I cannot remember the first time I read this series, but I can't imagine thinking anything other than "ah, The power of friendship!"
Which upon this reread is hilarious given how clearly the authors wanted to portray a gay couple in 2000, which wasn't done often in a series fronted by a major publisher.
spoiler
This time, I was like "oh right, the andalites living together, and then I was inundated with the hunts of gardening, super fitness, pink furniture, shunned by society, debilitating incurable illness, cared for by "best friend", androgynes, and especially the poetic language of how the became friends, they were both pilots and their wings tangled together and they crashed to the ground together.
Pretty awesome that when so other few authors were willing to have gay characters, especially in a young adults series, ka and grant went full bore and even named this title "the other".
I always thought the "Marco" being bi what sort of and unsupported gimme afterthought, but they already had an unmistakably gay couple having badass adventures.
I wonder if they made them both pilots because of top gun?
And this title is not merely a showcase of queer culture, the story is as developed and well told as any of the other books, and of course more so than some of them.
I find the thought-speak across great distances very interesting, how visser 3 doesn't want anything to do with either of them because of andalite culture treating difference as an embarrassment, and also how ax is very openly hostile toward both of them.
It's another good book!
"I doubt any male would find this offensive."
nobody said they would.
"Call em males, they are afterall. "
go ahead, next time you see ir are talking about a man or men , say "hey, male" or "males like to..." see how they respond to what has become a derogatory, sexualized term for a person in casual conversation.
the demeaning objectification is why insecure men say "female" and men are not addressed as "males".