![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Animorphs Re-read 2020 The Encounter
Apr. 14th, 2020 05:18 amObsidianwolf X Re-Reads Animorphs 2020 Book Three: The Encounter
Ah yes the first Tobias book which are some of the most interesting but also some of the most cringe inducing as you see just how broken bird boy is. This one probably starts out with him in the healthiest mental state he’ll ever be in. Yes he’s stuck as a hawk but he’s willing to accept help.
We start of course with him and Rachel freeing a Hawk from a cage. This sequence is interesting in that it is only there to set up the conflict in him and allow him to spot the Yerk tanker ship. I have to admit I absolutely love the description of the cloaked ship. It is one of the more interesting takes on a cloaked vehical since it’s still detectable by it’s effect on the environment if you look closely but most would look past it. Far more believable than a perfect camouflage that some how avoided disturbing anything.
We see more of the gang’s early dynamics with Marco being able to see the big picture but wanting to avoid it and Cassie playing peacemaker when it suits her. Which now we need to talk about something that bugs me about this book. Jake’s attempts to make a space for Tobias are interesting but raise a really big red flag. Namely it is perfectly understandable for Jake not to know how best to take care of Tobias and for Tobias being Tobias not to tell him he’s doing it wrong.
However, Cassie the girl raised in an animal rehab clinic should have known and should have been involved in making arrangements for Tobias. I mean I know the real reason is that the writer never thought about it and needed the situation in Jake’s house to be unsuited to him being there so he’d go semi feral but real world reasons don’t apply when you deal with in universe situations. Which means I am left wondering why Cassie didn’t supply any help at all for Tobias dealing with his situation. At the very least she should have supplied diet information and where they could get proper nutrition for him. He might not have gone feral if his nutrition needs were being met. The most generous interpretation is that she just didn’t think about it though that brings up some disturbing implications but it’s still less disturbing then some of the others.
But moving on now we need to discuss Tobias break down and temptation by the female hawk. Both are signs of how this situation is causing Tobias to unravel and lose mental stability. What makes Tobias situation so stark and hopeless is that while there are ways to help him adjust the others never think to offer them and he refuses to ask for them. He basically gas lights himself by the end of the novel into thinking he’s now something neither human or bird as a survival mechenism. It’s understandable but creepy to watch. Even more so knowing what’s coming in later novels.
Of course we’ll cover all of that in future novels so now let’s discuss the plan our heroes come up with to find out what’s going on. Morphing the wolves was smart but I can’t help but notice shades of out dated ideas about wolves lurking around. Which leads to them discovering what the Yerks are doing and Marco seeing a way they could use this to their advantage which leads to a really good idea and a horrible plan. It makes sense that they’d fail to see how the ways it could go wrong at this point in the story but it is very clear that they got damn lucky getting out of this situation.
On the surface their plan works and is pretty good for inexperienced child soldiers but none of them even consider the idea that the tank might be sealed. Or all the other ways it could go wrong. It was only sheer luck that Tobias managed to damage the ship in a way that got them out alive.
Now let’s talk about the ending and sets up what could have been a really interesting dynamic that isn’t allowed to be explored sadly. Tobias is beginning to see the world like a predator that could have been a really interesting perspective to bring to the discussions but sadly it rarely gets used and when it does it is usually set up so someone can disagree and be proven right.
In the end The Encounter is pretty good as story of one kid slowly unraveling and less good as an action story cause they only got out of there by luck.
Ah yes the first Tobias book which are some of the most interesting but also some of the most cringe inducing as you see just how broken bird boy is. This one probably starts out with him in the healthiest mental state he’ll ever be in. Yes he’s stuck as a hawk but he’s willing to accept help.
We start of course with him and Rachel freeing a Hawk from a cage. This sequence is interesting in that it is only there to set up the conflict in him and allow him to spot the Yerk tanker ship. I have to admit I absolutely love the description of the cloaked ship. It is one of the more interesting takes on a cloaked vehical since it’s still detectable by it’s effect on the environment if you look closely but most would look past it. Far more believable than a perfect camouflage that some how avoided disturbing anything.
We see more of the gang’s early dynamics with Marco being able to see the big picture but wanting to avoid it and Cassie playing peacemaker when it suits her. Which now we need to talk about something that bugs me about this book. Jake’s attempts to make a space for Tobias are interesting but raise a really big red flag. Namely it is perfectly understandable for Jake not to know how best to take care of Tobias and for Tobias being Tobias not to tell him he’s doing it wrong.
However, Cassie the girl raised in an animal rehab clinic should have known and should have been involved in making arrangements for Tobias. I mean I know the real reason is that the writer never thought about it and needed the situation in Jake’s house to be unsuited to him being there so he’d go semi feral but real world reasons don’t apply when you deal with in universe situations. Which means I am left wondering why Cassie didn’t supply any help at all for Tobias dealing with his situation. At the very least she should have supplied diet information and where they could get proper nutrition for him. He might not have gone feral if his nutrition needs were being met. The most generous interpretation is that she just didn’t think about it though that brings up some disturbing implications but it’s still less disturbing then some of the others.
But moving on now we need to discuss Tobias break down and temptation by the female hawk. Both are signs of how this situation is causing Tobias to unravel and lose mental stability. What makes Tobias situation so stark and hopeless is that while there are ways to help him adjust the others never think to offer them and he refuses to ask for them. He basically gas lights himself by the end of the novel into thinking he’s now something neither human or bird as a survival mechenism. It’s understandable but creepy to watch. Even more so knowing what’s coming in later novels.
Of course we’ll cover all of that in future novels so now let’s discuss the plan our heroes come up with to find out what’s going on. Morphing the wolves was smart but I can’t help but notice shades of out dated ideas about wolves lurking around. Which leads to them discovering what the Yerks are doing and Marco seeing a way they could use this to their advantage which leads to a really good idea and a horrible plan. It makes sense that they’d fail to see how the ways it could go wrong at this point in the story but it is very clear that they got damn lucky getting out of this situation.
On the surface their plan works and is pretty good for inexperienced child soldiers but none of them even consider the idea that the tank might be sealed. Or all the other ways it could go wrong. It was only sheer luck that Tobias managed to damage the ship in a way that got them out alive.
Now let’s talk about the ending and sets up what could have been a really interesting dynamic that isn’t allowed to be explored sadly. Tobias is beginning to see the world like a predator that could have been a really interesting perspective to bring to the discussions but sadly it rarely gets used and when it does it is usually set up so someone can disagree and be proven right.
In the end The Encounter is pretty good as story of one kid slowly unraveling and less good as an action story cause they only got out of there by luck.
