Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

BOO to no permanent dinosaur morphs lol

I hate him! Obviously he is going to be an agent of chaos...

Tonari no Emily wrote: "BOO to no permanent dinosaur morphs lol"

LOL I was soooo feeling this in that book!

Read #20 The Discovery today--(view spoiler)[I was really surprised they brought a new character on board--and that the book ended with a cliffhanger... really appreciated @Iain's notes on the structure of this arc. Definitely agreeing with @Choko--David gives of baby serial-killer vibes and has a lot of potential to f things up... Really thinking about how Marco & co were talking about how they all knew each other--or knew and trusted someone who knew and trusted each other--the friend network is a real thing for vetting people you want to let into your inner circle... and David got ZERO vetting... I'm very curious how they're going to get rid of him, though? Other than kill him off or have him turn traitor... it'll have to be inventive.

Other thoughts though--there were a few points in the book where some of the crew made some snap decisions that I thought were rather clever and funny--like the bathroom scene. How do you explain two boys in the stall together? That "there's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect just the way you are" line with a glare was a great move for making people immediately back away and act contrite... and also how I'd hope family members would react when protecting their younger siblings (or anyone) when asked "what's wrong with them?"

Then when Marco started mind-talking David's dad, and shouted "your kid skipped school!" to distract him! LOL Totally non-sequitur, and totally spot on distraction...

I feel bad for David's parents though... and as creepy as David is, hopefully his NSA knowledge will come in useful coming up... (hide spoiler)]

I loved those two moments! Beaknoma! Hahaha!

Made me wish I was that good at coming up with tales... LOL

Was not expecting (view spoiler)[ the cliffhanger ending.. need to get back to 21! (hide spoiler)]

Luckily for you it's June now, and it's about time to continue...

So true... we shall see when I get to them, though I have 21 lined up ready to play!

I have 21 and Magic Gifts out on Hoopla... I screwed up and forgot to checkout books on May 31st until it was too late, and had to use June credits...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I have 21 and Magic Gifts out on Hoopla... I screwed up and forgot to checkout books on May 31st until it was too late, and had to use June credits..."
Same.. I keep doing that! Like the 3rd month in a row I forget to use up the last of my credits. I need to set a reminder or something

Went back and added the book cover art, inner flap art, and findable flipbook morph gifs for books 17-20 + Megamorphs #2, in post 2-3...

ooh, thank you! I always appreciate those.

For me it really started to pick up with #19 and #20.

They become a bit samey after a while. And they still are. But I loved these issues.

In #19 we talk about Cassie (view spoiler)[and her struggles with being a child soldier. These kids are becoming numb to it all :/ I'm shocked at the lengths she went to help free a controller from the yeerks! What a good story. Reckless yes. But so were must of the other situations with the kids. Especially Rachel. I just loved the yearning for hope and peace.

And lets give the kids some credit too. If Jake hadn't heard Karen out Cassie might have been a butterfly forever O.O They still sometimes listen to talking and don't just kill on sight...yet. (hide spoiler)]

#20 was a bit strange for me. Marco is (view spoiler)[acting weirder. They all kinda are. The whole trial by fire route with David is concerning. They can't think a new kid is gonna cope to this so fast. It's a war, yeah. But still. wow.

Not only do I not like how they sent him on a mission right away...but I feel that he's not to be trusted. That kill of the crow in eagle morph was a big red flag (hide spoiler)]

As the series progresses, they really lock each character into their role & story focuses, for the most part... I think it's because after KA Applegate set a tone for the series she/they (it's actually a husband wife writing duo from what I've seen online) started just writing outlines and outsourcing to ghostwriters, to maintain the 1 book per month rate for 5 years... needed to lock things in to give consistency, since all KA Applegate was really doing was writing outlines and editing I think, except for important books and Megamorphs/Chronicles...

We've talked a fair bit about character roles and themes in a few of the threads, or I have anyway... it's definitely something I've been noting in my readthrough...

Things are also generally rushed by how short the books are...