My views have radically changed since I first read the books about when they were coming out, and my rereads a decade or two later.

I’m pretty sure Marco used to be my favorite character because I was the class clown but was not the dullest light bulb, so I instantly identified with his humor, strategy and pragmatism.

There were definitely points in the series where I thought that I identified with other characters more, but I know that Marco was my constant since he was always cracking jokes to make sure the team wasn’t overstressed while at the same time having the master plan in mind at all times.

Cassie used to be my least favorite, although I admired her skill in morphing. Her hesitation in making decisions that harmed the yeerks often bothered me and I could recognize the advantages of having Rachel on your team for power or ax for technology or Marco for strategy, but when I first read the books I didn’t realize what Cassie brought to the team.

This was because as a child I had morals and assumed without evidence that everybody else did also, so I didn’t realize how important Cassie’s were.

Rereading the books as an adult, two of Cassie’s books became some of my favorite adventures and the depth with which she is forced to examine her own beliefs and crucially change her beliefs to adapt to her new reality as a child soldier was pretty fascinating, since I didn’t recall such a depth of emotion and moral ambiguity with her books previously.

Now I can recognize and appreciate how important it is to have someone who can question how just an action is regardless of the righteousness.

Without Cassie, the team would have been far more vicious and all either died very quickly or become genocidal maniacs.