A review by howlinglibraries
The Encounter by Michael Grant, K.A. Applegate
5.0
I'm so sad that I'm already caught up on these adaptations, and I really hope Grine is able to release more volumes soon. Reading these has made me want to go back and re-read the original series so badly! We get to see a lot of the heavy, sad themes in the series come into play in The Encounter, because this is the first book where it really starts to sink in for Tobias that his life is permanently changed, and he struggles with accepting that for a while.
It's also the first instance where I think it fully sinks in for the kids that there's a good chance they're going to die during these missions, and there's even a scene where they say they'd rather die than be taken alive by the Yeerks. It's heavy stuff and totally reminded me of why, despite how young the characters and audience for this series are, K.A. Applegate never went too easy on us or shied away from discussing the reality of how difficult and scary it would be to rebel against such a powerful, sneaky force of enemies.
It's also the first instance where I think it fully sinks in for the kids that there's a good chance they're going to die during these missions, and there's even a scene where they say they'd rather die than be taken alive by the Yeerks. It's heavy stuff and totally reminded me of why, despite how young the characters and audience for this series are, K.A. Applegate never went too easy on us or shied away from discussing the reality of how difficult and scary it would be to rebel against such a powerful, sneaky force of enemies.