4:12am August 10, 2014

I’m new, so this is me starting #1: The Invasion (no real plot spoilers past #1)

youneedacat:

I haven’t been sure how I’m going to like the series so far. But I’ve really enjoyed the character of Cassie. I like that she lives on a farm and already has all this experience with animals, from having worked in wildlife rehab. (I worked in wildlife rehab myself for awhile as part of a job placement program in special ed.) I like that this gives her the ability to morph more readily than the rest of them. I like that she has no real sense of style. I just like her. Farm girl, like generations of my family. But no stereotype at that. I’ve read a few of the books including one from her POV now, so I’m not sure how much of what I read came from where but I don’t think there’s any spoilers in what I just said.

My other favorite character so far is Tobias, but there’s spoilers for the end of the first book and everything thereafter in a lot of what interests me about him, so maybe I better hold off discussing him until next week.

I generally like books or shows for their characters. It’s the people that keep me coming back, even if I also like the plots and situations and themes and ethical conundrums. So of course my first post on Animorphs is gonna be on my favorite two characters.

And you’ve got them: Cassie and Tobias.

I guess I can also, without spoilers, get away with saying that I love the complexity that Tobias’s character brings to the story later on. I keep putting myself in his shoes and wondering what I’d do, how I’d feel. Often I come up with the same solutions he does. Sometimes I don’t.

I’ve never read the Animorphs before and I think I’m at the middle or end of #4. Just to give you some idea where I’m at. I’m wondering why I never picked up this series as a kid. It was something about the covers looking too cheesy and not really getting what the plot could be about, I think. It was like I never read the Goosebumps series, which was often in the library right alongside Animorphs and some other series. Not that I realized how scary Animorphs would be, from the covers.

But the first one got me hooked and now I’ve got to read all of them.

But anyway, so far, Cassie and Tobias are the most interesting characters to me. The rest of the characters… they have their interesting moments, and they have things about them that are certainly interesting in their backstories and stuff, but they simply don’t stand out the way Cassie and Tobias do. Those two feel three-dimensional to me. And I don’t think it’s because the others weren’t written as three-dimensional. I think it’s because there’s things I can identify with about both of them, so it’s easier for me to fill in those three dimensions in my head.

I’m so excited you’re starting this series. It’s been one of my favorites since I was six years old and started reading them by stealing them out of my brother’s closet in the middle of the night and reading by the hall light.

Tobias is also my favorite character. I relate to him the most and find him the most interesting. Cassie is my second favorite, but because of her gentleness, not because I relate to her.