Mulling Over Morphs # 28 - The Experiment

I can't remember if Marco had a cow morph, but that that cow looks awfully smug. I'd bet that Cassie is giggling because it's Marco.

That inside cover is weird!

A couple thoughts on this one: as almost always, I find myself agreeing with Cassie on matters of mortality morality. Is it ethical to morph a chimp? Perhaps, perhaps not, but to rescue them from the hell hole of laboratory experiments, one can push aside a potential unethical act in order to perform a definitively (IMHO) ethical act.

I normally like Marco, and his teasing does not normally feel malicious, but in this one, Marco felt super antagonist against Cassie. I get that they wanted someone to stand in for the opposing position, but it felt almost like no real person would actually take that position. Then I remembered, it was the 90s, and thoughts on animal consciousness and treatment were quite different at the time. Cassie's ideas, ideas that are more and more becoming commonplace, were seen as a bit radical at the time.

ETA: I will say, they use sentient as a stand in for sapient, and it's one of my pet peeves. Lol. Star Trek does it, too, which I think may have been what started the trend. Chimps are definitively sentient, there is a question as to whether they are sapient.

Another thing I noticed was that this book seems to be the one where they tried to test the waters of sex/sexual biology in the series a bit. They didn't dive head first or anything, but it begins with Ax asking about kissing, and Tobias being very squeamish about it. Moreso than just "it's a romantic thing humans do," Tobias' reaction felt very pre-to-early puberty awkwardness around the subject, which is just excellent writing on the author's part. I remember that squeamishness from my youth. I had honestly forgotten what they felt like until I reread this. Seriously great writing.

And then there's the whole steer/bull/neutering conversation where Marco crosses his legs. Again, fantastic writing. Older readers got it immediately, younger readers likely skipped right over it. And then when they morph the bulls, and Cassie explains what happened, again, they went right over in a way that gave an explanation to younger readers without being overt about it.

ETA2: I just had a realization that I'm not doubt not the first to make. Haha. I've always felt a little weird about being an adult fan of the series. They're for a younger audience, and I didn't pick up my first animorphs book (Visser. Amazing introduction to the series) until I was 16. But I've just realized why they're so enjoyable even as an older teen, and now a nearly middle aged man. I've been a kid. It's relatable still, because even though I can't relate to them as I am now, I can remember being their age, and can remember a time where I would have related to the issues of that age. Every adult has been a kid. That little realization just made me feel a lot better about reading Ya so damn much. Haha

Although, being a grown up and knowing what their mistake was when they acquired the steer, when Ax morphed the cow mistakenly at first, and Tobias says "you've got udders," I genuinely thought they were about to make a joke about the bull's balls. Haha.

I really enjoyed the free will conversation with the controller scientist in the slaughterhouse lab. Again, score another point for Cassie. Haha. It's funny, she and I agree on so much, but this time around I'm listening to the audiobooks, and her narrator is my least favorite, so they become my least favorite books.

All in all, fantastic book. Thank you for making these threads, I'm really enjoying having a place to write down my thoughts on the books as I finish them.