#aftran

yeah dude! that's why you don't give up your body for the one slim hope that it'll go well! gosh we know that Cassie's family history has roots in human slavery, i want more exploration on that. i mean i know applegate is white but this little black girl essentially just enslaved herself! aaaaaaaa Also Aftran he/him pronouns i guess. cassie, go diving around his mind for yeerk gender studies

yeah cuz 3 sentences later Aftran is a she! We know it takes a throuple joining into one sacrificial body to make more yeerks so i guess Aftran was lying about her parents being worried about him? ugh im so confuuuused

oh wow this image will stay in my head. this poor little bloody redhead with her hand holding onto little yellow wildflowers. god i hope she makes it out of this book okay.

Okay, I gotta rave about one of my absolute most favourite books in the Animorphs series.

Firstly, I adore the cover. I think in terms of aesthetics, it may be one of the best covers with a morph sequence.

I then love the theme of this story. Cassie could be considered a static character here, where she's not the one changing, but the world is changing around her. These characters can be very tricky to pull off well, but it can be very cool when they are. I think about Captain America and Superman as good examples.

That isn't to say she doesn't struggle. She has to change her biases about Yeerks and see that they are not one unified idea. They are individuals. I also love that it's not making peace with the whole yeerk race, but making peace between one human and one yeerk. It shows how change often happens with small steps, and our ability to influence individuals around us is more important that massive global change. Real change happens one person at a time.

Karen and Aftran are such a cool combo, and it's cool to realize that while Aftran has a lot of anger, she was also getting tired of the fighting. Initially she says she was assigned to Karen and hates it, but as the story goes, she says she chose Karen. Aftran is ready for change and she and Cassie are able to open each other's eyes.

I also love that it's Marco who finds her first. Marco is ruthless, but he's also incredibly intelligent and has the capacity to think things through. Because of that, I also love when all the others are paralyzed trying to decide whether or not to let the leopard kill Karen, Marco is actually the one who stops it, which might feel out of character, but it just works so well. (I also love that he just yeets the cat).

The butterfly clock reset is a bit of a stretch, but I think most importantly, it drives the story forward. I'm willing to look past it, because the whole series would be worse off without Cassie. It's also just really funny to picture all the kids trying to catch a butterfly.