I plan to ask a similar question for each book, namely was there a particular scene in this book that made you think or hit you really hard?
With book 1, however, I would argue that which scene stands out is fairly straightforward:
Title
Elfangor gets eaten after we, the readers have been hanging out with the preteen gang while they’re goofing around for a few pages, and with his death it becomes instantly clear that this will not be a fun romp. Whatever happens from the point of Elfangor being devoured alive forward must reckon with this first horrific scene.
You?
Oh, The final scene really gets to me too, where
spoiler
Tobias reveals that he’s trapped as a hawk. I literally couldn’t believe it. I was like well, there’s going to be something to save him, or he’s going to try really hard and change back to a human and retain his morphing power, but there’s what two dozen books before he is not trapped as a hawk?
It was really hard to feel that loss so immediately, and that was also an intentional disclaimer that everyone is not going to be okay in this story, these main characters aren’t as protected as you think they are or as many YA book series would make them out to be.
I just reread the first book and the line Jake writes “only in my memories” made me tear up.
Ooh yeah that is a devastating line.