The Steel Connection: A Novel about Millions, Morals and Deceit

He was taught, not so long ago, that the reason why so many millions obeyed and worshipped Hitler and Stalin was a simple one - fear of state terror. Overy sets out to show that this explanation is hopelessly crude. Fear of the penalties for protest was important, of course, but both regimes drew wide consent from the majority who were neither active dissenters a tiny fraction nor party enthusiasts.

More broadly, the chaos of the Twenties left both populations feeling that it was better to be 'pro' whatever the leadership did than 'anti', and that social unity mattered more than the right to criticise. Hitler and Stalin took over societies already riddled with fear of the future, with paranoia about conspiracies and with hatred of 'others' expressed in murderous language.

Both dictatorships were able to replace the notion of moral and legal absolutes with 'historical absolutes': Dictatorship flourished in a climate of perpetual emergency. Overy asks what made the two regimes similar and what made them different. He wastes no time on the old 'equivalence' argument that Hitler and Stalin were both totalitarian psychopaths who killed millions and were therefore as bad as each other. Their differences were very real.

Constantly, Overy contrasts the universalism of Stalin's utopia, aimed at 'an equal and happy future', with Hitler's vision reserved for the Germanic race alone. But he uses this contrast as an analytic tool, not as mitigation for Stalin's crimes. In the same way, he is not saying that it was better to be arrested by the NKVD than by the Gestapo when he notes: His point is that the Stalinist bureaucracy, which kept up at least the pretence of courts with judges, was in many ways a more controllable and versatile apparatus than the Nazi machine.

This difference was decisive for the outcome of the gigantic war which began in and cost the lives of more than 11 million soldiers in less than four years. Here, Overy challenges received ideas. The notion of the Soviet Union's 'infinite resources' is misleading. After the conquest of the western USSR in , Germany controlled far greater supplies of manpower, production and raw materials.

Stalin won for three main reasons. First, because the Red Army simply outfought the Wehrmacht with better strategy and tactics. Second, because Soviet central control of the economy was more effective; the Soviet Union overtook Germany in artillery and tank production in the critical year of Third, Stalin became more aware of his own limitations as the war went on and relied increasingly on the judgment of trusted generals.

Hitler, in contrast, grew more convinced of his own genius and by was interfering in almost every military decision. This version makes the ultimate Soviet victory even more impressive. Tobias makes that decision on his own, just as Ax did, in order to spare their teammates the grief and guilt. They take on that burden. It's also a nice evolution of how Ax back in 8 took on the responsibility for Elfangor breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness -- he is well and truly noble in these sorts of self-damning sacrifices he makes, even as he attempts to commit a war crime.

This series, you guys. What other YA series has our hero getting so close to nuking California? This story and its question of atrocity, and the ends justifying the means, and how far do you go to win a war, has been escalating more and more. There have been multiple incidents leading up to this in which they ponder and debate and argue these exact questions. They keep skirting closer and closer to it.

This is the closest they've ever gotten, with Ax not even certain if he would have done it or not. And they'll just keep getting closer, as this war gets more and more desperate. Later, I wondered why, with my varied experience of Andalite character, I had not entertained the possibility of my own people's suspicion and neglect. Because, in many ways, these humans have become my own. And the central, most important reason is that the humans are fighting off an invasion of an evil, parasitic alien species known as the Yeerks.

The Yeerks must be stopped. It doesn't matter who stops them, or why. Maybe, just maybe, it doesn't even matter how. But that is a dangerous question to ponder.

Better to concentrate on the present. He wouldn't even believe a full-scale war was possible anymore!

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The average person is too content. It was a rhetorical question. All-out, global warfare is a thing of the past. That's what people think, anyway. No one wants it, no one's ready for it. And who's going to believe Earth is about to be attacked by aliens from outer space? They'd think a call to arms was just a publicity stunt for that show Roswell.

I mean, we've got no enemies at sea, not many on land, and those aren't exactly real scary. The country's just not ready for war. Maybe it's arrogance, maybe a combination of things, but the average person on the street just doesn't think another World War is possible. Yes, that's right, boys and girls. No more sneaky, middle-of-the-night stuff. Now we're gonna see major population 'cleansing. The Yeerks don't need everyone. Marco looked at me. And humanity's own resources. I'm talking weapons, but also ingenuity.

All those traits the former Visser One acknowledged and respected and feared about us human beings. The traits the former Visser Three has always ignored. I want your honest opinion. Since that one transmission on the beach, we've heard nothing from the Andalites. Should we assume the fleet isn't coming? Should we go ahead on our own?

To answer such a question -- with a "yes" or a "no" -- would cast suspicion on my loyalty to my people. If the Andalite fleet had chosen to ignore our warning and had moved to the Anati system, one of the new Visser One's conditions for all-out war had been met. We were in a situation of maximum danger. One of my peoples had betrayed the other. In spite of my admiration -- and yes, affection -- for humans, I have always hoped my future would be on the home planet. Perhaps even Estrid-Corill-Darrath and a family of my own.

And yet -- my experience with my birth people since being stranded on planet Earth has been Less than one hundred percent satisfactory. We were our own family. And this was still our fight. And, in a way, I was human. Do you think the Andalites are coming? I turned my main eyes toward Jake.

It is a huge responsibility for a young person, human or Andalite, to be a leader. His eyes were dull but his voice was firm. We've gotten this far without totally losing it. By following the rules of basic humanity. No one can deny that. We can't be asking anymore whether something's right or wrong. We really need to start asking whether it's expedient. I noticed Tobias turn slightly away. But here's the thing. I think our assumptions are right. I think Visser One is about to launch open war. Entire cities might be incinerated. Maybe, just maybe, if we strike now, if we do everything we possibly can, maybe we can keep that from happening.

We've been through this so many times. Someone's always saying, 'forget about right or wrong, we've got to win. Am I right in doing whatever it takes for the greater good? And, do I trust myself enough to know I won't become evil in the process? It always comes down to something that personal. Or the special circumstances. A morality of convenience. Not unlike Andalite morality The thought was troubling. It was not a happy smile, but it seemed to portray a genuine emotion. Captain Felitti, you took off without clearance and five minutes ahead of schedule. You are off the course set for the test flight.

Return immediately to the coordinates. We repeat, return to the flight pattern The flea morph had protected them from the physical effects of the jet's massive speed. This seemed to disappoint Marco. Recently, he had claimed to be "bummed" about not being able to ride the new Monster Coaster at The Gardens. My life is great. Isn't my life great? Biggest warships in the world. Well, there is that. Navy fighting alongside Rachel. Against seven-foot-tall Hork-Bajir, the Yeerks' shock troops.

He looked down in fascination at what had been his stomach. I stayed with him until he was gone. Blood pooled between us. But what can we do? I never, ever should have laid such a burden on my friend. Never, ever should have asked a human of such superior quality to make a decision that would undoubtedly risk the lives of everyone he had ever known. That would undoubtedly destroy his home, his neighborhood, his city. That would utterly decimate his every precious bond to sanity. I was an Andalite. A member of the species some unkindly but perhaps rightly have called the meddlers of the galaxy.

I was an alien. I would carry the burden. And then I hit him alongside his head with the flat of my tail blade. Marco turned and stared hard at me. You people have a tendency to destroy what you want to preserve. And that plane is carrying a nuke. I saw it being fitted up by some of the visser's men. As if reinforcing the fact for himself.

What I'm not sure of is what this stunt is all about. Is it really about saving human lives? Or about pumping up Andalite glory? But I had expected as much. Or the presence of parents and teachers. Tobias put a hand on my arm. Whether you win or lose? Time was running out. It was now or never. I would accept the consequences of my actions.

I would accept full responsibility. I was the alien. Marco looked back to me. Running toward the jet. Cassie bounding at his side. My human eyes began to tear. I widened them, then blinked rapidly to clear my vision. Relished the tension my hesitation was creating in the visser. Loathed myself for playing this sort of shameful game. For inflicting a kind of torture. I was glad to be going back there tonight. I was also afraid of what I would find.

Because "home" meant more to me than just my scoop and the surrounding landscape. Home meant my fellow warriors. And I had risked my relationship with them, especially with my prince, by doing what I had done. It had been a terrible longshot. As Cassie might say, I had played God. And what right did I -- an Andalite -- have to do that?

I had chanced the lives of thousands of humans for the sake of millions. And in doing so, I had acted as had many Andalite warriors before me. I had acted as I had often condemned. And I had won -- we had won -- but at what personal price? Would my friends ever forgive me? Would I ever forgive myself? I have enough to answer for. View all 6 comments.

Aug 29, Swankivy rated it it was amazing. We've all been waiting for this. Finally the war is really going to start. Out in the open. Win or lose, we're in it for keeps. When I was reading this, the people at my work were teasing me for reading children's books. I was dead serious when I told them off.

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These books are so far beyond the quality of so many adult books that I just want to laugh in their faces. Notable moments and inconsistencies: This book is ghostwritten by Elise Smith. Ax points out how "humans are an odd species" because th We've all been waiting for this.

Ax points out how "humans are an odd species" because they can change their minds on a moral issue very quickly. It's odd he suggests this is a human quality, because he and other Andalites have done the same thing. Surely he can't be unaware that Andalites also display hypocrisy? Ax mentions having a vague hope of returning to the Andalite home world after the war on Earth, and entertains notions of starting a family with Estrid.

Problem here is that in a previous book he was pretty clear about "not liking" her after some of the things she said about humans, even if he found her attractive. This might not be completely contradictory since people do fall in love with and marry people they don't much like, but it doesn't seem like Ax would want to start a family and raise children with someone who thought it was okay to screw over another species because "they're not us.

Rachel might be brave but she doesn't have experience. This book mentions again that Andalites have two hearts, further establishing that an earlier book made a mistake when suggesting that Andalites have three. Rachel uses thought-speak while in her human morph, which is something all of them should be able to do anyway, but earlier books suggest that they cannot. This retcon makes more sense. It seems ridiculous that Chapman is able to disable Ax and render him unconscious , but then only locks him in a room.

Seems much more likely that Chapman should have infested him immediately as that would have given him a morph-capable body and all the "bandits'" knowledge. Instead he leaves him in a room by himself where his natural form can easily escape. That is some poor decision-making. Mar 07, Ben Babcock rated it really liked it Shelves: Previously, on Animorphs… The Animorphs have literally just succeeded in contacting the Andalite command. The Deception picks up with no time passing. The conversation goes about as poorly as you might expect. After the Animorphs narrowly escape with their lives, they discover that the former Visser Three is now Visser One!!!!!

So what do our plucky heroes do? This book has a lot of the hallmarks of the earliest Animorphs adventures. Notably, there is little in the way of a coherent plan here. The difference between then and now is that the Animorphs have to compromise a lot more of their original tenets—like not morphing humans, at least non-consensually—in the name of fighting this war. Everything is told from the point of view of Ax this time.

His voice as a narrator has really matured over the series. His faith in the righteousness of his own people has been shaken to its core by recent events. He is struggling to reconcile his identity as an Andalite with his allegiance to, and newfound appreciation for, humanity. That very allegiance allows him to go against the orders and initiate the eponymous deception of his prince, Jake, in order to do what he thinks is necessary.

This book is all about Ax taking initiative, showing a backbone, and making tough decisions. And I am here for it. As always, one of the joys of an Ax-narrated book is that we get to see the other Animorphs through his alien eyes. This book is a little brutal not just for the massive carnage and death-toll on an aircraft carrier, not just for the threat of a nuclear strike on an American city, not just for the moral dimensions, but simply for the realization that the Animorphs might not be able to win this one.

They can always keep fighting, but the Yeerks have no chill, and the Yeerks will always be willing to go that one step further, stoop that one level lower. The Deception establishes that this war has reached a turning point.

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Next time, in The Resistance , the Animorphs have to decide if they need to go public with this war. My reviews of Animorphs: Dec 29, Jen rated it really liked it.

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Good Lord, this series. Good Lord, the timing of this series. So the Yeerks have decided that subtlety is yesterday's news and are kicking the war into high gear, starting with the promotion of Visser Three to Visser One yeah, I don't get how the power shifts of the Yeerks work, either, since it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Three to leapfrog Two, but whatever.

With the Yeerks moving into the open, the Animorphs have to follow or pull them back in Good Lord, this series. With the Yeerks moving into the open, the Animorphs have to follow or pull them back into the shadows. Which leads me to a spoiler cut, because seriously, a lot happens that I don't want to blurt out in the open in case you haven't read this yet. Which you should, especially if you've read this far in the series. And if you haven't yet started the series, you should really do that. Run, do not walk. Here Ax intercepts a Yeerk directive to mess with some stuff out at sea on a very quick timetable.

In order to stay ahead of them, Jake makes the call that morality has to get even more grey: If they have to steal stuff like a freaking fighter jet , that's now okay. His decision that the gloves are now, if not off, very very thin is made even more heartbreaking by the continual hesitancy of Cassie. I think it's freaking brilliant that Applegate paired Jake and Cassie together because they are the opposites of each other, morally speaking. Jake is getting further and further into being the general who makes the ugly decisions--it shines here in his rattling off stats for the American battleship on which the bulk of the story takes place, showcasing the fact that even Jake's hobbies are militaristic and no longer bound to "ordinary" things like basketball scores or game consoles--and Cassie continually being cast as his last connection to a moral compass.

Fortunately, it does in this book in Jake's appalled reaction to Ax's final suggestion, but I think we all know Jake is going to get eaten by this war, body and soul, and Cassie can only do so much to stem that tide. Visser Two is finally introduced in this skirmish, and I was totally underwhelmed. And how did he get to be Visser freaking Two?

What big thing has he been part of? Seriously, Andalites, y'all have been knocked in the head with tail blades once too often not to get what's going on here. Battle ensues on this carrier and World War III is pretty much started and oh man, how incredibly long ago the narrative of this book feels.

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We never saw it coming because we believed nothing would ever be able to come at us; America was king, and that was as it should be. How naive we were! So the concept of the war the Yeerks are trying to start is that much more painful and heartbreaking to me now because I totally see how it would work and how the Yeerks just needed to stand back and let us destroy ourselves before coming in and sweeping up the pieces. Ax is perfect for this storyline because he has the long view of how humans can and cannot handle this kind of fight.

His continual struggle as to how "human" he is and his nod to staying in a human morph as "tempting," which is a description we've not gotten before and that he is, in the end, still alien gives us an incredible way to burrow into the ethics of how far the ends can justify the means. As early as page 8 he says that "It doesn't matter who stops [the Yeerks], or why. The characters here are so raw and incredibly true, with Marco's calculating but clear demands of where the line is showing, Rachel's determination to be utterly fearless even past her own rationality, Tobias's trust in his shorm but defense against what these choices will do to him.

View all 4 comments. Mar 03, Amalia Dillin rated it really liked it. This is also where the Animorphs start down a slippery slope of compromising their values for the greater good -- doing whatever it takes to win. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out as we start charging toward the finale. Apr 03, Stephanie rated it really liked it Shelves: The Animorphs get a Z-space transponder functional, and they are able to get out a communication to the Andalites.

However, the results of this communication are not nearly as good as they had hoped for, and they have to cut it short before Bug fighters arrive. Later, Marco, Ax, and Tobias happen to catch a Yeerk transmission and discover that something major is going down in the middle of the ocean. The rules of engagement have changed, and the Animorphs take a course of action they would not previously have taken in order to prevent the new scheme of Vissers One and Two from succeeding.

But at what cost will it be? Despite his status as Visser Two, he is all about bravely dying for the Yeerk cause if need be, and he certainly announces his passion enough. His only purpose is as a foil to advance the plot, and it makes me wonder if we will ever see him again. More than only Jake has been reading up on war, apparently! Up until now, we have seen Ax basically draw away from his Andalite brethren in favor of siding with his human friends.

He has even deceived Andalites in order to preserve the morals that the Animorphs try to live by. Which is what makes his decision to betray the other Animorphs — for the greater good — that much more difficult for him. However, this time it is he who first sees the bright line which leads to the prevention of World War III, and it will take a non-human Andalite to do the job.

I had never been more proud of him. What came next I had not expected. And despite pretty much every encounter you have had with Andalites since arriving on Earth, you still want to think better of them than this. Your own image was ruined by that, and the Andalites are not likely to trust you, not after that, and certainly not after you thwarted Aloth and Estrid from releasing the virus on the Yeerks on Earth. And even today, in , he is still more right than he knows. But, we were at war. We must do whatever we can to get it.

They will proclaim a particular ethical and moral stance one day. And the next, they will proclaim an opposite stance with equal passion. It is like saying we probably know who says it anyways, and with a little tip, we the reader will know how it is said without a cue from the writer. We were in a situation of maximum danger [if the Andalite fleet ignored our warning]. In spite of my admiration — and yes, affection — for humans, I have always hoped my future would be on the home planet.

Perhaps even with Estrid-Corill-Darath and a family of my own. When you said goodbye to Estrid, you told her you still did not like her. And that was an understatement even then. Before that strange journey through centuries past, I thought I had come to understand humans. But as horrible scenes of carnage and terror unfolded before my eyes, I realized that I knew very little about human beings. They could be insane, hate-filled creatures. I could make no sense of the outrageous violence, of the mindless killing.

And it frightened me. But I had made friends. The effects of war? No matter the consequences. But as we see later, he still has a line he draws. There is the ability to go to a movie at the Cineplex. As long as the running time is less than two hours. It is just that…there is something too compelling about being a human, even for a short time. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes it seem as if I fit in here. It is a temptation.

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He stood with them then, and stands with them now. Now he questions how much of himself is true Andalite, and how much of himself has become human-like. Such an interesting parallel, in a way, to Elfangor. Elfangor fell in love with a human, and had chosen to live his life as a human. It is hard to remain separate. Soon you will all be ours… -- page 75 — Okay, who is this? Is it a Yeerk Council transmission? What is going on??