And so after the David Trilogy and The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, we were about due for something lighter, yes?

How about… Tobias getting a letter from a long lost relative (hmm).

Of course it all goes well.

<How long do we have till your birthday, Tobias?"

<Um . . . three days?> I asked.

“Today’s the twenty-third. When’s your birthday?”

<The twenty-fifth. I think. Twenty-sixth?>

Marco laughed, then I guess he realized I wasn’t kidding.

<I don’t . . . I don’t exactly remember. Not for sure. But I think it’s in three days.> I forced a laugh. <Just don’t ask me how old I am in bird years.>

I really like Tobias. He’s quite often my favorite Animorph (Marco is a good one too). He’s just got such a fascinating story and does not give up. No matter how absolutely terrible of a life hand he’s been dealt. And perhaps…

For a long while neither of us spoke. Then Rachel, in a whisper, said, “What am I supposed to do, Tobias? I’m a girl. You’re a bird. This is way past Romeo and Juliet, Montagues and Capulets. This isn’t Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio coming from different social groups or whatever. It’s not like you’re black and I’m white like Cassie and Jake. No one but a moron cares about that. We are . . . we can’t hold hands, Tobias. We can’t dance. We can’t go to a movie together.”

Even find love? (I enjoy their growing relationship.)

What it all comes down to?

It suddenly occurred to me, right then, for the first time, that what I thought was so unique about me - that I was half instinctive predator, and half human being - wasn’t so unique after all.

Every human - Jake. Rachel. Marco. Cassie, all humans - kind of lives on that edge between savage and saint. And the thing is that sometimes when you get pushed you do have to push back. And other times, you have to turn the other cheek.

A solid story.

Random thought:

Does… Tobias age? Especially his human morph. There’s no reason to think that it should, which is going to get increasingly weird (as if his life wasn’t already) as time goes on.

And it does bring to mind how exactly ‘original’ bodies work with morphing. My assumption is that you get your original body back when you morph back. It doesn’t heal you. Which actually explains why Tobias didn’t heal in In the Time of Dinosaurs. But… why didn’t them mention that?

It’s a bit of a whole (IMO) in the whole morphing thing. But we’ll see if it’s dealt with later.

Also, this was fun:

<Hey, Ax-man, what’s up?>

<Up is the opposite of down. Although, of course, those terms are meaningless outside the context of a distinct, localized gravity field.>

<Ooookay.>

<Was that funny? I was attempting a joke.>

<Ah. Well . . . I’m probably not the guy to ask,> I said evasively.