She’s in elephant morph, and she’s not doing too well: When storming the resort to prevent the Yeerks from making world leaders into Controllers, Rachel encounters the President of the United States. Rachel shows that she is prepared to cross any line to deal with David. Having seen the lengths to which David is willing to go, Rachel snaps. And that was a much more utilitarian decision than Rachel’s actions here. Until now, the most morally dubious action in this series, in my opinion, is what Tobias and Ax conspire to do in In the Time of the Dinosaurs.

This is not the first time Applegate has drawn our attention to it, but it is the first time Jake, as leader, has taken tactical advantage of it. In actuality, Rachel has a ruthlessness that the other Animorphs lack. This haunts Rachel for the length of the story: why did Jake send Ax for her, specifically, rather than Cassie or Marco? When she confronts him, he claims he needed the firepower of her morphs-but they both recognize this is a thin excuse. Jake tells Ax to “get Rachel” instead of anyone else. Let’s just catalogue what Rachel has to endure in this book. It is ironic that a human enemy, rather than a Yeerk one, forces the Animorphs to be at their coldest yet. In the conclusion to the David trilogy, Rachel is instrumental in implementing the titular “solution” to the Animorphs’ problem. Applegate just always breaks my heart with her, and The Solution is yet another perfect example. I’m trying to be sparing with my five stars in this series, but oh man … Rachel.

The Solution by K.A. Applegate