The whole plot just feels a bit like a bunch of deus ex machina thrown together for the sake of having an adventure in the outback (which is nigh-impossible to make happen and have it still feel natural) - the romp in the Amazon made a lot more sense and was way better constructed, imo. Our aboriginal character reminded me a bit of the sassy Inuit from #25, and I'm conflicted about it on the one hand, it's nice that there's representation of indigenous peoples in this series, but on the other hand, the fact both times they didn't bat an eye at shapeshifting magic is a little suspect.
The Australian setting is interesting for showcasing other environments and other cultures, but there was no real point to this tangent, and mostly I rolled my eyes about the little pseudo-romantic diversion (what was the point?). I liked the characterisation details about Cassie here, but you don't learn or explore anything particularly earth-shattering about her. Unfortunately, The Unexpected doesn't deliver on either of those fronts. (Books like #41 The Familiar could get away with it because you still got to interact with some version of the Animorphs, plus the premise was so BATSHIT NUTSO FASCINATING.) Separating an Animorph from the rest of the team is a really risky prospect as an author - they need to be interesting enough to carry the whole book by themselves, and the plot itself needs to be interesting enough to help you get over how much you miss the rest of the team.
That said, her characterisations of the team were fine, and so was her prose - the book itself is an action-packed thrill ride from problem to problem, complete with explosions and base-jumping out of airplanes.īut the problem is mainly structural and with the premise itself, which a ghostwriter probably couldn't get around if this was the plot handed to them. I'm hoping her later books are better, because this one was just sort of 'ehhh'.
0 kommentar(er)
