doing any sort of subterfuge?), and I guess... jumping ahead seems more like her, even though it would kill her inside afterwards?

[anijen21]

I think my question is: Why is killing Tom the only option? Tom's got ankles, you've got teeth, let's go for an incapacitating blow here, guys.

[staysleeping]

I kind of go back and forth on the aux animorphs. On one hand I like them and their addition makes sense I guess to how the story was going, but on the other hand I'm like "eh." I really like James's character and I love how his morph paralleled that of David's. This is, hands down, one of my favorite ghost-written books.

[acts_of_tekla]

I agree. I really like the idea of the auxiliary animorphs, but I don't think it was given enough time to be fleshed out. Another problem is that they were brought in and conceived by the ghost writer (who also wrote #40, The Other -- I think I remember reading somewhere that she does disability activism? Help me out, guys), so KAA had no plan for them in whatever overarching plan there was and no creator-connection to them, which I'd guess is why they're killed off somewhat ignominiously.

[rena_librarian]

It might've been more helpful if it had happened a bit earlier in the series? There are several characters I just plain would've liked to see get more fleshed out.