#ani 31

[emeraldmew]

Speaking of the bonus material in the back of the book, this one comes for Marco hard.

[lochnessie]

Liveblogging The Conspiracy (Animorphs #31) pt 3/3

oh jfc i also didnt realize how little Ax has expressed real anger in this series before. even when he had to listen to David turn rat. that poor alien kid omgs he must be such a shaken soda can emotionally. he has definitely grown a lot though from how he started the series for sure. this book really puts that into perspective especially paired with the last one geez

okay okay i know he's under like the most amount of stress a single person can even experience right now but you'd think he'd have realized by this point that even when his friends are angry with him, they still care about him right? like do not be this dense my guy we just learned this lesson with marco do not do these things alone!! what a giant hypocrite and i cant even blame him fuuck!!

alright alright but that was defnitely tobias tho right?

the drama of this stand off is almost gratuitous but i can't help i love every second of it and this line goes so hard.

it's almost like you should have trusted your friends to do this the whole time dude good god

shit. and that might be the one time Tom has talked to Jake this whole time.

and he's going right back to infestation okay i get it this is only book 31. love Cassie solving problems with whales again lmao. worth it.

that last conversation with Marco though? Harrowing actually. I mentioned earlier how i dont see jake and cassie being capable of romance together in the future but it seems like jake and marco will have it rough too fuck. I get that the whole point of these books is that war ruins people and children especially etc but i still hald expect a book series for this age demographic to have some sort of hopefulness to it in the end especially in regard to all the characters being together in the end....fingers crossed i guess.

[emeraldmew]

Skipping to the Q&A in the back of the book because:

ANIFAN: Will Tom ever get the Yeerk out of his head? K.A.A.: Tom gets the Yeerk out of his head every three days at the Yeerk pool. Unfortunately, the Yeerk comes right back.

[emeraldmew]

Um, Tom's unnamed second yeerk? I have a question.

How do you think a stabbing death at an isolated cabin is going to get you back home to feed sooner?

[lochnessie]

Liveblogging The Conspiracy (Animorphs #31) pt 2/3

How these books still manage to be this hilarious is so fucking cool lol Wait how did i not know Jake's dad is a pediatrician wtf. for real? weird that is wasn't mentioned before this. i feel like they only just made him a doctor in this book to make him seem like a more redeemable person.

on the other hand, this is a perfect way to tie that back into Jake's character. God remember when he got infested and his old dream used to be to become a famous basketball player?? Fuck dude now all he wants is to be decent. PAINFUL god i love these books shit

all this because some guy didn't want his parking spot stolen anymore hahahaha this fake out really got me lol. astronomical levels of paranoia rn

Goddamn this book is tense. fuckkkk also i know for a fact that the only reason 'make peace' is even barely on that list is because of cassie (and aftran i guess) Jfc the entire conversation of Chapter 15 was so good start to finish. No notes wow. tobias is really shining in this book. and marco of course but its wild that jake can't really admit to the others how badly he's spiraling (understandably but wow) --also why hasn't anyone brought up what they'll do when the family leaves for the funeral? like...that's also important. i guess they havent had time but still

i'm still so impressed by these descriptions sometimes goddamn. 31+ books and these are still jawdropping every now and then

that certainly was a very dirty plan i really hope melissa doesnt get infested for this. Also fuck how many times is jake going to take a bullet to the brain i know these kids nearly die a lot but jake really takes headshots huh? and he doesnt list his own brush with death as an error either dude what the fuck. hope this book humbles him down a peg.

[emeraldmew]

I guess some of my frustration with this book also comes from the fact that as a kid I thought this would have been their best shot at actually saving Tom.

Dolphin-morphed Rachel or Ax pulls Tom away and a Chee plays the role of drowned!Tom. The Chee wouldn't be doing any direct violence to Tom's yeerk the same way they didn't break his leg but did help get him back to the city. (Heck, if the Animorphs' intent to starve the yeerk would have still been a hang up they might be able to keep the Chee on board by giving Tom's yeerk the option of being stuck in solitary in a Chee's head instead.)

Obviously the entire series would have been very different after this point in a way I'm not sure I could plan an AU for now but as a kid it seemed like a missed opportunity.

[emeraldmew]

I never thought about it as a kid, but the yeerks almost certainly infested Melissa after the Chapman kidnapping, didn't they?

[lochnessie]

Liveblogging The Conspiracy (Animorphs #31) pt 1/3

oh whoops procrastinated too long on this one.

i hope this isn't a book where he just slanders rachel the whole time. i really am so over that. fingers crossed. unlikely though, i hope, considering the marco book before this one.

Oh okay it's a tom book. i hope we get some plot progression on that front! Jake does sound like an old soul, as he explains. His narration is markedly different than the beginning of the series and i do love that.

HMM MAYBE YOU AND YOUR COUSIN AREN'T SO DIFFERENT, BERENSON. Maybe hold off on judging your equally traumatized family for the way she responds to WAR maybe.

okay i'll cool my jets about it now. hope tom's yeerk (this new one) dies too tbh! (part deux)

i still find their little relationship adorable. like i get it probly won't last but it's still cute for now. They certainly Get each other at the least.

oh his desperation is tangible and the way Marco is stepping in as leader is so good they understand each other so well goddamn this is certainly a personal escalation in all this and what a crazy good follow up to Marco's mom book

it's so good it's fucking palpable omgs. he's such a realistic hypocrite i love these books. and Marco's "you're not alone, man" OW T^T MY HEART This is so good i love that this is just a mission for the two of them i mean crazy that the others can't be there because of how urgent it is but i l*love* it! and especially that marco is the one executing the plan and saying rachel's catchphrase in her stead that's adorable. and a genius plan by marco of course. love that he got to punch chapman's car lmao

LOL im sorry i know it was a set up to get Rachel to realize the option to kill Jake's dad is right there for the Yeerks to take but it's still so funny. and adorable how Rachel responds before she lays it all out god i love these kids im so glad the dialogue literally never gets old. And the morphing descriptions are so good in this one!! esp the added detail that Jake isn't over the horror of morphing, is still not used to it after this long! Such cool characterization. and god what a close call when he turned roach to surveil his dad at work shit! It's insane the way Tom's body might be forced to kill his father, the way Jake wants to kill his brother/his yeerk, the way their father almost killed Jake just by accident omgs the STAKES are SKY high the whole book!

(i know it would be risky for tom's yeerk but like we as the audience were recently reminded that portable jacuzzi kandrona ray pools are a thing right? maybe this yeerk isn't high ranking enough to get one just for this but like..you'd think there was a work around for this by now into the invasion?)