Tobias book! Cheer up, emo bird. I was really into him in the show (who wasn't?), and of course I was deeply into the OTP -- it gets gutting later, and there are already hints of it right here at the start, I forgot how early they set it up -- but he was never actually my favourite character.I love that in these early books -- their first-ever POV books -- they're all sorting through their issues and discovering/deciding on their reasons for fighting this war. Because you need a motivation, you need that personal anchor. The big picture isn't enough; it's the personal stories that really drive home the point.For Jake, it's his brother. Rachel, it's realising the personal impact of loved ones becoming Controllers. Tobias, it's realising that all hosts are trapped just like he is. (Marco's comes later, in his own book.)Their adventure in this book goes terribly; these early ones are so jarring because their schemes are shambolic messes, always a hair's breadth away from utter failure and death. I'm not so into the plot of this one, but it's a necessary step towards Tobias' character development and coming to terms with his new life. I also love these early explorations into Rachel's characterisation, the fact that she gets off on adrenaline, that she's partially drawn to the danger & violence.(I'm also terribly ashamed of myself because now that I'm rereading the series, I'm weirdly into Marco/Rachel??? Probably because boys being dumb & pester-y pigtail-pulling dynamics are some of my favourite tropes ugghhh. ALSO APPARENTLY THEY DATED IN AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE, SO I'M NOT TOTALLY CRAZY. I'm restraining myself from reading the plot summary for that AU though, because I can barely remember what happens in the later books.)Favourite quotes below -- most of them aren't Tobias-centric but I'M SORRY I'M JUST REALLY INVESTED IN MARCO RN: (view spoiler)["Look, these aren't people we know," Marco argued. "They aren't my friends. Or my family."He shot a guilty look at Jake. "And we did everything we could for Tom. So why should I get killed for strangers? We can't stay lucky forever. Don't you people understand that? Sooner or later, we'll slip up. Sooner or later we'll be standing around here crying because Jake or Rachel or Cassie or Tobias is gone.""You know something?" Rachel exploded. "I'm tired of trying to talk you into this, Marco. You want out? Fine, you're OUT!""Hey, Rachel, you're not just doing this to help save the human race," Marco yelled back. "You get off on the danger. That's why you went with Tobias to free that bird. That wasn't about saving the world. That was about rescuing some stupid bird."Marco realized he'd gone too far. He fell silent. The others all looked guiltily at me. Rachel shot Marco a look of pure anger.<As of right now,> I said, <as of today, only one of us has been hurt. Me. But I'm not going to give up. I'm not anyone's leader. But what I am going to do is go to the mountains tomorrow morning. What the rest of you do is your business.>"I'll be with you," Rachel said instantly.Cassie nodded.Jake made a wry smile. "You say you're not a leader, but I'll go with you."Marco shook his head. "No," he said."Your choice," Rachel said."That's not what I meant," Marco said angrily. "I meant no, not in the morning. Tomorrow's a school day. If all of us skip school on the same day and later there's some trouble with the Yeerks, don't you think Chapman might put two and two together?"Jake raised an eyebrow. "Marco's right. After school." He looked at the others and nodded.It bothered me that Marco was right. But he was. Marco might be a pain in the butt. But he's a very smart guy.It worried me a little. It made me wonder. Was he right about other things as well?How many risks could we take before we lost? How long till the five of us were four? Or two?Or none?***"What I don't get is why I have to be a girl wolf," Marco grumbled."We had one male and one female," Cassie explained for the tenth time. "If two of us morphed into the male, we'd have two males. Two male wolves might decide they had to fight for dominance.""I could control it," Marco said."Marco, you and Jake already fight for dominance, and you're just ordinary guys," Rachel pointed out."She's right," Cassie said sadly. "I'm afraid your primitive male behavior might slow us down.""Hey, when I morphed into a gorilla, I handled that gorilla brain okay, didn't I?" Marco demanded."Sure, Marco," Rachel said. She batted her eyes. "But that was different. You and the gorilla were already so much alike."Cassie and Rachel gave each other discreet high-fives."Hugely funny," Marco said."We flipped a coin, fair and square," Jake said.***"Have a good show," Cassie called to Rachel."Yeah, right," Rachel said grumpily."I'll be there soon," Marco told Rachel. "Don't fall off any balance beams until I get there."Rachel shot Marco one of her "you're a dead man if you mess with me" looks and disappeared, leaving just Marco, Jake, and me."She really kind of likes me," Marco said, with a wink at Jake and me."Uh-uh," Jake commented dryly.***In a second it would all be over. One more stroke of my powerful wings and the glass...Out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar face on the upper level. Suddenly, something shot past me. Small, white, stitched.CRASH!The baseball hit the glass just inches ahead of my beak. Just where Marco had aimed it. Glass shards fell around me. I shot through the hole. (hide spoiler)]
Tobias is the narrator. I couldn't be happier :) "Because what counts is what's in your head and in your heart," [Rachel] said with sudden passion. A person isn't his body. A person isn't what's on the outside." "The gift of the Andalite. The curse of the Andalite -- the power to morph." pg. 110 This book does an excellent job of showing Tobias' struggle with being stuck as a red-tailed hawk, the ups and downs of basically embracing his new reality. And as with Jake and Rachel before him, this book also reveals to Tobias his own, personal reason to fight the Yeerks. Quotes inside spoiler, largely about how he's dealing with being a hawk permanently: (view spoiler)[ Rachel's sad eyes seemed to follow me. I hated the way they all felt sorry for me. All they could see was that I was not what I used to be. All they saw was that I had no home. But they didn't really understand. I hadn't had a real home since my parents died. I was used to being alone. And I had the sky. -- page 19 Then you could ask them what it was like to be human. Maybe they can tell me about that, too, I thought bitterly. Stop it, Tobias, I ordered myself. Stop it. I guess that if I ever started to feel really sorry for myself, I might never stop. -- page 41 Still, I soared up to her [the red-tailed hawk he had freed]. I don't know why. I really don't [...] Suddenly I was afraid. I was afraid of her. And it was insane, because there I was, floating above an alien spaceship so big it could have been turned into a mall. But it was the hawk that frightened me. Or maybe not the hawk herself. Maybe it was the feeling I had, rising up to meet her in the sky. The feeling of recognition. The feeling of going home. The feeling that I belonged with her. It hit me in a wave of disgust and horror. No. NO! I was Tobias. A human. A human being, not a bird! [...] I was human. I was a boy named Tobias. A boy with blond hair that was always a mess. A boy with human friends. Human interests. -- page 55-56 I was sick. Sick with the feeling of being trapped. Trapped. Forever! I looked at my talons. They would never be feet again. I looked at my wing. It would never be an arm. It would never again end in a hand. I would never touch. I would never touch anything ... anyone ... again. [...] I caught a blessed breeze and soared up and away, my own silent, voiceless scream echoing in my head. -- 66 "You belong with us," Rachel said firmly. You are a human being, Tobias." /How can you be so sure?/ I asked her. "Because what counts is what's in your head and in your heart," she said with sudden passion. A person isn't his body. A person isn't what's on the outside." /Rachel... I don't even remember what I looked like./ I could see that she wanted to cry. But Rachel is a person with strength that runs all the way through her. Maybe that's why I came to see her. I needed someone to be sure. I wanted someone to let me borrow a little of their strength. -- page 71 (After Tobias had just watched the other Animorphs struggle to get out of their wolf morphs, and almost not make it.) Sky! The hawk flew fast and straight. I let it go. I surrendered. Tobias, a boy whose face I could no longer remember, no longer existed. -- page 91 (After Tobias has flown off and kept to himself for a few days, living as a true hawk would - or as close as he can) The human in my head would show me memories. Pictures of human life. Pictures of his friends. The human in my head was sad. Lonely. But the human Tobias really just wanted to sleep. He wanted to disappear and let the hawk rule. He wanted to accept that he was no longer human. -- page 93 /[...]See ... there are human beings all over, trapped in bodies controlled by Yeerks. Trapped. Unable to escape. Rachel, I know how they feel. Maybe I can't escape. Maybe I am trapped forever. But if we can free some of those others. Maybe ... I don't know. Maybe that's what I need to do to stay human./ -- page 103 I flew. I am Tobias. A boy. A hawk. Some strange mix of the two. [...] Be happy for me, and for all who fly free. -- page 154 (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Encounter (1996)?
Tobias' case is different from the other Animorphs. During his first morph, Tobias stayed in his hawk morph for too long and is now stuck. Tobias struggles with his identity and he finds himself spending more time flying and hunting. There is a hint of a special connection he shares with Rachel as she is a constant reminder that he is human.In this book, the Animorphs discover the ability of Yeerk ships to cloak itself in the sky and the source of water and oxygen for these ships. They attempt to spy on and infiltrate the ship and wreck havoc within. The Animorphs morph into wolves and fish for this purpose. "OWWW-OOOOOOO-yow-yow-OOOOOO. "{What the} Marco started to say, but then he was doing it, too. "Yow-yow-OOWWOOOOO!"Cassie and Rachel weren't far behind."OOOOO-yowww-OWW-OOOOOOO!""I... I know this sounds crazy. But I just keep seeing myself. Fried. With a wedge of lemon and some tartar sauce."The Animorphs act a bit reckless in this book by spending such a long time in their morphs. I kept expecting them to change back and forth from human to animal so they would have more time but they kept cutting it close to the 2 hour mark. I would've thought they would try to be safe but they seem to rely on Tobias to tell them the time (Wasn't it because he forgot to keep the time that he is now stuck in a hawk's body...?).About 20-30% of this book was a recap of the events in Book 1 and 2, which I found a bit frustrating seeing as the book was short to begin with. Tobias was an interestingly different narrator to the previous two. I couldn't help but feel sorry for his circumstance but he comes out of the book more sure of himself which was good. Hopefully there will be a way for him to transform back to his human self in the later books!
—Noella
Humanity - 2Yeerks - 10Narrator: TobiasTobias is my favorite character because 1. He is sad, 2. He is the most persistent Animorph and is consistent about it, and 3. He understands what Alaska Young (forgive me for the reference) would call "labyrinth".Ever since Book 1: The Invasion, Tobias had been a nothlit - trapped in morph because he exceeded the 2 hour limit. It's not so bad though because he doesn't have a family and flying is great. But see, Tobias gets depressed about it sometimes. It's like he forgets that he's a human being and the hawk overpowers his humanity. And let's face it, flying is fun but so is going to school with your friends (okay maybe not for everyone).In this book, humanity was able to advance by destroying a great-ass Yeerk Ship. Well it hadn't been easy!Wolf-morphThey almost got trapped into the wolves' bodies. God, it was scary. Then they almost had to fight a pack of wolves!Destruction of Yeerk ShipRachel and Marco almost died. They survived and then almost died again with Cassie and Jake when they morphed in mid-air.Well people of the planet Earth, we have scored again against the Yeerks. Haha.
—Almira
One of the most important parts of designing a magic system, or a set of superpowers, or anything that allows characters to defy the ordinary laws and assumptions of our universe, is deciding what the costs will be. You can’t get something for nothing, and if you break the rules, you have to pay a price. For the Animorphs, it’s a two-hour time limit. If you stay in a morph longer, you’re stuck there. No backsies.The Animorphs run up against this in The Encounter. Our narrator this time is Tobias, who fell victim to the two-hour rule back in the first book. He is now stuck as a red-tailed hawk—an ordinary hawk, no morphing, nothing special except the mind of a human and the ability to telepathically communicate. So he’s got that going for him. But his entire life has changed, and he’s still reeling.Tobias is a foil to the other four in so many ways. Setting aside his newfound place in the taxonomy, even as a human Tobias was different. He wasn’t Jake and Marco’s “friend” so much as a hanger-on whom the other two tolerated because they are nice guys. Tobias lacked the kind of stable family situation the other Animorphs mostly have; he gets shuttled betwixt an aunt and an uncle who don’t have time for him. So he was already the outsider of the group before he become a hawk.Tobias is also unique in having stuck around long enough at the construction site to hear Elfangor’s dying words and receive a little more intel on the Yeerks. He doesn’t talk much about that experience in this book. If I recall correctly, however, Tobias eventually discovers much more inner strength and comes to play a very important role, especially once Ax comes on the scene—Ax and Tobias understand each other, as outsiders do.Stuck as a hawk now, Tobias is a living warning to the other Animorphs about the dangerous side of morphing. Applegate spares nothing as she describes Tobias’ attempts to adapt to his new life—but not adapt too much. See, that’s the problem: it would be so easy for Tobias to give in, let the hawk take over, hunt and kill and live that life. He is trying to hold on to his humanity, and this entire book is him confronting the possibility that it is inexorably slipping out of his grasp.The ways in which the other Animorphs react to Tobias’ condition and try to help him say a lot about their archetypes. Jake, the leader, makes a home for Tobias in his attic, and brings Tobias human food stolen under the nose of his family. Marco, as the most reluctant Animorph so far, seems the most disturbed by Tobias. He hides behind humour, of course, but sometimes it is shrill to the point of cutting. Rachel and Cassie try to be compassionate and caring—but I think that Cassie, since she works with animals so much, has trouble separating Tobias the person from Tobias the animal.It’s Rachel who offers Tobias the most unconditional link back to humanity. He returns to her repeatedly, and she’s the one who reminds him why he is still human, despite being a hawk:"Because what counts is what is in your head and in your heart," she said with sudden passion. "A person isn't his body. A person isn't what's on the outside."Clichéd? Maybe. Maybe not for a young adult series. Regardless, this is why I love Rachel. She takes Tobias for what he is: a human in a hawk body, someone in both worlds. She accepts it unconditionally, uncritically, and is ready to support him. She backs him up—even when he has crazy plans, like freeing a caged red-tailed hawk.Sorry, I know this is a Tobias book. But Rachel is just awesome.Anyway, The Encounter features the Animorphs’ first true action against the Yeerks. Infiltrating the Kandrona pool in The Invasion was kind of an accident, and in The Visitor they were always only gathering intel. This is the first time they agree to do something to strike back against the Yeerks, hopefully exposing them to the rest of the world.And it goes horribly wrong, almost from the first step.Once again, Applegate is not pulling punches here. We have to watch Tobias listen to Rachel saying goodbye because they are trapped aboard this Yeerk ship. No, scratch that—Rachel quite blatantly asks Tobias to somehow bring the ship down so that they will die before they are discovered and tortured or enslaved.That’s a lot of responsibility to put on one bird’s shoulders.It’s also a very dark thing to have a kid consider: we don’t want to be taken alive.True, a last-minute flash of insight—human insight—allows Tobias to save the day. You didn’t really think the four other Animorphs were going to die in book 3, did you? But it remains one of the more sobering moments in a series that, three books in, actually has quite a few sobering moments. From broken families to black ops gone awry, Animorphs balances a blend of reality and fantasy that somehow results in great stories.Next review, I’ll spend some time speculating about the Andalite morphing technology. And, oh yes, how Animorphs would work as a period drama.My reviews of Animorphs:← #2: The Visitor | #4: The Message →
—Ben Babcock
