Tobias battles his fear of his tormentor and the hunger of a Taxxon. This book deals with the aftereffects and continuing psychological damage caused by torture, specifically in a scenario where (due to morphing) no physical marks remain.

I really like the way that Tobias’s mental struggle over the Taxxon morph works to help him figure out how to deal with Taylor. I don’t remember if there is a lasting change in him after this book, but I hope there is, and I hope it’s positive.

The scale of the Animorphs' battle with Visser Three changes and they have to size up battle with a new alien species: the Helmacrons. After a lot of very heavy drama, this is a little lighter but no less deadly serious. A good interlude.

I really really enjoy the Helmacrons as a species and as a neat bit of world-building in the series. When I was a kid, this book taught me the word "fungible" and the associated concept in a truly memorable way. I also remain fond of the Helmacrons' criteria for leadership, even though the ceremony is a bit sharp.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld is a satisfying conclusion to the original Uglies Trilogy. This version of Tally figures out what she wants, going for it through struggling and pain. The stakes ramped up appropriately and we have a better sense of the world. Stay Icy.

For me, this was the conclusion of the books as I originally read them in middle school. I'll move on to Extras, but I don't remember it very well so it'll pretty much be like reading it for the first time.

As for Specials itself, I love the conclusion, I think it's the best outcome for everyone involved, given the situations they find themselves in.

I really like the skintennas, the idea of everyone at a party dancing to the same music but it's not audible is something we can achieve now, kind of, but I like this sci-fi version of it.

The Lightning Thief shows kids trying to be better people than their parents and learning from their mistakes, plus swordfighting and quests. I love the sidestepping of classic portrayals of the greco-roman gods in a way that feels true, but modern.

I'm a sucker for modern interpretations of Medusa, in particular, so I really liked this one. Ares was particularly good as a modern update, and the way that the villainous plan was just hurt, but not stopped, was a good choice for book one. There's more to do, and a lot more to this world, but this is a great intro.

The pen/sword weapon is a nice touch, both useful to Percy and a great play on words. I like how the Mist is established, it's enough of a hand-wave to let the action keep going but the story doesn't rely on it too heavily. Something that pervasive and powerful needs to be consistent in its effects but not consistently helpful nor harmful, and I think this landed that balance.

Percy meets one of his half-siblings and has to deal with more implications of his immortal parentage. Grover's search goes awry, Clarisse's quest is similarly troubled, and Percy is failing at his efforts to be innocuous.

I enjoy the dynamic between Percy and Tyson. Not where it is at the start of the book (Percy had to work through some things), but I like where it ends up. Grover's captivity is VERY stressful, and as much as I wish he'd gotten his answer, his quest is too big to be solved in book two, so I think that was the right choice.

There's a lot of terror and pain in this one. These are books for kids, but they are pretty deep. A lot of the depth and complexity comes from understanding the implications of various plot points, but there's enough detail that it's clear that it was on purpose. This applies to everything from Percy's mom's dynamic with Gabe in the last book (a very abusive relationship with her as the victim), to the little hints of her moving on that we get in this one. These books aren't about her, but it feels like she's a full person who just isn't the focus, rather than having thin characterization.

The Titan's Curse has very strong themes of intra-family violence, displacement, gaslighting and torture, for a start. But, somehow, it handles them in a way that produces a book I would hand to a 10-year-old with no hesitation. It's really good.

Zoe's arc is excellent and Bianca's has a lot of complexity that is handled really well. Thalia gets more of an active role in a way that I definitely approve of. I wanted more female voices at this point in the series (instead of just Annabeth with a little bit of Clarisse), and this one delivers.

The Battle of the Labyrinth is about turning points and choices. It builds on the previous books to ask what Percy and his friends will do with what they've learned, how will they be different from their parents?

I'm looking forward to the answer to that question in book five, especially after the events of the birthday party in the book's conclusion. Thematically, I'm very excited that this book, for kids, about choices, touches on their ability to be separate from their parents, to want different things and be different people. But, it also has room for the ones who either haven't yet or maybe never will decide to be separate.

Including Janus was a nice touch, and I'm very excited to see what happens next with Nico. The flashbacks with Daedalus showed me parts of his mythos that I'm not as familiar with. This isn't the first time Percy has had visions of the past, especially past heroes of one kind or another, but they were particularly well-handled here.

I continue to be impressed by the modern interpretations of mythic elements, particularly the Labyrinth. Grover's search is well-handled, and the way Percy was repeatedly separated and reunited with his main party kept the narrative from getting stale. The fruitless or potentially repetitive sections could be spun off and rejoined at the best parts, while still conveying the helplessness and frustration experienced by the characters who didn't get to skip over them.

I wrote my opening sentence of the review, that this is about turning points and choices, then kicked myself because, duh, they're in a labyrinth, but what made me seize on that as the theme was everything else exept the literal choices in the labryinth. Janus, Calypso, Nico's decision, Luke's plan, Percy's obliviousness to the dynamic with Annabeth and Rachel... It shows how well-written this is when I was trying to think of the theme, and the elements that drew me to it were everything except the very obvious metaphor in the title itself. I can't say whether it's more cohesive than the others so far, but I enjoyed this one the most. It feels very complete, like every thing here was working together for this really good story. Part of that is that it's book four, it has the weight of the first three behind it so it wasn't as bogged down with introductions and world-building and it could just... fly.

Extras is about reputation, appearances, misunderstandings, and lies, set three years after the Mind-Rain: Tally's last big trick in Diego. Aya is a vibrant addition to the series, and the way the plot slowly shifts focus is very well handled.

This one isn't my favorite, but I like it more now than when it first came out. When I first read it, I was barely starting high school and didn't know about or understand anime, manga, social media, the concept of a reputation economy... It wasn't for me and I didn't get it, so it was frustrating to go straight from Specials (which I still love) to this... extra book.

Now I can appreciate a lot of subtle things that it does really well. It has enough hints of world building to make it clear that it's set in Japan at least a hundred pages before it is said explicitly. I like the references to their society before the Pretty-Time, they are handled similarly to the first three books, but with a different cultural reference. Aya feels like a different character from any of the versions of Tally, and I'm torn between wanting more Tally all the time and being able to appreciate that this is a separate story, in a separate place. This book showcases how the society really was global in its impact, but the particulars played out differently depending on the starting societal framework.

Published in 2007, this book now feels prescient instead of out of place, it makes a lot more sense because some of what it was picking up has been magnified in the years since.

Overall, I like this one, and probably anyone who found it when this series was already a quartet (rather than myself, who read it originally as a trilogy) will enjoy this book. I'm cautiously optimistic about the new quartet which is being released, and will review the new books at some point.

Pretties presents a Tally who is different the one we met in Uglies, her vocabulary transformed to make her feel like a new narrator while keeping her underlying personality. It’s a really good portrayal of memory loss and identity.‬

Her relationship with Shay is complex and dynamic, and I like the Crims as a group. This book explores more the world established in Uglies, especially in ways that show the underlying systems of control which are in place.

I appreciate the handling of the dynamics with Zane and David, especially the message that you can have had a good relationship with someone but not want to return to it later on because you’re different people. It’s dystopian, so the time horizon for this change is pretty extreme, but it’s still a good message. As a book for teens, taking the time to say this is really important, given that the series establishes multiple romantic interests in the first place.