#freud's masterplot

This book does so much to emphasize that Visser Three really is Esplin 9466 AND Alloran: he has Esplin's arrogance but Alloran's fondness for battle, Esplin's andalite obsession but Alloran's collection of monster morphs and heavy reliance on morph-fighting, Esplin's temper but Alloran's knack for shock-and-awe. Like, Visser Three wouldn't be the guy we see in canon if not for Alloran's influence.

Related: the motif of rigid power structures being a bad damn idea continues in this book. Alloran is more responsible for Alloran getting infested than Elfangor is, and Elfangor takes forever to realize Alloran has been infested, because Alloran has such absolute power over the others.

Would the andalites have been able to take back the taxxon planet, if they'd just bothered to ally with the taxxons? It certainly seems that way, given how well the rebel taxxons do at attacking the spaceport and how incompetent the andalites seem to be at managing the situation. If Elfangor had just stuck around and fought with Arbron, they might've been able to turn the tide of the war right there. Too bad Elfangor didn't have access to a morphing cube when he crashed on this planet...

Seriously, though, I love the use of the taxxons and hork-bajir as Freud Masterplots for the humans: they parallel the humans to show how the humans could end up, if humanity didn't have Animorphs on its side. Waiting for the andalites isn't enough; the hosts have got to be their own heroes or they'll be crushed between the imperial powers no matter whose side wins.

Also, I love the... IDK, identity horror? Of the protagonists' attempt to use the Time Matrix. Like, it shows that the technology is terrifying because it is beyond all human comprehension — but in ways that are scary because they're weird. It answers the question of "why not use time travel to fix everything?" with "because no one knows how to use it effectively, and your brain will tear itself in half if you try."