Name: The Message
ISBN: 9780590629805

K. A. Applegate

Unable to ignore the strange dreams that she and her friends have experienced since they developed morphing powers, Cassie wonders if a dream that draws her to the sea is a cry for help or a trap. Original.

The Message

Maga P

I felt the terrible hatred surge in me again. But I didn't want to end my life that way. I would not die with hate in my heart. That would be one victory I could deny Visser Three.
♢ 4/62 OF THE ANIMORPHS REREAD ⚠ tws for the entire series: war, death, child soldiers, child death, descriptions of gore, body horror, discussions of parental death, slugs, parasites, loss of free will, depictions of PTSD and trauma, ableism, imperialism. 
Cassie's books are known being The Weirdest, but they're also the most poetic of the bunch. She is the emotional center of the Animorphs after all, the one most concerned with the moral consequences of the things they have to do to fight the yeerks, and the professed animal lover.

Her main conflict in regards to morphing is present in her first book and it's a shame that I find it to be, huh, too nonsensical to take it seriously (listen, I really Don't think that turning into a brand new copy of an animal puts you on the same level as a slug taking over a different species' brain and ridding it of free will as it watches helplessly) but something I adore about the series is that it's never condescending about Cassie's kindness and her moral concerns.

Instead it portrays them as her strength and defining feature, and ultimately what helps her Survive over the others— something that ties in with the anti-imperialist and anti-war message of the series. I love her.

Highlights: Cassie reaching out and comforting the rest of the team, that really good interaction with Marco on his balcony, anytime the whales appear, AX'S INTRODUCTION. 

As for the audiobook: Very very happy with Cassie's casting. Particularly loved the voices she did for the other Animorphs (her Tobias' is spot on and her Marco is hysterical) and the way she narrated the bits where the animal instincts took over were So Fun.

cléo

** spoiler alert **
           “But it isn’t necessary to believe whales are as smart as humans to believe that they are great. They don’t have to know words to sing songs. They don’t have to be anything but what they are to be magnificent. And even though I don’t really know what a soul is, I know this — if humans have them, then so do whales.” 

Acho que depois de três livros com personagens que não ligam tanto com a questão moral em morfar em animais, digo no sentindo se devem ou não, ser exposta aos pensamentos da Cassie e a sua luta interna realmente me pegou desprevenida. Eu não estava preparada para pensar nisso: é certo ou errado pegar o DNA de um animal tão inteligente, como o golfinho, e morfar nele?

Outro fato interessante foi que o livro conseguiu mostrar que não são só os Yeerks que são perigosos, e sim o planeta em si. Isso já foi mostrado um pouco no livro anterior quando o pessoal morfou em lobos e acabaram dando de cara com uma alcatéia selvagem e, por conta dos instintos de ambos os grupos, quase houve um ataque. Agora, nesse livro em questão, tivemos uma breve luta entre o grupo morfado em golfinhos e um pequeno grupo de tubarões atacando uma baleia. No final da luta, eles acabam percebendo uma coisa: a vida na Terra pode ser tão perigosa quanto a vida fora dela. 

Por fim, a introdução do Ax, um Andalite pré-adolescente e primo do Elfangor, o Andalite que foi morto pelo Visser Three no primeiro livro (e também quem deu a habilidade de morfar para o grupo), também foi um ponto positivo do livro. Estou curiosa para saber como vai ser os próximos livros com a adição dele ao grupo.

Nia C

This book is little too far fetched for me, but maybe it's just because I don't connect with Cassie as I do with the others. I really enjoyed her perspective and a peek into her mind, she's far nicer than I could've ever imagined. 

I liked how nature was brought in this time, it's telling of how the Earth will do anything to protect those who are her children. I sorta believe in that and I kinda loved that bit. 

Another great Animorphs book, as usual.