The series is certainly ramping up and has been for several books now; our heroes have had several close calls for themselves or family members since the David books, and this one may just be the most harrowing yet

Jake spends the entire book knowing what will happen to his father if he fails and watching the thing in his brother trying to destroy his family, and he starts genuinely losing it for what's really the first time

Jake never wanted to be in charge and has stated that several, several times, but he has that aura of leader and that commanding presence, not to mention a mind that can make those difficult decisions. But this is the first time we've seen him having to be stripped of those responsibilities because he cannot fulfill them

Marco at least does come up with a plan to save everyone and delay any action Tom's Yeerk takes, but it's a close call due to Jake not wanting to give up his authority/responsibility and not being able to see alternate actions for once

How do you all feel about this? Was this the best course of events? What other options might there have been? Were the other kids right to basically "evict" Jake from his position?

We'll be back tomorrow with a full series discussion plurk

The gorilla stomping around tearing up the street was fun, and a good distraction... but that was about it