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October Daye / Inheritance - Essay Series Part Five: Long Series and How to Read Them

Hello Patrons and general audience members! Welcome to another Books That Burn essay by Robin. Thank you to Case Aiken, who receives a monthly Patron shoutout. [Full Audio Available Here] This is the fifth and final entry in a five-part essay series discussing two long-running book series by queer authors: October Daye by Seanan McGuire, and Inheritance by A.K. Faulkner. I chose these series because I love them both, they were intended from the start to be long series, neither of them are finished yet, and the authors have different structural approaches to developing each series across so many volumes. Purely coincidentally, they are both long-running contemporary fantasy series mainly set in California in or near the 2010's, with major characters named Quentin, and whose fast-healing protagonists have a tendency to quasi-adopt a gaggle of magical teenagers. After a brief moment in the 1990's, October Daye begins in earnest in 2009 and has reached 2015 as of the eighteenth boo...
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Animorphs Book 13: The Change by K. A. Applegate.

The Animorphs help some aliens in grave danger. Tobias becomes more active in the team, but has to accept some limitations. The balance of frustration and hope was handled well. When the Animorphs make wishes there's someone listening.

It's difficult to stress enough how much this series leans into the sense that these kids are on their own and can't trust anyone else, that not only does no one else know what they're going through, but that if they tried to explain it would put them in danger. But, with that, it also shows the importance of having people you can count on and can talk to. The Animorphs survive because they are a group who has chosen to work together and trust each other.

I'm appreciating how much each of the kids feels like an outsider even though they are a group. That might sound strange, but it helps to convey the feeling that everyone feels left out sometimes, and while they're sometimes right, it's not really possible to have an entire group who are outsiders from that group. Tobias has felt left out and ineffectual, and he gets an opportunity to fix that but it's a bit of a monkey's paw situation. Not quite that bad, but he definitely doesn't get what he would have wished directly for.

A hawk (Tobias) turns into a boy

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