#7 The Stranger

Narrator : Rachel.

Personal Ranking : S

Review

This book is mostly an introduction to the Ellimist and the possibility of time travel. But it's also about responsability, and power.

Kills me how they ripped off Spiderman's quote on responsability and all (chapter 1). But they are 90s kids, it's normal for Rachel to think about that when she talks about her powers.

Compared to #2, there's a clear evolution in the sense that the writers are starting to know which themes are linked to Rachel. Mostly, the question of her taste for fighting and violence. Rachel doesn't like that Cassie is ashamed that her best friend loves to fight so much (chapter 1), and when Marco jockingly says that Rachel and Ax should get married because they are both warriors, she's uncomfortable (chapter 3).

In my review of the first book (The Invasion) I said that the series lean into conspiracy theorist's aesthetics. In this book, the Yeerk Pool entrance is placed in a fitting room ; to Americans, this probably doesn't mean anything, but to French people, you can immediatly think of la Rumeur d'Orléans. It's a high profile case in which Jews were accused of kidnapping white women in fitting rooms. I know that it's not what K.A. Applegate had in mind when she wrote that book, but it's the first thing that it reminded me of. And it's my review, so I get to write my thoughts.

Rachel's dilemma because of her parents's divorce is very poignant to read. The tense atmosphere in the family is realistic and relatable. Rachel's dad's proposition doesn't seem to be made with Rachel's wellbeing in mind, but moreso with only her dad's wellbeing in mind. This dilemma is supposed to reflect the Ellimist dilemma : to protect herself, or to stay and die. In a sense, it engages Rachel's responsability on whether humanity can survive or not the invasion. It That binds her to have power, to not be powerless, even though the situaton in which she is makes her feel powerless : greater forces than her (her parents, the Yeerk Empire, the Ellimist) have decided for her to put her in this situation.

In that way, the authors managed to put a very abstract and difficult dilemma (saving your families or staying to fight) pretty relatable as it's paralleled with the divorce dilemma. It puts it down to Earth. Rachel, until now, seems to have books that are « relatable », in the sense that the main conflict is about things that most kids can relate to : a friend getting away, parents divorcing, and latter, puberty. She's the most normal member of the group, after all (Jake has a confirmed Controller in his family so it doesn't count).

In a way, it's a bit of the hero's call, but in a much more intense way.

The Ellimist's speech in which he talks about art and beauty and the value of Earth felt a little bit sketchy to me before I saw that it was actually a lie to get the kids to keep fighting. It felt weird to read that there was no greater beauty than Earth (chapter 13), like, really ? in the whole universe ? But also the guy wanted to kids to understand that he was trying to convey them a message so it's logical.

Let's note that Rachel and Tobias relationship is really not the same when you read Tobias's books and then Rachel's books. Since Tobias is very isolated, Rachel comes along almost as one of the only person he can talk to, so it's very obvious that he has a crush on her since the beginning. Rachel, on the other hand, has a lot of people in her life, and she doesn't expend on what she finds attractive in Tobias like Cassie might do with Jake as an example. So her developing feelings are much more subtle to read, but they are not invisible. In this book, when she's not feeling well, she immediatly goes to see Tobias (chapter 7) ; though she doesn't tell him what's on her mind because she feels like her troubles aren't legitimate compared to hers. Also, when he's turned into a human by the Ellimist, the first thing she does is to hug him (chapter 12).

It's not the focus of the book but there are also some nice Ax characterisation, like the fact that he decided to count time in minutes and not in percentage (chapter 10) to adapt to the group, or the fact that he didn't hurt the cougar in consideration of Cassie's feelings (chapter 3) even though he was clearly in danger.

Also, there are 6 humans in the future shown by the Ellimist, not 5 humans and 1 Andalite. Who the hell is the 6th ?

AND. Maybe I'm stretching this. But I think that Rachel being shown as a Controller and not the rest of the group could be a foreshadowing of the proposition that Crayak will make her way later in the series ? I'm not sure of it.

In general, it's a very touching book to me, the dilemmas both work thematically and emotionally. I really like this one.