The Message is our first Cassie book, and that means it’s time to question the morality of our actions. Hurray.
In all honesty, when I was a kid, sometimes Cassie’s books frustrated me a little bit. I thought she was a wet blanket and her hair was boring. I could never understand why she was always questioning everything, like, shouldn’t it just be obvious what’s right and wrong? Why are you so upset all the time, girl? Calm down and just enjoy turning into a dolphin JEEZ LOUISE.
Now, though, I recognize that this series would not have been the same without Cassie. I mean, obviously, but beyond the surface level of it, she was the character who pushed the others to constantly think about not just the physical and strategic ramifications of their actions, but to stop and ask, yes we can do this thing, but should we? Why? Here it’s a relatively small thing Cassie is considering–whether or not it’s wrong to morph an animal that is so intelligent, i.e. a dolphin–but in later books she takes it all the way up. It’s because of Cassie that this series is elevated to one that isn’t just fun, but really hits you in all your sci-fi emotion buttons. What does it mean to be human? To be alive? At least, I remember it doing that for me when I first read it (and re-read it over and over again). We’ll see if that holds true as I continue to revisit as an adult.
Cassie is the conscientious one, the “tree-hugger”. She doesn’t care about clothes or make-up. She believes in the sanctity of all life. It’s one of the reasons that she (and Tobias) are the only two to hear the message from Ax the Andalite, who is trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a dome ship, where he’s been since Elfangor died.
Wait, so let me back up.
Cassie and Tobias have been experiencing the same dream. Something is calling to them from the water, and they think it might be an Andalite. They rally the other Animorphs, and for once even Marco doesn’t object to, first, a fact-finding mission, then another to rescue the Andalite once they confirm he’s down there (which involves talking to a whale–so it’s canon that dolphins and whales have telekinetic powers, and no one can take that away from me). They all want the chance to repay the Andalites for the sacrifice Elfangor made for them in the first book.
I really have a fondness for this book. I love watching the kids become dolphins for the first time, diving so deep underwater, going so far out to sea, and SPOILERS finally finding Axmili Esgarouth Isthil, brother of Elfangor, waiting for them END SPOILERS. I love the cognitive dissonance they experience as they fight off a shark attack, and realize that life on Earth can be just as dangerous as fighting aliens. The danger in The Message feels much more epic to me than the first three books (even with that destroyed Yeerk ship last time). I think it’s because the vast deepness of the ocean is so primeval. It evokes terror just as much as wonder. And that last chase scene, as SPOILERS Visser Three morphs the enormous Andalite sea creature and WHOMP WHOMP WHOMPs his way towards them still holds up all these years later, and it absolutely terrified me at the time END SPOILERS.
I feel like this book is where the series really gets going. They go on this mission that actually changes things for them. Ax is part of the team now. They’re learning new things about morphing, and about the Yeerks. And all of them, but especially Cassie, have a new reason to keep fighting: SPOILERS they learn from Ax that the Yeerks aren’t just interested in taking over the planet, that if they win, they will essentially destroy it and most of the life it contains END SPOILERS. That’s like a kick in the gut to Cassie, who cares more than most about preserving life on her planet.
Plus, we get not one but two new morphs that turn the kids into total goofballs (dolphin, seagull). Kids eat that shit up. And who am I kidding, I still love it, too.
Next up: Marco gets some new information!
